OK, another end of week, another long list of links to news about mobile goings on from the past couple of days! Note the mid week blog about this has cut the size of this down ;-) That being said it is still rather long! And this comes out on Friday the 13th! Wey Hey!!RT @InsideNetwork A Facebook Location API Could Be Coming Soon http://bit.ly/ce5Qxv Don't hold your breath though! – the tech press were all excited about Facebook’s immanent launch of a Geolocation API in April. It didn’t eventuate. Allegedly it is more immanent now as there is some detail. Apparently it will be an API that will allow 3rd party applications to use Facebook for location services. This makes sense in the same way that social gaming makes sense on Facebook. Take advantage of an already existing developer base and open up further API’s for them to allow them to distribute their applications. I wonder if the existing darlings of the LBS space Gowalla and Foursquare would distribute via Facebook? I guess if one starts, the other would probably follow, unless bought by a bigger player themselves!
RT @IntoMobile Google holding mobile event August 12 - What Android goodness is on tap? http://bit.ly/cwYLAf - Cool a Google Mobile event! Will it be better than the Nokia mobile event last week? Am guessing yes! We should know by the end of the week, and by the time this Blog entry is posted ;-). So it seems that the annoncement was Voice Actions for Android 2.2 http://awe.sm/59IuV. Looks great. Cannot test at the moment though as HTC desire has not updated! Unfortunatly for Google on the same day of the announcement Oracle are suing them for JAva in Android!
Fast follow on twitter using SMS. SMS is not dead yet if 50% of mobiles don't have browsers http://awe.sm/59FV1 - I posted a story here about mobile browsers being available on 60% of devices in 5 years time. To me this screams that SMS is not a dead medium. Happy to say that in twitter, in the US, agree with me. When it started Twitter was massively into the SMS use case. In the US this is easy as they are free to send and the receiver of the SMS pays. In other countries it is much harder as the sender pays! Precisely the reason why getting twitter updates via SMS vanished in these regions. Happy to say that most carriers in the UK seem to cover the costs of twitter via SMS now. Note I say MOST and NOT ALL! I wonder if this service will be added to carriers that provide free SMS messaging for twitter? It’s a great use case as you don’t need to be a twitter user to use it and it is another example of adding a further distribution mechanisms to non believers. Who knows if the non-users like receiving the tweets there is a great chance that they will become users. A great way for companies to interact with Customers as well, should they wish to take advantage of this feature.
Neer - a check in service, for those that want to share but are concerned by distributing their location to all http://awe.sm/59FVR - there is a lot of fear with using check in services. It is very easy to track people who use them to know exactly where they are. Of course this can be used for purposes other than trying to meet your friends. For instance should I want to break into someone else’s house a good time to do it might be when they are a considerable distance away. Note I don’t want to do this. Neer seems to take this fear away though as it only exposes your where abouts to those that you explicitly allow to share this detail with. Privacy is obviously a massive concern with these services. I think additional privacy controls will make there way into more and more of these applications. Fingers crossed the privacy controls are not as confusing as Facebook’s ;-). I wonder if these applications ever partner with mobile network operators and have to implement seriously strict privacy controls! I wonder if these types of applications, without strict privacy controls, will ever gain popular traction in countries like Germany?
RT @feebeyer Are there too many mobile platforms? > standardisation is on its way, http://is.gd/ebYcL (via @bobegan ) - There clearly are too many mobile platforms. But the strongest will survive and the weakest won’t. It is interesting to see that although standardisation is mentioned in this article it is not referring to initiatives like WAC, the carrier and OEM’s attempt to standardise. Instead it mentions the defacto standards that are being created by popular support of technology, i.e. screen size and capacitive screens. These are standards created by the fact tat OEM’s see what is popular and mimic (it’s such a nicer term than copy) it. And why not? So to compete in an already crowded marketplace try to make your handset as close a spec to the popular ones as possible. In my view the more people in the game the better, but I think a load are going to be left behind on the way. It’s inevitable.
Why Games Are the Killer App for Social Networks - http://mash.to/2nXkb so platform, content, distribution -> so simple! ;-) – I love articles like these. They make scaling into a massive online presence sound so easy! Think they forget to mention being in the right time at the right place and having good people to deliver when you are in the right place at the right time! Simply having the idea is not enough if you don’t have the folks to work with you to deliver it. Of course having a great idea and being able to turn it into killer content also helps ;-)
RT @feebeyer Developing a Creative Work Culture - "the largest leadership challenge" http://rww.tw/bU6KJS - for me there are a lot of wise words in this rather small article. One that holds true I think is “The quickest way to kill creativity is to put people in roles that don't excite their imagination.” Also “Meaningful work that we feel is making a positive contribution can keep people motivated, not just so we "perform better," but so that we can offer innovative solutions we really care about enacting”. Yeah sure it’s a self help book but I think they are valid points. Think I might ‘borrow’ them and write a self help book that you can buy at an airport soon ;-)
Facebook - another distribution means for Check In services? http://awe.sm/59Fim Another rumour about FB geolocation services – more fuel to the impending Facebook Geolocation API. There is a lot of fuel about at the moment! Let’s see how impending it actually is though! Again this refers to the fact that it will be API’s that 3rd parties can use to create innovative applications with. Facebook benefits as they get other folks working for them. The 3rd party developers benefit thanks to the massive distribution available on Facebook and Facebook users benefit through continual innovation of services they can access. Like The Hot Chocolate song ‘Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth’. Could impact folks that don’t embrace the platform though? Still if you do developers might getting a bigger slice of internet users using their services. At least more than the 4% of mobile internet users that currently know about them ;-) Might this become the mainstreaming of check in services?
RT @theunwired CLIMB-DOWN: Vodafone removes 360 Services from its Android 2.2 Upgrade for the HTC Desire http://goo.gl/fb/2piWY - Yay! The actual Vodafone upgrade for the HTC Desire to Froyo will be the HTC build of Froyo and not be polluted! Other carriers please note ;-). Good to see that Customer complaints have driven action at Voda. Well done Voda for listening and sorting it out. A little wierd that you would time a crappy Android 2.1 update though when people have been gagging for 2.2. Did you really think that no-one would see it? Wierd planning decision that one!
RT @BBCClick Finally the full browsing experience on a mass produced mobile! http://bit.ly/bK6XK1 Simple example of what it's all about - I like the simplicity of BBC Click. It takes the tech news and provides a really simple interface onto it such that non techie folks can see what all the whoo haa is about. I seem to only catch the show on TV when I am travelling when BBC News 24 is the only thing available in English! Also sometimes on a Saturday morning, but it is a good show. This story shows exactly what the Android Froyo and Apple iPhone 4.0 debate is about in simple to view video. Well simple to view on a Froyo device but unfortunatly not simple to view on an iPhone. Probably enough said I guess! If you want access to the internet you have on your PC on your phone, then probably head in the direction of Android Froyo ;-)
RT @mashable HOW TO: Get Tweetable Moments from Your Presentations - http://mash.to/2oxGt - evrythg must be 140 char or less - I love the fact that marketeers are thinking about how to engage the consumers of their presentations and how to use twitter as a distribution mechanism. Not that there is any real need to show it, but it demonstrates (not everywhere) that in many countires twitter has become so mainstream it is worth hijacking as a distribution method! Although this has been known for ages, (and I have been trying to force feed down certain individuals throats ;-) ) this is the first time I have seen a self help guide about getting people to tweet your ideas on your behalf. Aint no-one tweeting this blog entry at way too many characters over 140!! Maybe '@murray_fortescue is forcing more drivvel my way #reallylongblogs' ;-)
I have been using my iPhone too long! Good to get back to the very cool apps that Google make for Android http://awe.sm/59HH6 - This story is about the Android app Gesture Search which has probably been around for ages. I have been using an iPhone for a while now and this one missed me on Android. The update to this version of gesture search lets you flip your phone to get into the app, so you don't have to click the icon in the homescreen to get access. You then write letters on the screen and it does an on device search for you of all of the content on your handset. I love it's simplicity and the preciseness of the handwriting recognition. It gives you really quick access to content on your handset as opposed to fumbling around different menus hunting for stuff. It got me thinking though, and I think this might be a story for another blog, but I love companies who demonstrate how to use their enabling technology. In this sense Google make really innovative applications for Android. Do Apple do the same? From Google - Gesture Search, Maps, Search by voice, sky map, translate, goggles, navigation etc... I am a firm believer that if you are not going to use your enabling technology then why would anyone else want to use it?
Nayway thats it for the past few days. I am off like a bag of prawns in the sun. See you later!
Have fun!
m
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