Google announced that they are offering $5K to gadget developers to flush out their widget and $100K seed to a select set of those devs to build out their business. This is a brilliant and cost effective way for Google to add applications/gadgets to their suite and clearly a defensive move to steal some of the thunder from the Facebook Open Platform move (which was incidentally a page straight from the Microsoft playbook).
So back to the post title… this is a great thing for developers. Now you, developer, have a way to get paid to build cool apps/gadgets/widgets, and I suspect that trend will continue. If you’re a business trying to hire the best devs now you may also have to compete with the likes of Google (and the other big guys who will follow along) scooping in on the local talent.  Good news for devs - but perhaps this puts a strain on hiring managers.
June 27th, 2007
Any day now I am expecting to get a Facebook friend invite from my grandfather… he’s 82 and doesn’t own a computer. But I have visions of his avatar and friend request, “I have know Kevin for 82 years, at one point his mother lived with me, and he used to shoot baskets in my driveway”.
Facebook is off the hook. I am still intrigued and checking in; I have no real compelling reason to hang on for the long haul but holding out hope… maybe that’ll change and I will discover the Facebook killer app for me.
June 27th, 2007
The iPhone is everywhere – vlogs, blogs, forums, newspaper, magazines, and TV (just saw a cool commercial while half tuning into Leno). I am not sure what the long term outlook is for the iPhone (I haven’t held one yet). But I do know that Friday, June 29th 2007 is a great day for mobile developers. The mobile revolution that has slowly been going on for several years and has finally landed on solid ground. I don’t see anything incredibly revolutionary about the iPhone – all of the features and functions can be found in today’s smartphones (except for perhaps the accelerometer magic). But the iPhone is gorgeous, the design is brilliant, and the marketing campaign is genius. The hype is going to introduce moms/pops and kids and everyone in between to the power and capabilities of mobile devices. And that is the significance to us mobile geeks.
During the first few weeks after the iPhone gets in peoples’ hands, Apple/AT&T will sell a shit ton of these puppies. I also know that we will hear a bunch of the bad stuff right away (this always happens and is the nature of humanity – as flawed entities, we like to identify and focus on the flaws of other entities). People will bitch about the glass screen and scratches as it is jammed against the car keys, the lock in with AT&T, the slow network, big fingers on touch screen, the pains when trying to view one’s favorite Web 2.0 sites, the need for two hands, and on and on. But all that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the bar has been set high for mobile devices from this point forward. The expectations and perception of what mobile devices can do will spread outside our little geek circles. Device manufacturers will need to innovate, networks will need to get faster, walled gardens will be forced to crumble, and mobile software will need to get better. Prosumers will demand this and deserve this! It’s game on… again!
Oh, as far as the success of the iPhone goes, we will have to wait and see. The real proof in the pudding will come after the diehards get their devices and whether or not they will recommend them to their friends and family. We shall see. Am I going to get an iPhone? Not right away, I’m gonna hold out a bit.
June 27th, 2007