I had an opportunity to sit down with Bill Scott, V.P. Sales & Business Development of GetJar.com at last years Mobilize event in San Francisco to discuss mobile apps. Today, GetJar, the premiere independent mobile app store with more than 60,000 mobile apps on hand for major mobile platforms: Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile, put out a study that predicts a gold rush in the number of mobile apps and the increase in size of the mobile app marketplace.
According to the study, performed by Chetan Sharma Consulting, mobile app downloads should jump from 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012. The market is estimated to be worth approximately 17 billion dollars. GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs makes another statement, echoing the one from a Google executive. “It is easy to see how mobile apps will eclipse the traditional desktop Internet. It makes perfect sense that mobile devices will kill the desktop,” he said. Mr. Laurs backs up this claim with more data from the study, citing that 17% of GetJar users spend more time on internet-linked smartphones than they do on desktops.
Surely in this day and age, companies (the phone operators in this case) no when they’re going to be releasing a product? They have meetings and set targets and probably drink tea and eat biscuits whilst doing so.
So why do they persist in annoying their loyal customers by not telling us things?
I am of course talking about the release date of the HTC Desire. There has been a lot of crap going round the Internet about Vodafone having exclusive rights to the phone, T-Mobile releasing the phone next week and so on but why is everyone else being so quiet?
On my way to buy a second hand iPhone (for a colleague at work – believe me) I decided to take some of this paid time to go around the other mobile phone shops and ask some questions. Get to the bottom of what is happening with regards to release dates for the Desire.
My first stop: The 3 Store.
After waiting 10 minutes for the fat man in front of me to give up trying to make the sales assistant copy his phonebook across to his new phone, I managed to ask the question: “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in stock?”. Admittedly, he was polite in his answer but it was of no help to me: “We’ve been told somewhere between the end of March and beginning of April”. Great, thanks for nothing.
So, next stop was Carphonewarehouse. Surely these guys would know a thing or two. I probably should have walked back out when I saw the geek behind the counter playing with his iPhone but I decided to persist and try and get the truth. Again, I ask: “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in?”. After a lecture on how Vodafone will have it exclusively first blah blah blah he then said “normally the other operators follow up shortly afterwards”. Even less helpful and I had just wasted 5 minutes of my life which I shall never be able to reclaim.
Next up was T-Mobile. I’d heard that someone somewhere had managed to have a play on a Desire in a T-Mobile store (probably in London) so I thought I’d give it a go. After looking round their stands of ancient and crappy looking phones I decided to ask the spotty man behind the counter. “Any idea when you’ll be getting the HTC Desire in?” . . . . *Pause* . . . . “Sorry, I’m not sure if we’ll be getting that in or not, I haven’t heard of it yet”. Me: “WHAT?! What the hell is wrong with you man?! Have you been under a rock for the past month?!!” Well that’s what I’d liked to have said but instead I decided to cut my losses there and then and just thank him and walk out.
So, my mission was a failure. I am still none the wiser as to when I’ll get my Desire
HTC hasn’t filed its official reply to Apple’s patent lawsuit in court yet, but the company just gave us an updated and expanded statement on the case, saying that while it “strongly advocates intellectual property protection,” it disagrees with Apple’s actions and will “fully defend itself.” Natch. HTC obviously wasn’t eager to divulge whether or not that means it’s going to countersue Apple with its own patents, but we’re sort of expecting it — we’ll find out more when lawyers do their thing in a few weeks. Oh, and we also asked HTC if and when Google would get involved, but didn’t get an answer — we’ll let you know if we hear anything. Full statement after the break.
Press Release
HTC Disagrees with Apple’s Actions
Seattle – March 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.
“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”
The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:
First Windows PDA (1998)
First Windows Phone (June 2002)
First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)
First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)
First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)
First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)
In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.
“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”
For more information on HTC’s history of innovation, please visit: www.htc.com/history.
If you haven’t already seen it, AndroidCentral.com have reviewed HTC’s Sense User Interface. It’s quite a detailed one with plenty of screenshots so if you’re like me and have never had the pleasure of “Sense” then be sure to check it out.
There have been many posts about which carriers offer the lowest prices on single line plans for Smartphones. Basically, for this comparison, we use two models (minimum minutes with text and data & unlimited minutes with text and data) to see which carrier comes out ahead. Now, keep in mind, the best thing to do is go to the closest store to you and check coverage BEFORE you look at pricing. Great prices are fine and dandy, but without coverage where you need it, it won’t matter a bit.
Minimum Minute Plan
1st Place: Sprint – $69.99 for 450 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data.
2nd Place: T-Mobile – $79.99 for 500 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data.
3rd Place: AT&T and Verizon – $89.99 for 450 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data.
Using Sprint over T-Mobile saves you $240 over a 2 year contract. Using Sprint over AT&T or Verizon saves you $480 over a 2 year contract.
Unlimited Voice / Text / Data
1st Place: Sprint & T-Mobile – $99.99
3rd Place: AT&T and Verizon – $119.99
Using Sprint or T-Mobile over AT&T or Verizon saves you $480 over the life of your 2 year contract.
Sprint may have the best pricing, and they offer a few extras like the Sprint Navigator and Sprint TV services, but keep in mind Sprint has the utmost lousy selection of hardware available on any major carrier. The Palm Pre was supposed to be a savior, but really the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment have been the device that most Sprint users have chosen. They also are still riding the BlackBerry wave with the new Curve and the Tour. Sprint’s lineup should become a bit more attractive later this year when the coveted HTC Supersonic launches.
T-Mobile has a slightly better hardware selection, but it is still far from strong. The nice part about T-Mobile’s GSM network is that you can purchase an unlocked phone off Ebay or from a 3rd party retailer and use it on their network. T-Mobile’s masterful marketing of the HTC My Touch 3G and landing the Touch Pro 2 before anyone has given them a great start. The are also due to launch the prized HTC HD2 soon.
AT&T is premium pricing and due to the iPhone destroying it’s bandwidth, is suffering from some major lag. The iPhone is the standard to which all other smartphones today are being judged. So, while AT&T continues to move 15+ million iPhones a year, the rest of their line up is rather lackluster at best. As a matter of fact, they recently launched their first Android device. AT&T is riding that iPhone as far as they can while giving users the option to add phones like the HTC Tilt and the BlackBerry Bold to their arsenal as well.
Verizon Wireless had the reputation of being so far behind the curve in hardware that most people think they can still by a Moto Q or a Razr from them. In the fall of 2009, beginning with the BlackBerry Storm, VZW has pulled off major upsets in acquiring hardware as fast as anyone out there. Their current lineup features some amazing HTC devices (Imagio, Droid Eris, Touch Pro 2), the Motorola Droid, the Samsung Omnia 2, and the soon to come HTC made Google Nexus One.
Overall, the carriers seem to balance their hardware and plans very well. There’s no clear winner in the price vs. performance category since it is so area dependent. As we said above, make sure you check the coverage in your area before you commit to what your friends say are the best deals. And don’t forget to ask about discounts for the companies you work for – they can save you up to 25+% on your monthly bill.
Question: tell me how to properly connect to my wifi network, and start browsing, but say it simple enough for me being an idiot to understand
Answer: Go settings, then to wireless controls then activate WIFI by hitting it.. it will give u list of wifi networks available. select u want to connect to.. if its secured one it will ask for key which u need to enter to browse internet.. if its not secured it will connect and u can then browse internet.
Source(s):
my own experience.
Fast Company Magazine have just published their survey of the most innovative companies and, somewhat deservedly, HTC have done very well.
There were 3 categories in which HTC made the Fast Company list; ‘Consumer Electronics’, ‘Mobile Phones’ and ‘Most Innovative Companies’.
Consumer Electronics:
1) Apple, 2) HTC, 3) Samsung 4) Palm 5) Nokia 6) Vizio 7) Amazon, Asus 9) Olympus, 10) LG
In the Mobile Phone Category, HTC was 4th (behind Google, Apple and Amazon) and 31st in the ‘Most Innovative Companies’ Category, finishing above the likes of Samsung and Microsoft, quite an achievement for the Taiwanese manufacturer!
Fast Company described HTC as ‘arguably the most creative electronics firms implementing Android’.
HTC are about to inject a fresh dose of innovation into the Smartphone market, with the release of the HTC Legend on March 23rd, as well as the release of the HD mini and the HTC Desire on 7th April. To view the latest HTC Smartphones Click Here.
There have been many posts about which carriers offer the lowest prices on single line plans for Smartphones. Basically, for this comparison, we use two models (minimum minutes with text and data & unlimited minutes with text and data) to see which carrier comes out ahead. Now, keep in mind, the best thing to do is go to the closest store to you and check coverage BEFORE you look at pricing. Great prices are fine and dandy, but without coverage where you need it, it won’t matter a bit.
Fast Company Magazine have just published their survey of the most innovative companies and, somewhat deservedly, HTC have done very well.
Asus 9) Olympus, 10) LG