Android App Store?

You've got to love a good rumor. The Register has an interesting piece (which was swiftly picked up around the world) about the hint of a future iPhone-style app store for Google's Android platform.

The story came from comments from Android project leader Andy Rubin, speaking at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

An app store from Apple (for iPhone) or from Google (for Android) seems like a smart way to go if you are trying to give an OS/platform the best start in life. In time it will be an interesting exercise to see if Apple can bring their trademark slickness and Google can apply their trademark simplicity/smartness to buying mobile apps.

What will sell the 3G iPhone?

MoCo News today posed the question: Can Apple (AAPL) hit its much-boasted 10 million 3G iPhone sales target in 2008? While the 3G iPhone isn’t due to hit the market until June 9th, there is already pressure on Apple for a 3G iPhone, for faster downloads. But will faster speed sell more iPhones now that a large number of people own them?

There is no doubt in my mind or anyone else’s that the iPhone has made a huge impact on the industry. And everyone from LG to Samsung have gotten haptics-happy on their new handset designs due to this—and we haven’t even gotten to their SDK roadmap.

I think that the original touch-screen design and interface combined with an iTunes-ready MP3 player are what made the iPhone such a huge hit with American consumers, not its internet capabilities. We have yet to see whether they’ll hit their goal by the end of this year, and whether faster downloading is the new iPhone selling point.

When will mobile internet browsing become pleasant?

News in today that Mountain View firm Skyfire has just landed a cool $13 million to expand its mobile web browsing software into more devices and territories. I wish them the best of luck, because I hope someone can make the mobile browsing experience as fluid as PC browsing.

It's an issue that is very much work-in-progress, I understand. There are too many devices, too many screen sizes, too many OSes, too many network technologies. However as a consumer, I just wish it would all come together quicker.

Sometimes, mobile browsing works beautifully... if you have downloaded a mobile RSS feedreader, which takes you to an optimized mobile internet site like the people at SMS Text News or Duct Tape Marketing have organized. It can be a fluid thing of beauty, as easy as PC browsing, though it usually requires the mobile wesite owners to put in the effort.

However if any single company can resolve it satisfactorily with a top-down approach, then they will have my money and loyalty.

AT&T back to basics

This article had me at “easy-to-use oversized buttons”. What a brilliant idea. I mean, to a lay person today’s mobile device can look extremely complicated and be somewhat intimating. Although the novice wireless population is low, they do exist and they are a potential customer. AT&T going back to the basics is showing the novice consumer that that they have not been forgotten. What a perfect gift idea for an older relative - mom, dad or a grandparent, who would like to have a mobile device that is easy to use. I would definitely buy my 75 year old aunt one of these!

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