Welcome to issue three of this weekly post. I’m hoping to develop the format a little further in the next couple posts.
The rise of Near Field Communication (NFC)
Some of the more exciting tech that was shown at the Mobile World Congress this year was in the vein of near field communication (NFC). The prospects of near field communication are quite profound – essentially the ability to use your phone to transfer data through near contact. Like RFID, NFC would allow you to pay at a point of sale, or transfer contact information for example. One of the large differences between RFID and NFC is security: NFC was built specifically to be more secure. Read more on CNET.
The new subscription model
Over the past week or so both Apple and Google released subscription models for their app stores, drawing a straight line from publisher and consumer. There are some key differences between the two:
Apple’s model allows publishers to set the price and recurrence, and all payment is handled by the iTunes store limiting those purchases to strictly Apple devices (surprise). The Google One Pass is a lot less limited – not only do they only take 10%, but they also allow their One Pass system to work across various platforms such as web, tablet, and smartphones. Google’s subscription system is smarter too allowing for metered billing and single content billings.
HP WEBOS
Introducing the Pre 3
What chances does yet another OS have in the evermore saturated world of mobile? Apple, Google, and RIM in the forefront, Microsoft training to win ground, and now HP rekindling the WebOS software it acquired with Palm. Is it worth it? I know one person in the CM Calgary building that might say yes. Anything can happen, there is no clear winner yet.
Palm may be dead, but their Pre is back, and so is WebOS. Personally I like the simplicity of WebOS. The ‘card’ based system makes it easy to multitask, and a simple flick will close an app. It’s clean and easy to understand. The obvious downside to WebOS are the apps available: a whopping 8000.
The hardware itself is said to be massive. The 3.6″ screen AND slide out keyboard make it a handfull, but for some they’ll be glad to still have the physical keyboard. Have a look at this hands-on video for a walkthrough.
GOOGLE ANDROID
Google introduces the App Inventor Beta
Dream of developing apps for your Android, but have no frakking clue on how? Check out App Inventor. Think of it as a WYSIWYG for app development: sure it won’t make the prettiest or most efficiently coded apps, but it’ll let you knock out a prototype. Pretty rad.
Android app store sees 861.5% growth… from 1.3% market share
So what’s 861.5% growth on 1.3% market share? 4.7%. Numbers can be deceiving as it’s a long way up to the 82.7% currently held by Apple, but if Google can maintain this rate of growth, Apple better watch out.
APPLE iOS
March 2nd is what you may have been waiting for
Been holding off? Pay attention March 2nd as it’s speculated to be the release of iPad 2.
WINDOWS PHONE 7
Update is not boding well for Samsung owners
Microsoft’s update for its mobile OS has caused some of their phone line up to self-destruct on install. The problem is an error message that fails on the phone and doesn’t allow for rolling back to the previous version of the OS. Generally the bricking of your user base’s phones en mass is not the best idea, especially when you are trying to penetrate the market.
RIM BLACKBERRY
Your MP is tweeting is eating a ham sandwich
One thing that Blackberry is loved for in IT groups in all forms of business is it’s ability to be locked down and controlled closely by a governance body. This means users of these phones often don’t have access to the on-board cameras, ability to install applications, and access to some high level settings. The Canadian Government has made what might be considered a large step for a government body of its size: it’s now allowing Facebook and Twitter apps to be installed on member of parliament Blackberry hardware.
FIN
