Business Anywhere Blog

Here we go again. Recently, Nokia and Google announced that they were going to collaborate on Android to develop new Intel-chipset based mobile devices. This has led to many in the industry to question Nokia’s commitment to its Symbian operating system. Adding fuel to fire is the news by the Guardian newspaper indicating that Nokia is going to announce an Android based, touchscreen mobile phone at its Nokia World Conference in September 2009. 

I truly doubt that Nokia has given up on Symbian just yet. It was only a little over a year ago that Nokia spent millions of dollars to buy out its partners in the OS and made it open source. Secondly, Nokia has been saying since February that they were going to develop Android based devices. I have to agree with Om Malik of GigaOm:

It is quite possible that the company is using Android as a basis for a 3G- or 4G-enabled netbook-type device that’s powered by Intel’s chips.

Finally, while it may be true that Nokia might be losing share of the smartphone market, you have to remember that Nokia is still the largest maker of mobile phones and almost all its phones are based on the Symbian OS.

Samsung today announced that it will launch its first Android powered phone, the i7500 in Europe beginning in June 2009 for €300 ($398). This phone will have a 3.2 inches, 320 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen and will operate on tri-band GSM with HSDPA support. Additional specs include:

• HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps (900 / 1700/ 2100MHz) EDGE / GPRS (850/ 900/1800/1900)
• 3.2″ HVGA(320×480) AMOLED
• 5 MP Camera (Auto Focus), Power LED
• Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA, RA
• Full Web Browser Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Android Market Connectivity
• Bluetooth® 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, MicroUSB, 3.5mm ear jack
• Internal memory: 8GB External memory: Micro SD (Up to 32GB)
• Size 115 x 56 x 11.9mm

While the US launch has not been announced, the 1700 GHz support could make it possible for a future T-Mobile USA launch.

[Via Engadget Mobile, Unwired View]

In the beginning there was the PalmOS mobile platform, and then there was Symbian, then Windows Mobile and RIM’s Blackberry OS. Then came the juggernaut iPhone OS from Apple. That was followed by Android from Google. Soon Palm will launch another mobile platform called the WebOS. All these different platforms lead to a question: How many mobile platforms can your company support?

That is just the operating systems. Already the mobile industry is fragmented with dozens of smartphone manufacturers.  Add in the different features of the handsets themselves, like accelerometer, GPS, camera, etc, and you have a whole matrix of feature sets that need to be accounted for. 

It is amazing how often entrepreneurs and product managers at smaller companies have said to me that this is their strategy. Then I ask them how soon they will be on all these platforms and I get a vague answer of as soon as we can. Given this situation, how long can companies justify developing products for all platforms?

Companies really need to evaluate their strategy against their resources. Building and supporting products on multiple platforms is costly and labor intensive process, just ask all those who build and support PC and Mac products. The complexity increases multiple-fold in the smartphone space. As an entrepreneur or product manager, you don’t have the time to wait until the product has been tested on all the platforms. You need to be out in the market before your competition.

Considering the limited funding and resources, you have to decide on one or two “hero” platforms as Tim Westergren, founder of the popular Pandora music service calls them. He has decided that iPhone is the “hero” platform they will focus on and when WebOS from Palm is available, that will be its second “hero” platform.

There are definite benefits in this strategy: You can develop a product that leverages the various features of that platform. You are able to conserve your resources by developing on few platforms. You can become the “best-in-class” on the specific platforms.

On the flip side, though, you have to weigh how successful are your target platforms going to be. iPhone has done phenomenally well and therefore could be a no-brainer for a lot of us. However, if you were targeting say Android or even the much-anticipated WebOS from Palm, you just have to look back at all those folks who jumped on the PalmOS bandwagon and decide if the rewards outweigh the risk and what is the likelihood of the platform surviving a few years.

Once you have decided on the platforms, like all good strategists, keep evaluating them and your strategy. Tim Westergren did not embark on his strategy right from the get-go. In fact, for two years Pandora was available on AT&T and Verizon Wireless’ application stores where it languished. Only when iPhone came along and Tim decided to launch his product on that platform did he found success.

It was day 2 (almost on its way to day 3)  of the MWC in Barcelona and it was Android’s day to shine. Several carriers and smartphone makers announced today that they will be launching devices powered by Google’s Android OS. First up, Vodafone announced that it will launch HTC’s Magic, the keyboard-less G1. Following up on Vodafone’s announcement with 1-2-3 punches, Heuwei launched its sleek-looking Android device; Acer is working on 2 Android based devices while Samsung does one better by launching 3 Android devices and potentially a Linux Mobile phone too.

In other news, Nokia announced that it will bundle Skype software on all its N-series phones starting with the N97.  Also, a group of 17 phone manufacturers and carriers, under  the auspices of GSM, adopted the universal charger standard. Phone manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and operators like AT&T, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Telefonica agreed to use the microUSB socket as the standard power sockets on all their phones by 2012. Key holdouts include Apple, RIM and Palm, though RIM already uses MiniUSB on its Blackberry devices.

 Samsung is busy prepping for the Mobile World Congress with some exciting news in addition to the earlier 12Mpxl cameraphone. First up, it appears that a successor to the popular innov8, the 8Mpxl camera phone, is in works, this time with 3X optical zoom.

Second, Samsung other popular handset, the Omnia, is slated to get a 16GB upgrade. This phone has the following specs:

Last, but most importantly, Samsung will launch an Android based phone at the MWC in Barcelona. So, if you are a Samsung fan, hold on to your hat, because it is going to get fast and furious over the next few weeks.

[Via UnwiredView]

Wall Street Journal, yesterday, reported that Dell is set to enter the smartphone market (subscription required).  Dell has been making prototypes based on Android and Windows Mobile platforms for more than a year.  The plans are still up in the air and Dell could decide not to enter the market after all. If it does go ahead, the announcement likely to come at the Mobile World Congress next month.

If Delll does decide to enter the market, in my opinion, it should stay for the long haul and innovate to make money.It should also look at some of the Japanese manufacturers, not just look at Apple, as the report suggests.  Being just another cell phone provider will not cut it, as Motorola and Palm can attest. Based on Dell’s track record, it will have to be head and shoulders better than in the PC business to survive.

At the Mobile World Congress, next month, General Mobile will launch DSTL1, its first Android-based, dual SIM phone. The phone is still undergoing hardware changes to accomodate Android’s requirement of 5 hardware buttons and also the resolution might be increased if that proves to be an issue. However, the overall specs (listed below) and the ability to have two SIMs with independent standby modes, will prove to be an attractive offer for some consumers.

This phone will ship in Q3 2009, pricing and availability are yet to be announced.

[Via IntoMobile]

Samsung announced that it will be launching an Andriod based, touchscreen phone in partnership with Sprint and T-Mobile later this year. While the details are still sketchy, the phone will include Google Maps, G-Talk messenger, G-Mail and Google Search. Also unclear is the launch date and pricing. Though Samsung has said that they were accelerating their development efforts to meet the carriers needs.

In a seperate annoucement, Sony Ericsson said that it is changing its strategy this year and focusing on high-end smartphone including an Android-based device. It has put its idea of developing cheap phones for the emerging markets on hold. Consequently, it does not expect to be profitable this year. While SE has not committed to delivering an Android based device this year, it is expected that the device will come this year given that SE has joined the Open Handset Alliance and has voiced its support for the OS.

[Via NewsOxy and Financial Times]

As reported earlier, ASUS is part of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) and as such has been working on an Android based smartphone. Asus CEO Jonney Shih confirmed this rumor going on for a while about an Asus EEE Phone. According to Shih, this budget smartphone will “become an interactive control”, a single interface to the digital network, whatever that means. Details are sketchy as to the price point and launch window. But, one thing we can be sure of is that based on ASUS’s track record, the phone will be slick enough for several segments of the market.

Rumor has it that T-Mobile is getting two very good gifts from HTC in the new year. HTC is working on G2, a follow-up to its popular, Android-based G1, code-named, Sapphire. Another device is code-named Rhodium, which is the follow-up to the Wing, a Windows Mobile based phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. There is not much else that is known about these phones yet except for these images.

[Via Engadget Mobile]