August 2005
Like a sports car?!
Nokia is running a series of TV advertisements in the UK for its 8800 handset. They are heavy on close-up imagery, providing shadowy glimpses of the handset’s curves and the texture of its metallic casing. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the …
Paper on small-screen usability
Geoff Kendall, CTO at interface firm Next Device, pointed me to an interesting paper on small-screen usability by a team of university researchers at the National University of Ireland in Galway and Claremont Graduate University in Californina.
…
Why is everyone jumping for joy over Java?
When I recently read PMN’s article “Java = mass market“, I had to ask myself why client Java would be the instrument of mass market adoption for mobile. I agree Java has a place in mobile, but I don’t perceive it will become the end-all, be-all th…
Platform developers in the cross-hairs
AOL has acquired Wildseed, Amp’d bought Ninja and now Google has purchased Android. There must be few mobile software developers who haven’t been approached as an acquisition target in recent months! What is driving this trend and what are the w…
Taiwanese manufacturers feeling the pressure
Taiwan’s handset manufacturing industry was driven predominantly by the orders of foreign companies in Q2 2005, according to figures published by the Taipei-based Market Intelligence Centre (MIC). MIC found that orders from Sony Ericsson and Moto…
Meet the speakers: Ben Soppitt
In February of this year, the GSM Association announced the first results of its emerging markets handsets initiative. The Association had been working for some time with a group of operators in developing markets, brokering an agreement with Mot…
Mats Nilson on the role of the OMTP
Following our 16/08/05 article on Amp’d and Ninja, the OMTP has been in touch to clarify its role in the user experience. Mats Nilson, Managing Director of the OMTP, said: “OMTP do not intend to define one standardised user experience, but rather…
Meet the speakers: Yoram Salinger
When he talks to handset manufacturers about firmware over the air (FOTA) update technology, Red Bend CEO Yoram Salinger prefaces his remarks with candid advice: “You don’t need to believe a word I say.” He instructs them that no matter what he s…