Apple App Store: The beginning of the end

Just came across a very interesting article on the net that talks about Apple driving developers away from its App Store. Huh!!! Is that possible? After all Apple and it’s iPhone/iPod are supposed to be the best thing that has ever happened to the world. The truth is actually quite different my friends.

At one point the iPhone was probably the best platform for mobile applications. But the situation is quite different now. RIM’s Blackberry, Google’s Android and Palm’s WebOS have all changed the dynamics of the game. Consumers and mobile app developers have a lot of choice now. All the operating systems are quite capable and worthy and some of them are actually easier to develop for. For example if you want to develop for the Android or the Palm Web OS all you need is the SDK and a computer running Windows, Linux or Mac OS. But if you want to develop for the iPhone you need to have an Apple Mac computer. Ridiculous!!! What were they thinking? By constraining the development environment you are already alienating some of the developers.

The thing that takes the cake is Apple’s policies for applications that can be hosted on the App Store. In fact there is a clear lack of a consistent policy and every application, and by extension the developer, is at the mercy of the whims of an Apple employee. So if the Apple person reviewing your application on a particular day had a harrowing time tackling brutal traffic, or just learnt that his/her partner is cheating on him, then you could be doomed. Your application would be rejected for some seemingly vague reasons. And I am not pulling something out of thin air here, this has happened….on multiple occasions….and continues to happen even today. So here’s the million dollar question:

Who the f&*^ is Apple to decide what I can run on my iPhone/iPod ?

In some of my previous posts I had talked about how Apple might be losing developers if it does not get it’s act together. Here are a few of them:

• Apple iPhone will lose to Google Android powered T-Mobile G1
• 22 steps through iPhone development hell
• Arrogant Apple good for Google

In fact Apple has started losing developers. Check out this article. Most of the fanboys would be quick to dismiss this as a one off case of disgruntled developers. Probably true now but how long would this take to snowball into something bigger? More importantly can Apple afford to take a hit to their reputation? Google Android and the Web OS have opened up development to all and their store policies are more lenient towards developers. So what does Apple have to gain? The iPhone on Verizon seems to be a distant dream specially with the Motorola Droid faring quite well. Looks like it might pretty much be all downhill from here for the iPhone.

First impressions: The return of Palm – The Palm Pre

After pioneering a revolution in mobile devices like PDAs and smart phones, Palm, as of recent times, has found itself more and more out of the market due to stiff competition. Currently it is ranked fourth after the likes of Apple, Research In Motion(RIM) and Windows Mobile. All that is pretty much set to change if what Palm showed in CES lives up to its promise. And there is a high chance that it would.

Enter the Palm Pre. This is Palm’s latest entrant in the land of mobile devices, more specifically the smart phone segment. This segment is dominated by Apple and RIM. Even though Palm did have some success with its Centro, Treo and Treo Pro lines of phones, it was nowhere near to regaining the coveted leader position. With the Pre, Palm is pretty well set to pose a challenge that is serious enough to even topple the revered Apple iPhone.

If looks could kill or rather dethrone the iPhone, the Palm Pre has it. If functions and performance can poach users, the Pre has that. If coolness is such an important factor that entire cults grow around that, the Palm Pre is well equipped. The new design features a touch screen interface along with a slide out full keyboard. It sports Palm’s latest operating system the WebOS. The combination is stupendous.

The Pre is not only a pretty looking phone, but packs a mean punch too. There is innovation at its best coupled with legendary usability. Here’s a look at a few innovations that the Pre comes with.

Wi-Fi, GPS and email are standard on the Pre. The new Synergy system also allows a user to see all the conversations with a certain contact in a chat style. The universal search feature allows searching across contacts, Google, applications and even Wikipedia. Pretty cool, huh!

The Pre treats each running application as an activity card. Multiple applications can run in parallel and a user can switch between these running instances or activity cards with the mere flick of a finger. No longer do you have to close your email application to browse a web site. All notifications, like the ones for new messages, appear at the bottom of the screen and does not interrupt the user’s current activity. Quite nifty I say.

The calendar application in the Pre can show a combined logical view of calendars stored in Outlook, Google Calendar and Facebook. Also if a single contact is stored in different applications, they can all be linked together.

The browser is full featured and fast. It supports full HTML and has the now ubiquitous zoom and pan functions. Also all the applications installed on the phone are constantly updated via the internet. This gets rid of the rather dull “Update now” function.

Another innovative feature is the Touchstone wireless charging station with which the Pre can be recharged. The Pre attaches to the Touchstone device through magnets and remains in position without any cables or wires connecting the two. The phone can be used while charging.

The Plam Pre appears to be of fantastic value with the necessary looks and coolness. Check out the following gallery of images taken from the Palm website:

Here are the specs as detailed on Palm’s site and do not forget to watch the keynote presentation:
Carrier
Sprint
Operating system
Palm® webOS
Network specs
3G EVDO Rev A
Display
3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320×480 resolution HVGA display
Keyboard
Physical QWERTY keyboard
Email
Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology
POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc).
Messaging
Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS
Built-in GPS
Digital camera
3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Sensors
Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity
Media formats supported
Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP
Wireless connectivity
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
Memory
8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available)
USB mass storage support
Phone as laptop modem
Bluetooth tethering
Connector
MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Headphone jack
3.5mm stereo
Palm® Touchstonecharging dock
Compatible
Dimensions
Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches)
Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches)
Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
Weight
135 grams (4.76 ounces)

Android can beat Apple and the iPhone

The latest entrant in the sphere of mobile operating systems in Google’s Android. The OS has been received well by the mobile content development community and has been gaining steady momentum. T-Mobile’s G1 has also received very good reviews and some(including myself) have called it better than Apple’s iPhone. 

There are quite a few reasons that are in favour of Google Android. Here are a few:

• Android is open source and free to use and customize. This also makes it more attractive for adoption by a large number of mobile phone vendors.
• There are certain features in-built like cut-n-paste that are still to make their way into the iPhone. 
• Android apps are developed using Java that run on a specialized virtual machine. This aspect makes it attractive to a larger pool of developers than the iPhone.
• The Android Market has set policies that would let developers keep a majority share of the revenues earned through it. This is in contrast to Apple’s App Store policies.
• Google has promised to have very little control over the Android Market.
• Coming from Google, Android has the backing of a behemoth and top-notch quality is ensured.
• Being open source, community based development can introduce newer features to this operating system much faster than any other.

In fact Android adoption has seen a steady rise. From developers to mobile phone vendors everybody seems to be jumping on to the Android bandwagon. Here’s a list of few news item that come up on CNET.com when you search for Android in the news section:

• Kyocera joins Android phone bandwagon
• Google Android and Symbian to merge?
• Report: Motorola expanding Android team
• Coders get 70 percent of Android Market revenue
• MySpace’s Android application goes live
• Maverick puts Google Talk on Android G1
• Motorola preps its own Android phone
• Capitalism still alive: EA on Android games
• Google adds Android app for Flickr photos

It’s pretty clear that interest amongst developers and vendors is increasing with respect to Google’s Android. Amongst mobile phone vendors Kyocera, HTC, and Motorola are already on to it. It’s only a matter of time before a lot more follow this trend. If this continues, Android’s appeal would surely surpass that of the iPhone’s. 

So is Android the beginning of the end of Apple iPhone’s dominance in the smart phone segment?

Google Android based T-Mobile G1 is better than Apple iPhone 3G

Looks like its game on. The T-Mobile G1 powered by Google’s open source Linux based operating system, Android, has already seen huge interest from the pundits and consumers alike. There have been recording pre-ordering for the G1 and it appears that the G1 will give the iPhone 3G quite good competition.

Personally I feel the biggest disadvantage that the G1 has is in the looks department. The design and looks of the G1 are nothing compared to the iPhone 3G. HTC just does not know how to make good looking phones. For them its all about using cheap plastic and tacky design philosophies.

Anyway. In a recent speed test done by CNET the T-Mobile G1 beat the pants of the Apple iPhone 3G with regards to web browsing. Click here to see the speed test video.

I am not sure how accurate this test is because web browsing performance depends on the network a lot. So even though the testers might have tried to neutralise the “network effect” I am not sure to what extent they were successful.

Another iPhone challenger: The Nokia ‘Tube’ 5800 Express Music phone

The recently released T-Mobile G1 does pose a serious challenge to Apple’s iPhone in terms of function and specs but look-wise its a no-competition. Even as the dust still settles over the hype of the G1 there’s a new kid on the block that also aims to unsettle Apple from its dominant position. It’s the Nokia 5800 Express Music phone also dubbed the Nokia ‘Tube’.

The specs that I could gather from this website are:

General

• 3.2″ touchscreen with VGA resolution (640×480 pixels), 16M colors
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash(Carl Zeiss lens)
• 30 FPS VGA recording
• 3 physical buttons – answer call, softkey, end call
• Landscape keyboard mode
• Symbian S60 Touch UI, or S60 5th edition

Connectivity

• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, GSM/Edge, HSDPA connectivity
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS
• WLAN, Wi-Fi
• 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-Out port

Memory

• 150MB of User memory
• microSDHC memory card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB memory card in a box)

Size & Weight

• Dimensions: 111×52×15.5mm
• Weight: 109 gr

And here are a few photos of the device:

Like the G1 the Nokia 5800 is better speced out than the Apple iPhone 3G. On top of that it has the looks that are so important for successful smart phones. So where the G1 fails, Nokia succeeds. The question is will it still be enough to topple the iPhone? The answer lies in how Nokia intends to build an ecosystem around the 5800. 

Rumors are that the 5800 will be available in Europe first and then in the US. Also there is a chance that consumers would be able to buy an unlocked version of the phone in the US.

Apple iPhone will lose to Google Android powered T-Mobile G1

The Google Android powered T-Mobile G1 was being waited for ever since reports leaked about it. Now its a reality. The G1 is the new kid on the block with the goods to give Apple’s hallowed iPhone 3G a run for its money. Spec wise the G1 surely has a lot more to offer than the iPhone. Check out my feature comparison between the two. T-Mobile’s network is not that bad even though it has limited 3G capabilities. But all that is going to change once T-Mobile rolls out its 3G network in full.

So does Apple need to worry? You bet it does. 

The G1 comes with a lot more goodies for its price. It beats the iPhone in most feature comparisons. The only thing that the iPhone has going in its favour is looks. The G1 is positively ugly. But it more than makes up for that with its feature list. Being powered by an open source operating system from Google also gives it an advantage. The thriving open source community is more likely to come up with future enhancements of the OS than any proprietary company can. 

The iPhone’s success was accelarated by the launch of the App Store from where users could download third-party applications for the device. Google has already announced the launch of the Android Market on the lines of the App Store but having a lot better and transparent policies for developers. With the Android Market, Google has ensured availability of a rich set of third-party applications for users. Google’s approach with the Android Market is going to be very hands-off thus encouraging more development of applications for the Android platform.

Apple’s arrogance in dealing with developers of the App Store is bound to hit it where it hurts the most. In fact, chances are high that a lot of miffed developers, whose apps were unreasonably rejected from the App Store, may be switching allegiance to the more open Android Market. 

In spite of the outcry from developers asking Apple to come clean on its publishing policy for applications on App Store, Apple has kept quite. Its attitude is more like a dictator and some developers might even view its policies as tyranny. And they would be right. What was bad with IAmRich,  NetShare, BoxOffice, MailWrangler or Podcaster applications? What was the reason for Apple banning these applications from its App Store? Will someone from Apple please answer? Or is it below their hallowed self esteem to answer such questions?

If Apple does not act quick and take certain important decisions, it runs a very high risk of alienating those loyal group of developers who are the reason behind the resounding success of the iPhone 3G, even though the device itself is plagued by many serious flaws. The sooner Steve Jobs and his group of control-freaks open things up in the App Store, the better it would be for Apple.

Comparison: Apple iPhone 3G vs. Google T-Mobile G1

Here’s a cursory feature comparison between Apple iPhone 3G and the new T-Mobile G1 powered by Google Android:

Feature	Apple iPhone	T-Mobile G1
Keyboard	On screen	Full QWERTY slide-out keyboard
Connectivity	3G, WiFi, Tri band GSM, UMTS, Bluetooth	3G, WiFi, Quad band GSM, Dual band UMTS, Bluetooth
Messaging	Email, Instant messaging, Microsoft Exchange support	Email, Instant messaging, Special GMail push support, Multimedia messaging, multi-tasking while messaging
GPS and other services	Assisted GPS	GPS, Google Maps, Google Maps Street View with compass mode
Media store	Apple iTunes music store	Amazon MP3 store
Camera	2 mp	3.1 mp
Dimensions (HxWxD)	4.5 x 2.4 x 0.48 in	4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 in
Weight	4.7 ounces	5.6 ounces
Storage	8/16 GB	Expandable up to 8GB
Screen resolution	480 x 320 163 ppi	480 x 320 65K color screen
Talk time	5 hour talk time, 300 hour standby time	5 hour talk time, 130 hour standby time
Application support	Apple App Store	Google Android Market
Voice dialling	No	Yes
Removable battery	No	Yes
Copy & Paste support	No	Yes

As seen from the above comparison, the phones stack up pretty well against each other. In connectivity, messaging, GPS and the camera, the T-Mobile G1 has an edge over the iPhone. Some would argue that having a full QWERTY keyboard is also a major feature. So we can consider the T-Mobile G1 better in that area too. In the others the iPhone is pretty good. The overall user experience should be better with the G1 because of certain features like copy & paste, etc. Also the fact that the G1 has a removable battery makes a big difference.

If T-Mobile can provide service and coverage at par with AT&T, the G1 does have the goods to give the iPhone a run for its money.

Arrogant Apple good for Google

Another one of the prospective Apple App Store applications bites the dust! The application in question is the Podcaster. Podcaster enables people to download podcasts to their devices directly without going through iTunes. Apple thinks that’s a bad idea since iTunes already gives that function. The result – Podcast rejected from App Store. 

So what’s Apple’s policy for App Store applications? Apparently only two entities are in the know. God and Apple. I am pretty sure God is not interested in it. As for Apple, they want to control everything in their eco-system. Controlling everything is fine for stuff that Apple creates. But how can they intend to exercise this same level of control over third-party applications.

Time and again we have heard that Apple’s policy of examining each and every application that goes on the App Store is to ensure quality and stop malicious and offensive content. Malicious we can understand, but what is the yardstick that Apple employs to determine offensiveness? There have been no answers from Apple on this.

Here is a list of a few of the apps that have been axed by Apple from the App Store for no reason:

• Podcaster
• I Am Rich
• Pull My Finger
• NetShare
• A comic book

In not publishing a clear policy of conformance for application developers, Apple is actually hurting itself. Already a lot of developers have vented their frustration over such high-handed behavior. Yet they still stick to Apple because of the popularity of its portable devices. But for how long? After all there is a limit to everything. Unfortunately Apple is not ready to listen to their woes.

A potential winner may be Google’s Android powered mobile phones. People have expressed their concerns about the viability of Android phones without a vibrant eco-system to sustain its growth. Google has answered that, even though partially, with the Android Market. What remains to be seen is how popular the Android phones become. Google can bolster this popularity by making the hosting policy for applications on the Android Market more open and transparent. Maybe even have community participation in forming a policy. This would surely encourage developers to write content for Android. In fact, if Android becomes a success, we might see a lot of switch in allegiance from Apple to Google. If this happens Apple will only have itself to blame.

Google’s app store aka Android Market

Google’s mobile operating system Android has generated a lot of interest among developers. This was also helped to a large extent by Google’s Android challenge that resulted in a lot of applications being developed for the Android platform. It’s no secret that the HTC Dream or the T-Mobile G1 is going to be the first Android powered phone to reach the market. In a previous post, I had mentioned that whether or not the Android phone really poses a challenge to the iPhone would be determined by how Google is going to offer consumers applications for the phone. Well, looks like Google was listening and the answer comes in the form of the Android Market place.

The Android Market would be available in its beta version on the first handsets to hit the market. Through the software consumers can download new applications for their Android powered phones. The software will be in the YouTube style where developers can publish content easily. Google says that support for unpaid applications will be provided initially and later on a policy for supporting paid applications will be worked out.

Whether the Android Market will be as successful as Apple’s App Store will really be decided by how much developer interest is generated by Google. The least we can expect is that the more popular applications on the App Store would be replicated for the Android Market.

T-Mobile G1: The Android phone or the Google phone … the looks are not going to kill

Android Guys published an image of the Google/Android phone that T-Mobile is supposed to release. Code named the G1, here’s how it looks:

Judge for yourself. I think its positively ugly. If they are intending to take on the iPhone with this thing, they got to be joking. The keyboard hidden under the display like some of the present phones, is really something of an acquired taste. And way too many buttons.

The site had an article that spells out the specs for the Android phone. Take a look(verbatim from the article):

• 528Mhz Qualcomm 7201 processor
• Data kit for USB connectivity in the box
• 64MB Internal RAM
• 128MB Internal ROM
• 1GB MicroSD card
• 5 Row QWERTY keypad
• Trackball
• Dedicated camera button
• 3.1MP camera (no flash) 2048 x 1536
• Video playback files – H.264, streaming, 3GPP, MPEG4, and Codec 3GP
• Dedicated YouTube Player
• Audio playback files – MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI, REAL AUDIO, OGG
• Wallpaper supports JPG, BMP, PNG, and GIF
• Speakerphone (mono, natch)
• Ringtones (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA)
• HTTP, WAP Push, xHTML
• Bluetooth (class 1)
• Picture Caller ID
• SMS and MMS support (Take that Apple!)
• POP, IMAP, and SMTP, AOL, and GMAIL email
• AIM, MSN, YAHOO, and GTALK messaging
• Quad Band (850, 900, 1800, 1900)
• 3G
• 802.11b & 802.11g
• UMTS (1,4), HSDPA, SUPL
• 1150mAh battery
• Screen size is 3.17? with HVGA (480 x 320)
• Handset 117 x 55 x 16mm
• 5.6 oz weight
• Sync capable with Google Calendar
• Downloadable content via Android Marketplace
• Google Streetview with built-in compass

Spec wise things look ok, but when it comes to looks, I guess people expected a lot more.