Uncool Mobility

INQ1: First of many, or last?

I've been noticing the the INQ1 launch in the UK which is the first example of an operator launching a social networking phone. It's a white-labelled service powered by SEVEN (interesting how the email providers are all migrating to the social address book as a messaging platform, but that is another story). Hutch has done a great job of bundling it with a special rate plan and clearly targeting the service.

Supposedly there are 50,000 pre-registrations for the phone. Will this take off? If it does will it signal a new migration to operators optimizing devices and web services for specific customer segments?

After RIM and Apple have been eating market share from handset vendors (especially Nokia and Motorola) and Operating System platforms (Windows Mobile and to a lesser extent Symbian) it would be very interesting if this model was adopted successfully by operators as opposed to device vendors.

BlackBerry vs. iPhone

Informative post from Changewave asking the most critical question of Q1 09 for the mobile services market share: "But is the new RIM lineup of consumer products strong enough to take full advantage of their increased demand?"

"The smart phone market is now dominated by two companies - Apple and Research In Motion. According to our survey results, the Apple iPhone trails the RIM BlackBerry in terms of current market share - but the iPhone has experienced strong growth since its inception and explosive growth since the release of the 3G model in July 2008.

Going forward, RIM is showing a surge in momentum due to its slew of new product launches - and appears capable of giving Apple a strong challenge in 2009. But the real test in a cutthroat market is how satisfied consumers actually are with their new models."

BlackBerry vs. iPhone - The Smart Phone Battle Rages On.

Garmin Confirms Android Handset

A sign of things to come in 2009: Service vendors ensuring an integrated experience by launching open-source (primarily Android) powered handsets.

Garmin Confirms Android Handset | Gadget Lab from Wired.com.

99 Cent iPhone Apps Not Significantly More Popular

99 Cent iPhone Apps Not Significantly More Popular.

This is a fantastic post because it offers commentary based on data. The data intrepretation can be argued--some good comments on this--but it's a great approach.

Zune phone rumors hard to kill

It's funny how the echo-chamber story of a zune phone goes round and round. The interest in the idea of a Zune phone, tightly integrated services and device form factor, escape comment in every story which focuses instead on the red herring of "will Microsoft make an own-branded device".

No Zune phone at CES, says Microsoft | Register Hardware.

The larger questions Microsoft has to answer: How will Live services overlay or fit with the increasing tendency of partners to layer their own UI on WM? How will the WM roadmap, and its downward compatiblity (or not), reach into the existing WM installed base? Who will mediate competing operator and device vendor services which compete with Live services?

Microsoft could carve out some interesting space in the market by extending XBox and Zune services into Windows Mobile features. But even there they run into some fast-developing challenges.

In particular, by the time Microsoft's Skymarket app store is out the same devices may well have operator or device vendor stores. Will they co-exist? Will the service provider ultimately decide? Will Microsoft support their app store with demand generation for partners?

Google brings AdWords to iPhone

Google has tailored its AdWords program for mobile and is now allowing advertisers to purchase platform-specific ads. This increases Apple's value as a platform to developers as well as content and ISVs.

Device and service vendors competing with Apple will have to respond to the value Apple is creating with its market ecosystem and get beyond launching touchscreens or announcing plans to add an icon enabling application downloads. Apple is remaking this market without serious responses from any of the incumbents.

Context-sensitive advertising coming to SMS

Mobile social network brings adwords to SMS • The Register.

This is a trend to watch. Social Networking site Wadja has created an adwords-like model which "allows advertisers to sponsor specific words in text messages sent by members".

A service like this which depends upon context would have utility to end users, and therefore be more successful, if applied to a public/private format such as Twitter which incents search as a behavior.

Twitter, are you listening?

Web 2.0 implosion begins; FB Connect signals end of two social networking startups

As FaceBook starts its marketing & PR for Connect, smaller social networking startups (whose ability to post and read across SN platforms was a main differentiator) are folding. FB is aggressively moving to control the social addressbook / social graph and the plunging economy will aid its efforts.

"Facebook Connect--the service launched last spring that lets members log on to other Web sites using their Facebook profile--appears to be entering a new phase. The New York Times, in a big-picture story Sunday about the social network's plans to extend its reach across the Web, notes that the Facebook Connect service is gearing up for expansion: In the next few weeks, a number of prominent Web sites will weave this service into their pages, including those of the Discovery Channel and The San Francisco Chronicle, the social news site Digg, the genealogy network Geni, and the online video hub Hulu"

The reaction:

Pownce closed, team members are going to blogging provider SixApart

TruTap, a UK mobile social networking aggregator, lays off 80% of staff while looking for exit

Apple App Store tribute page shows all 10k apps

Fun eye candy showing all apps, the distribution of pricing, and the pace of publication (by submission month).

10,000 Apps! - Presented by 148Apps.com :: 10,000 iPhone and iPod Touch applications in the iTunes App Store.