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Why would a mobile handset maker acquire a decade old mobile operating system developer and then let it go open source? We need but look for two pointers as to why Nokia would try to shore up its position in the market by acquiring Symbian: the iPhone and Android.
Om Malik does a great job of analysing the situation. It’s time the phone industry realized there is a ‘new mobile reality’ at hand.
Tags: Android, iPhone, Nokia, Symbian
Tokyo-based Eitarosoft has developed a 3D virtual world service running on Google’s mobile platform Android.
Called Lamity, this virtual world can be accessed via any Android-mounted mobile device. In addition, up to 400 users can simultaneously access the same space on Lamity. This is more than ten times the number who can hang out together in the same place in Second Life.
Eitarosoft’s shareholders include tier one Japanese investment groups such as Japan Asia Investment, JAFCO, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Nomura Securities.
They have a strong background in mobile 3D, having developed the first i-mode application to display 3D graphics in 2002.
Lamity includes multiple and dual chat features. It also allows for web pages to be viewed simultaneously and stream video through a built-in movie function. A trailer for the movie “Vantage Point” was distributed through this feature ahead of its February premier.
Tags: Android, Eitarosoft, Lamity, Second Life
The Open Handset Alliance’s Android Developers Challenge has released the 50 apps that have been given $25k in funding in Part 1, Round 1. As Jason Chen says on the Android Developers Blog, the list is being put out in the spirit of releasing early and often.
I strongly urge other specific funders of grants to app developers to do the same. Think about it, the space is moving at a rapid pace and app development does not have a long lead time. So why should the giving of small grants be a black box affair?
I recently contacted Bay Partners, who run the Facebook-specific appfactory, and also Facebook themselves regarding the fbFund.
Salil Deshpande from Bay Partners tells me the appfactory is going well and that they will be putting out a detailed status update shortly. I look forward to this and commend them on this move.
Facebook has been a black hole. No response back from either official press channels or through direct contacts. No discussion anywhere (that I can find) by Facebook on the fund’s status, which apps have received funding etc. I hear (unverified) they have made some funding decisions, so why the silence?
More coverage on the Android apps:
[Picture courtesy of EggOnline]
Tags: Android, appfactory, Bay Partners, Facebook, fbFund, Open Handset Alliance