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Google is set to announce the Nexus One smartphone today, the first ever phone designed by the company. The Nexus One will run on Google’s Android platform, and is said to be the first real threat to the iPhone.
According to rumors, the phone will be available from T-Mobile for $180 (with a 2-year plan), or $530 unlocked.
Judging from their 404 pages, look for more information at google.com/nexusone after the announcement.
At this week’s Carnival #184 the team at idlemode.com guides us through a breadth of topics from convergence to apps to widgets and webs and the Pre — showcasing ideas from mobile’s top bloggers.
MM take #1: We hope the Pre is a Pre-lude to a better phone. MM take #2: There’s a great deal of talk in this week’s Carnival around the Mobile App Stores vs. the Mobile Web debate. Our take is, go where the growth is and don’t bet the farm on one side of this argument. Yes, mobile apps are seeing huge growth largely due to the iPhone App Store success, and Android will help push that a bit higher as well. That said, there will always be a need for the mobile web, and Dennis Bournique at WAP Review could be hitting it right on when he says that the mobile web could indeed be a better platform as these apps need to scale.
But at this point, you should simply position yourself to take advantage of where the near term growth is, knowing that both are going to be around for a long time to come.
Well, that was quick. Yesterday, Google announced it’s beta program for the Google Adsense for Mobile Applications.
Developers can apply for the beta program here. Before you rush over to apply, you should know that developers must agree to the following:
Participate for at least 3 months
At least 100k pageviews per day
Apps must be free
iPhone or Android apps only
Must be ready to implement now, and be live within 4 weeks
For marketers looking to get their ads on these mobile apps, it looks like they are already placing Adsense ads that are targeted to high-end mobile devices. According to Google, they will also open this specific program up to marketers as well.
Find out more in this testimonial video from Urbanspoon:
So what do you think of ads on these free apps? As a developer, are you excited about a new revenue opportunity? Or are you disappointed that your favorite free mobile apps will now have banner ads taking up precious real estate on your phone?
The folks at foofactory have provided a solid Facebook app for the Android platform. The fooBook app uses the Facebook API to provide most of the features that a mobile user would be looking for.
Here are the features as described by foofactory:
View your friends status messages
Set your status message
See comments your friends made about your status
See comments on the status messages of your friends
Add comments to your friends status messages
View your friends updated profile picture
Works in the background
Sound and vibrate notifications
Change polling period
This app is available for $2.00, and there is also a fooBook-lite version that you can try for free. Check it out and let us know what you think!
As Google continues to trim the number of stalled or money-losing projects in its portfolio, the Android platform for mobile phones is the latest project to get cut. While not a total shock as Android has continued to limp along in the face of the wildly successful iPhone platform, as well as new competition from BlackBerry App World, it does leave some scratching their heads.
There is no comment yet from Google partners whom have also invested a great deal of resources in developing phones for the new platform, most notably T-Mobile with the G-1 phone. It is safe to assume though that Google will have to either compensate those partners in some way, or perhaps release ownership (and control) of the platform altogether in favor of some open source community, thereby allowing the platform to survive and the efforts of those partners to continue.
I am disappointed as I have to admit I was holding out for a newer Android phone. Oh wel1.
(4/2/09 Edit: Yes, this was an April Fools post, as many of you quickly pointed out. Android is not going anywhere;)
CES 2009 is buzzing with techie news and announcements that are impacting the mobile landscape and beyond. One of those happens to be Skype’s announcement of their Lite app for Java enabled phones, bringing VOIP calling to your mobile phone.
According to CNET, Skype is now submitting the app to the Android Market, which would hopefully get approved by Google within a few days.
Stay tuned and we will update this post when Skype Lite becomes available on the Google Android Market!
Attention mobile developers — the Rough Cuts version of the Android Development book from O’Reilly is now available. I was a bit ignorant on exactly what ‘Rough Cuts’ meant, so I checked it out on the O’Reilly site. Here is their official description:
When you buy a book on the Rough Cuts service, you get access to an evolving manuscript. You can read it online, download as a PDF, or print. Once you’ve purchased a Rough Cuts title, you have a chance to shape the final product – you can send suggestions, bug fixes, and comments directly to the author and editors.
You have your choice in the Rough Cuts program of purchasing just online access, just the print book when it releases, or the best of both worlds – online access immediately and the print book later.
A second O’Reilly book covering the Google mobile development platform, titled Hello Android, is supposed to be available any day now.
So if you’ve got a few days off to sit around and eat, you can at least sneak a few pages in during commercials. With only one Android phone available today, you still have time to build a great Android App get it into the Android Market before so many Google loyalists herd over to that platform.
Doing some last minute shopping, but like to know if you’re getting the best price around? Use your T-Mobile G1 phone and download GoCart, the Android application that scans bar codes and searches for other prices online and in nearby stores.
Editor Update: The Scan Android application has been renamed to CompareEverywhere.
Android Scan is an application that returns product and pricing information on just about anything with a barcode. Use it on a DVD, for example, and it will return reviews from Amazon.com. Scan a book, and it searches libraries in your area to see if they are available — very cool if you’re looking to save a few bucks (and who isn’t these days?).
The folks at foofactory have provided a solid Facebook app for the Android platform. The fooBook app uses the Facebook API to provide most of the features that a mobile user would be looking for.
Attention mobile developers — the Rough Cuts version of the 
