By Andrew Till
Last week Nokia and Intel made an interesting announcement about their collaboration for an open source telephony solution. We at Teleca always like to see new innovative projects being launched and have been considering what this may mean for the future.
Firstly there is nothing in the announcement that suggests this project could not be supported across multiple platforms. So while it may initially look like a Maemo focused solution it’s also possible that we will see S60 device also embracing the approach.
However the real excitement is that this is opening up new parts of the platform to the developer community and should enable new innovative applications. In addition the new oFono platform should also support new methods of applications interacting with the telephony stack thus enabling developers to find creative ways to minimise battery power or exploit multiple radio environments.
And it should not stop there.
If oFono is successful then there is no reason why, as an OSS project, it could not be leveraged by other platforms especially those that are Linux based such as Android or uBuntu and hence it maynot be limited to just traditional handsets. But also MIDs, Notebooks and why not for car infotainment systems?
The mobile world evolves through innovation and initiative and that is what creates opportunities, for us and for You.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Battleship game for Android, born by passion
By Artur Kulik, Roman Prominski and Emilian Szyburski
It was an after-hours learning project that became a real-life application. Our gang, Artur, Roman and Emilian at Teleca Poland, wanted to get familiar with the Android platform. So we started from scratch, using emulators, SDK and resources from the internet to create something that could help us understand and become knowledgeable in Android software development.
We felt it was important to to touch several aspects of the platform with audio, imaging, connectivity, middleware and more, to get a complete overview of Google's mobile system. The exercise started out as a small proof-of-concept project, and quickly became a full-blown entertainment application ! Then we took the chance to put it (well tested though…) on the Android market in order to get comments from the users.
Overwhelming response
We received an overwhelming response from the people that downloaded our ‘Battleships’ application and liked it! There were greetings. There were improvement suggestions. And there were rants from users that lost against the phone in the naval action (..oops) For us it was not only the learning experience on the development side but we also realized the potential in the application market. The feedback we received provided priceless information on user experience, behavior and expectations.
Top 20
The “Battleships” application quickly became a Top 20 application on the market and got more than 50,000 downloads in the first four weeks.
Download Yourself
Download the application from the application market with your G1 or similar phone (look for Teleca Poland publisher) or alternatively check http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.teleca.bs for user ratings and score.
So enjoy the battle game to fight against the war tactics of Teleca :)
We felt it was important to to touch several aspects of the platform with audio, imaging, connectivity, middleware and more, to get a complete overview of Google's mobile system. The exercise started out as a small proof-of-concept project, and quickly became a full-blown entertainment application ! Then we took the chance to put it (well tested though…) on the Android market in order to get comments from the users.
Overwhelming response
We received an overwhelming response from the people that downloaded our ‘Battleships’ application and liked it! There were greetings. There were improvement suggestions. And there were rants from users that lost against the phone in the naval action (..oops) For us it was not only the learning experience on the development side but we also realized the potential in the application market. The feedback we received provided priceless information on user experience, behavior and expectations.
Top 20
The “Battleships” application quickly became a Top 20 application on the market and got more than 50,000 downloads in the first four weeks.
Download Yourself
Download the application from the application market with your G1 or similar phone (look for Teleca Poland publisher) or alternatively check http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.teleca.bs for user ratings and score.
So enjoy the battle game to fight against the war tactics of Teleca :)
Friday, May 8, 2009
Platform competition stiffens
By Hasse Annerfeldt
The playground for mobile OS/SW platforms has really increased in the recent 12 months. Instead of focusing on a few platforms we have seen the number increase. While we have seen Symbian gain an early lead leveraging its very strong position in terms of history, maturity and close relation to Nokia new platforms are now challenging it. What we have seen that Apple with the iPhone introduced a new era showing that offering products and services, that many operators and handset vendor’s have been struggling to achieve, is compelling to consumers. Apple starting from zero has got a large group of mobile phone users, enthusiastic and thrilled, over the user experiences it brings to them. They have also showed that it is possible to make money from music and application downloads which has been on every operator’s agenda for a long time. The success for this new Apple world has not yet been shared by the other handset vendor’s.
Google with its dominating position in the internet space with services and content is now filling a gap when creating the Android platform. An open source based project, has created a platform that will be highly integrated into services on the internet, copying Apple success for a potentially broader audience.
At the end of this year and beginning of next we will be able to see if S60/Symbian and Windows mobile can reclaim the initiative with new business models, increased openness and services that bring them into parity with the Open Handset Alliance model and Apple.
This should lead to a very compelling Christmas and new year sales season as the focus firmly shifts on to experience and service innovation which can only benefit all involved in the mobile industry from handset vendors, through to service companies, such as Teleca, consumers and independent application developers.
The playground for mobile OS/SW platforms has really increased in the recent 12 months. Instead of focusing on a few platforms we have seen the number increase. While we have seen Symbian gain an early lead leveraging its very strong position in terms of history, maturity and close relation to Nokia new platforms are now challenging it. What we have seen that Apple with the iPhone introduced a new era showing that offering products and services, that many operators and handset vendor’s have been struggling to achieve, is compelling to consumers. Apple starting from zero has got a large group of mobile phone users, enthusiastic and thrilled, over the user experiences it brings to them. They have also showed that it is possible to make money from music and application downloads which has been on every operator’s agenda for a long time. The success for this new Apple world has not yet been shared by the other handset vendor’s.
Google with its dominating position in the internet space with services and content is now filling a gap when creating the Android platform. An open source based project, has created a platform that will be highly integrated into services on the internet, copying Apple success for a potentially broader audience.
At the end of this year and beginning of next we will be able to see if S60/Symbian and Windows mobile can reclaim the initiative with new business models, increased openness and services that bring them into parity with the Open Handset Alliance model and Apple.
This should lead to a very compelling Christmas and new year sales season as the focus firmly shifts on to experience and service innovation which can only benefit all involved in the mobile industry from handset vendors, through to service companies, such as Teleca, consumers and independent application developers.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Is Symbian looking beyond handsets?
By Andrew Till
As the Symbian Foundation gets up and running and ready for the first releases of handsets based on its first release, there are signs that the Foundation may expand its horizons to focus on new market opportunities.
In this week’s BusinessWeek David Wood is quoted as saying "There's a lot of interest in netbooks," & "I've never been as busy and rushed off my feet in my entire life. We are seeing a lot of early experimentation." Given Symbians broad support for most of the world’s favorite application processors it would make a lot of sense for them to look at new market opportunities such as mobile information devices, GPS navigation solutions and web tablets. This would also make a lot of sense given the recent announcements about Android based netbooks and Microsoft’s long standing strength in embedded consumer electronics market with WinCE.
Exciting times ahead.
As the Symbian Foundation gets up and running and ready for the first releases of handsets based on its first release, there are signs that the Foundation may expand its horizons to focus on new market opportunities.
In this week’s BusinessWeek David Wood is quoted as saying "There's a lot of interest in netbooks," & "I've never been as busy and rushed off my feet in my entire life. We are seeing a lot of early experimentation." Given Symbians broad support for most of the world’s favorite application processors it would make a lot of sense for them to look at new market opportunities such as mobile information devices, GPS navigation solutions and web tablets. This would also make a lot of sense given the recent announcements about Android based netbooks and Microsoft’s long standing strength in embedded consumer electronics market with WinCE.
Exciting times ahead.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Platform strategy revisited
By Dr. Roger Hampel
Just recently, I got myself a new phone. It has plenty of new features while some of the ones already present in my old phone have been greatly enhanced. Nevertheless, it took me only a few minutes to get accustomed to it. Why so? It’s because the new phone is based on the same platform as the old one.
The mobile phone industry has seen the creation of a number of platforms. There are closed ones, created and used by a single OEM to leverage across multiple products and product lines (e.g. Nokia Series 40, Blackberry). Then, there are the ones available for licensing by other OEMs (e.g. Palm, BREW, Windows Mobile), the sort of half-open ones. And, just recently, open source platforms have arrived, available royalty-free to every OEM supporting the ecosystem around them (e.g. Android, Symbian).
The automotive infotainment market is still in the process of creating and establishing infotainment platforms. Microsoft Auto has been around for a while and was recently revamped. It can be experienced in Fiat’s Blue&Me as well as Ford SYNC systems. The GENIVI alliance was officially launched at this year’s CeBIT trade show, aiming to develop an open source IVI platform. And RTOS provider QNX just recently has also launched their QNX CAR program (Connected Automotive Reference), providing a reference platform for rapid prototyping and development of IVI systems.
So what to expect as a user? Expect shorter development cycles for IVI systems and improved compatibility and interoperability with mobile devices such as phones, media players, headsets, etc. Expect downloadable system and feature upgrades, application and content stores for automotive infotainment and improved user experience. Expect the car to become the ultimate phone accessory!
Just recently, I got myself a new phone. It has plenty of new features while some of the ones already present in my old phone have been greatly enhanced. Nevertheless, it took me only a few minutes to get accustomed to it. Why so? It’s because the new phone is based on the same platform as the old one.
The mobile phone industry has seen the creation of a number of platforms. There are closed ones, created and used by a single OEM to leverage across multiple products and product lines (e.g. Nokia Series 40, Blackberry). Then, there are the ones available for licensing by other OEMs (e.g. Palm, BREW, Windows Mobile), the sort of half-open ones. And, just recently, open source platforms have arrived, available royalty-free to every OEM supporting the ecosystem around them (e.g. Android, Symbian).
The automotive infotainment market is still in the process of creating and establishing infotainment platforms. Microsoft Auto has been around for a while and was recently revamped. It can be experienced in Fiat’s Blue&Me as well as Ford SYNC systems. The GENIVI alliance was officially launched at this year’s CeBIT trade show, aiming to develop an open source IVI platform. And RTOS provider QNX just recently has also launched their QNX CAR program (Connected Automotive Reference), providing a reference platform for rapid prototyping and development of IVI systems.
So what to expect as a user? Expect shorter development cycles for IVI systems and improved compatibility and interoperability with mobile devices such as phones, media players, headsets, etc. Expect downloadable system and feature upgrades, application and content stores for automotive infotainment and improved user experience. Expect the car to become the ultimate phone accessory!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Happy Easter
By Magnus Ingelsten
Now innovations are born. In economic downturns many new ideas are spurred. These are the times when people must be creative and go the extra mile to become more competitive and unique. We heard Al Gore at CTIA when he praised the momentum and direction of the mobile market: "Your industry is growing and providing new applications, products and services," he said. "It's amazing to think how quickly this revolution has occurred and how rapidly it's still growing."
I just bought an excellent Netbook with total wireless connectivity providing 3G, Wlan and Bluetooth for the price of a low -end feature phone or half the price of a high end smartphone. Imagine how we now can be totally wireless and mobile. My car updates its software while I am driving. I swipe my credit card in the smartcard slot under the dashboard on the offer to upgrade with an additional 12 horsepower because the developers came up with smart ways to control the engine management system. I could agree to buy a new GPS map update and got a notice from the GPS system, making me aware the my daughter is waiting at the bus stop , so I turn in to pick her up. Then the shopping list turns up on my in car display.. wife is online obviously...
Is this possible ? Of course it is and I am sure it is under development by our excellent engineers as we speak.
Oh, and my car display writes out a message from the nearby supermarket , that easter eggs are at half price. So happy easter!
Now innovations are born. In economic downturns many new ideas are spurred. These are the times when people must be creative and go the extra mile to become more competitive and unique. We heard Al Gore at CTIA when he praised the momentum and direction of the mobile market: "Your industry is growing and providing new applications, products and services," he said. "It's amazing to think how quickly this revolution has occurred and how rapidly it's still growing."
I just bought an excellent Netbook with total wireless connectivity providing 3G, Wlan and Bluetooth for the price of a low -end feature phone or half the price of a high end smartphone. Imagine how we now can be totally wireless and mobile. My car updates its software while I am driving. I swipe my credit card in the smartcard slot under the dashboard on the offer to upgrade with an additional 12 horsepower because the developers came up with smart ways to control the engine management system. I could agree to buy a new GPS map update and got a notice from the GPS system, making me aware the my daughter is waiting at the bus stop , so I turn in to pick her up. Then the shopping list turns up on my in car display.. wife is online obviously...
Is this possible ? Of course it is and I am sure it is under development by our excellent engineers as we speak.
Oh, and my car display writes out a message from the nearby supermarket , that easter eggs are at half price. So happy easter!
Friday, April 3, 2009
CTIA it´s all about speed
By Andrew Till
In between the wall to wall meetings I managed to grab a quiet half an hour to walk the halls of this years CTIA in Las Vegas. As with other trade shows attendance was down (a much maligned topic of conversation of every taxi trip I took but I for one will not complain at being able to zip around Las Vegas from the strip to the convention centre in less than 10 minutes) but there were some interesting insights to be gained about the key themes in the market.
The most notable was the push for ever faster Mobile Broadband technologies. LTE was a clear focus of the show with Motorola and Siemens both very visible in pushing their credentials in the infrastructure space. Verizon used the show to announce its first round deployment partners for LTE with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson both being selected. Aside from this there banners and positioning statements galore focused on the mobile broadband opportunity.
Net Applications latest March data, also released during the show, perhaps explains why the focus on mobile broadband is so strong. Not only are mobile users surfing more the competition between platforms is increasing with Android based devices growing strongly as a % of the overall mobile browsing user base and shaping us as a key competitor to the iPhone in the US market. This seems to show that clearly consumers we willing to keep spending on mobile internet services even in these credit crunched times. Of course I will refrain from noting the irony of having mobile broadband being heavily push in a city that seems to be many base stations short in the network coverage stakes!
And the focus is not restricted to the US market alone. Perhaps one of the most interesting announcements was Samsung’s new Netbook with integrated WiMax for the Russian market. The NC10 looks like a very interesting proposition with a 10inch display, Windows XP Home edition and a battery life of up 9 hours on a single charge.
So I for one am already looking forward to next years show and being able to test out those 4G speeds.
In between the wall to wall meetings I managed to grab a quiet half an hour to walk the halls of this years CTIA in Las Vegas. As with other trade shows attendance was down (a much maligned topic of conversation of every taxi trip I took but I for one will not complain at being able to zip around Las Vegas from the strip to the convention centre in less than 10 minutes) but there were some interesting insights to be gained about the key themes in the market.
The most notable was the push for ever faster Mobile Broadband technologies. LTE was a clear focus of the show with Motorola and Siemens both very visible in pushing their credentials in the infrastructure space. Verizon used the show to announce its first round deployment partners for LTE with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson both being selected. Aside from this there banners and positioning statements galore focused on the mobile broadband opportunity.
Net Applications latest March data, also released during the show, perhaps explains why the focus on mobile broadband is so strong. Not only are mobile users surfing more the competition between platforms is increasing with Android based devices growing strongly as a % of the overall mobile browsing user base and shaping us as a key competitor to the iPhone in the US market. This seems to show that clearly consumers we willing to keep spending on mobile internet services even in these credit crunched times. Of course I will refrain from noting the irony of having mobile broadband being heavily push in a city that seems to be many base stations short in the network coverage stakes!
And the focus is not restricted to the US market alone. Perhaps one of the most interesting announcements was Samsung’s new Netbook with integrated WiMax for the Russian market. The NC10 looks like a very interesting proposition with a 10inch display, Windows XP Home edition and a battery life of up 9 hours on a single charge.
So I for one am already looking forward to next years show and being able to test out those 4G speeds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
