Teknovis

When Apple recently announced that it was going to start taking a share of revenue on purchases made within applications on iDevices (yes – I made that name up) I thought that this would accelerate the move to HTML5 web apps.

The first significant player (at least that I am aware of) made the leap this week! The Financial Times! For more details read FT Bypasses Apple’s iTunes, Launches HTML5 Web App (Free Access First Week), and to download the app go to The new FT app for iPad and iPhone.

I really wonder if Apple has got the strategy wrong with this!

Tags: Apple, HTML, The Financial Times

I previously described how I really liked the Motorola Xoom in Motorola Xoom. I really liked it when I saw it in Barcelona (at Mobile World Congress), but I must admit that I was disappointed when I saw it recently in a local shop. Perhaps it was because it had a very dull theme, and the iPad2 beside it seemed very colourful.

However, after reading Motorola Xoom A slab of 10in Honeycomb goodness today I find myself interested again :)

Tags: Apple, Mobile World Congress, Motorola

Wow – I heard this mentioned today:

By July 2010, Kindle book sales had surpassed hardcover book sales, and six months later, Kindle books overtook paperback books to become the most popular format on Amazon.com. Today, less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.

The full press is release is Amazon.com Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Print Books.

It is interesting timing, because in the last month I have been talking to two people who were giving away their Kindles because they use their iPads instead. Maybe it is in evolutionary process :)

Tags: Amazon

I attended an event this week that was aimed at developers of services for consumption on mobile devices. The majority present were developing these as platform specific mobile applications.

However, many present expressed concerns with pursuing this route. In particular, the following concerns were expressed:

• It is becoming increasingly difficult, and costly, to maintain separate development teams to target the specific platforms.
• The value of being present in the application stores is decreasing as they become more cluttered.
• There is frustration with the limited hardware access that some device manufacturers allow.

It was also interesting to hear that there were very encouraging sentiments towards developing web applications. After reading HTML5 Is An Oncoming Train, But Native App Development Is An Oncoming Rocket Ship recently, I was surprised by this! Personally, I think that it is the way forward!

Tags: HTML

There is lots of media coverage of Apple‘s covert user tracking activities: iPhones and 3G iPads record location data without permission – research.

It is times like this that I am glad I am not an Apple user :D

Tags: Apple

Interesting upcoming Enterprise Ireland event: Emerging Technologies and Business Opportunities in the Location Services Market.

Hopefully, I will have the time to attend!

Tags: Enterprise Ireland

It certainly has been an interesting week from a tablet point-of-view. Firstly, I borrowed an iPad, and I have been giving it a good testing. The user interface is very nice, and the browsing experience has been excellent. I only encountered one website where the Javascript driven menus would not work for some reason. My only complaint with the device is that it starts to feel rather heavy when resting on your stomach :o

I also got to play with a Motorola Xoom (see Motorola Xoom for more details). During my brief encounter the device seemed to be as desirable as I had imagined ;)

The other big development (from the 10″ tablet point-of-view) was that Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab 10.1. For more details see the images or the features.

Galaxy Tab 10.1

I spent some time playing with it also, and I cannot say that I noticed any significant difference between this and the Motorola Xoom. Perhaps this is not surprising given that they are both based on the same chipset, and they both have the same operating system.

I did read some complaints about the plastic build, but I did not find this problematic. Indeed, I liked the circular recessed area on the back because it made holding the device from any angle very comfortable.

Perhaps the only disappointment this week was that HTC did not launch a 10″ tablet :|

Tags: Apple, HTC, Motorola, Samsung

I am becoming very disheartened with the Mobile World Congress :( I am looking at the website, and I am finding it very difficult to achieve the following:

• I cannot find a printable map of the exhibition space showing the exhibitors names.
• I cannot group exhibitors by business area.

I hope that information is more available tomorrow!

Tags: Mobile World Congress

Facebook is becoming location aware on mobile devices in the EU (or at least in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain).

For more details see Facebook Deals Launches in Europe.

Tags: Facebook, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK

Today I came across the first commercial deployment of an mPayment solution. At least I am not aware of any others! The service is being supplied by Orange, and more details can be found in Orange customers of Everything Everywhere get mobile payments.

I think that this is a very exciting area, and it is certainly something in which I am becoming increasingly interested. I think that there are huge opportunities for the telcos in this area, since they effectively already maintain electronic purses (or wallets :) for all of their customers. Most importantly, this is an area in which it is very difficult for over-the-top players to compete (although Apple‘s App Store has shown that it is possible).

Tags: Apple, Orange, UK