We had a question posed to us this afternoon by reader Benjamin Lethbridge who asks:

What do you hear to be the best Android Twitter client?

I actually quite enjoy the plain vanilla official Twitter client — I thought it would be interesting to see what people suggest.

What do you use?

I came across Samsung’s latest promotion — Samsung Stage — this morning. It’s to promote their mobile devices, more specifically, of course, their rather gorgeous Galaxy SII.

I’m on record as saying I’m not a big fan of the SII battery, however I’d like to clarify that the rest of the device is gorgeous. You can’t avoid admiring how slim it is, or the multimedia capabilities.

The competition is neatly described in this (sponsored) video:

If you’ve got a talented child — or, if you’ve got a particular talent yourself — then you’d be well advised to get stuck into the Samsung Stage competition as you could win $25k. To qualify, all you need to do is take a 2-minute video demonstrating your abilities and submit it. Doing so with a Galaxy SII should, I imagine, only enhance your chances.

All the details are at the Samsung Youtube site. There’s already quite a few entries.

It’s generally accepted that, on the aggregate, Android device sales will far outpace iOS sales year after year. However, there’s a dirty little secret about Android devices that most manufacturers are facing the return rate on some Android devices is between 30 and 40 percent, in comparison to the iPhone 4′s 1.7% return rate as of Antennagate in 2010.

:: snip ::

Right, and now the offending sentence:

However, on the ground, many return rates are approaching 40% said a person familiar with handset sales for multiple manufacturers.

via Android’s Dirty Secret: Shipping Numbers Are Strong But Returns Are 30-40% | TechCrunch.

Ooof. No wonder folk are going nuts — especially the burgeoning Android fan club.

I can see their point. John’s source is a little bit vague. I’d have been far more comfortable if he’d explained that the source was a high level executive working at a tier-1 US operator in the terminals division.

From what people tell me in Europe, Android return rates are slightly higher than feature phones but on par with other smartphones.

If the rate was anywhere near 30-40%, I can tell you unequivocally, there is no way operators would tolerate them in the channel. 5% return rate is seriously annoying. 20% return rate is a dramatic failure. 50% return means a whole department should be fired.

In fairness to John, he did use the word ‘some’ — as in ‘some Android devices’. I have no doubt that some Android phones, especially the first generation from some mid-tier manufacturers, were utterly rubbish. But all of the Android platform? No, I don’t think so.

My very good friend Ilana is recruiting for a Community Manager to help out with a company that produces a mobile payments app for the Android platform.

This is a super, *super* opportunity to get a leg-up into the 1.2 trillion dollar mobile industry for anyone who’s been working in the old, boring internet and eyeing up the exciting mobile industry eagerly.

The full details on the role are right here on Ilana’s site.

Here’s a sneak peak of the role requirements:

- A strong awareness and interest of Android, Android apps, and Android app development is essential.
- At least two years community management experience within a well-known company or agency.
- An effective communicator, you will have participated in online communities and be confident about speaking to entrepreneurs and app developers across all social media platforms.
- Good technical understanding of Android apps and phone operating systems.
- A team player with the confidence to act as the voice of our customers within the organization
- Editorial, marketing, PR and customer service knowledge or experience an advantage

And the important bit, how to apply:

Please send details of your experience with Android phones and apps, along with your CV to ilana.recruits@gmail.com. No agencies please. Please submit applications by August 5th 2011.

Every success!

A number of complainants reported to having received unsolicited chargeable text messages after downloading an Android application on their handset to extend the life of their phone battery. Users were signed up to a subscription service after downloading the application and the complainants reported to having had difficult in cancelling the service. The Tribunal found that users were misled into entering the subscription service, pricing information and contact information was not given and users were unable to leave the service by sending the ‘STOP’ command. The Tribunal also found that the promotion did not make it clear that the service was a subscription service, nor state the terms and conditions or advertise the ‘STOP’ command.mBlox Limited was given a formal reprimand, ordered to refund all affected consumers and fined £135,000

Posted via email from MIR Live

I’ve been using it this last week, and it’s not perfect, but not bad either. I was skeptical because of Google’s massive social fails in Buzz, Latitude, Wave and +1 (although to be fair +1 on its own is a fail, and starts to make sense in the greater context of Google+), but Google+ is at least usable in a way that the others weren’t.

Now let’s extrapolate out a little. Given that Google+ is usable, and that they give you notifications EVERY time you go to Google.com to search, let’s just say it’s going to be big. While it may not ever replace Facebook, it may be the Pepsi to its Coke. Now, Google already has a Google+ Android app (naturally), but they have also submitted an iOS app. I don’t think that it’s a huge leap of faith to assume that Google will start baking Google+ into future versions of Android at the OS level, so you don’t need to install a separate app.

Think about that for a second. Hundreds of millions of Android users will have a native social networking experience on their phones–their primary tool for communicating and socializing with friends. Mobile is key to the next generation of social networking, and Google potentially has a huge advantage.

Apple famously snubbed Facebook in favor of adding Twitter OS level integration in iOS 5, and as much as I love Twitter, it is a much more shallow social experience than Facebook or Google+. Picture sharing is done with links, photo-tagging is nonexistent, and conversations are disparate ping pong matches.

But once (if) Google+ gets traction and is on hundreds of millions of handsets at the OS level, I have a feeling that Apple and Facebook might kiss and make up really quickly. An Apple alliance with Facebook would make sense in the whole “enemy of my enemy is my friend” kind of way.

Whatever does happen down the road, Google+ is for real, and things are about to get interesting in the mobile social space.

Here is the video:

More from Jeb

I spotted a few tablets, some handsets and one or two other gizmos as she arranged them on the table.

As Director of Device Technology for T-Mobile USA, Kathy holds sway over the device choices of tens of millions of Americans. Indeed, given the fact the company tends to closely manage the end-to-end delivery of devices into customer hands (over 90% of customers use TMO-supplied and specified devices), she really is an influential figure in the marketplace.

You never know with senior executives in the mobile industry. There are a lot of pretenders in high-up positions which is why the industry often finds itself on the backfoot or entirely behind. There’s nothing worse than receiving a presentation from one of those hollow-eyed don’t-actually-care executives. Thankfully, Kathy’s passion for technology was clear to see. She most certainly knew her stuff and I think I’m right in saying, every journalist in the room was impressed with her candour, enthusiasm and knowledge.

“I’ll talk about these later on,” said Kathy, gesturing to the pile of devices as she plugged in her laptop and flipped up her slides.

Amongst other things, one of Kathy’s key projects back-in-the-day was the Google G1. Do you remember that? I do. What an exciting time that was.

She popped up a slide and immediately began discussing the challenges of working with such fluid technology. She obviously couldn’t talk in direct terms about the project, but she was able to give some numbers and describe — roughly — the process.

It was back in early 2008 that the concept of the G1 device was first muted to T-Mobile. Google was obviously heavily pushing the introduction of the device. HTC was the manufacturer, already known to T-Mobile. Qualcomm was going to take care of the chipsets. Ordinarily, getting such a new device on to market requires a nice long runway. Lots of serious people need to be given serious amounts of time to consider the implications, issues and logistics involved.

However, as Kathy began explaining, there wasn’t a lot of time to get the G1 out the door. It had to be ready for the 2008 ‘Holiday Season’. Which means October 2008. Quite a challenge, especially when the lead partner — Google — is regularly changing entire facets of the platform during the planning. No one had any experience with Android at all — which must have been slightly unsettling for an organisation like a mobile operator, accustomed to operating in a certain and predictable manner.

However T-Mobile put a substantial amount of resource in place to make sure that the G1 Android project got everything it needed to succeed.

And succeed it did. Rather dramatically. Kathy points out that Qualcomm’s “hugely stabilising influence [during the project],” helped make the process easier. I assume this may well be down to Qualcomm insisting upon and delivering some fixed design standards or fixed reference designs, making the planning of basic (but important) features easy, whilst Google danced with all manner of UI and OS-level updates.

When the G1 came to market, it was T-Mobile USA’s fastest and most popular selling device. Kathy pointed out that the record has since been eclipsed by other devices, however she was able to give some figures.

How many folk do you think pre-ordered the G1 in the United States?

111,997 units.

That’s pretty remarkable.

If you need any indication as to the strength and popularity of Android in the United States, that figure alone is illuminating.

T-Mobile went on to sell 300,000 units of the G1 in the first week of launch. Shocking.

I’m not sure when the decision was made, but at some point after this launch, T-Mobile USA began to focus almost exclusively on Android devices.

Kathy then discussed the follow-up to the G1 was the HTC Magic (rebranded by T-Mobile as the “myTouch” in early 2009.

Then a year later in 2010, the T-Mobile myTouch 4G hit the market as the first device to offer data speeds of up to 14.4Mbps and the first device to offer on-network video-chat capabilities (to answer Apple’s newly introduced FaceTime service).

For 2011, Kathy highlighted some new product innovations recently launched by T-Mobile:
- 42Mbps USB stick. I kid ye not. In supported areas, you can use one of these to get some phenomenal download speeds.
- MiFi — yes, finally! T-Mobile has gone MiFi (with the unit itself available on a prepaid basis for just over $100)
- LG Slate Tablet or the ‘G-Slate‘ (at first glance rather similar to the Motorola XOOM)

In terms of 2011 priorities, Kathy pointed out that T-Mobile is working toward 4G network leadership. I did smile quietly at this — wondering how accurate a statement this could be.

Rather accurate, as it happens.

Kathy hinted that there ‘may well’ be a 42Mbps-capable mobile handset hitting the T-Mobile catalogue toward the end of this year — for the Holiday Season? She pointed out that after having upgraded many parts of the network to 42Mbps HSPA+ and launching other devices such as the USB stick, a handset would be a natural next step.

But 42Mbps? What is anyone going to do with that?

“Use it,” exclaimed Kathy, “For whatever you want to!”

“Tablets and devices are really changing the way we live work and play. So much so that we’ll probably see more than one tablet per household, one for home, one for taking out.”

One of the journalists at the front of the conference room took exception to this statement. I rolled my eyes. I could see Kathy staring at him.

I’m paraphrasing, but the chap explained that he really liked his ultra-light laptop.

“Right, but next year, you’ll most probably be using a tablet, perhaps with a keyboard addition, to type faster,” responded Kathy.

“No,” replied the journalist.

“Oh I don’t know about that,” said Kathy, “Come back next year and we’ll see who’s right.”

I smiled to myself. Kathy wasn’t finished.

“A year from now, there won’t be anyone in the room without a tablet.”

I’m sure there will still be hard headed journalists who really like their laptops. But I think the prediction Kathy was trying to make was that tablets are about to become absolutely ubiquitous. By all accounts they’re already eating into PC sales and with downward price pressure from competition and from innovation, I think Kathy’s entirely right.

Once you’ve got the tablet though, you’ll want it connected.

Kathy was particularly unimpressed with a chap in the audience — another journalist — who was using a PlayBook to take notes. Her problem? The chap’s PlayBook had no built-in connectivity (his was the WiFi-only version).

And speaking of connectivity, that’s where things got interesting from a network viewpoint. Kathy flipped up a slide documenting the company’s release of HSPA/HSPA+/Adanced technologies.

T-Mobile has heavily invested in the HSPA+ standard to the point that by the end of the year and into early 2012, Kathy predicts we’ll soon be seeing 84Mbps connectivity in many areas, followed by 168Mbps and then a whopping 672Mbps by 2013.

You’ll need some mighty backhaul to make sense of any of those speeds. Which is why, Kathy explained, that T-Mobile typically operates a fibre-optic backhaul network.

What about LTE?

“HSPA+ is definitely hear to stay,” said Kathy.

“We can give the consumer everything they need with fibre backhaul and HSPA+ — for a much lower cost. This is why it’s got a very long ramp [toward 672Mbps]. LTE will arrive but it’s going to be a small portion of the market for a long time. I expect other carriers to jump on to HSPA+ after they’ve seen what we’ve done with it.”

I don’t doubt it, especially with all the money that many Western carriers have invested in their initial HSPA roll-outs.

Here’s an incredibly burry shot of Kathy’s slide on HSPA+ evolution at T-Mobile (sorry abou the blur, I was sitting at the back and had to snap it quickly):

Kathy finished her presentation by looking at devices. T-Mobile has been pushing the sub $100 smartphone concept for their customers for a long time. The company’s strategy, focusing around Android, has been to ensure they can offer as many devices as possible around the magic $100 price level. Kathy explained that (taking into account a service plan agreement is necessary) it’s now eminently possible to pick up a fairly decent Android handset for under $100 up-front.

The strategy is working. In Q1 2011, T-Mobile’s smartphone sales rose 15% higher than in the last quarter.

The company has clearly got the Android message and is thoroughly pushing it. This year along they’re expecting to launch 25 4G handsets and tablets. Twenty-five!

As for the T-Mobile G-Slate from LG, Kathy had some interesting statistics to share there:

- 35% of tablet owners who also owned a desktop computer reported using their desktop less often or not at all
- 32% of those who also owned laptops said they used their laptop less often or never since acquiring a tablet

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr Laptop Fan.

Once Kathy finished her presentation, I decided to ask her a question about Nokia. The company has been in the media today after issuing an altogether unsurprising profits warning.

“Is Nokia dead,” I asked (referring to the legions of people on Twitter discussing the company today), “Or is the company just sleeping?”

Kathy did a good job of avoiding direct commentary on the matter, but did go on to explain that T-Mobile USA was surprised by the amount of latent demand for Symbian phones when they eventually worked with Nokia to supply handsets customised to T-Mobile’s 3G network frequences. (See the Nokia Astound)

What’s clear from Kathy’s presentation is that there’s little room for other platforms in T-Mobile’s current approach. There was no mention of Windows Phone or BlackBerry. Indeed, if you visit the company’s storefront on the web, there’s even a dedicated ‘All About Android‘ section.

I’m not sure if one of the other journalists posed the question but I do distinctly remember Kathy finishing her Q&A with this comment:

“If Nokia offered us an Android phone? Would we be out there buying it? I would say absolutely.”

Food for thought, especially for all those hoping Nokia chose Google’s Android over Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

On a related note, Kathy’s presentation resulted in at least one sale for the company: I’m going to go out tomorrow and see if I can get myself one of T-Mobile’s all new 4G MiFi units. At just $129 on a prepaid basis (plus some kind of data costs — I’m sure they’ll be reasonably competitive), it’s utterly ideal for regular visitors to the US like me.

Thank you to Qualcomm, T-Mobile and to Kathy Barnes for taking the time to come and talk to us today.

I’m doing a lot of filming over the next few days so standby for the videos!

Here I am in San Diego for Qualcomm’s Uplinq 2011 conference taking place this week. It’s looking like it’ll be a rather interesting event — with some notable highlights (schedule here), including the participation of Nokia’s Stephen Elop, HTC’s Peter Chou and HP’s Jon Rubenstein.

I’m looking forward to checking out:

- Qualcomm Labs (to see what interesting things they’ve got going on)
- Augmented Reality (this really impressed last year)
- HP / Nokia / HTC (the fact the bigwigs are here underline’s Qualcomm’s continued position at the very heart of the mobile marketplace)
- The Mobile Solutions Showcase (I’m aiming to film as much as I can)

Plus I’ve got a one-on-one with Enrico Salvatori — he’s Qualcomm’s Senior VP & President of Qualcomm QCT Europe. That’ll be on video so I’m looking forward to bringing you that.

In the meantime, here’s an audio overview of what I’m looking forward to seeing:

Shash Anand, Product Manager of MobiAssist at SOTI talks about Mobile Device Management. The award-winning tool of SOTI allows remote management of a wide variety of devices, such as BlackBerries, Windows Phones, Windows Desktops and Laptops, Android devices and iPhones.

Over to Shash:

Shash Anand, Product Manager of MobiAssist at SOTI talks about Mobile Device Management. The award-winning tool of SOTI allows remote management of a wide variety of devices, such as BlackBerries, Windows Phones, Windows Desktops and Laptops, Android devices and iPhones.

Over to Shash:

Thankfully Myriam did.

This is a video of the Android segment of the keynote. The RIM team did a live demonstration of Android applications working on the PlayBook. They were at pains to point out that they simply took the binaries and ‘played’ them using the PlayBook’s Android player feature. They didn’t have to do any recompiling.

Everything in the demonstration worked perfectly. To my mind, I was satisfied that Android apps work fine on the PlayBook. You can even find them on the PlayBook’s App World app store! I understand that the functionality will be made available at some point in the future. This is certainly sure to make things rather appealing for developers that have already put in a lot of work developing apps for Android tablets.

The PlayBook gestures have been mapped to the familiar Android controls that you expect — although one of the questions posed on Twitter was: Can Android apps access the PlayBook’s internal resources? (e.g. address book, photo library and so on). I will find out.

Meanwhile here’s Myriam’s video of the Android segment:

Now then, it’s not every day that you get to see leading mobile device blogger, Chris Davies, strapped into a rally car and thrown around a dirt track as he does his level best to unbox Samsung’s latest device.

The phone in question is the Samsung Galaxy SII running Android.

Some bright spark at (I presume) Samsung decided to ask Chris and the SlashGear TV team to do a bit of a different unboxing. Indeed, the sponsored video explanation email I got earlier reads:

Chris Davies from Slashgear.com unboxes the new Samsung GALAXY SII at top speed in a Rally Car

Heh. I admit I smiled broadly at the mere notion of Chris being on camera. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him appear in any of his unboxing videos apart from the odd limb or reflection — so it was a nice change to see him doing a Jeremy Clarkson.

I was looking forward to some pantwettingly delightful scenes as the car was thrown around the track by the rally driver, however I have to say, Chris did a brilliant job of keeping a straight face and ensuring the facts kept coming.

Here are two favourite quotes from the video:

“It’s also got TouchWiz — OH MY GOD — two-point-zero on it, with Samsung’s customised interface.”

“It’s got full access to the Android Market… WOW WE’RE GOING FAST…”

Super job Mr Davies!

It’s been long rumoured — but it’s now official: The PlayBook will run Android applications.

Anything written to support Android 2.3 will be compatible using the run-time environment included with the PlayBook. So if you’ve been really enjoying PicPlz or any other recently released Android application on your Nexus, Galaxy or HTC, it’ll work fine on your PlayBook.

Now there’s a possible exception: I need to see precisely how it works. I need to take a close look at the integration. You see, I’m expecting it to be seamless — like the iPad was with iPhone applications. Provided it’s ‘pretty-good’ or ‘excellent’, then that’s fine. If it’s flakey and a bit grimace-enducing, then the Western iMarket (i.e. the same media industrial complex that killed Nokia) will go to work on RIM.

The iMarket is already looking for holes. They’re already standing there with their arms crossed tapping their foot at RIM.

Provided Android support works nicely though, it’ll be good.

Being able to run the Android version of my favourite app/service will be good-enough for many. iOS is still leading the way in terms of new services but Android is very much front of mind for most concerned with mobile applications.

It’s not too far a stretch to see developers trying out their Android apps on the PlayBook and then choosing to write natively for the device (or via WebWorks-HTML5/Flash/AIR).

Broadly speaking, I think it’s an excellent move by RIM. I think their core market of enterprise companies will react positively to this news. I think the consumer will also like the message too.

Now then, let’s see just how well the PlayBook’s run-time performs with the average Android app?

Developers wanting to bring their new and existing apps to the highly anticipated BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet will soon have additional tools and options to enhance and expand their commercial opportunities. Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans to greatly expand the application ecosystem for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The BlackBerry PlayBook is scheduled to launch in the U.S. and Canada on April 19.

RIM will launch two optional “app players” that provide an application run-time environment for BlackBerry Java® apps and Android v2.3 apps. These new app players will allow users to download BlackBerry Java apps and Android apps from BlackBerry App World and run them on their BlackBerry PlayBook.

In addition, RIM will shortly release the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook enabling C/C++ application development on the BlackBerry® Tablet OS. For game-specific developers, RIM is also announcing that it has gained support from two leading game development tooling companies, allowing developers to use the cross-platform game engines from Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies to bring their games to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Support for BlackBerry Java and Android Apps

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform.”

Developers currently building for the BlackBerry or Android platforms will be able to quickly and easily port their apps to run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS thanks to a high degree of API compatibility.  The new optional app players will be available for download from BlackBerry App World and will be placed in a secure “sandbox” on the BlackBerry PlayBook where the BlackBerry Java or Android apps can be run.

Developers will simply repackage, code sign and submit their BlackBerry Java and Android apps to BlackBerry App World. Once approved, the apps will be distributed through BlackBerry App World, providing a new opportunity for many developers to reach BlackBerry PlayBook users.  Users will be able to download both the app players and the BlackBerry Java and Android apps from BlackBerry App World.

The BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry Tablet OS are built on the QNX® Neutrino® microkernel architecture with a 1GHz dual core processor and a leading OpenGL solution, which allows RIM to make this incredibly broad platform support possible.

BlackBerry PlayBook users and developers who are interested in seeing the new app players for BlackBerry Java and Android apps can see demos at BlackBerry World in Orlando, Florida (May 3 to 5, 2011) (www.blackberryworld.com).

BlackBerry Tablet OS Development Tools

The BlackBerry Tablet OS already supports an incredibly robust platform with support for Web development standard HTML5, through the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK for Tablet OS, and Adobe® AIR®, through the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR. The BlackBerry Tablet OS is built from the ground up to run WebKit and Adobe® Flash® as well, giving developers a fast and true Web experience to leverage.

RIM is also announcing today that the BlackBerry Tablet OS Native Development Kit (NDK), which is currently in limited alpha release, will go into open Beta by this summer and be demonstrated at BlackBerry World. The BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK will allow developers to build high-performance, multi-threaded, native C/C++ applications with industry standard GNU toolchains. Developers can create advanced 2D and 3D applications and special effects by leveraging programmable shaders available in hardware-accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0.

Other features of the BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK will allow developers to:

• Take advantage of the QNX POSIX library support and C/C++ compliance for quick and easy application porting and for creating native extensions for both BlackBerry and Android applications
• Easily integrate device events like gesture swipes and touch screen inputs
• Integrate the BlackBerry Tablet OS environment into existing code management and build systems using industry standard Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tools)
• Leverage work done in standard C/C++ to make it easier to bring applications to the BlackBerry Tablet OS
• Find and fix bugs quickly with provided debug and analysis tools

“The response to the BlackBerry PlayBook from the developer community has been exceptional. Our commitment to supporting HTML5 and Adobe AIR development has resonated and spurred developers to create fun and innovative applications for BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said David Yach, Chief Technology Officer, Software at Research In Motion. “The upcoming BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK beta will add C/C++ tools to our repertoire and gives developers one of the broadest and deepest platforms to develop on.”

Gaming Engines

Building on the power of the BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK, RIM is working with leading gaming and application development technology providers such as Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies to implement their native engines and application development platforms. Developers will be able to take advantage of these engines when building games and other applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The Ideaworks Labs Airplay SDK is expected to include support for the BlackBerry Tablet OS soon, making it easy for publishers and developers to use their existing code to bring their games and apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

“Supporting a new OS can be a challenge for developers,” says Alex Caccia, President of Ideaworks Labs, “however, integration of the BlackBerry Tablet OS with the Airplay SDK makes this a non-issue. We think this is a far-sighted move by RIM: the BlackBerry PlayBook is a great device for games and applications, and combining this with content distribution via BlackBerry App World brings an exciting new ecosystem for developers.”

RIM has also been working closely with Unity Technologies, providers of the highly popular, multi-platform Unity development platform and Union, the firm’s games distribution service.  Through Union, dozens of high-quality Unity-authored games are slated to make their way to BlackBerry App World for the BlackBerry Playbook.

“With a sharp focus on the multimedia experience, very powerful hardware, and fantastic games in the pipeline, the BlackBerry Playbook has all the right ingredients to be a mainstream hit,” said Brett Seyler, GM of Union at Unity Technologies. “Through Union, Unity developers have an opportunity to reach a new audience and grow with another great new platform.”

Availability

The new app players for the BlackBerry PlayBook are expected to be available from BlackBerry App World this summer. More information and demonstrations of the new app players will be shared at BlackBerry World. The BlackBerry Tablet OS NDK will be available in beta later this year and will also be showcased at BlackBerry World.

Useful Links

For more information on the BlackBerry Tablet OS and BlackBerry PlayBook developing, visit http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/

To see the BlackBerry Tablet OS in action running conceptual applications from The Astonishing Tribe, please visit http://www.youtube.com/blackberry#p/c/8D8C3A23664E6761/5/uH7NKhNyygw and http://www.youtube.com/blackberry#p/c/8D8C3A23664E6761/0/mWJG-sB7H4Y

For RIM insights into developing for the BlackBerry Platform, visit http://devblog.blackberry.com or follow @BlackBerryDev on Twitter.

Visit the BlackBerry Developer Zone at www.blackberry.com/developers for the latest news, information and updates for BlackBerry developers.
Visit the BlackBerry Developer Video Library at
www.blackberry.com/go/developervideolibrary to view a variety of instructional videos.
Sign up for the BlackBerry Developer Newsletter at
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/newsletter.jsp.

For the latest news and information about the BlackBerry Developer Conference visit www.blackberrydeveloperconference.com.

I did a quick podcast talking about the UK’s Metro newspaper frontpage this morning. It reads “Hacking alert on Google phones“. In the audio embed above, I argue that if the rest of the mainstream media picks up the story and runs with it, this could be very bad news for the Android platform in the consumer mindset.

This, of course, is assuming that the average consumer equates ‘Android’ with the handset brand they’re considering buying (e.g. HTC, Sony, Samsung). But then again, we all love a good scare story so one would imagine most readers will be studying today’s headline with interest to check if they’re at risk.

I’ve written and tweeted about the phenomenal work that Simon Maddox has done over the years. His name will be familiar to many mobile developers given that Simon was amongst the first in the United Kingdom to get stuck into the mobile development scene. His CV, therefore, reads like a Who’s Who in mobile.

He’s very much like a one-man A-Team, though. (If you can find him, and no one else can help, maybe you can hire The Maddox). He’s phenomenally busy as you might expect. Ever so often he drops me a note to let me know about his latest and greatest projects, many of which are tied up by extensive NDAs so I can’t ever write about his involvement.

Today’s post is a Q&A with Simon around the rather challenging discussion of paid-vs-free. Simon’s comments won’t be appropriate for every developer and for every situation, but I think a lot of readers will find some value in his experience.

Here’s what happened. Over the Festive Period, Simon decided to see what would happen if he charged for his super successful iPhone app, 0870 (iTunes URL). He announced this in a series of tweets that caught my eye. What would happen? Would the 700-800 a day downloads he’s been used to get each day dry up completely? Would he get more purchases? Or less? Would this revenue exceed the average monthly advertising revenue? I kept glued to my Maddox tweets. At the end of January he declared some news — so I dropped him some questions by email and he was good enough to reply.

Let’s get started. My words are in bold.

- – - – -

Simon, could you introduce yourself and give us a flavour of the kind of things you’ve been working on over the past few years?

I’ve been a freelance mobile developer, focusing primarily on iOS, for the past year and a half. I’ve had the privilege to work with some of the biggest and best clients in the world. Before that, I was the first developer at mobile book store GoSpoken.

Now, talk to us about 0870 — it was a runaway success in the context of mega-downloads and lots of money saved — tell us about the app. What does it do? What are the benefits? You released it first on iPhone?

The premise behind 0870 is fairly straightforward. Calling 08* numbers from your mobile can cost anywhere between 20p and 40p per minute. A lot of them have cheaper (as in, come out of your contract) numbers which start with 01, 02 or 03.

I submitted 0870 to the iPhone App Store before it had even launched, but it stayed “In Review” for a very long time (429 days, to be precise). In the meantime, I’d released it for Android (although it doesn’t work anymore, and I’m unable to update it), and Kieran Gutteridge had written a J2ME client. Then after lots of discussion with Apple, they approved it! Within the first 2 weeks it had over 90,000 downloads. Absolutely insane. Since then it’s had over half a million downloads, and has saved consumers an obscene amount of money (tens of millions). It’s also been in most national newspapers, and most gadget/mobile magazines.

You had some phenomenally good feedback from users. Could you give us a flavour?

Feedback from users has been both good and bad. Every week or so I’ll get an email that helps me put up with the bad ones. Something along the lines of “I’m recently unemployed, and your app has helped me save £50 which I can now put towards paying my bills”, which is amazing. On the flip side, I often get emails saying something like “This app doesn’t work. I’m calling the police and you’ll be arrested” (yes, really). I try to reply to all feedback, good and bad, and once explaining that the app isn’t magic, they’ll apologise and go on their way.

I’d always intended the app to be free of charge. I couldn’t see how anyone would pay for it, and by charging for it I felt I was committing to providing a level of support I couldn’t necessarily provide. So I stuck ads in there. First I went with AdMob – the money was alright, but the ads were of shocking quality. Some of them called premium rate numbers when you tapped on them, so they came out as iAds was launched. They started off slow, but the quality of advertiser is so much better (in most cases). I’m making roughly the same amount of money from iAds too.

Fast forward to your tweet where you announced you were making 0870 a paid-for app. Why did you do this? What prompted you to do so?

On New Years Day this year I was doing the daily support emails, and I realised that it was pretty pointless. Here I was swamped with client work, and I’m prioritising people who I’m not making any money off. Sure, it makes me sound a bit of a dick, but we’ve all got to make money somehow right?

So from that point on, I decided not to release any more free apps

Did you do much agonising over the switch from free to paid? Can you take us through your mindset and reasoning? I’m sure there’s a lot of developers in your position wondering if they should take the plunge.

Not much at all. As soon as I realised what I was doing, I logged into iTunes Connect and changed the price. Sod it, I thought. What’s the worst that will happen? I’ll get no downloads at all, and I’ll have the same half-million active user base. That was an easy decision to make.

What was the initial reaction to the paid-for switch?

Users still bought the app. The only complaint users have had is that, since I made the switch without updating the app, the adverts are still being displayed. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the ads, but there’s a pretty cool update coming soon.

Now, after a month, how are things going? Do you think you made the right decision?

Sales went from between 500 and 700 a day to around 250 – and it’s stayed like that for over a month now. I don’t regret making this decision – not one bit. The money I’m earning from 0870 alone will cover my monthly outgoings (and more), so it gives me the freedom to spend more time working on my next project. Let’s hope they stay like this!

How has your experience with 0870 coloured your view in terms of the free vs. paid debate?

I think I’m in a fairly unique position – a lot of developers I know release paid apps and end up with 7 sales a day after lots of work. I’ve never spent time promoting 0870 outside my circle of friends and the downloads have been incredible (usage is extremely high too, which is nice).

What message do you have for other app developers out there thinking about doing the same?

Do it. I’ve used 0870 as an experiment for a whole load of things. AdMob, iAds, 4.0-only-support, and it’s given me a great insight into how the App Store works. If you’re not prepared to try things, then you’ll never improve downloads.

Finally — what’s been your latest project? (That you can talk about!) And where can we find out more about you?

I’m not ready to publicly announce my next project yet. It’s very cool, in my opinion, and the few people I’ve showed it to are convinced it’ll do well. Watch this space

0870, however, will be launching on another platform fairly soon. Another experiment…

If you want to find out more about me, follow me on Twitter: @simonmaddox

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Thanks again Simon. Very illuminating indeed!

Long rumoured, it’s nice to finally get a bit of a look at the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The advertisement for the phone hit Youtube moments ago and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get a lot of attention.

What you see above is an Android handset that is ‘PlayStation Certified’ — along with the uber-familiar PlayStation controls that slide out there. Nice.

I don’t have anything for you beyond the clip above (that I took from the video) and the Youtube video below. That said, I’d expect the handset to sport some pretty advanced specifications.

The full details for the device will hit the internet at 6pm on the day before Mobile World Congress (13th February). I tell you this thanks to the announcement published recently on the Sony Ericsson Facebook page.

In the meantime, have a look at the nicely produced (and slightly creepy) ad. Android is indeed ready to play.

Also — I wonder how many other Android devices will be ‘PlayStation Certified’? Obviously I imagine Sony Ericsson should get first (and only?) dibs in that regard, but the logo to the top right here does put one in mind of other manufacturers being able to certify certain models for PlayStation status. Who knows? We shall see.

It’s good to see the company getting attention beyond the usual ‘Nokia is doomed’ line.

Indeed I’d go so far as to say that in recent weeks, Nokia has never had so much Western media attention that didn’t involve a serious amount of kicking.

There is quite a bit of excitement around the marketplace.

And you know what, it’s so refreshing.

It’s refreshing because we’re seeing traditionally iOS/Android dedicated publications like Forbes giving Nokia the time of day, recognising that should the company play ball as per expectations (Windows, Android, some sort of deal), then Nokia will become a very big fish indeed.

It’s already a big fish. Just, not in the way the media wants it to be.

Here’s what Forbes had to say:

Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) simply need to do a deal. The logic is obvious. Nokia has large but eroding handset market share, and increasingly dated software. Microsoft has spiffy new handset software, but hardware partners who seem smitten with Android. The companies need each other.

That, at least, is the way many on the Street see the situation.

via Dear Nokia And Microsoft: Please Do A Deal, Love, Investors – Eric Savitz – Tech Musings – Forbes.

Now.

The ultra negative bit here is that if Nokia does not impress next Friday at Capital Markets day. Or possibly through MWC, that’s it. It’s game-over. It’ll be time for the Western media to deploy words like ‘confused’, ‘beleaguered’, ‘struggling’ and so on.

Nokia’s status has already been set to ALSO-RAN/IRRELEVANT. The media is going to absolutely nuts if Nokia doesn’t ‘make good’ on some kind of additional platform announcement beyond MeeGo and Symbian shortly.

Bring on the fireworks.

Kim di Centa, founder of mobile developer Woomark, agreed to answer some questions in a brief interview with MIR. Here’s what he had to say:

1. Introduce yourself — who are you, what is it you do?

My name is Kim di Centa and I am a developer by profession and have always been passionate about the internet and mobile technologies and how both can interact and become complementary. I have created Woomark, a geosocial network with the idea that people could get access to interesting places wherever they are in the world both through our website and “on the go” with our Android application.

2. Give us an overview of your oganisation — how long have you been developing applications?

I have been developing applications for 5 years.

Woomark is a young venture that was born in late 2010. We ran some beta test in Italy (where I am from) to fine tune the concept and we are now launching it worldwide.

3. Tell us about the app? What does it do — what are the key features?

The Woomark app is an app to publish, share and discover places all over the world, categorised into groups of interest. Users can then follow other users who have created interesting groups, join groups, create their own and all this for free.

The app is fully integrated into Google maps and on the website users can get a street view, they can get directions to a specific place and they can even get a print-friendly summary of the directions to a place.

4. What kind of people are you targeting with the app? Who’s the primary audience?

With integration into Facebook, Google and Yahoo, we are targeting more or less everyone who has accounts with those services.

In addition, we are targeting smart phone users and specifically Android users.

5. What platform(s) have you deployed the app on? Why? Do you have plans to expand to other platforms?

The App is only available on Android for the moment. This is our platform of choice and we simply love developing on it and see a huge potential in Android.

As Android users, it was also the natural choice.

We may develop an app on the iPhone at a later stage, but it has not yet been defined clearly.

6. How are you going to measure success? Financially? Downloads? Engagement?

We are initially measuring success with the number of users and downloads. This is a good indication about whether the service answers a need on the market or not.

So far, we have seen users from all over the world and the feedback has been very positive.

The App has recently been published on some app stores and we are waiting to see how the downloads go. We are aiming at reaching download levels of a few thousand very quickly and hopefully get into interesting milestones such as quarter of a million, half a million and more.

7. What’s been your biggest challenge developing the app?

We integrated into Google maps, and various social networks and mail services for easier registration and login. Making all those integrations work well together and offer a smooth user experience have been the biggest challenge.

8. What kind of feedback have you had from initial users?

Very positive and with recent exposure in various news sites, we have seen a growth and the resulting increase in feedback has remained very positive, so we are very happy so far.

9. Where’s the best place to find out more about the app?

The app is available on the Android market, and on some app stores such as Getjar and Handango. We are planning to submit it to more app stores during this month to cover the widest possible reach of Android users.

10. What’s next for you? What are you working on at the moment?

Right now we are working on growing the userbase significantly.

We are also looking at partnerships with distributors to open the door to mobile operators and content providers to distribute our app as widely as possible.

11. Name another mobile developer in the marketplace that you respect? Why?

I really like Google apps for their simplicity and effectiveness.

12. What are the newest handsets to arrive in your office?

We have a Galaxy S and are very happy with our app on it. We are working on the Galaxy Tab also to see if our App can expand easily to Tablets.

13. Name three applications you really can’t live without?

Facebook, Google news reader, various analytics apps and of course Woomark.

14. And finally, what industry trend or theme are you most excited about this year?

I’m really impressed about the mobile evolution, I think that in the future, notebook and desktops will be replaced by a simple screen with a keyboard powered by my docked handset.

Mobile applications means bringing into everyday life an infinite potential.

As a Facebook user, and overall social network addict, I am following very closely everything facebook and social network related and I take my hat off to Mark Zuckerberg for his achievement in this field, at such a young age.

Woomark is a revolutionary location-based Android app that takes social networking to the next level. And the best thing is, you can have it free! Download here for Android.

Visit the Woomark website at woomark.com

Moody’s Investors Services is considering Nokia Corp. for a possible downgrade as the Finland-based cell phone maker steadily loses market share to Apple Inc. and other companies.

Although Nokia is the world’s top cell phone maker, with particularly strong brand recognition outside the U.S., it has struggled to compete against the likes of Apple, HTC Corp., Research In Motion Ltd. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. in the growing smartphone category. Apple’s iPhone is the world’s best-selling smartphone.

“The rating review was caused by the gradual but steady weakening of Nokia’s business profile and competitive position in mobile phones which has started to pressure profitability,” Moody’s said in a statement Friday.

via Moody’s considers lowering Nokia’s rating: Associated Press Business News – MSN Money.

For everyone who keeps thinking I’m absolutely nuts when I talk about Nokia’s failure to manage perception in North America (and Silicon Valley in particular), here’s where it gets really interesting.

I thought Nokia posted reasonably healthy results — especially in the context of the whole year. The company’s handsets are continuing to sell like hotcakes in many markets. Hotcakes, I tell you.

But, not in the market that matters for media. Not in the States… this is where reputation is key. I’m always surprised when I meet fund managers or influential analysts and find them completely sold on and Apple-and-Android future, incapable of parsing the words ‘Nokia’, ‘half a billion handsets a year’ and ‘successful’ into the same reality.

For a long time now I’ve been remarking on Nokia’s complete lack of focus on the American marketplace. I get the fact that the company has been focusing — sensibly — on the emerging markets. That they’ve established a phenomenal base amongst the feature phone world. I understand that America is quite a small market comparatively speaking. The failure at the high end, the failure to better — or at least equal — the likes of HTC/Samsung/Apple’s lead devices (in the eyes of the mainstream media) is now taking a toll. Instead of hot air from the media citing Nokia’s demise, it’s the turn of the ratings agencies.

A shot across the bows from Moody’s? Goodness me.

Interesting, isn’t it, that Moody’s are just mulling the downgrade. That there’s nothing specific they can point to beyond the phrase ‘gradual, steady weakening‘.

This is the kind of news, however, that Nokia’s Board of Directors will have to closely evaluate.

You need these ratings agencies on side. You need the analysts and media too. That’s because, at some point, the prophecies of doom become self-fulfilling when they’re being repeated over and over again.

If you’d like another example, check out John Dvorak’s ‘second opinion’ column at MarketWatch. It will make shocking reading for many diehard Nokia fans:

Here’s the deal: There has been a reboot in the phone business, and the app-oriented smartphone (what I like to call an app phone) is the new, plain-old phone. The market is not looking for a bunch of competitive smartphones; it wants an app phone with a reasonable selection of free applications that people can download as they see fit.

This means iPhone or Android. The battle is over.

John then goes on to outline how Nokia will — in his mind — announce both Windows Phone 7 and Android support shortly. And that WP7 will probably go the way of the Dodo.

It appears there is no question in John’s mind that Nokia will announce at least Android support. No question at all. John’s way past that decision and is busy evaluating what would happen if the company played the Windows game too (given Elop’s heritage).

So make no mistake: In the coming weeks, if Nokia doesn’t announce Android/WP7 or something flipping amazing, the marketplace is going to tear the company to shreds. Moody’s have already signalled their position.

These are serious people weighing in. This is not the time to argue. It’s not the time to tell the market it’s wrong, to try and explain Nokia’s continued strategy. If anything, it’s time for some grand announcements.

I’m tempted to suggest that Nokia should knock out a few Android devices for the fun of it. To keep the market on side. To shut the media-up. They should really, really invest a good bit of time and attention delivering a phenomenally good Nokia Android phone. Something at the 700 Euro/800 dollar mark that really, REALLY puts the iPhone and HTC’s finest to shame. 20 megapixel camera, 24-hour battery, super-HD-something-or-other, running Android 3.0, with the Ovi Store front-and-centre serving Android apps. I’d do it just to shut the market up.

I’m looking to Nokia for the next generation. I’m not convinced MeeGo is necessarily it. Indeed if MeeGo is announced to the planet looking anywhere near some of the leaked screenshots we’ve seen, the Moody’s team will have their scissors out before Mr Elop can finish his keynote. I do think Nokia can deliver at the top end. I think they could introduce a higher-plane, beyond the point-and-click app world of iPhone and Android. They’re entirely capable.

Right now I reckon it’s time to give the market what it wants. Do that and carry on innovating strongly with MeeGo, Symbian and the next generation.

What do you think? I still speak to many highly informed Nokia watchers who tell me that Nokia and Android is simply ridiculous. About as ridiculous as a Moody’s downgrade warning.

It’s what Moody’s believe though. It’s what they perceive. And perception is 9/10ths of the law.

One thing is for sure, the next few weeks (including Mobile World Congress) are going to be some phenomenally exciting ones in the industry.

The confusion, however, is nothing to the widespread excitement I’ve been witnessing from people raving over this introductory video released by the Android team.

I have to say, it does look rather good — particularly the 3D Google Maps screens.

What do you think?

I asked Dominic Travers, one of the organisers of this week’s Droidcon android conference, to give us a preview of one of the event’s keynotes. If you haven’t got your ticket yet, there are still a few left so be quick. I’m looking forward to it!

Over to Dominic:

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Traditionally there was a big gap between Original Equipment Manufacturers and independent mobile software developers. The last couple of years have seen a rapid change in this dynamic. What is it like for a company to take a brand new operating system that has only been in the wild for 2 years, design hardware, code and deliver a range of devices? We think this must be quite a challenge, particularly as consumers now are very quick to spread news of anything they don’t like across social networks. Manufacturers usually deliver their phones to the network operators and quietly move on to the next set. I have never seen a handset manufacturer talk about these challenges, even behind closed doors with their major MNO customers, let alone to a public audience, until now.

On Friday afternoon, Karl-Johan Dahlström and Erik Hellman of Sony Ericsson will provide an unique insight in to what it is really like working with Android. Developing the hardware and software integration, and providing a compelling user experience. Factor in the integration with Sony’s consumer products and experience design, you can see how this enhances the range, and requires skill and talent to deliver. The Android behind the scenes keynote is at 2pm.

They’re not going to stop there. Erik Hellman will then expand on the technical side of their Android design and development in the Design Track with Implementing Android: a manufacturers perspective. This in depth look at managing requirements and dealing with implementing a very open OS, will be truly fascinating. The current furore around Steve Jobs saying that Android isn’t really open, is a moot point. It is massively more open than anything the mobile industry has ever seen before. Now the nature of openness is inspiring unprecedented collaboration through APIs and honest presentations like this. We applaud our friends at Sony Ericsson for recognising how valuable this is to the ecosystem, and leading the way ahead.

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Thanks for that Dominic. See you there!

And for those who would like a quick reminder of the origins of the quote used in the title, I bring you this clip:

Hi Ewan.

Have just seen breaking news on the Register that Symbian workers in London and Cambridge have been told to go home this morning.

I would like to invite the all to attend droidcon for half price. Any chance you could pop a note on MIR to this effect.

Best thing would be to say that they can email me at domininc@droidcon.co.uk to get the discount.

Dominic

Nice one Dominic. See you there next week!