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Tag: android

  • Paid Apps Imminent For Android Market


    Google’s Android Market is expected to begin accepting paid applications this week for the first time.

    The move could provide a much-needed boost to the platform, which currently has around 800 applications.

    This is far below what Apple’s App Store had achieved in its early months. Incidentally, the App Store has just passed the 20,000 mark for apps, with over 500 million downloads.

    While Android Market’s position can partly be attributed to the G1 not being as popular as the iPhone, that’s not the whole story.

    Another key element could be the fact developers haven’t been getting paid to come up with shiny new apps for Android.

    With the incentive of remuneration thrown in, the desite to create software for the G1 and soon-to-be launched handset additions to the Android platform is likely to be much stronger.

    Interestingly, Google is deviating from Apple’s revenue model in that it receives nothing from the downloading of paid apps.

    Both app stores will give developers 70 per cent of the revenue, but whereas Apple pockets the other 30 per cent Google is passing it on to the carriers and to pay settlement fees.

    Anything that gets the Andoid Market rolling has to be welcome, expecially as others – including RIM, Microsoft and Palm – are expected to launch their own app stores very soon.

  • ARCHOS Offers Android-powered HD Media-playing Smartphone


    ARCHOS, the company that "invented the PMP", is to bring out a touchscreen smartphone based on the Android operating system.

    The new ultra-thin Internet Media Tablet (IMT) will allow playback of HD video while offline.

    It is similar to the ARCHOS 5 media tablet – with the big differences being that it will have voice support and deliver "PC-like" performance.

    ARCHOS is to use Texas Instrument’s OMAP 3 platform, which will allow the processor to use less power without affecting performance.

    The IMT will be ready in Q3 of this year.

    ARCHOS is expected to give more details about the device at next week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    But a statement from the company did say that it was "looking to expand beyond portable media players to provide solutions for the converged space, where a foundation in high-quality video content delivery is a benefit".

    "ARCHOS is marrying its rich digital media history with voice functionality to tackle new markets," said the company.

    Some core features of this smartphone include:

    • 5-inch touchscreen
    • Adobe Flash and Flash Video support
    • unrestricted access to TV, movies, music
    • games
    • photos
    • TV recording and HD playback
    • 500GB storage
    • 7 hour video playback battery life
    • runs on a 3.5G 7.2Mb/s HSUPA.

    ARCHOS released the first pocket-sized HD-based MP3 player with the Jukebox 6000 in 2000.

    The company claims to have invented the portable media player in 2003 and was the first to bring television recording, wireless and touch screens to PMPs.

  • AdMob Strengthens Position With $ 12.5m Funding


    The mobile ad network AdMob has raised USD $12.5 million in a further round of venture funding.

    The new investment is its third round of funding, which now totals USD $28.2 million.

    Chief executive Omar Hamoui said the new funds will be used to make investments to ensure AdMob comes out of this "challenging economic environment" in a strong position.

    The San Mateo, California-based company has made a number of announcements recently.

    These include offering, first iPhone-customized ads and metrics, and then earlier this week a similar service for Google’s Android smartphone.

    The new funding comes from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

  • Android App Developers Get AdMob Option


    AdMob has announced that it has launched its first advertising unit for Android applications.

    The move by the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace will give developers an option for monetizing their applications on the open source device platform.

    The first developers to leverage AdMob’s new Android ad unit in their applications include AccuWeather, Jirbo, and TapJoy.

    AdMob’s presence will add another dimension to Google’s Android Market.

    While it now has more than 800 applications, that figure is dwarfed by Apple’s App Store, which has more than 15,000 apps.

    One reason for the gulf – aside from the fact Android only launched three months ago – is that Apple has the ability to offer paid apps.

    So the flood of developers rushing to the platform following the launch of T-Mobile’s G1 last October never happened.

    This is despite Google being seen as far less restrictive with regard to what apps could be created for Android.

    Android Market’s lack of a payment system is one reason.

    AdMob’s new Android ad unit will also allow brand and performance advertisers to reach consumers engaging with applications on their Android device.

    Advertisers will be able to use these ad units to drive customer actions such as going to the Android Market to download an application.

    AdMob already serves ads on mobile Web sites on the Android platform and received more than 27 million requests in December 2008.

    Building on the initial success of the G1 device, several new devices expected to come to market in 2009.

    More than 6,000 mobile sites and 450 iPhone applications are a part of AdMob’s publisher network worldwide.

  • Truphone Anywhere Launches on Android G1


    Truphone has announced its Truphone Anywhere application is now available for Android-enabled mobile handsets.

    The offering coincides with T-Mobile’s announcement earlier this week that the G1 mobile phone is be rolled out into various continental European markets.

    A German version of Truphone Anywhere for Android is being made available and will be the first native language multi-communications application in the Android Market in Germany and Austria when it launches at CeBIT in March.

    The application is available now as a download on the Android Market in the UK and the US.

    The company says Truphone Anywhere for Android delivers an all-in-one conversations hub that offers customers low international call rates, in addition to the cost of a local call.

    Truphone customers can also Instant Message their friends across a variety of networks including MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Twitter from within one Android application.

    Users can acces Google Talk for the price of a local call, and similarly will soon will be able to Instant Message and call their friends on Skype.

    The launch means that Truphone is now available on Android, the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod touch, Blackberry and Nokia devices.

  • T-Mobile to take G1 into continental Europe


    Various countries on the European continent are in line to get the HTC G1 following its October launch in the UK and US.

    T-Mobile is continuing the roll-out of the handset – the first to run Google’s Android operating system – with a launch in Germany on 2 February.

    That follows the arrival of the touchscreen device in the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Austria before the end of 30 January.

    It will also hit Poland sometime in February.

    T-Mobile chief executive Hamid Akhavan said the G1 had sold "several hundred thousand" units in the US, where it retails for USD $179 with a two-year contract.

    In Germany the phone will sell from USD €1 on a two-year contract.

    The Android operating system is expected to appear on a number of smartphones in the next 12 months, having won support from major manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Huawei and Motorola.

  • Skydeck Syncs Mobiles' Calls, Contacts, and Voicemails With Web Browers


    Skydeck has launched a feature-packed beta that syncs what takes place on cell phones to a web page.

    The mobile startup’s offering lists all contacts, received calls, missed calls, voicemails and text messages.

    So much so that the company is calling the new Skydeck "your cell phone, online".

    Previously, Skydeck’s beta used mobile phone bills to display real social network based on numbers called the most.

    Now users can listen to voicemails from their browsers or read a transcribed version of each voicemail (via SpinVox).

    The online service also allows users to search all voicemails and text messages.

    Replies to messages can be sent from a browser, with all the calls appearing to come from the user’s cell phone number.

    It functions best on Blackberry and Android phones with full support for Windows Mobile coming soon, but most of the features work on nearly any handset.

    Currently only available in the US, the service costs from USD $9.95 a month, with calls through a PC costing USD $0.03 a minute, plus USD $0.20 for each transcribed voicemail.

    For USD $29.95 a month users get unlimited PC phone calls and transcriptions.

  • MyGlobalTalk Adds Symbian And Android – Apple Next?


    i2Telecom has announced that its MyGlobalTalk service is now available for the Symbian S60 operating system.

    The service has just been approved for inclusion on Android’s Marketplace and has been submitted for approval on the iPhone App Store.

    The US company’s MyGlobalTalk is an advanced mobile VoIP application that targets the wireless handset market.

    Symbian is used in mobile phone devices built by Nokia, Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers.

    Paul Arena, i2Telecom’s chairman and CEO, said MyGlobalTalk will provide Symbian customers with a first-rate calling experience at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-distance calls.

    "We are pleased with initial sign-up rates for the application, and we are offering 20 minutes of free calling for new MyGlobalTalk customers that download the application from the MOSH website," he said.

    MyGlobalTalk is internally developed patent-pending mobile VoIP technology.

    Approval to Apple’s iPhone App Store would be a major step for i2Telecom if the sales success of other third-party apps is anything to go by.

  • Choice of VoIP iPhone Apps Growing


    The options for VoIP calling on the iPhone are expected to continue expanding with both Skype and Truphone expected to join a growing list of VoIP apps for the Apple handset.

    Truphone already provides an app for the iPhone which enables users to make low-priced international calls via the GSM network even when the smartphone is not connected to the Wi-Fi network.

    But the company announced at the recent Macworld 2009 that callers will soon be able to use Truphone to make and receive Skype calls and instant message.

    Not to be left out, Skype itself announced at CES that it is also developing a native client for the iPhone.

    The subsidiary of eBay said that a version of its Internet calling and instant-messaging software is available for Google’s Android cell phone platform as a free download – and an iPhone Skype program is expected shortly.

    Fring also has an app that you make Skype calls using the iPhone.

    Keep them coming?

  • G2 Software Issues Delay Launch


    There has been plenty of speculation that the launch of the next Google Android-powered handset is just days away.

    That appears to be premature according to BGR, which claims the launch has in fact been delayed until April due to "software issues".

    Among the other unconfirmed details gleaned are that the T-Mobile G2 will actually launch on another global carrier as well.

    Since the "G" names are trademarks of T-Mobile the other carrier will use its own name for the device.

    BGR also reports that the new handset will be full touch without a physical QWERTY keyboard and will have a trackball at the bottom.