Broadpoint AmTech Inc. analyst Mark McKechnie estimated that 100,000 Verizon Droid mobile phones were sold over the weekend. In terms of specifications the Verizon Droid was intended to challenge the iPhone. The iPhone remains as king when it comes to selling the most number of units on an opening weekend, but clearly the Droid has made an impact on mobile phone competition. At least more so than the Palm Pre when comparing opening weekend unit sales.
When the original iPhone first launched, it sold about 270,000 units on the opening weekend. However the original iPhone had a much higher cost. And then iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S had about 1 million units sold on their respective opening weekends, thus creating the benchmark that many other mobile companies are striving for. The Palm Pre sold about 50,000 units on their opening weekend which was a record sales day for Sprint. If the Verizon Droid did end up selling 100,000 units in the opening weekend, then that means that about 50% of the company’s inventory has been bought.
What does this mean for the telecommunications market in general? What this means is that the iPhone has a small rival which may just help Verizon retain some of their customers from switching to AT&T. The Android Market will see an increase in sales too. It will be a fraction of the sales that Apple makes on the iTunes App Store, but we will definitely start hearing some developer success stories about how much they made from the Android Market in the near future.
iMo is a startup that launched out of the TechCrunch50 conference that aims to make the iPhone or iPod Touch act as a gaming controller for PC games. Most PC games use a mouse and keyboard to play but sometimes people prefer to play with a wireless controller. This is where iMo’s future application comes in. iMo’s application would make the Apple iPhone or Apple iPod Touch work as a wireless controller.
The application would communicate with the PC through a WiFi or Bluetooth connection. iMo will cost $0.99 on the Apple App Store and the application will be available on the Google Android Market in the future too. Below is a video demo of the presentation from TechCrunch50.
The mobile wars are continuing to heat up as it was revealed that the Google Android Marketplace has over 10,000 applications, of which about 64% are free according to MobileCrunch. That means that Google’s total count of applications is about 1/7th of what Apple has.
In the next several months, a plethora of phones will be released for the Google Android which means that you may start to see iPhone application developers shift gears and start learning to program for the Android. While this is certainly a possibility, Apple has something big to announce tomorrow.
AndroLib is a website to unofficially track the number of applications and their descriptions. Back in May, Google had about 2,300 applications on Android Market so that means that in the last four months, the store grew 4.4 times in size. The Android Market was first announced on August 28, 2008.
Facebook developer Joe Hewitt announced on Twitter that the newest Apple iPhone application is “pretty much done – we’re just working on translating it into a bunch of languages.” Some of the features that will be included on the newest iPhone application includes a News Feed.
The new iPhone application also includes the ability to click “Like” on the News Feed. There is also an option to record video and upload it to Facebook using the video camera on the iPhone 3G S. Hewitt added this feature at the last second. The application also has the ability to manage events.
No word yet on the new application will be done yet. “Translating could take a while. I’ve been avoiding predicting an actual release date,” said Hewitt. And then the application has to clear the Apple submission process. Facebook is also working on a Google Android application that should be available in the near future.
On of the most popular applications on the Google Android Market is called Sherpa. The application was developed by a company called Geodelic. Sherpa uses location-based data to provide contextual suggestions for Android users. The application uses a learning system by the name of GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation) to learns a find out a user’s favorite locations.
For example, if the user enjoys eating more than shopping, Sherpa will recommend more restaurants than retail stores. The application uses the GPS on the phone to make the recommendations. The recommendations are given in a carousel view as shown in the screenshot above, but the view can also be switched to a map view. The results can be filtered by type such as groceries, restaurants, banks, theaters, coffee shops, etc.
Franchises listed in the application generally have more information and reviews than the mom-and-pop shops. However the mom-and-pop shops also have the company’s address and directions available. There is also a search option that allows users to discover the pre-populated lists of services and establishments.
T-Mobile, you son of a gun you have done it again. Another Android-powered HTC phone has hit your shelves at a price of $199.99 with a 2 year T-Mo contract. Specs include a 3.2 megapixel camera, full HTML browser, GSM Quad-band phone capable of global roaming, dual-band global 3G, 320×480 pixels, and 6 hours of talk time. Applications can be downloaded through the Android Market on the phone. T-Mo launched a website for the phone called t-mobilemytouch.com.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been reportedly pulling tethering applications from the Android Market. One developer claimed this happened to him at AndroidCommunity. The developer contributed to an application called WiFi Tether for Root Users app. Google referred to their distribution agreements with the carriers that they have partnered with as a reason to have the tethering applications removed.
Google enters into distribution agreements with device manufacturers and Authorized Carriers to place the Market software client application for the Market on Devices. These distribution agreements may require the involuntary removal of Products in violation of the Device manufacturer’s or Authorized Carrier’s terms of service” Google Developer Distribution Agreement
The above agreement was made between Google and T-Mobile. Android-based devices are already available unlocked so some users believe that blocking tethering applications are unfair. Tethering applications gives users the ability to use their phone as a WiFi device and have it counted as their phone provider’s data plan.
T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman believes that the Android Market needs to be improved. The G1 with Android phone users has downloaded more than 40 apps from the Android Market Google application store. But Brodman believes more would be downloaded if those of interest could be found.
This is a problem with the iPhone as well. The App Store is getting more crowded and sometimes the better apps are not discovered. The iTunes App Store has about 25,000 apps and the Android Market has about 2,300. That is a lot to choose from. Brodman would like to have seen a way to match apps with users that have similar interests.
You may remember that Armin Heinrich created a $999 iPhone application called I Am Rich. A few people bought it, some on accident, but then Apple removed it and refunded the money. Now a similar application is showing up in the Android Marketplace for $200.
The $200 price is the maximum charge that a developer can have for a single app in the Android Market. The difference between the I Am Rich app and the I Am Richer application is the color of the diamond. The I Am Rich application has a red diamond.
To be honest with you, I believe that these “rich” applications are crap. They are pretentious and are a waste of money. I can think of about 200 reasons why you should not buy the “I Am Richer” application. All 200 reasons that I would give you all link to charity so don’t ask me to list them. Its your money.
