Facebook Will Need Its Own Operating System

Gabby came home today for a little while and she had her Chromebook with her. If you haven't seen one yet - it's a pretty cool little notebook running Google's Chrome operating system. It boots up in about three seconds and has a battery that lasts over 8 hours. Everything is stored in the cloud so everything is accessible with a web connection. Pretty nice for a first generation device.

It got me thinking - Facebook does not have a mobile operating system (or any operating system for that matter). Apple does, Microsoft does and Google now has more than one. Poking around on the web I found an interesting report from ABI Research titled Mobile Social Networking. Here's some quotes from that report:

The number of people accessing social networks from mobile phones will exceed 550 million in 2011, and that figure will more than triple to over 1.7 billion by the end of 2016. 

For Facebook, the growing importance of mobile is both an opportunity and a serious strategic challenge. On one hand, mobile allows the world’s leading social network to engage with millions of new consumers, but on the other hand its ability to make money from mobile users remains untested. 

Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen is also quoted in the report saying, "A huge problem for Facebook is that while on the web it is a platform, on mobile it’s just another application. To strengthen its hand in the short term we expect Facebook to aggressively take advantage of HTML5, but in the longer term it should absolutely become a mobile operating system of its own."

Facebook is lagging. Google+ is tied in very tightly with Android and Chrome already. Twitter is going to be built into Apple's iOS 5. Practice director Dan Shey is also quoted saying, “The interesting aspect in Apple’s and Twitter’s partnership is how it can provide iPhone users with a verifiable social identity for websites and apps. That gives developers a lot of scope to innovate in areas such as authentication, personalization and advertising. It’s a hint of things to come.”

Is It Time For a Verizon iPhone?

You've probably heard by now that Android phone sales beat iPhone in the 2010 first quarter with 28% of the U.S. smartphone market. At first this may seem a little surprising but then when you think about it......... the only provider you can get an iPhone from is AT&T. You cannot buy one from Verizon or Sprint where you can buy an Android phone.

In addition, AT&T is selling Android phones so, if you are looking at phones in an AT&T store you're going to get to compare side by side. A quick check on the AT&T Wireless website shows the 16G iPhone 3Gs selling for $199.00 and the Motorola Backflip Android Phone selling for $99.99. Both option contracts look similar and they both run on the same AT&T 3G network.

There's been rumors swirling about a Verzon and a Sprint iPhone. Digital Daily quotes Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Katy Huberty on Verizon and the iPhone:

According to our [Alphawise U.S. consumer iPhone survey], there is substantial pent up iPhone demand within the Verizon installed base as 16.8 percent of Verizon subscribers said they are ‘very likely’ to purchase an iPhone if offered on the Verizon Network.

This 16.8 percent is higher than AT&T subscriber’s 14.6 percent extreme interest in the current AT&T iPhone and well above the overall iPhone extreme interest of 7.5 percent

Crunching her numbers, Huberty calculates Verizon would sell about seven million to eight million (Apple) iPhones annually over the next two years.

Sounds like some numbers Apple might be interested in, especially when you tie in potential revenue from the iPhone App store, iTunes, etc.

Steve Jobs is keynoting Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) early next month in Cupertino...... it will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

An App For That? Mobile In Airplane Mode For Car

I saw a nasty accident a couple of hours ago. A guy in a car in front of me was using his cell phone and rear-ended the car in front of him. I stopped and both people got out. Nobody appeared to be hurt but both cars had to be towed away.

The accident has helped me decide that - from now on when I'm alone in the car - my phone is going into airplane mode before I start driving. If I do this I do need to remember to take my phone out of airplane mode when I get to where I'm going and get out of my car. It has me thinking about a few interesting phone apps:

1. A bluetooth enabled airplane mode function. When the car starts the phone goes into airplane mode. When the car is shut off the phone goes out of airplane mode. This app would only work for cars that have bluetooth installed.
   
2. For cars that don't have bluetooth - a phone app that could be tied to the GPS radio. When the car is moving the phone goes into airplane mode. When not moving the phone goes out of airplane mode. This one would require some sort of timing offset to prevent people from picking up their phones when stopped at a light, stuck in traffic, etc. It may also be a problem when trying to walk and talk on the phone at the same time.
   
3. An app that allows the user to put the phone into airplane mode for a set period of time. I did find an iPhone app that does this called aTimeTool. This app requires the iPhone be jailbroken which I haven't done yet. There are probably other apps that do this - i'll do a little more looking when I have more time. I like this type of app - It would allow me to set my phone to airplane mode for 30 minutes when leaving my house for work and automatically go out of airplane mode 30 mins later. That's just about the amount of time it takes me to get to the door of my building. I would not have to remember to take the phone out of airplane mode. I could also use an app like this when at meetings and other functions.
   

I've done minimal searching on the web and only for iPhone apps that can turn airplane mode on and off. I'm not sure what is available for other phones like the Android.

10 Random Thoughts On 12-24-08

Here's my thoughts for this week:

1. Will 2009 be the last year of the mechanical hard drive ?
2. Every year is some sort of a milestone but 2009 will be special - my 30 year college (UMass Amherst ) graduation anniversary and my oldest graduating from high school - time flies doesn't it?
3. How long will it be before we are calling ADSL legacy technology?
4. Still no word from Obama on who his FCC chairman will be.
5. Let's see - a Patriots win combined with either a Miami or Baltimore loss means playoffs for New England.
6. Will 2009 be the year of Android?
7. Have you tried Chrome yet? You should.
8. Can we crawl out of this economic meltdown? We always have and I believe we always will.
9. My heart and prayers go out to a colleague and family who lost their 12 year old this past fall.
10. Happy Holidays - wishing lots of enjoyment with family and friends.
11. Number 11 because it is Christmas Eve - if you do nothing else today.... read Tom Friedman's December 23 NYT Column Time to Reboot America
    

Have fun. Take time. Be safe.

Some Interesting Wireless Device Development Platforms

Last month the Rutberg & Co. Wireless Industry Newsletter asked the question Will 2009 be the year of the mobile app? I've been watching the different mobile development platforms fairly closely because these applications offer some great teaching and learning potential in our classrooms and some excellent business opportunities for our entrepreneurial students. The Rutberg newsletter lists four different device platforms:

iPhone (http://developer.apple.com/iphone/ )

Most developers consider the iPhone SDK king right now - Apple currently provides the richest development environment along with marketing and the App store where developers can sell their applications.

Android (http://code.google.com/android/ )

Googles entry involves the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies that developed Android.

Ovi (http://ovi.com/services/)

Ovi was launched in late summer 2007 by Nokia as a "personal dashboard" for Nokia smartphones.

Blackberry (http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/ )

The company has launched the BlackBerry Developer Zone with resources and information for developers.

Each site offers the equivalent of an SDK along with other developer tools, white papers, forums, videos, etc. The Rutberg newsletter says it well - Apple pioneered the offerings of a compelling data experience to customers, a useful development environment for developers, and a meaningful business model for constituents throughout the ecosystem. Android is furthering the industry shifts through greater levels of openness and broader levels of industry involvement. Ovi and Blackberry are right there in the mix too.

If you currently teach computer programming you should take a close look at each of these development platforms.

Google Becomes a "Telephone Company"

Today the 700 MHz C-Block 50 state package auction closed over $4.7 billion, passing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reserve price of $4.6 billion. Passing the $4.6 billion mark is important because it assures this piece of spectrum will be sold under the current rules. This means the winning bidder will have to let devices from other carriers use the network.

Most believe the two companies bidding on this piece of spectrum are Google and Verizon. Regardless of who actually wins the bid - Verizon, Google or another company, Google will have access to the spectrum for their Android project. Android is what Google is calling the first complete, open, and free mobile platform, part of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience.

The Open Handset Alliance group is committed to commercially deploy handsets and services using the Android Platform in the second half of 2008.

If the minimum bid of $4.6 billion had not been met, the FCC would have gone back, re-worked the rules, likely removing the open access piece, and then would have re-auctioned the C-Block. With the open access rule now locked in place, the success of Android is almost certain.

A day in history - January 31, 2008 - Google becomes a "telephone company".