Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.

“Get your head in the clouds : Are Netbooks quietly driving us toward Cloud Computing? ?”

Taipei MobileMonday 23, at Mary’s Bistro Cafe, featured a dynamic presentation from Sascha Pallenberg and Nicole Scott of Netbook News, on netbooks, the cloud, and their mutual synergy.

Sascha began with a fascinating review of the history and future of netbook hardware. Milestones included the first eeePC, which sold 3.5mm units. And more recently, ASUS has a netbook for kids, using Disney branding and distribution, with a 8.9″ display at $350. The Dell Latitude 2100 is also breaking ground at schools, its light, ruggedized, and straps right on to your little scholar. For teachers, Dell offers a 32 port docking station that recharges both the battery and the homework. Another exciting development is the eeePC T91, a “netvertible” that pirouettes into a tablet.

Netbooks are really hitting their stride, settling in on proper sized keyboards and screens, while retaining their svelte form factor. Users are waking up to the fact that they are fully capable for for our quotidian computing: email, surfing, IM, youtube, and office tasks. And they are breaking into vertical markets such as hospital and emergency workers, now that they are turning into tablets, complete with touch screens and multi-touch hardware and OS support.

Nicole does all her work for netbooknews using her netbook, with the exception of video editing. She argued that netbooks and smartphones are not exclusive, that there are valid reasons to carry both, and that the press is trumping up any “battle” between the two. Indeed carriers are now bundling free netbooks if you commit to their 3G data plan contract.

The 3G data network links smartphones and netbooks alike into the cloud. Sascha demonstrated for us a very advanced example: jolicloud, which lets you follow other users and the hot new apps, games, and services they are using (hosted on Jolicloud and sold through their app store). Jolicloud will soon operate purely in html, thus automatically syncing your service ecosystem across most every machine and platform. While also not fully released, Google’s Chrome OS will compete.

The cloud has technical advantages for many home, SMB, and even enterprise users. Less proven, but as Sascha discussed, equally vital, are business models leveraging this new paradigm. Carriers distributing free 3G netbooks with data plan subscriptions is one. Google’s targeted ad support is another; their Chrome OS speaks softly but carries a big stick. A more service oriented model such as e.g. $25/yr flickr pro acct. may also prove viable.

The cloud is the future, and the future is now. The client computer is too fat for most tasks; do most users really enjoy fretting about backups, disk crashes, viruses, and syncing? Tonight’s talk brought this vision into focus. The cloud enables a thinner desktop, which can take the form of a netbook, or a smart phone. Netbooks and the cloud are synergistic. Netbook unit volume in Taiwan now rivals conventional notebooks. Even meagre CPUs are adequate to launch linux and run a browser. CPU’s and operating systems are becoming commodities, and the Wintel model is under assault.

How are the big players affected by the netbook-cloud juggernaut? The obvious winner is Google, and the losers include Intel and Microsoft. Amazon has been selling cloud services for years. Taiwanese manufacturers invented netbooks, and they are profiting, though margins can be low. Apple both wins and loses; their notebook sales are being hurt by netbooks, they must release their own netbook tablet; their iPhones and iPods benefit from the cloud but their back end lags Google’s. And in the end, the biggest winner is the end user.

Resources

Netbook News http://www.netbooknews.com/ (Video, English)
Netbook News http://www.netbooknews.de/ (Text, German)
Mary’s Cafe http://www.maryscafe.com.tw/ Taipei’s Fine Dining Top Steak Pasta House

It’s fascinating to watch laptops getting smaller and turning into “netbooksâ€� while mobile phones are getting bigger to accommodate full keyboards and better Web browsing and application support. The pundits think these low-cost portable devices offer so many attractive features that they’ll soon displace smart phones. Intel CEO Paul Otellini even called Netbooks the “only bright spot of growth in the PC industry â€�. As netbooks continue to spread and become a common option for entry-level users, road warriors, and users who primarily need just e-mail and the Web, netbooks are going to inevitably change the computing world. As a result, the limited local processing and limited local storage available on netbooks are likely to become catalysts for transferring more processing and storage to the data center, where companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are currently building up large reservoirs of computing resources.

Those three companies will certainly be beneficiaries of this trend – especially in terms of their cloud storage initiatives – but so will many other companies that host Software-as-a-Service applications, hosted storage, and cloud computing services. Enterprises will also exploit this trend to gain efficiency and manageability improvements by being able to centralize more applications, and in some cases even migrating to more of a thin client architecture. Corporate users have often resisted this scenario because it took away some of the flexibility they were used to on their PCs. However with netbooks, this type of centralization would actually help speed up and simplify storage and applications for users on their netbooks, and so it’s much more likely to be accepted.

For 23rd MobileMonday Taipei Event, we invite Nicole Scott and Sascha Pallenberg from Netbooknews.com to talk about one of the latest trends in mobile world, netbook, since more and more operators are offering free netbook to encourage their customers to sign up for 3G serives. Netbooknews.com is the source for the latest and greatest content about netbooks, MID’s and thin and light notebooks and it brings you all the information in an easy going, easily digestable video format. The netbooknews.com team is Sascha Pallenberg, Nicole Scott and Lars-Göran “LG� Nilsson. Along with netbook, we will also discuss the development of cloud computing in today’s hi-tech market. And we will also demo a brand new operating system specially designed for netbooks, called Jolicloud. This OS provides a beautiful interface, an application directory and a set of social features that makes it easy and fun to use.

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Place: Mary’s Bistro 2nd. Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentations & Discussion: 7:30 PM

Presentation from Netbooknews.com:
– Sascha Pallenberg : Netbook Overview and Cloud Computing
– Nicole Scott : From smartphone and mobile computing to netbooks

Special presentation of Cloud Computing from a world famous cloud computing service provider

And live demo of Jolicloud, a brand new OS specially designed for Netbooks

Networking Time: 8:00 PM

Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.

iPhone Gold Rush – New Business Opportunity driven by iPhone.

Our 22nd event convened with a healthy crowd at Mary’s Bistro Cafe for some hearty Australian fare.

Other Steves (Jobs, Wozniak, Jurveston, McGarrett, Ballmer…) were unavailable, and I was pleased to accept an invitation from Scott Lo (Business Development Manager at Toro) to make the first presentation: How and why you can get a free iPhone, and other predictions about the future of the mobile industry. I’m creating a small startup involved in LBS, which will target the US market partly because of its size and also because I don’t want to compete with my colleagues here in Taipei. I’ve been analyzing the iPhone, and Scott asked me to share my findings with you.

Wikipedia has a decent table summarizing the three different generations of iPhones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_models. The latest model, the 3GS can be pre-ordered from CHT and should be available in August, probably the 19th.

But I begin with two primary criticisms of the iPhone. First, it lacks support for background apps. How can you run a chat client without background apps? Well, they’ll fix it, but give them a year or two. I suspect this is related the second criticism: the battery barely lasts a day. Indeed in the 3GS, they had to underclock the CPU. Apple is rumored to have built a team of custom chip designers; I suspect this is to both cost reduce the iPhone and increase its battery life.

So, the iPhone is not perfect, but on balance its more than good enough. Its on time enough and its on budget enough. They’ve built a huge lead on Google’s Android phone. They’ve sold over 20 million and are well on their way to overtaking the 50 million Windows Mobile devices early next year.

Now, as important as the hardware and software, is the App Store. It really bulldozed the barriers facing small creative developers. I know some of these developers and they have been unhappy with the carriers. Well, lets just look at the record. The first cell phone call was made in April 1973. The iPhone was first sold in June of 2007. So the carriers have had decades, during which approved and released, I will guess, a few hundred applications. And in two years, Apple released 50,000 applications. Take a look at the App Store Wall from Apple’s developer conference last month.

So if the iPhone is so successful, why would they make it free? Apple is never eager to lower prices. Well, there are three reasons I’m predicting this. The first is funny math. What does the iPhone actually cost, to apple and to the consumer. Lets’ do some rough calculations using USA numbers. Everyone is going around talking about the $99, $199, $299 iPhone. But the reality is you also sign a 2 year contract at over $70 a month. What actually happens is Apple makes the iPhone for less than $200, and when you sign up with their carrier partner AT&T, you agree to pay AT&T nearly $2000 over those 2 years. And AT&T gives Apple $500 out of that revenue stream. So at the first level, Apple makes a device for $200 and sells it for $700. And these numbers are borne out, approximately, in Hong Kong, one of the countries where you can simply buy an iPhone for cash, with no contract, and there the new models cost HKD 5500 and 6500. Last year Apple made a big splash by reducing the price of the iPhone by $200… while at the same time increasing the cost of the 2 year contract by $10 a month. So they actually raised the cost, but many buyers don’t analyze the purchase and in packaging the cost in this way is clearly effective.

The second reason I think the iPhone will be free is that Apple is sometimes willing to sacrifice margins for long term gains, as we can tell from their Mac Mini. As we can estimate from a tear-down by iSuppli, the mac mini costs $376 to manufacture, but sells for a mere $599. http://www.isuppli.com/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=20432 By contrast, the iPhone 3GS costs $179 and bring in a revenue stream of $700 or up. http://www.isuppli.com/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=20398 I don’t have Apple’s exact spreadsheets but what is clear is that Apple is wiling to cut margins on a product if it serves their big-picture long-term strategy. The Mac Mini is strategic as a box that can slide in and convert a Windows user to a lifetime mac customer. The iPhone is strategic for capturing phone users and a long term revenue stream of carrier fees, and music, video, and software sales, and even Mac computer purchases.

I really have to give respect to Apple: first they kick the music industry in the ass, then they kick the mobile industry in the ass, and to top off these ass-kickings are strategically related. Breathtaking strategy at the highest level.

The third reason is competitive pressure. Google has said there will be 20 different Android handsets this year. You can bet there will be a lot of diversity of features and prices. And Google will harness the marketing budgets of those 6 or 8 manufacturers, and hundreds of carriers, all promoting their Android handsets. And I further suspect some carriers may be a bit unhappy with Apple’s new world order and would like to use Android handsets to try to hold Apple in check.

So for these three reasons: hidden charges, long term big picture flexibility, and competitive pressure, I predict Apple will make the iPhone free. Now they may charge an extra $10 a month. And it may be the old low end model at first. But its going to be free, for anyone who signs a contract for $80 a month. This is Apple’s “ace in the hole” against Google, possibly as early as September. Of course they’re not completely free, and its only a $99 price reduction, but as Apple teaches us day after day, the psychological impact is paramount.

What are the broader implications of this for the mobile industry? First, the handset is no longer a handset. At a deeper level, the phone is not just a phone, not just a handset. For Apple is a channel for selling software, music, videos and computers. For Google a handset is rather, a platform for delivering ads (which can be location based). Eric Schmidt has said its mobile is going to be bigger than internet. And for Toro, it is a platform for mobile marketing, a 24×7 channel to the customer.

Apple and Google want to carpet bomb the planet with hardware and software. They are not in the business of selling widgets. They are in the business of capturing users and their long term revenue streams. And I submit that Microsoft, Sony-Ericsson, RIM, Nokia, are tied to outmoded business models that can no longer compete with the new models, and they will be hemorrhaging market share.

A second, related implication is that smartphones are going to accelerate their push downmarket into feature phone territory. Set top boxes for cable TV in the USA are also expensive, but they find a way to give them away or rent them out cheaply, because they enable far larger revenue streams, with high NPVs. Throw in the competition between Google and Apple and I only see prices falling.

The big picture involves 2 billion handsets in the world, with 1 billion more being sold this year, primarily as replacements. Perhaps up to 20% of these phones can be defined as smartphones. Sales figures from Q408 showed OS distribution as Symbian with 47%, RIM with 19.5%, Windows Mobile with 12.4%, Apple with 10.7%, and Google hardly on the chart. However, it is clear that things are changing quickly. I expect smartphones to push down market to beyond 30% in the next several years. And I predict Apple and Google to shoot to the top of that league table, with Nokia getting hurt the worst. Nokia, RIM, and Microsoft are more or less simply selling widgets and despite having slapped up app stores their business models are not built for the 21st century. They’re not positioned to pump ads and music through the handset to the consumer like Apple and Google are, and they will soon find themselves replaced at the top of the league table. Google have up to 20 handsets running Android within about 6 months, and in response Apple will drop their prices $99 thus making their low end model nominally free. You can download the presentation here.

Resources:
http://mashable.com/2009/03/21/iphone-economy/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/06/just-how-much-money-can-free-iphone-apps-make-quite-a-bit/
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/06/11/why_apple_keeps_iphone_specifications_quiet.html
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2009/tc20090612_492771_page_2.htm
http://moconews.net/article/419-report-smartphones-to-be-29-percent-of-total-market-in-2014/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2IMHuZXfl0 AppStore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE Ballmer

Having whet everyone’s appetite for the iPhone (and yes, I did just buy one), we greeted the presenters from Ayaris 9. This firm outsources iPhone development to their skilled team in India. Todd Enger learned to spec out products at Hewlett Packard; he and his team work with you to define your spec, and then they oversee its completion via their offshore team.

Included in their portfolio, they presented a GPS based coupon application, software to present medical videos, and even a karaoke application, among others. Further information is available via their website.

The popularity of iPhone has taken the world by storm and now it is reaching over 45 million of consumer at the end of 2009.When iPhone was first introduced, it hit the headlines across the entire globe. Its appealing outlook along with its amazing features simply ignites the burning desire of every consumer out there. Many companies are seeing this as a great business investment and the direction where these companies are investing their money on is none other then the recent buzz, the iPhone applications. In other words, more businesses are realizing the benefits of mobile applications and web-based access.

iPhone applications can be used to promote your business and it can be sold as a consumer product. Within a few days of the Application Store launch, over 900 new applications were added. This has stunningly turned the iPhone into a digital playground for all its users.

The Advantage of Investing in iPhone applications:
1. Attractive Commission – You’ll get to keep 70% of everything you sell in the iPhone Application Store.

2. Wide Range of Business Opportunities – It is speculated that iPhone will achieve 45 million units by the end of 2009. With such strong numbers of consumers, this is where many opportunities can be found.

3. Work From Home – Some people are creating applications as a full time job. One reason is because of its high rturns and it is seen to be only growing at the current rate. Therefore, more and more people are starting to come into this industry.

The iPhone market is still in its early stages and growing at a very fast rate. This makes it extremely attractive for many business companies. It is the reason why the popularity of iPhone applications within corporations is blooming. On the other hand, Apple is trying to do its best to support business applications development. Very soon, developers are able to sell additional services within applications, and buyers will be able to use these new features to create a better and more distinctive application.The development of iPhone applications has become one of the richest business in the world of information technology these days. Many programmers have made a name and fortune for themselves by simply writing unique iPhone applications. In fact, these applications are fairly cheap, but if you write one that goes viral, it will generate you a whole lot of money.

For 22nd MobileMonday Taipei, we invite 3 speakers to share their newly business development for iPhone application. Each of them representing different business ventures:

Presenter 1: Mr. Steve Follmer – who co-founded internet radio station live365.com during the dot com era, he recently started developing iPhone application with his engineering team. He will share with us his thoughts about the iPhone impact for the market.

Presenter 2: EzMoBo – Established in 2000, EzMoBo provides entertainment focused services and contents over side range of wireless network and platform. As part of this effort, EzMoBo now has leading services, EzFriends, EzDating, and others established across all of Taiwan’s major cellular carriers. And to seize the business opportunity brought by iPhone, they recently launched few gaming iPhone applications on app store. They will share with us how they see the market is evolving from a mobile content provider’s point of view.

Presenter 3: Ayaris 9 – A company provides software contracting and development project management with partners. One of their key partners specializes in iPhone application development, they will share with us how the new software ODM/OEM business opportunities iPhone brought in.

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, July 6th, 2009
Place: Mary’s Bistro 2nd. Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentations & Discussion: 7:30 PM

Networking Time: 8:00 PM

Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.

21st MobileMonday Taipei Event Report
21st MobileMonday Taipei-Mobile Open Source

MoMo 21 proved enjoyably intimate, giving many of us a chance to catch up on friends from earlier meetings. As usual, the conversation was fueled by abundant Aussie fare and hospitality at Mary’s Bistro Cafe. The two presentations then centered on open platforms.

Mirko Linder, lead developer for Paroli at Openmoko, illuminated for us the Paroli platform. This is an entirely open hardware and software GSM handset platform, built on the Neo Freerunner phone, in which all chips and architecture are fully documented and all firmware can be re-flashed. The Frerunner runs a Linux Kernel, and offers wifi, gsm, bluetooth, accelerometers, and touchscreen. OM2009 is Openmoko’s application platform running on top of this. The cherry on top, Paroli, is a python daemon which enables users to integrate and share data and control among most phone software with the ease of a scripted language. In a way, the entire project is a paragon of the open source philosophy, of generating new ideas and a common wealth, through sharing and through enabling users to program and rapidly prototype. An exciting project to which we wish the greatest success. For more information, check out Mirko’s slide show and Paroli.

Next up, Nicolas Sauvage, Asia General Manager for Open-Plug explained the use of open source on feature phones. Open-Plug is used by the majority of Taiwan’s OEMs and ODMs, who use their ELIPS development platform to dramatically reduce both the time and cost of creating handset software. Instead of creating a monolithic statically linked executable for the handset, the Open-Plug system enables the software subsystem to be built from components that are dynamically added. And indeed, these components can be open source. You can find his presentation here.

This raises the interesting subject of smart phones pushing downmarket into feature phone territory. Price will certainly remain the primary driver on any spreadsheet, but I believe sales are subject to additional dimensions. As a point of reference, iSuppli has estimated that the iPhone has about $200 in material cost, and as we know it retails for about $600. Indeed these numbers simply out of reach in many markets. But for the consumer, this hard cost is masked by bundling the phone into a 2-year contract. For the carriers, the handset is more than that, it is the vehicle through with voice, data, and SMS plans are delivered. For Apple it is a music delivery vehicle, and for Google is is an ad delivery vehicle. Given these powerful forces, it seems nobody will let the handset be “just a phone” and that consumers will have to search harder and harder for any pure phone handset. In sum, in addition to wagering on the win, place, and show among smart phone players, we can also watch the smart phone vs. feature phone boxing match. I don’t have any hard numbers at hand, but Infonetics predicts 1.1 billion handsets sold in 2009, and double-digit growth for smartphones for the next 5 years, with dollar (though not unit) volume exceeding feature phones by 2013.

The evening concluded with a drawing, with Makato Chiu from Pixostyle giving away 20 Golla brand cell phone bags.

Sponsored By Pixostyle

Without a doubt, 2008 has been the year where open source has transitioned from a status of early adoption to one of acceptance and endorsement by the mobile industry’s who’s who as a recipe for collaborative software development. The Android launch, the Symbian acquisition and open source roadmap, Intel’s Moblin 2.0 and OpenedHand acquisition, Nokia’s adoption of WebKit as a feature of the S40 platform, the Trolltech acquisition and incorporation of Qt on S60, Purple Labs acquisition of Openwave and Sagem assets, AOL’s Open Mobile Platform… it seems that in the space of just one year open source has transitioned all of a sudden from geekware for Linux enthusiasts to a succesful commercial alternative to closed-door standards. Moving forward, 2009 will be the year of maturity for how open source can be used as a tool for cheaper, faster collaborative software development, which reduces barriers to entry and breeds innovation. This month’s MobileMonday Taipei, we invite two leading companies in the mobile open source world to share with us: what is open-source, why so many licensing restrictions, and why it is such an unstoppable force?

Please CLICK HERE to sign up!!

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, May 18th, 2009
Place: Mary’s Bistro 2 Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentations & Discussion: 7:30 PM

Presenters:

Nicolas Sauvage, General Manager Asia at Open-Plug

Topic : “Using Open-Source for feature phones? Really?�

Open-Plug provides the only *component-based* framework for embedded systems, offering a unique and proven Software design flow to the mobile industry. They are experts in embedded software and provide Component, Framework and UI Technologies enabling Handset Manufacturers to rapidly adapt their software assets to new consumers and operators requirements.

Mirko Lindner, Senior Developer-Paroli Project at Openmoko

Topic : ” Paroli on Openmoko2009 – a tale of scripting and sharing ”

Openmokoâ„¢ is a project dedicated to delivering mobile phones with an open source software stack. Openmoko is currently selling the Neo FreeRunner phone to advanced users and will start selling it to the general public as soon as the software is more developed.

Networking Time: 8:00 PM

>Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.

20th MobileMonday Taipei Event Report
20th MobileMonday Taipei – Windows Shopping: the Future of Windows Market Place for Mobile

MoMo 20 was held April 20, 2009, at Mary’s Bistro in downtown Taipei, where we gobbled down Australian pizza and three presentations.

FFirst off was Vincent Chiang of Microsoft Taiwan, presenting their .NET Micro Framework. In a word, it turns feature phones into smart phones. The framework is already in use on devices such as Garmin navigation devices and Comcast set top boxes; the version for cell handsets will launch later this year. Nicolas Sauvage and Open-Plug are assisting local manufacturers with integration. The platform is fully elaborated here.

Next, Kai Su of iMobile Mind discussed their experience developing for the Windows Mobile platform. They have extensive worldwide expertise generating custom turnkey solutions for industries including field service, healthcare, hospitality, real estate etc. Industry data shows double digit annual growth across numerous industries enjoying extensive deployments of handset and PDA “Enterprise Mobility Solutions”. Check out their powerpoint.

Finally, Johnson Huang, a Microsoft MVP at Delta Electronics, shared his positive experiences developing for Microsoft. Their “Windows Marketplace for Mobile” boasts 20,000 applications, with developers cut in for 70% of revenues, as seems standard. In particular, Johnson explained how VUI (Voice User Interfaces) are particularly suitable for handset apps. The presentation can be downloaded here.

Over the last 3 sessions, we’ve seen what Apple, Google, and Microsoft are bringing to the mobile world. Revolutionary not just on technical merits, they also level the playing field for consumer and developer alike, by bringing the carriers to heel, and through a veritable mall of app stores. With handsets being upgraded on an annual basis in many countries, what will the league table look like a year from now? Microsoft and RIM have strong established user bases, but Apple has the inside track, and nobody is counting Google out. We live in interesting times.

Microsoft plans to launch an App Store that lets Windows Mobile users find, purchase, and download programs directly from the phones. It’ll work much like the iPhone App Store and the upcoming BlackBerry App World. Microsoft will take a 30% cut on the sales of any paid applications. That’s the same fee that Apple charges, although Research in Motion keeps just 20%. Although Windows Marketplace will only works for Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Mobile 7, and it will be launched later this year.

It seems that because of the success of iPhone and its app store, everyone is trying to doing the same thing, could this marketplace be the answer for Windows to gain more market share in the smartphone operating systems? As for developers, what are their thoughts about this new change? This month’s MobileMonday Taipei, we invite some MVP (most valued professional) of windows mobile application development to share with us their experiences in developing windows mobile application and what they think about this change.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up!!

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, Apr. 20th, 2009
Place: Mary’s Bistro 2 Floor, No.89, Sec 2 Ren-Ai Rd., Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentations & Discussion: 7:30 PM

Presenters:

Mr. Kai Su, iMobile Mind

iMobile Mind is one of the global leading mobile information platform and mobile enterprise solution vendors. They are very well-known in the industry when it comes to Windows mobile developing. iMobile Mind has assisted over 60 famous global or Aisa’s enterprises to implement the mobile data applications.

Mr. Johnson Huang, Currently works for Delta Electrnoics Inc. as Research Center MMI dept. Researcher. He used to be Assistive Technology Engineering Lab. R&D div. Manager. And he is Microsoft Taiwan Corporation Windows CE Partner Trainer, also Finesse IT Partners Inc. Windows Mobile Programming Trainer.

Networking Time: 8:00 PM

Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.

19th MobileMonday Taipei Event Report

19th MobileMonday Taipei: The Android Experience

Tonight at a Momo new venue, Yuma Southwestern Grill, we enjoyed presentations from two top Android developers. Spencer Riddering provided a sneak preview of his forthcoming to-do list app, überdo, and Eric Huang of jmap.cc showed off a weather application he developed in a mere 3 days. Both developers were elated with Android and its java-like environment. Strategy Analytics predicts that Android will top the market with 50 million units by 2012.

At this moment, Android is only available on the G1 unit through T-Mobile in the USA. But expect dramatic changes: the HTC Magic “G2″ is to ship next month, followed by as many as 10 models in 2009, from diverse manufacturers in the Open Handset Alliance: LG, Samsung, ASUS, Acer, Huawei, and Sony Ericsson, including 5 new Android models from HTC. Google has placed a dedicated team in Taiwan to work with manufacturers. Lastly, Android is anticipated on a netbook platform such as the eeePC.

Eric Huang of jmap.cc spoke in Mandarin about Android and his development experiences, supported with an extensive Power Point presentation in English. He explained the many parts of the Android platform: it is an application framework, the Dalvik virtual machine running atop a linux kernel, an integrated browser, optimized graphics, SQLite databse, media support, GSM telephony, Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi, camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer. Android Market is Googles answer to Apple’s App Store; it currently stocks about 2300 apps, both paid and free. Eric can be reached through his blog http://blog.jmap.cc

Spencer Riddering of Lean & Keen treated us to a sneak peek of their powerful to-do list application überdo. Like Eric, he entered the Google coding challenge and was ranked in the top quartile.

Clearly RIM has established a loyal base of business users, and Apple has a tremendous head start. Google has clearly come late to this market, but Google has come late to many markets only to later dominate them. Google also operates from a different business model, basically offering Android for free to handset manufacturers. I expect that the diversity of android handsets and its free OS and web services will put pricing pressure on Google’s competitors. An iPhone which costs $200 to manufacture costs the consumer $2400 over the course of a two year contract and this will not last. Lastly Google has a powerful array of cloud services that will be integrated with their handset. The interesting question is whether Google will be able to manhandle the operators as Apple has.

Come back in a year and lets see what kind of numbers can be put up by a dozen different gPhones from diverse manufacturers and carriers, at a lower cost than their competitors, and leveraging the power of a free, open-source, open-standard OS backed by industry leading cloud services.

links:
HTC to unveil new Android phone in Q2
HTC workforce up 46% as Android mobiles defy slump
Google betting on mobile Internet
Android Developer program
Taiwan Android Developers Group
Endagaget Taiwan Android Developer Forum
Android Market
Spencer Riddering
Lean & Keen
Eric Huang

Last month, we invited iPhone apps developers to share with us their application and their experience to join the iPhone developer program and how they put their product onto Apple’s app store, it is very interesting to know what developers had to go through and the impacts for them. This month, we are going to talk about another mobile operating system, google’s android.

Even though today there is only one device available in the market, and only in the US market, already generate a huge interest among developers all over the world. With more and more android devices in development, and not just mobile phone also MID and “netbook�, it seems android is going to open a huge opportunity for developers. But is it really the case? Or is there any hidden trap behind the android market? For this month’s event, we invite android developers who had made it to top 25% during the android challenges to share their application and experience with us.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up!!

Event program:

Time: 7PM, Monday, Mar. 16th, 2009
Place: NEW LOCATION Yuma SouthWestern Grill Lane 216, Alley 11, # 21 ZhongXiao East Rd., Section 4, Taipei City.

Check-in: 7 PM

Presentation from android developers: 7:30 PM

Networking Time: 8:00 PM