Michael Arrington in Techcrunch on Calling from Google Mail:
Google Voice Integrated Into Gmail. Make And Receive Calls From The Browser.
This morning I had a shiny moment when this popped up on logging into Gmail. I followed through to do some research on Google Voice, downloaded the Chrome Plug-in and kaboom, I was in there. Continue reading
I’m happy for App Inventor. I wish it a long and exciting life. Surely it will have one in schools and computer classes, among other niches.
But for nonprogrammers on their own? Forget it. Android Hype Inventor is more like it.
Any contrary views?
P.S. read the full article, as a not-wannabee programmer he makes some very insightful arguments which resonate for people like me.
AdMob Chief Reports Apple Has Not Yet Enforced New Analytics Policies
Tuesday July 13, 2010 03:05 PM EST
Written by Eric SlivkaCNET today reports on new comments from Hamoui revealing that Apple has yet to enforce the new terms that would shut AdMob out of the iOS platform.
“They haven’t been enforcing (the new regulations) yet. We’re very appreciative of that,” he said at the MobileBeat 2010 conference here.
The news is not unexpected, of course, as developers have reported that they have been able to continue using AdMob’s services in their applications, but Hamoui’s comments mark the first acknowledgement by Apple, Google or AdMob that AdMob’s service is continuing uninterrupted for the time being. But Hamoui did not address the state of talks between Apple and AdMob and whether a more permanent resolution to the issue is in the works or if the status quo of simple non-enforcement on the part of Apple might be the policy going forward.
Hamoui also noted that he is pleased by Apple’s iAd effort as it works to bring more publicity to the concept of mobile advertising.
“The really rich pretty ads they’re doing are making advertisers and agencies think about what mobile means,” Hamoui said. “Anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It’s not at all a zero-sum game.”
Google and AdMob are of course interested in what Apple is doing as a competitor, and Google itself has suggested that it too is looking at “interactive video ads” as the future of mobile advertising.
Sounds like Omar is getting more conciliatory compared to his reaction earlier on this. I doubt if AdMob would be completely banned in any case – as long as their ads prevented private data from being sent to Google
Here come the fart apps!
As far as I can tell, Apple’s new developer terms on the gathering of analytics inside Applications on the iOS no more prevents AdMob or anyone else from gathering Analytics from Websites browsed on iOS based devices as it does someone using a browser on an iMac or a Windows based Computer. See this Mashable Post on the topic for a good review of the situation.
So where do the stories about supposed Anti-trust investigations come from? I don’t see evidence anywhere that Apple are forming Cartels to prevent competition, even in the online Music business which they dominate. In fact, I’m pretty sure most of the leeches who provide them the ‘content’ would love to avoid using Apple if they could. They probably dream nightly of ways to go back to the control of the delivery and pocket all the cash, like the used to.
Google is focusing the bulk of its efforts on the user experience for the upcoming Gingerbread release to counter this. And they want to get the Android experience closer to the iPhone.
Bets on John Gruber positing the real reason why the Steve is going after google is this. http://daringfireball.net/2010/06/whats_fair “What’s goofy is the idea that Google would…aggressively change Android from a BlackBerry/Windows Mobile competitor into an iPhone competitor — and that anyone would expect Apple not to retaliate”
If you think about it, Google (via Ad Mob) being able to collect specific usage data about iOS would be a HUGE competitive advantage in shaping their own Android strategy.
Excellent article.
The baseline is Google (through AdMob) AREN’T been locked out of Advertising on the iOS. However they ARE being locked out of advertising in the way that has made them one of the most profitable companies around.
If Google divested themselves of Android, they would likely still be able to get the analytics – like other Ad Networks will be.
When I started in University, there were these little beige boxes with a built in screen Continue reading
Post-I/O Thoughts
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Post-Google I/O, there’s not much room left to see iPhone-vs.-Android as anything other than an all-out war. What we’ve got here is a good old-fashioned epic rivalry.
…
The big loser this week, though, was Microsoft. They’re simply not even part of the game…Microsoft? They’ve got nothing. No interesting devices, weak sales, and a shrinking user base. Microsoft’s irrelevance is taken for granted.
Google’s competitive focus on the iPhone at I/O was intense and scathing. But it’s Microsoft’s lunch they’re eating…
Microsoft can’t afford for its mobile platform to account for just a sliver of the industry’s unit sales. Their licensing model is all about volume — low per-unit profits multiplied by an enormous number of units. They’re not selling $400-600 phones, they’re selling $8-15 licenses for an OS.
But Google lets carriers and handset makers license Android for free. And not only has Google cut the bottom out of the market price-wise, by the time Windows Phone 7 phones actually come to market, Android will have two complete years of momentum and market share behind it.
Three years ago, just before the original iPhone shipped, here’s what Steve Ballmer said in an interview with USA Today’s David Lieberman:
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any
significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized
item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a
look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have
our software in 60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent of them,
than I would to have 2 percent or 3 percent, which is what Apple
might get.”Not only was he wrong about the iPhone, but he was even more wrong about Windows Mobile. Three years ago Ballmer was talking about 60, 70, 80 percent market share. This week, Gartner reported that Windows Mobile has dropped to 6.8 percent market share in worldwide smartphone sales, down dramatically from 10.2 percent a year ago. (The same report puts iPhone OS at 15.2 percent, and Android at 9.6.)
Microsoft can’t undercut Android on price, and it seems increasingly unlikely that they can beat Android in terms of features or experience. They didn’t warrant even a passing reference from Google at I/O. No chance, indeed.
Perhaps Steve Ballmer should take the advice I dreamt that Bill gave him the other night?
http://twitter.com/franksting/statuses/14436194149
Google’s Broken PlaceFinder
April 6th, 2010 by MDob…
Part of the presentation was focused on the use of the map as a “place browser”. I chuckled, when I saw this, since it seems that one cannot use Google Search or Google Map Search for place browsing, at least, not if you actually want to know where places are located. However, if you are looking for a good afternoon of misinformation, it may meet your needs.
As I’ve been saying for months. If you took Google’s advice on where to drive in Sydney you’d go off two cliffs near me pretty smartish and get lots of tickets for taking illegal left turns off Centennial Ave in Lane Cove
