October 29th, 2009 in Business |
I like WebOS, but I’m not confident yet whether Palm will be able (by means of investment, developers, and pace) to pull of building a major mobile platform, that is directly competing against the Google Behemoth and the iPhone, with it’s advantageous 15 years of Cocoa development on the Mac. Already, if one looks past the user interface, WebOS lacks many technologies which Android or iPhone OS developers take for granted.
And Android 2.0, just like iPhone OS 3.0, introduces another ton of new technologies. If Google and Apple keep this pace, they’ll be the two dominant mobile platforms soon, leaving behind Windows Mobile (cough), WebOS, Symbian, Maemo, and BlackBerry. One might wonder, if Apple will be able to compete against a myriad of feature rich Android devices. Riding on the wave of the iPod, featuring the prominent brand, their chances seem to be good.
Update: Just stumbled upon this Billshrink.com Smartphone comparison. They compare the iPhone, Pre, and the Droid. In the following (about) 40 user comments, one guy laments the lack of Windows Mobile, another one the lack of BlackBerry, and finally the last comment just notes ‘No mention of Nokia.. again’. That’s three out of forty.
October 29th, 2009 in Business |
Toktumi on their BlackBerry vs. iPhone Development experience.
Developing for the iPhone platform was a piece of cake – one OS, one hardware platform, a powerful, well-documented API, and a simple submission process for the app store. […]
In sharp contrast, the BlackBerry was never intended to support an app marketplace for third party developers. As a result developing for the BlackBerry was a nightmare. There are dozens of different models, many with different screen sizes, features, hardware, etc. If your software works on one, it may not work on others – so you have to test every single phone, every time you make a change.
Even worse each phone might behave differently depending on which carrier network it is on, adding an extra dimension of complexity to the development challenges. For the Storm we had to write an entirely different version of the software to get it to work.
RIM only has two options. First, invest serious work in their current platform. Or second, develop a new platform that eases development and enables developers to target different devices with one code base. Currently, they seem to try to sit it out instead.
There is a stark and distinct relationship between the usability of a Software development kit and the amount of software being developed with it. Current BlackBerry users buy the device because of the email and texting features. But with the increasing feature set of Android, this primary BlackBerry advantage will diminish. A wide range of apps (or a small range of high quality apps) are increasingly influencing purchase decisions. RIM has neither.
(via Andrew Keen)
Via www.paulgraham.com
„Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be like a job, and that explains most of the surprises. It explains why people are surprised how carefully you have to choose cofounders and how hard you have to work to maintain your relationship. You don't have to do that with coworkers. It explains why the ups and downs are surprisingly extreme. In a job there is much more damping. But it also explains why the good times are surprisingly good: most people can't imagine such freedom. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job."
Very nice essay on the differences between operating a startup and a regular job.
Published from QuoteVault.org
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