In case you were wondering if Amazon [AMZN] has been resting on the laurels of its successful Kindle re-imaginings, rest assured that they have been taking further steps in their server-based services offerings. Today, if you have logged into Amazon.com, you were greeted with something that looks a bit like this:

Jeff Bezos' announcement about the new cloud offerings

Yep, it’s true: Amazon has finally come through and exercised their cloud-based offering with an storage service that leverages their existing capabilities… And if that wasn’t enough, Amazon also has a nice, practical application for it, in the form of bridging to their online digital music storage locker for every customer.

(And even more, there’s an Android version of the cloud music player, just in case you’re just a retro kind of person…)

While it seems that many other companies have tried, and failed, in the hosted storage arena, it’s remarkable that Amazon has finally stepped in, to revive the concept with its own interpretation of it and expand upon it at the same time.

Microsoft [MSFT] and Nokia are finalizing an agreement to augment Nokia (particularly Symbian/S60-based) phones and smart devices into becoming viable business-grade devices, or even components in functional corporate meshes.

Management Perspective

Despite the consumer penetration by Apple [AAPL] in the smart mobile device market, neither it nor Palm [PALM] with its new Pre device or even Microsoft itself, with its Windows Mobile platform, have made the significant inroads that RIM [RIMM] with its various BlackBerry platforms have made in the business community. And while adoption of Nokia/S60, iPhone/iPod touch, Windows Mobile, and Android smart mobiles in the SMB segment has been tremendous, none of them have been able to make that tremendous security investment and network ubiquity that larger corporate entities demand.

Research in Motion: Problems

Not to say that RIM has completely protected its devices from espionage or other nefarious hacking attempts. But given their early adoption into businesses, BlackBerry devices have had the benefit of early market entry and dominance to keep its competitors at bay. But for the past few years, with the encroachment of the iPhone and its powerful distribution channel known as the iTunes App Store, RIM has had an increasingly difficult time justifying its add-on costs to tech-savvy companies that have very specialized needs that should not be restricted to the RIM network services.

Even worse, the BlackBerry devices actively marketed for business use carry hefty price tags that are beyond the hardware and assembly costs and yet are not as subsidized or discounted by the wireless carriers. This has become so extreme that many long-time BlackBerry owners have eked out a living by sticking with their old models.

Palm: Problems

Despite the recent rollout of the Pre, and the expected launch of the Eos, Palm has been limited to Sprint [S] for its wireless service on the Pre, while the more ubiquitous Centro and Treo smart devices continue to appeal to both businesses and consumers because of the stable Garnet OS platform and the wide plethora of applications available. In fact, despite the development onslaught of iPod/iPhone apps being released, the total software base of Palm OS/Garnet OS applications far exceeds every other mobile phones’.

But since Palm has essentially abandoned Garnet OS in favor of its newer webOS platform, the death knell for the Treo and Centro devices– while delayed– has been pealing for quite some time.

Android Consortium: Problems

While conceptually a good idea, Google’s [GOOG] open source Android platform seems to be suffering from too much expectation and not enough implementation realization. Instead of a tremendous groundswell of product releases and massive application software offerings, the problems associated with multi-vendor “cooperation” have curtailed widespread Android OS product adoption. This may be another case of early market advantage by Apple, or it may be merely due to developer community splintering and over-division.

Windows and Symbian OS: Opportunities

Combining the technologies found in Windows (and other Microsoft technologies) and Symbian OS platforms definitely provides quite an opportunity. Focusing on Nokia devices, traditionally non-Windows Mobile based throughout its history, allows for better standardization for application development, and it brings a huge developer community from the standard Windows OS, the portable Windows Mobile and CE platforms, and even interest from the XNA-Xbox networking groups. Additionally, the Maemo and S60 communities can be brought to bear to help flesh out both the Windows Mobile Marketplace and the Ovi Store.

Even more intriguing is Sun’s [JAVA] and Oracle’s Java Store (known on the distributor side as Java Warehouse) availability, given the strong presence of Java ME on Nokia smart devices. While Java Store has not been formally launched yet, finalizing the available revenue models for software developers who want to leverage that channel would benefit all of these potential collaborators. Combining Java technology (and JavaFX Mobile, too, ‘natch) with the distributed computing opportunities by the usual Sun-Java partnerships, like with Amazon [AMZN] Web Services and Elastic Cloud, as well as plenty of other hosting services (like Joyent) would further intensify and magnify the reach and coverage for businesses and corporate users.

And, of course, there would be plenty of consumer bleed-through opportunities as a result… Could you imagine purchasing Xbox LIVE games from your smartphone and having the option of either playing them on the ‘phone or having them ready to play at home via the download queue?

According to the February 25, 2009 announcement from Black Duck Software in their recent report on mobile projects in 2008, the Palm OS platform remains the king of the heap with more than four times (4X) the number of total projects than the second place platform, the iPhone OS.

While Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone OS development projects are clearly leading the new, emerging projects, the total available software projects is still dominated by the venerable Palm OS (not to be confused with Windows Mobile software that may run on Palm WinMobile smartphones). Also, keep in mind that the latest incarnation of Palm OS, Garnet, may not always be fully compatible with much older software that was originally developed for the original Palm Pilot devices.

N.B.

Other related Javamancy posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Caveat Venditor: Profiting from Online Mobile App Stores
• The Wireless War Redux: Apple vs. RIM vs. HTC-Google
• The Wireless War: Apple vs. Palm vs. RIM

The Setup

“Is it worth it to produce software for [name-a-mobile-device]?”

“I’ve heard that I would get screwed by [name-a-mobile-manufacturer] if I develop for them and try to port to [name-another-mobile-manufacturer]… is it true?”

Over the past several months, since the advent of the iPhone 3G and its competitors, I’ve received plenty of E-mail from our gentle readers inquiring as to whether it is safe and profitable to align with at least one (or in some cases, only one) mobile manufacturer or developer in order to produce software for target audiences on mobile devices.

Tough call.

The Premise

As a software developer, you want to maximize your yield toward your target audience. In some cases, this means appealing to as wide of an audience as possible, taking advantage of ubiquity and sacrificing platform specificity for increased feature richness or detail. In other words, you are willing to pursue a lowest common denominator approach to development in order to garner as large of a target audience as possible, but you have factored in the loss of certain customers because you are not providing platform-specific capabilities.

In some cases, you may decide that you would rather cater to a potentially smaller customer base because you want to tap into those unique features that a particular platform offers that differentiates it from others; this is a way to create a distance away from your competitors, in some instances. It also may be the springboard to deepen your relationship with the platform vendor and may be used as a hook to attract other platform vendors to accommodate your development needs in order to bring your products to their platform.

Much of this type of product strategy is based upon timing: a common prevailing theme surrounding popular target platforms is the convergence of features over time. Of course, this runs counter to hardware vendors, who use their uniqueness factor to differentiate themselves from each other. But oddly enough, the hardware vendors (and OS vendors, and other platform vendors) want to have software that is identical or equivalent to their competitors– and, in their marketing literature, superior to the others– whenever they are chasing after the same target audience. To entice to their flock of existing developers, they are often willing to add certain features that you require to make your products work (although merely working, and working well, are not the same thing!).

Leveraging when to approach the different platform vendors with your software product, or even product lines, is then based upon when certain criteria are met, from your point of view, that allows for relatively easy entry onto their platforms. But given the renewed novelty surrounding the “app store” concept that the iPhone and iPod touch have tapped into, Apple’s competitors have stepped forward with their own online marketplaces; this, then, has accelerated the process to provide new venues for developer support. Herein lies the rub (and why developers have asking for advice): now that your proverbial hand is being forced, which platform should support first, and talent profiles should be brought to bear?

The Action

iTNews Australia posted an interesting story that compares some of the new mobile applications storefronts (“app stores”) that the various mobile device manufacturers and OS manufacturers have cobbled together. The following vendors were covered:

• Android Alliance
• Apple
• Microsoft
• RIM

Unfortunately, ITnews did not secure more details about Nokia’s app store offering, although it is clear that Nokia has one in the works.

The article provides a bit of useful information that savvy development directors should be able to tap into, particularly to present to the executive board and to the rank and file concerning changes in your product development roadmaps.

As mentioned earlier, the RIM [RIMM] BlackBerry Storm was scheduled for release today, and it certainly did, amidst a flurry of “you-just-gotta-have-it” TV and radio commercials. Although the product has been in the pipeline as a competitor to Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone 3G for several months, it did not seem to have the kind of public reception that most people (me included) expected.

Some of its thunder was certainly stolen by the advent of the T-Mobile [DT] G1 (also known as the HTC Dream), especially given the partnership between Google [GOOG] and its Android cohorts.

Much remains to be seen about whether the BlackBerry Storm will truly be successful. In the professional/corporate mobile device market, RIM has generally been strong, despite its missteps, mostly because there were no other major players who cared to tap into the burning need of the corporate and professional mobile users. The other opposing force against RIM is, of course, its own previously-released devices.

Potential Customer Reactions

As I wandered about, asking various folks at several local stores whether they’d be willing to purchase a BlackBerry Storm if it was available to them, the majority of responses were lukewarm. The two biggest reasons given about this were:

1. “The iPhone is a much better product.”
2. “I already have a cell phone that I’m okay with.”

Supply Problems

On a separate but related front: there appears to be a supply issue with the BlackBerry Storm. Simply put, there were not enough issued to retailers, so people who were interested in seeing the product and buying one were unable to do so today.

Perhaps tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the day after that?

Let’s give it a few weeks or so, and then let’s see what’s up with this ‘phone…

Remember when the news about the T-Mobile [DT] G1 smartphone came out, and the news about the updated (first “official” 1.0) Google [GOOG] Android SDK?

Well, today is the official release date of the G1 to the public.

A lot of reporters and analysts have already said their piece about the G1, so now it’s time for the various consumers who have hankered for the device to try it out and put out their spin.

The Setup

Last year, there was a lot of what-if talks about bringing together interested parties to compete against the might of Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone product. There were a lot of nay-sayers and people who were pooh-poohing the notion that, given Apple’s head-start, there would be no way for anybody to catch up.

Last November, Google [GOOG] quietly (almost…) released an open beta of the Android SDK and some sparse notes about how it could be used. The press pounded on it, saying how disappointing it was that only software was being made available, without any phone implementation. And, of course, the Java-haters also chimed in at that point, about how Java-like the Android SDK is.

The Premise

Of course, I’d chimed in about some of the developer expectations from the Android SDK. Over at the ‘Alley Insider (yep, it’s SAI), I’d commented (not once, but twice!) on Dan’s 6/24/2008 post about the feasibility of the Android SDK, and how it differs from the iPhone SDK. First, I commented about what the Android SDK really represents:

Dan, 

Couldn't resist given all of the latest buzz
here about what Android is supposed to be... 

Since Android is simply a software stack upon
which anybody could create a bunch of apps,
the Android SDK allows you to leverage the
interfaces from the stack to create your
stuff. 

Google's Android description is a nice way
of showing its inner workings:

http://code.google.com/android/what-is-android.html 

The info that isn't shown are the various
manufacturers' implementations of the
Android spec (obviously). 

But this is why a lot of folks who've been
commenting about the "Android" vs. iPhone
device have been off-the-mark. This is also
why, with a bit of tweaking, if Apple
provides the lower level hooks for the 
Android runtime and fills in the blanks
for a few of the libs and app frameworks,
then Android SDK users would be able to
ship their apps on the iPhone. 

Here's the secret ingredient: Sun has been
touting Java "the platform" for several
years now, with mixed success. Google has
gone the other way and focused on Java
"the language" to quickly ramp up on
developer mindshare for the Android SDK
(they've done the Java-to-AJAX thing
already, so they have some experience
with this). Perfectly legit, but it no
doubt irks Jon a bit.   

Then I commented about how there are running stacks (regardless of whether you label them as “emulators” or “ports”) this summer already:

Oops, almost forgot: 

Because of the way the Android spec is
layered, the so-called Android phone
emulator isn't merely just an emulator... 

So if somebody "ports" or has an
"emulator" for Android on a device or
computer, what they're actually saying is:
"I've assembled a functional Android stack
on this device/computer." 

The Nokia N810 (and probably the N800 if
running the updated OS2008) has been shown
operating Android:

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/04/09/nokia-n810-can-run-android-too.html 

The HTC TyTN II also recently has
something showing Android:

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/04/12/htc-tytn-ii-can-run-android.html 

The key point here is that, with a little
imagination and willpower, Android enabled
devices could a larger category than merely
the GPhone implementations with Android on
them. In stark contrast, the Apple iPhone
SDK is used to create apps that operate on
the Apple iPhone; Apple has no publicly
known plans to create a comparable platform. 

Given the increased flexibility of the Android SDK over the iPhone SDK, the potential to target many other device types and scenarios is simply fantastic.

The Action

Now, several months later (and yes, earlier today), the Android 1.0 SDK Release 1 is announced. This is, not coincidentally, tied to the same-day announcement of the first GPhone implementation. Extremely important to developers is the fact that we now have access (or will very shortly, due to the product announcements) to a live production product to go with the simulators we’ve been using. This brings home the ever-present need to test on live product, not just made educated guesses via simulation: we’ve already seen the curiousness of recent iPhone 3G reception troubles.

So, as the enterprising enterprise/mobile Java developer that you are, go grab your own copy of the Android 1.0 SDK Release 1 if you haven’t already… toss it into your development rigs, rebuild your code and see how it’s working, plug the SDK into your build/CI rig, and roll out your product!

N.B.

You may have noticed that I’ve alluded to Dan’s post over at SAI before: the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner story. Incidentally, that is another open source mobile development platform, but it just happens to not be Android-based.

After a fairly long delay, the first major publicly available implementation of Google’s [GOOG] Android SDK on a phone (the GPhone format) is finally unveiled as T-Mobile’s [DT] G1, also known as the HTC Dream.

In addition to the G1 itself, there’s also the Android Market, a software depot very similar to Apple’s [AAPL] App Store. Because the Android SDK has been available since its release as open source, plenty of developers have been able to muck with it for quite some time in fairly unrestricted ways. And, the usual suspects of Google software will be bundled or downloadable to the G1.

Even more enticing, at least for the Amazon Music Store fans out there, Amazon has announced that they will be making the ‘Music Store available on the G1. Cool beans!

Also reported is the mention that the G1 will be using Qualcomm’s dual-core MSM7201A chipset. Earlier, there were reports that some of the delay in producing any viable Android-based phone was somehow associated with chipset problems.

Is this the much-vaunted iPhone killer that everybody (other than Apple and its fans) has been seeking? Unfortunately, no. The photos of the G1 clearly show that it is a slider, but it lacks the sophisticated lines and styling that consumers expect from an advanced smartphone. For developers, hackers, and tinkers, though, the G1 is going to be a must-see.

But as the success of open source development and Google’s muscle has already shown us, there’s certainly an opportunity here. Especially if the copy-paste functionality is included and third party software support is alive and well.

N.B.

Hey, is that “G1″, as in “Google-1″, perhaps? Who won that naming contest?

Other external news articles associated with this post:

• CNET News – live blog coverage of the announcement

Prelude

More than a few intrepid adventurers out there have noticed my comments for one of Dan Frommer’s posts at SAI about the Android SDK and the proposal for the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) “GPhone” mobile phone platform for which the SDK can be used to create applications. Many of you have fired me E-mails about the links I left, wondering if there are any participating OHA members on the verge of releasing their GPhone implementations.

Neo FreeRunner Release and Information

While that is material for another article, what IS interesting today is the excitement over Openmoko’s release of their Neo FreeRunner phone. The phone was available for orders on July 4, 2008, but checking the device selector, the GSM 900 version of the Neo FreeRunner is unfortunately already sold out. Fortunately, the GSM 850 version is still available, and AT&T Mobile should support that…

So, avid readers, what have we learned from this event?

• Openmoko has finally released the Neo FreeRunner… the product had been delayed for sometime (since last year);
• The Neo FreeRunner is more of a production item, compared to the developer/enthusiast Neo 1973 mode… but given its nature, it can still be used as a developer/test item;
• The Neo FreeRunner remains an open source hardware and software product;
• Thus far, no U.S. domestic carriers have announced a package of the Neo FreeRunner with a plan;
• The Neo FreeRunner is a GSM-type phone, so no CDMA support at this time (sorry, Sprint and Verizon);
• Pricing for the Neo FreeRunner appears to be $399 USD;
• While purchasing became available on July 4, 2008, the orders do not begin shipping until July 7, 2008 (hey, don’t forget about Bungie Day);
• Product announcements over U.S. federal holidays tend to be overlooked except by the hardcore among us.

The DBoard (debug board) is available for the Neo FreeRunner, so you can open up your phone and access its functions in a convenient, unified point. Also, it’s been reported that the USB host function may be set to power other USB devices… as if somebody would want to, say, remove the guts of the Neo FreeRunner and implant them into a small notebook to turn it into some like a full-featured mobile communications platform… gee, who would be nefarious enough to create a massive super-mini-micro-notebook that runs Android on the notebook side but reaches across the bridge to the phone functions? (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge…)

Another interesting point is the fact that, like Openmoko (the platform, not the company), the Android general platform is also Linux-based. An enterprising developer should be able to merge the Neo FreeRunner with an Android flavor of Linux and then plant the app frameworks on top of the OS.

Good times, folks! Let the massive phone platform hacking begin!

More Reading

Given the open source nature of the Neo FreeRunner and what Openmoko is heavily promoting, it makes sense to provide links to the important areas of interest (so you, too, can start formulating your own Linux-based smartphone):

• Openmoko: Product page for the Neo FreeRunner
• Getting Started with the Neo FreeRunner (for developers)
• Downloads:
  • Daily software builds (directory)
  • Hardware CAD files (directory)
• Openmoko Wiki

I’ll certainly be watching for more information about this cute little device. Like many other people, I’m in the market for a new smartphone, and while the iPhone 3G sounds like something that may be much more appropriate for my needs than, say, for the average professional, there are certainly issues with the iPhone that prevent it from being the “perfect” device.

Remember earlier, when I mentioned the links from the SAI comment? For your convenience, here are the links to the Android implementations running on existing devices:

• Nokia N810 running Android (4/9/2008)
• HTC TyTN II running Android (4/12/2008)

There already seems to be some market movements for Apple [AAPL] today, as the WWDC 2008 starts today. My previous post brought forth an overview of the technical conference, but I’m sure a lot of people will be focusing on the Other Steve’s keynote address, particularly with regard to the iPhone.

But I suspect there will still be plenty of new things to explore (this is aimed at us techies, right?), particularly with regard to Macs and OS X. Nevertheless, I am certainly also curious about what is going to happen to the iPhone: not just any performance/speed improvements, but also the software that may be written for it (again, the technies’ allure)… especially on the Java-Android issue.