Andy Rubin, the boss of all things smartphone at Google, can barely contain his excitement. A huge robot he designed has just arrived at Google's office.
The machine's sole function? To inscribe the logo of the Android operating system - a squat, R2-D2-like robot - into the foam of employees' coffees.
Considering its purpose, Scribbles, as its known, appears comically overengineered. But the machine itself is not what's important to Rubin. It's the robot's brains, its operating system. Just like the majority of mobile gadgets sold in the world today, it runs on Android, Google's open-source software.
In the third quarter of 2012, worldwide manufacturers - among them Apple, Samsung, HTC and Research in Motion - shipped 181.1 million smartphones, according to market analytics group IDC. Google's Android operating system was installed on 75 percent of them, says IDC; Apple's system, iOS, was on about 15 percent. That market share for Android was a 91 percent jump from the previous year's third quarter.
While proud of Android's increasing reach, Rubin tries to be modest. He points to bigger trends like faster wireless Internet, improved batteries and falling hardware costs for Android's success.
"But obviously, it's hypercompetitive," he said of the smartphone market. "It's an opportunity to make the world a better place, but, if you're selling stuff, make a profit - if you're good."
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon all try to keep customers within "walled gardens" or "ecosystems" of proprietary software. Operating systems, a form of ecosystem, provide a captive audience of customers for selling more software. The Windows operating system, for instance, is one of the main reasons Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint are today's dominant business software.
For Google, Android is the means by which it keeps its popular services, such as Maps, Drive and YouTube, in play in the increasingly mobile Internet environment of smartphones and tablets.
"We wanted to be sure those devices in your pocket were able to get to Google," said Hiroshi Lockheimer, Android's vice president of engineering. "In the end, we're an advertising company and we make money through ads."
Mobile future
Google bought Android in 2005 as it became clear that the future of computing was on mobile devices. About two years would pass before Apple's Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone, but BlackBerry, among others, had already shown the world that pocket-sized computers were where we were all heading. Rubin has been at the helm of Android's meteoric rise since the company's founding in 2003, and saw the first Android phone sold in 2008.
He shies from the idea that he is responsible for the proliferation of the open-source software.
"Everything has a point of inception, but after that, it's everybody's," he said. "Rather than being 'the father of,' we consider ourselves 'the shepherd of.' "
Making Android "everybody's" has been perhaps the key to its proliferation. Anyone can download it, for free. For large gadget manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, building and maintaining a working operating system is a huge task. Google's strategy was to give Android away, in the hope that manufacturers would use it so they didn't have to build one themselves.
Apple, which declined interviews for this story, has followed an opposite strategy. Every device that runs on iOS - iPhones and iPads - are made by Apple. Apple does not license or give away iOS. This gives Apple full control, but reduces the number of opportunities it has to expand the use of the operating system.
Still, that anyone can install Android in a device - examples range from microwaves to robots - makes it hard to keep Google's ecosystem cohesive. It also calls into question the definition of Android's "market share."
Author:Caleb Garling
Wrong place to post, lol.
Sent from my SPH-D710
Hazukashii said:
Wrong place to post, lol.
Sent from my SPH-D710
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should I remove it ?
EvaBrian said:
should I remove it ?
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Ask moderator to move this thread to android general.
Sent from Hubble Telescope
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Hi All, Just thought i would share this here in a new thread. I posted it elsewhere in another thread but i thought it should receive more recognition. As iPhone does have a myriad of apps already that we could definitely use. If the developers here could read this and possibly help start porting some apps it would push our phones in the right direction and is the next necessary step in moving forward.
www.pcworld.com said:
Microsoft Details How to Port IPhone Apps to Windows Mobile
By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Microsoft has published a CASE STUDY detailing how to port an iPhone application to its Windows Mobile platform as it prepares to launch an online store for mobile applications to compete with Apple.
A post on The Windows Blog highlights a case study published on Microsoft's Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) site containing a detailed technical blueprint that describes the porting of the iPhone application Amplitude to Windows Mobile 6.5. The report was created by a third-party consulting group, Crimson Consulting, and is meant to be a helpful document for developers as they build Windows Mobile applications for Microsoft's Windows Marketplace.
Amplitude is an iPhone app that picks up any sound in a user's immediate surroundings through a microphone, amplifies it and renders it on the device in a graphical representation. In particular, it can amplify sounds not normally picked up by the human ear, such as heartbeats.
According to the blog post by Constanze Roman, a Windows Mobile Community team project manager, Amplitude is well-suited for a porting project because it is difficult to port in a way that will provide a good learning experience for Windows Mobile developers.
"It combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences," he wrote.
Microsoft plans to launch the Windows Marketplace for mobile applications in the fall, which in the U.S. means the late-September to late-December time frame. Last week Microsoft began accepting submissions of mobile-phone software applications for the site from registered developers in 29 countries. As an incentive, the company is offering prizes for the most popular applications as judged by downloads, revenue, usefulness and more. Apple already has a thriving marketplace for developers that build iPhone applications.
Microsoft President of Entertainment and Devices Robbie Bach acknowledged last week at the company's annual meeting of financial analysts that Microsoft's mobile business, centered around its Windows Mobile OS and development platform, did not perform well in the last fiscal year, losing market share while making modest gains in unit volume.
Apple's iPhone continues to leave most other competitors in the dust in the mobile space, and Microsoft has been struggling for some time to compete in this market. In fact, while Microsoft and most other tech companies continue to report declines across their business due to the recession, Apple is doing well financially, mainly because of its booming iPhone business.
In addition to the apps marketplace, Bach said Microsoft has a few ideas to improve its mobile business, including adding talent to the team and continuing to innovate on the platform without building its own hardware to compete with the iPhone, which analysts have suggested it should do.
Analysts agree that Microsoft needs more than an online store to boost its mobile business. Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said recently that Microsoft would serve itself well by making an acquisition in the mobile space, which is not completely unlikely given the company has been hoarding cash instead of buying back a lot of its stock, going against what analysts have expected.
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This kind of thread have been discussed many times & turn out to be a flaming thread instead.
There're many haters when you just mention the "iPhxne" in this forum, but too immature for their behavior.
Having great apps in any platform device have no wrong or restriction,
it's either users can accept it or not, like accepting another race in your own community.
But then let us see how many will these haters download the ported apps if was really done.
*Cheers*
Join me in here, so that there wont be any more flames.
This topic is currently being discussed in other threads. So... thread closed. Sorry.
Many times Microsoft has promised and made it harder on the customers in the past when requirements were not met (which is quite normal) but it gets old. This time we are all excited about the new and improved ways of making things happen to satisfy the customers.Let's start with the release of Windows 7 - A new OS making the predecessor (Vista) an experimental stage. I personally am very excited with the introduction of WP7. Skeptics still reside but the satisfactory rates overwhelm the predicted fail rate by anti-Microsoft usersThe impressive displays of Windows Phone 7 mean well but the area currently failing ct will be the ease of creating apps and the approval process that's being reviewed. The application build process is changing along with the security and requirement. The platform itself can only make you want to see what this is about. With all changes the big question remains at the affordability mark. Yes it will be great to have from the beginning a great design and stable hardware to support the OS.The only competition to Microsoft at this point is not and never was Apple but Google with the Android. I mentioned those platforms because of the fast track they ran. The upcoming Windows Phone Series should set the bar at a level where no phone has been before. Yes it has been promised in the videos and demos but the actual users will determine if the product fits their needs or not. How does that issue get addressed without creating the same PC and Mac war?Microsoft has an edge on its competition (the integration of the Office products i.e. Exchange for Outlook e-mails and the whole Office suite management) with a platform already in place for the mobile devices management.Quite frankly, the Android Market makes the Windows Phone user nervous about their choice – It will be ideal to see an improvement from Microsoft since all hype is about the apps.Will the Windows Mobile Phone users be able to afford the new phones? Or will they have to wait in order to find out that the phone they were expecting to break records does not allow them the freedom fully explore all aspects?The competition is out there but delivering efficiently delivering to the customers. I am Windows Phone user and will expect more from WP7.
In my opinion I think it'll be both setting the bar high and playing catch-up at the same time. They're going to be playing catch-up in regaurds to features and APIs. However, I feel that the integration of all of their businesses into one platform can really be powerful if done right.
Xbox, zune, office, exchange, sharepoint, etc can be a deadly combination if done right.
You may notice how I keep adding that to the end "if done right". Because we don't have our hands on the finished product and they haven't had a chance to operate their app store the way that they are promising to. They have said that they are going to be a lot more transparent than Apple with approval.
I think that they have already demonstrated their desire to court developers so I'm not thinking that there will be an issue with a lack of applications. Sure, there won't be the 100,000+ of Android or the 200,000+ of iOS but there's going to be enough to launch the product.
As for the Mac vs PC war, I think Microsoft has all but won that but there is the issue of the "halo" affect. By putting out consistant hits with iProducts Apple has the chance of luring people away with Windows to their platform and I feel that Microsoft needs to step up their game in the consumer electronics field or when the kids that are obsessed with their iDevices grow up it could have an impact on their grip on the desktop OS market.
Bengal34 said:
In my opinion I think it'll be both setting the bar high and playing catch-up at the same time. They're going to be playing catch-up in regaurds to features and APIs. However, I feel that the integration of all of their businesses into one platform can really be powerful if done right.
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Exactly. It's already raised the bar in some areas - Apple is introducing its Game Center and adds Ping to iTunes, for example. Google is talking about improving the UI to make OEM shells unnecessary.
Yet in terms of features MS has a long road ahead.
WP7 has already set a higher bar. Apple went ahead and copied Xbox live and Zune Social. Created games center and ping.
powersquad said:
WP7 has already set a higher bar. Apple went ahead and copied Xbox live and Zune Social. Created games center and ping.
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Same thing I was thinking.
Hey all,
We went to the Yetizen "Android-i-fied" event and learned a ton about building games on Android, but if you happened to miss it, then we did a quick write up of what we learned. We put it below because we hoped that it would help you guys
Now, on to the event!
Charles Hudson kicked off the talk with some choice words:
ANDROID IS HARD!
Charles Hudson was not shy about his experiences building on the Android platform with his game studio, Bionic Panda Games. There was little sugar-coating of the six major challenges that Android developers face, especially when compared to iOS. He did have great suggestions for tackling each one, which we wanted to pass on to you. His six tips are below:
1. Fragmentation
Problem: Unlike the iPhone, there are many types of Android devices, which leads to OS fragmentation, varying screen size and resolutions, and types of hardware. This means that the user experience can vastly differ from user to user. Also, developers can drown themselves in work trying to make their game compatible with everything.
Solution: Charles suggests that you test your game on multiple devices to make sure the user experience can consistent across a sea of devices. He said that he bought old, “well loved” Android phones from resellers to cheaply test his game on each type of hardware. As for OS, if you need to draw a line in the sand and not supporting older OS versions to provide a consistent experience, then do so. According to Ngmoco, which spoke later in the evening, 94% of Android gamers are on 2.1 or above, so you won’t miss many customers by cutting out the troublesome 1.6 and 1.7 versions.
2. Development & Testing
Problem: Because it is so easy to launch new applications and versions on Android - you are essentially just one button away from pushing new versions - developers can sometimes get trigger happy. This can overwhelm users and stop them from updating your game.
Solution: Android users typically don’t update their apps as often as iOS users, so Charles recommended a minimum period of one week between app updates, excepting urgent bug fixes of course. And as we mentioned before, you should test your game on each major type of phone and supported OS version before an update goes live. This can prevent unforseen hiccups and help you avoid those urgent bug fixes.
3. Metrics
Problem: Developers are typically flying totally blind when it comes to the way that users are interacting with their app, especially on Android.
Solution: Look into integrating with an analytics platform that fits your budget. Google Analytics is free, but can be a trickier integration as it isn’t built for mobile. If you are looking for an easier and more mobile-friendly solution, there are mobile game analytics platforms that may be worth the cost such as Flurry and Localytics.
4. Platform Wars
Problem: 23% of all smartphone customers are on iOS devices, and conventional wisdom states that iOS users are more likely to pay for apps and complete in-app purchases than their Android counterparts.
Solution: To paraphrase Charles Hudson, “it is better to build a great game on one platform instead of a mediocre game on two platforms.” Each platform has different capabilities, so focus your resources in building an awesome game on one platform before you worry about iOS. Bionic Panda is an Android only game studio, so Charles clearly practices what he preaches.
5. Distribution & Discovery
Problem: Discoverability on Android depends less on category ranking compared to iOS, and getting Featured on the Android Market is just as difficult as it is on the Apple App Store. Also, Android does not have a united social graph like Facebook or Apple’s Game Center, so it is hard to lean on viral mechanics to acquire users.
Solution: There tends to be higher search activity on Android (as Charles pointed out, “it is Google product”), so make sure your app description is accurate and hits all of the important keywords that users would use to search for a game like yours. Also, he could not stress enough the importance of having a well-designed app icon that draws users in. This icon and your app title are often all the user sees before making his decision to download, so use that space wisely! Also, fortunately for Android developers, Android still allows incentivized installs, so jump on the ad networks such as Tapjoy and Admob to help capture your seed group of users. Assuming you’ve made a compelling app, once you get the seed group of users you should be off and running.
6. Monetization
Problem: It is conventional wisdom that iOS games typically generate more revenue when compared to Android games. Part of the story behind this is that in-app purchases on iOS is much easier than the severely fragmented Android payments.
Solution: Count on an eventual consolidation of payment methods on Android, and Google Payments is a good default because they will always be around. The key with monetization is to provide compelling reasons for users to buy in, and then they will find ways to do so, regardless of the difficulty.
While use of mobile technologies has potential to transform business, making it possible for an organization to be more agile in serving its customers, it can also disrupt IT. The new generation of employees expects complete freedom to use mobile devices, regardless of whether they are company-owned or employee-owned. most IT departments are struggling to define and implement a bring-your-own-device (BYoD) strategy. To a large extent, they still use the old command-and-control model of Windows-based device management, trying to dictate what devices employees can use and how they can use them. But the old model doesn’t work anymore. not only are new devices flooding the workplace, but today’s mobile devices bring a variety of new operating systems, such as ios and Android, and many applications to contend with.
I must say it's an interesting whitepaper that discusses much more than this so I would like to share it with you !
Downloaded it from : bit.ly/yhmWAW
Microsoft is trying to pitch the Windows 8 to business phone users and ability to control and deploy them via their SCCM (SMS), however the popularity of Win 8 and windows phones are horrible to say the least, if Microsoft really wants to turn the tables around, they will need to start giving away Free Windows 8 phones to corporate enterprises, along with their "free" license of SCCM which businesses already gets included when they buy Microsoft license packs.
Blackberry have been the leader on this field all these years due their easy to use Admin Centre and mail server piggy back, hands down there's no real competition yet to kick them out of the king's throne in this area
Android offer the most extensive control, but require geek like us to do it for them (and some business will find this as a hindrance as they need to hire specialized people to do the job), there's no central control system in place, but it's relatively easy to build, reason why Lenovo is jumping into the Android bandwagon with all their new tablets and phones devices running on Android, as IBM + Lenovo they always take care of the Corporate enterprises for other companies, basically they are in the right spot at the right time, if all goes well Blackberry is going to lose its crown
End users choice will always be the iDrones, however it's the device with the least control by third party, and the one that is the most popular among end users.
HP tried hard with their WebOS, but failed miserably at trying to reproduce the success of its predecessor PalmOS in the business world.
... All that being said....
If work places are to allow people to BYOD then it means the IT team will need to have a GPO set to roll out to any new Windows phones that joins the SCCM system, also will require BlackBerry users to join to the new Domain (which is relatively easy as most updated BB phones are already ready for both personal + business mails and settings lockups), will need a new Android specialist, to either load customized ROMs or some alternative with a custom App that must be installed in their phones and let IT department control the phone, and Ban the iDrones from the workplace; clearly it's meant as an entertainment device instead of an enterprise ready phone
AllGamer said:
and Ban the iDrones from the workplace; clearly it's meant as an entertainment device instead of an enterprise ready phone
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Not true. Also not sure if you're being sarcastic. I rep Android to death (ANDRIZZLE). But seriously I work at an Apple Specialist store and with all the courses I had to take to become proficient here I've realized that Apple is trying very hard to push iPhones and iPads into businesses. They actually fit quite nicely with simple to use MDM controls and separate custom profiles for IT to set up for the end user.
Honestly, I think Android is the worst OS to bring into the business world, unless someone can come up with a RedHat for Android. And by that I mean a stable uniformed release for mass consumption. There's too much control to be had over the device by the end user no matter what IT sets up for it to be uniformed across a company like they would need it to be.
Blackberry are the Kings of business mobile right now. They will be until somehow steps up and makes a serious effort to point their whole company in the direction of business. But seeing as how that's only a small percentage of what they actually could have nobody will probably do that. It works well for blackberry because they've already realized that they aren't getting any more popular with the kids and have been able to focus on the strategies of effective business management capabilities being built into a phone.
That's my 2 cents there.
Hello guys!
I am new to this world completely! So please forgive my naive questions if they sound as such.
I was having a debate with an instructor of mine about iOS vs Android, and as I started criticizing Android for its fragmentation problem, my instructor started defending Android in that Android's latest move towards pushing an updated API to most of its user-base could very well negate the shortcomings of its firmware (OS) varieties. The main reason for this debate was me stating that if Apple decides to compete against google in advertising, it may reach almost all of its users through an 'unchallengeable' advantage as almost all of them run on the same OS, whereas if Android were to similarly display it ads on built-in apps as well as external apps provided by developers in Android's Appstore (ads provided by these two companies not developers, and pushed via developer-app by purchasing ad-space within their apps), Android wont be able to reach its users as iOS due to fragmentation. He ended up challenging me: if I find him a way in which iOS' firmware would create a barrier against Android's API, he'd give me 10 bonus points at the end of the semester, and if I fail, he'll cut 10 points from my final result!! Question, therefore, is: if these two giants decide to dog-fight in advertising, how could Apple exploit Android's fragmentation issue despite Android's API which could reach its old and new firmwares?
Kindly know that none of us are developers as we both specialize in business. We just happen to have huge interest in tech, especially in Apple vs Google, iOS vs Android!
Despite my lack of technical knowledge, I accepted the challenge because its sounds rather counter-intuitive, to me, that Android's API wouldn't be tackled if Apple decides to play dirty through its OS-unified (almost) user base. Why go through the hassle of overhauling the firmware if a simple fix as API could bridge the gap?!
A solution with very thorough explanation would be very much welcome and appreciated!
Thanks in advance.