Mobile blogging

After more than two months I am back to my blog. For quite some time I had been able to honor my mid-year resolution about recurring blogging... But once again I got trapped in work and lazyness... As I say, more than two months.

I was flying back from Lisbon today after a day of work and I was reading the last issue of Fast Company. Damn, a lot of cool stuff, and once again, I told myself "c'mon, try harder!"

Thus, i am going to try something new: mobile blogging. I have just downloaded the Blogbooster app to my iPhone and it should help me boost my number of blog posts. On a train, at the gym, anywhere... Should work better than just sending emails with an embedded post to my blog email address.

I am using it for the first time to write this post and it seems to work fine. It sync'ed quickly with my Blogger account and let's see if it works fine when I click on "post". And, more importantly, let's see if it helps me be more productive!

The iPhone 4 effect

By now it is of public domain that the iPhone 4 is out and that it is being a massive success. I have read reports highlighting that Apple may have sold 1.5 million plus devices on the first day, which would turn the iPhone4's opening the most successful in Apple's history so far.

I have read some preliminary reviews and pretty much everyone agrees on how cool the device is and on the fact that it is the best cellphone out there in the market for the time being.

The good news for Spain is that Telefonica will not enjoy distribution exclusivity (along the lines of AT&T's in the US) any more. Apparently, both Orange (France Telecom's mobile subsidiary) and Vodafone (my carrier) will be distributing it too. Leaving aside the very important competition-related issues (i.e more creativity and competitiveness around mobile data plans), this means that I will have access to an iPhone 4 without changing carriers. I have to admit that I am quite happy with Vodafone's service after 20 months (well, if I do not include the shitty Storm... but that was my fault) and I am not planning on switching.

Though the iPhone 4 is really cool, I would lie if I did not say that the shadow of Android is quite large. Over time, there are more and more voices claiming that Apple's closed environment - as opposed to Android's openness - is a bummer and gives Apple to much power. There are sleek Android devices out there and there will be more coming too. At the end of the day, it seems like I will be more and more dependent on both Apple and Google. Isn't it a bit scary?

Anyway, it won't be until mid-July that the iPhone 4 will land in Spain. I am really looking forward to the carriers' marketing campaigns...

Yahoo-Nokia marriage

A week or so ago Yahoo and Nokia announced that they had struck a global deal pursuant to which Yahoo will power email, search and chat on Nokia's mobile devices, while Nokia will provide mapping services for all Yahoo's navigation products.

A see this agreement more like a defensive move. Why? Simply put because both Yahoo and Nokia lost their momentum in their respective core markets long ago. Google has definitely beat Yahoo in the search/advertising battle, while Nokia is seeing how Blackberry, iPhone and Android keep eroding market share from it in smartphones every single year ( I still remember the days when I wanted nothing but a Nokia phone...now it clearly trails the other three OS).

Though both Yahoo and Nokia still serve millions of customers around the world, this seems to me like an emergency solution.

iAd: Apple entra en la batalla de la publicidad en el movil

Hace unos dias Apple presento su nuevo sistema operativo para el iPhone, el denominado IPhone OS4, que incluye diversas mejoras como la posiblidad de multi-task (utilizar varias aplicaciones a la vez) o la de organizar las distintas aplicaciones en carpetas. Pero lo que mas me llamo la atencion fue la presentacion de iAd, una nueva plataforma que permitira incluir publicidad de calidad (video, etc.) en las aplicaciones creadas por los desarrolladores. Un incentivo mas para desarrollar mas y mejores aplicaciones para el ecosistema iPhone.

Pero mas alla de todo esto, lo importante es que Apple se mete de lleno en la pelea por los dolares y los euros derivados de la publicidad, algo que al dia de hoy es practicamente un territorio propiedad de Google.

La perspectiva es en todo caso diferente. Mientras Google concentra su publicidad (y por tanto los ingresos) en las busquedas, Steve Jobs se centra en el uso por los usuarios de las aplicaciones. Tiene sentido. Atacar a Google en un ambito como el de las busquedas en el que es el lider destacadisimo probablemente sea una batalla abocada al fracaso (que se lo digan a Microsoft y Yahoo). Por otro lado, la popularidad de la App Store y de sus aplicaciones para el iPhone las convierten en un activo por explotar.

Os adjunto el link a la pagina de Apple donde podeis ver el keynote de Jobs sobre diversas cuestiones (iAd comienza hacia el minuto 44 del video y, por cierto, las cifras que maneja sobre la base del uso actual de aplicaciones y del numero de iPhones vendidos - 1.000 millones de anuncios al dia - son bastante impresionantes. Indicar igualmente que Apple planea entregar a los developers el 60% de los ingresos derivados de la publicidad).

En un momento en que se empieza a intuir cada vez mas la lucha por convertirse en el sistema operativo de referencia (yo apuesto sobre todo por iPhone y Android y en menor medida RIM, Windows y Symbian, en este orden), los ingresos derivados de las aplicaciones para moviles no hacen esa lucha sino mas interesante todavia.

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

From California to Catalonia, from the Bay Area to Barcelona. For three days starting today Barcelona will become the world hub for mobile by hosting the Mobile World Congress. I like Barcelona quite a lot and I had the chance to live there for 6 months a few years ago. But every time I think about it I still find it quite surprising (and superbly smart) how well the city positioned itself and opened up to the world by leveraging the 1992 Summer Olympics. If smart marketing was a person, it would be Barcelona.

Anyways, the big event from today has been the presentation - Steve Ballmer himself has been there - of the long awaited "Windows Phone". It is funny that this release comes just a few days weeks after Google did the same with its Nexus one. It seems like Microsoft is so often late to the party (the phone is supposedly meant to start selling a year from now!) and many wonder if it's taken them too long to make this move into the mobile world.

But from some pieces that I have read it seems like the Windows Phone, featuring the new Windows Mobile 7 OS, is quite promising and signals a significant departure from other OS like Android and the iPhone. Plus Microsoft is not planning to manufacture devices itself but partnering with hardware manufacturers. People also argue that the new OS is built on some of the strengths of the Zune and the Xbox, none of which I am familiar with (I have also read that Microsoft is not planning to allow integration of these devices with Mac computers...)

Samsung has laso presented the "Wave", its new smartphone featuring a new Samsung-branded OS that will carry  its own app store.

The battle for mobile devices is going to be enthralling in the coming months. The stakes are high and everyone ants to get a larger piece of people's time as we all spend more and more time with our cellphones. Wait and see