OpenMoko, the company behind the Neo1973 and FreeRunner open-source and GPS-equipped handsets, have released an Android-based phone.  The company says that while they have adopted the Android platform for OpenMoko’s operating system, strategy will remain the same and they have no intention to join the Open Handset Alliance.  In keeping with their current strategy, OpenMoko won’t attempt to distribute the new phone, named GTA02, through first-tier handset vendors but may consider co-branded options.  Right now OpenMoko is apparently hard at work on optimizing their technical platform for further product launches next year.

There are rumors that the GTA02 could hit North American shores as early as this month, although I’m not sure if the source is reliable.  But the new Android phone does supposedly feature a 2.8-inch 480 x 640 pixel touchscreen, either a 400 or 500 MHz Samsung processor, Wi-Fi, GPS and accelerometer.  Furthermore it’ll include 128 SDRAM (64 external/64 internal), 256 MB NAND Flash memory, and a 512 MB microSD card.  Price is an unknown for the time being.

digitimes via newlaunches

Huawei Technologies, a Chinese networking company, will be launching Android and Symbian smartphones in the first half of 2009.  The company is planning to expand into phone and mobile broadband, hinging on the current economic crisis to extend the lifespan of lower-end phones, and create extra time to bring smartphones to market.  Despite Huawei’s late arrival to the smartphone market, the company believes they’ll be able to achieve their corporate targets without an established partner.  But they are looking for private equity investment.

A member of the Open Handset Alliance, Huawei finds the open source Android attractive, as it allows the company to leverage their software expertise and customise phones for specific operators.  Just don’t look for the Huawei name on any smartphone;  they’ll be sold through operators and branded as such.

via pcworld

WebTrends, a company that provides online analytics and marketing solutions, has been tracking the Android platform and found something that may of interest to old media companies.  Yes, the new G1 is surging in popularity and may be the first mobile platform that could challenge Apple’s iPhone, but the UK’s Telegraph Media Group has discovered something of more immediate importance.

The Telegraph Media Group is the publisher of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, and manages the popular online news site Telegraph.co.uk.  Now the Telegraph website did something incredibly brilliant and actually developed an Android application, available at Telegraph.co.uk/mobile, that’s been downloaded 5, 000 times and has generated over 31, 000 visits to the newspapers website.

Maybe this is something The Christian Science Monitor should look into.

via pr

So now that Motorola’s announced its 3rd quarter earnings we have some confirmation regarding the whole Android issue.  Turns out that Motorola won’t be releasing an Android phone in the first half of the year, much less an entire Android line.  However it is true they’ll be focusing on the Android platform and Windows Mobile.  As for Symbian UIQ?  It’ll be cut.  And Motorola’s own P2K platform, also cut.  The company feels it needs to consolidate its mobile handset unit in order to cut costs and hopefully profit, something their $397 million loss in the 3rd quarter is far from.  Oh, and back to the ‘Android not coming in 1H 2009′ thing, it’ll be more like holiday season 2009 before we see a Motorola Android phone.

via moconews

According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Motorola’s co-CEO Sanjay Jha said that the company will take Android far beyond next year’s purported Motorola Android phone release and focus on the Google-developed operating system for the long haul.

Right now Motorola uses seven different platforms for all of it’s phones, but thanks to continued losses, they’ll shift to a focus on Windows Mobile for business-oriented smartphones, their proprietary P2K OS for low-end handsets, and Android for everything else.

While this hasn’t been officially verified yet, I think it would be a smart move on Motorola’s part if they ever want to be an industry leader again.  Of course, it’ll take more than a product shakeup to restore their dominance.  The company is also rumored to be shaking down their employee lineup a little more, after 7500 jobs have already been cut this year.

All of this will either be confirmed or denied tomorrow when Motorola announces their 3rd quarter earnings.

via crn (Photo Credit: niallkennedy)

We knew it was coming; it was just a matter of when.  Location Based Technologies has announced a PocketFinder application for Android.  Right now, it’ll be available to T-Mobile G1 users, though it will integrate with future Android handsets, as well as the Pocket Finder devices currently being manufactured at the Jabil Facility in France.

“T-Mobile G1 smartphone users now have the ability to stay connected and benefit from every PocketFinder feature including real-time location, zone and speed alerts, instant messaging, and travel history, for one low service fee,” Morse explained. “In addition, our new Android-based application will eventually support other smartphones and smartphone platforms as we intensify our developments efforts to make this enhancement available to their customers and expand our coverage of the global marketplace.”

The PocketFinder Android application can be downloaded from the PocketFinder website or the Android Market, and will include a 15-day free trial followed by a $4.95 monthly service fee.

via press release

I’ve been having mega computer issues the past few days, hence the lax posting.  So I figured today I’d start looking at some of the location-based apps that have been released for the Android platform and give you a comprehensive overview of what’s available.  So here goes:

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As I’m sure you know, T-Mobile officially launched the Android-based G1 today to much fanfare (or for some lucky San Franciscans, is that how you say it?, yesterday).  So you won’t bother to bore you with to many details; the blogosphere is already full of them.

For application developers and users alike there is a fair amount of new info you should know.  First of all, Google and their Open Handset Alliance partners have made the entire Android mobile platform fully open source.  Just to be clear, this doesn’t mean the specs for the G1 are available, but the software platform it uses, as Google says, from the ‘bootloader all the way up to the applications’.  I’m really looking forward to what aspiring developers do with this, even outside of the mobile arena.

Second of all, the Android Maps API now requires an API key to work properly as the Maps API Terms of Service have been finalized.  This is good thing, because the temporary ToS was full of restrictions really putting a damper on the type of location-based applications that could be built for Android.  So, for all you developers, you’ll have to head over the Maps API sign-up, agree to the terms of service and you’ll be give a key in response.  Then you have to place it either:

1. In the XML layer where you declare your MapView, or

2. At the creation of the MapView in the source code

If you don’t do this, when the MapView queries the system to match the application with your key, they won’t match and no map tiles will display.  Bummer.  You’ll also need a separate API key for both debugging your application with the emulator and for publishing the finished product.

Finally, and possibly of huge significance to Apple especially with Research in Motion also joining the app store party next March, is the launch of the Android Market.  Right now the Android Market only has about 50 apps, all free, but starting next week we’ll likely see more apps being published for download eventually leading to the inclusion of paid applications in early Q1 2009.  Developers publishing paid apps will receive 70% of the overall revenue (Google takes none), and they’ll be ranked basically according to supply and demand;i.e., based on usage stats, rankings, comments, etc.

Developers can start applying to have their app included in the Market starting next Monday and will have to pay a one-time $25 application fee.

By the way, Research in Motion will also be launching the Blackberry Application Storefront in March 2009 and has a 20 million user strong network to which they’ll be pushing their platform.  Developers will receive 80% of the overall revenue for their paid apps, while RIM and Blackberry’s various carriers will likely receive the remainder.  As a side note, iPhone application developers receive 70% of the overall revenue from their application sales.

Hopefully Motorola’s late timing to the US market with the company’s first Android-based smartphone in the 2nd quarter of 2009 won’t lead to a huge concession of potential market share to T-Mobile’s G1.  That’s right, Motorola’s Good Technology unit is putting together the Android phone down in California, and Business Week is reporting that those close to the project say it will feature an iPhone-like touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and an emphasis on social network integration.

While many are pointing to the Q2 2009 release as another example of Motorola following market innovations at a considerable distance (they just released their first touchscreen phone, the Krave ZN4), they are rumored to be working on an entire line-up of Android phones, definitely a first, and arguably also have a better global relationship with network carriers and OEM’s than does T-Mobile.  They could potentially leverage these relationships to create a device that blows the G1 out of the water.

We’ll just have to see whether T-Mobile really has pre-sold 1.5 million G1’s when the company officially announces its release in a couple of days.  If it’s true, there is a possibility that Motorola might be a little too late on this one.

Most of us aren’t too comfortable with the idea of buying technology stocks at the moment, especially in the volatile and highly competitive semiconductor market.  But a couple of articles from Seeking Alpha over the past few days have highlighted a few things about GPS chipmaker SiRF that point to a stock buying opportunity.  Albeit a risky one.

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