GetJar Study: Mobile Apps To Grow $17 Billion by 2012

I had an opportunity to sit down with Bill Scott, V.P. Sales & Business Development of GetJar.com at last years Mobilize event in San Francisco to discuss mobile apps. Today,  GetJar, the premiere independent mobile app store with more than 60,000 mobile apps on hand for major mobile platforms: Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile, put out a study that predicts a gold rush in the number of mobile apps and the increase in size of the mobile app marketplace.

According to the study, performed by Chetan Sharma Consulting, mobile app downloads should jump from 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012. The market is estimated to be worth approximately 17 billion dollars. GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs makes another statement, echoing the one from a Google executive. “It is easy to see how mobile apps will eclipse the traditional desktop Internet. It makes perfect sense that mobile devices will kill the desktop,” he said. Mr. Laurs backs up this claim with more data from the study, citing that 17% of GetJar users spend more time on internet-linked smartphones than they do on desktops.

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

March 23rd Android Workshop

This coming week is a busy one on a number of fronts. Our second Android Workshop takes place at 7pm Tuesday, March 23rd at the Galway Bakery Company. It will give participants an opportunity to hold a reverse Q&A on the SDK based on their experiences over the last week. Come upstairs to the back section when you arrive and we will order from there. Some of us are heading to Dublin for the Mitch Altman and Jimmie P Rodgers Electronic Workshop at the Science Gallery. We also hope to pay a visit to TOG enroute.

Hotel Meyrick plays host to Twestival Galway on March 25th. If you are free on the day try and swing by to support a very worthy cause. 091 Labs is contributing a small prize for the raffle on the night. This years Irish Blog Awards are being held in the Radisson Hotel, Galway at 8:00pm Saturday, March 27th. Tickets are still available for the event for those interested. Looking forward to meeting participants at all of the above events!

[Via http://091labs.com]

Ahhh, Technology

The leaps and bounds by which technology changes and grows nowadays is astounding. Here’s today’s cool example:

I was searching for a file sharing app for El Droido and came across a message board post from a guy who had written one. He had posted a 2D barcode in his post. I pulled out the Droid, opened the barcode scanner program, pointed it at the screen and SNAP – it took me to the Android Marketplace entry for his program. 15 seconds to accomplish – no typing, copying and pasting URLs or anything like that. W00t!

[Via http://thesethingsjust.wordpress.com]

Droid 2.1 clarification

There has been a lot of confusion it seems over the recent OTA push of the much awaited 2.1 update for the Droid.  It was delayed, there were bugs, the moon isn’t aligned correctly with the earth, etc.  However, it seems that Verizon still pushed the update out to a small bit of test users:

“The Android 2.1 upgrade for the Droid by Motorola was deployed to a small number of Verizon Wireless test users as scheduled. It is expected the broader phased rollout to all Droid by Motorola users will take place, but not just yet. No date scheduled yet.”

So it seems as if things were taken out of context and that they did push it out to their test users.  When will the rest of us see it?  Well, no one knows yet but hopefully soon.  I’ll keep up with the updates!

Source

[Via http://parasomia.wordpress.com]

Not feeling the love. Why don't operators give us dates?

Surely in this day and age, companies (the phone operators in this case) no when they’re going to be releasing a product? They have meetings and set targets and probably drink tea and eat biscuits whilst doing so.

So why do they persist in annoying their loyal customers by not telling us things?

I am of course talking about the release date of the HTC Desire. There has been a lot of crap going round the Internet about Vodafone having exclusive rights to the phone, T-Mobile releasing the phone next week and so on but why is everyone else being so quiet?

On my way to buy a second hand iPhone (for a colleague at work – believe me) I decided to take some of this paid time to go around the other mobile phone shops and ask some questions. Get to the bottom of what is happening with regards to release dates for the Desire.

My first stop: The 3 Store.

After waiting 10 minutes for the fat man in front of me to give up trying to make the sales assistant copy his phonebook across to his new phone, I managed to ask the question: “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in stock?”. Admittedly, he was polite in his answer but it was of no help to me: “We’ve been told somewhere between the end of March and beginning of April”. Great, thanks for nothing.

So, next stop was Carphonewarehouse. Surely these guys would know a thing or two. I probably should have walked back out when I saw the geek behind the counter playing with his iPhone but I decided to persist and try and get the truth. Again, I ask: “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in?”. After a lecture on how Vodafone will have it exclusively first blah blah blah he then said “normally the other operators follow up shortly afterwards”. Even less helpful and I had just wasted 5 minutes of my life which I shall never be able to reclaim.

Next up was T-Mobile. I’d heard that someone somewhere had managed to have a play on a Desire in a T-Mobile store (probably in London) so I thought I’d give it a go. After looking round their stands of ancient and crappy looking phones I decided to ask the spotty man behind the counter. “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in?” . . . . *Pause* . . . . “Sorry, I’m not sure if we’ll be getting that in or not, I haven’t heard of it yet”. Me: “WHAT?! What the hell is wrong with you man?! Have you been under a rock for the past month?!!” Well that’s what I’d liked to have said but instead I decided to cut my losses there and then and just thank him and walk out.

So, my mission was a failure. I am still none the wiser as to when I’ll get my Desire

[Via http://desirefanatics.wordpress.com]

Google Maps 4.1 released for Android

Google has released its latest Maps software for the Android based systems.  The latest version is 4.1 and includes a few new features such as a better results screen, support for multiple Google accounts,  and swipe gesturing.  The last feature is pretty neat as it allows Google Maps to be used as a live background on your phone.  Yes, that way your background can always be a map of where your at and of course constantly moving with you.  That’s a pretty cool feature to have.  I can hear draining batteries everywhere as we speak

Google Maps 4.1 is available for Android systems 1.6 and up.  And if you’re interested in the live wallpaper idea, you’re going to need Android 2.1 or up.  Roll out that firmware!

[Via http://parasomia.wordpress.com]

Google Maps 4.1 for Android brings multiple account support, trippy live map wallpaper

Google’s been iterating its Maps client for Android devices at a positively ridiculous pace lately, burning through versions 3.4 and 4.0 in a span of just a few days last month — but hey, March is upon us, which apparently means it’s time for another fresh cut. This time around we’re looking at 4.1, though the mere 0.1 bump in the version number really doesn’t do this thing justice — they’ve redesigned the results screen, added a swipe gesture for moving between results, served up a new Latitude widget for the home screen, and brought in support for multiple Google accounts (for seeing different Buzz follows, for instance). The icing on the cake, though, is a new live wallpaper for Android 2.1 phones that’s a live map of your location, which sounds absurdly awesome — assuming it doesn’t beat your battery to a bloody pulp with constant GPS access, of course. It’s available now from the good ol’ Market for devices running Android 1.6 and up, so if you’re on a device that’s still stuck on Cupcake, feel free to shake your fist angrily at the sky a couple times. Interestingly, Google specifically says that the live wallpaper feature works on “Android 2.1+” devices — a sign that the next major build is around the corner, perhaps?

[Via http://f3.kz]