Even Java platform for mobile devices has some failings such as great number of limitations; very different APIs; device dependent code. Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms are better from this point as far as they support wider range of devices and their APIs give more options.
Common problem here is also that there are a lot of platforms. Talking about OpenSource and Cross-Platform solutions we should say that they are still developing at the moment and are not widespread yet.
In this article well pay our attention to the Windows Mobile platform.
Microsoft Company released its first platform for inbuilt devices at the end of the 90th. In 2002 Windows CE.NET platform appeared. And at that time Pocket PC based on Windows CE 3.0 platform and higher were released. Further development of wireless communication technologies managed to combine telephone and personal computer. Thus Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition appeared which supported the standards of GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth and wireless HS network access. In the same time another device concept was developing that was much similar to the above mentioned but was closer to the telephone then to personal computer. This device was named SmartPhone 2002. Fundamental difference between Smartphone and Pocket PC is that Pocket PC has touch screen while Smartphone has only control buttons. They also had different application scopes and supported different standards and technologies.
Windows Mobile platform more belongs to smartphones, communicators and small personal devices. Windows CE and Windows Embedded platforms are commonly used in different industrial equipment.
Skype is pulling its Skype Lite Java app and Skype for Windows Mobile applications for download from its site, with the full featured client to stop functioning by the end of the year. Skype states that it is pulling the applications due to performance compared to the iPhone and Symbian versions, but the answer is inconsistent as explained below.
This latest move follows the indefinite delay of a 3G enabled version of Skype for the iPhone last week and the latest action now confirms that Skype's deal with Verizon has a yet undetermined exclusivity period, which was originally thought to only affect availability of the same service on a competing carrier. Skype is also pulling the Skype Lite Java app, also without any explanation, even though the app was one of the most popular downloads for the VOIP service provider.
For the time being, Skype for Windows Mobile can be downloaded here, though the link may be taken down at anytime.
Update: Skype representatives have responded to PhoneNews.com, stating the following:
Before the iTunes App Store, the Android Market, or the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, there were mobile application stores on the Internet. Today PocketGear, which is one of the oldest of the mobile application stores, announced it is aquiring another long-time mobile application store, Handango. In a highly competitive market, PocketGear differentiates itself from Apple, Google, and Microsoft's stores by selling applications for multiple mobile platforms. With the aquisition, PocketGear's application catalog grows to 140,000 paid and free applications. Currently 32,000 software developers sell their applications on one of PocketGear's network of eight web stores.
PocketGear will face stiff competition from Apple, Google, and Microsoft who pre-install and feature their application stores in their operating systems. In the past Handango and PocketGear have partnered with popular mobile web sites to provide application stores for those sites. An opportunity may exist for PocketGear to partner with handset manufacturers and mobile carriers, all of whom have expressed interest in having their own app store, to quickly produce stores to compete with the mobile operating system vendors. If PocketGear can work with a handset provider to get a store pre-installed, it can compete with the mobile operating system vendors by having a larger application catalog, and if they combined that with taking a lower cut of the sale price, giving more money to developers, and possibly having lower prices, developers and consumers could win.
At the recent Mobile World Congress 2010, Dutch app store analytics firm Distimo presented their findings on the six largest mobile application stores in existence today: the iTunes App Store, BlackBerry App World, Google Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm App Catalog and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. In their presentation, they analyzed everything including store size, store growth, the most popular applications and where you can find the best deal. They recently shared some of the highlights from that presentation by way of a slideshow embedded on their blog. For mobile industry insiders, some of the findings won't be all that shocking, just common knowledge paired with statistics. However, there were a few surprises that caught us off guard, maybe they will you too.
Distimo collects public application data from app stores and also offers developers an analytics tool which is used to monitor their apps and those belonging to their competitors. After examining and analyzing the data, the company releases market reports detailing their findings.
Microsoft's partnership with Facebook keeps getting stronger. Everything from Microsoft's development tools to Windows Phone 7 Series includes some form of integration with the popular social networking application. Windows Phone users have several different methods of getting to their Facebook accounts from their phones. In addition to their mobile site and SMS integration, the Facebook application for Windows Phones is one of the applications that Microsoft has been pushing hard as a demonstration of what is capable with Windows Mobile 6 based devices.
Facebook 1.2 is now available from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. If you haven't played with it before, Facebook for Windows Phones allows you to perform most of the tasks that you are familiar with. Updating your status, sending and receiving messages, and managing and viewing pictures and videos are all simple to do within the application. Also new in the 1.2 update are the ability to comment and "like" posts.
If you haven't given Facebook for Windows Phones a try, head over to the Marketplace for Mobile and have a look-see.
Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on changes to their mobile application store, Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Most of the changes are targeted at independent software vendors, but there are a few nice things in store for you and I.
Perhaps the change that Windows Mobile users will like the most is that you will be able to install applications from the store onto storage cards in the phone. Windows Mobile has long allowed one to install applications to storage cards (unlike Android) and therefore avoid using up the small amount of built-in storage space of most phones. It was disappointing then, that the Marketplace installation process did not allow users to designate where to install applications.
The Marketplace has different geographic catalogs, and now users will be able to browse and purchase applications from any of these catalogs. For example, if an application is only available in the U.S. catalog, a French user can now find and purchase that application. The cost of the application will be automatically converted to the local currency.
The remaining changes for software vendors, should benefit users too by encouraging more vendors to sell their application through the Marketplace. The changes for ISVs include:
- Free application submission for multiple catalogs. Previously if a vendor wanted their app listed in more than one catalog they were charged $10 for each additional one. The initial submission fee of $99 still applies.
While Windows Mobile 6.x apps, available in the Windows Mobile Marketplace, arent anywhere near as prolific as iPhone apps (by a long shot), there are still unanswered questions about whether or not these apps will work on the new phones. The speculation is that they wont, although Microsoft up until now hasnt said either way, with lots of details about Windows Phone 7 Series still to come.
However in an article posted today in Dutch language Tweakers.net, Martin Sonneveld from Microsoft Netherlands seems to indicate that older apps may work with Windows Phone 7 Series, with some modification:
Applications that are created for Windows Mobile 6 may be made compatible with Windows Phone 7 series. However, it is the interface of the new mobile OS apps, which need to be adapted.
"The interface of Windows Phone 7 Series is totally different, which in any case something should happen to the applications before they are suitable for Windows Phone 7 Series," says Martin Sonneveld Microsoft Netherlands against tweakers.NET. It is still unclear how developers can use the interface can translate their applications to the new version of Windows Mobile: Microsoft talks until next month, at its own developers event Mix2010 about how applications can be developed and distributed for the new OS. You can also confirm or Mr Sonneveld, not with older applications running on Windows customizations Phone 7 series.
Samsung has released the latest version 2.2 of their Windows Mobile SDK, which helps developers create application using the G-Sensor, compass and other advanced functionality for their Windows Mobile smartphones.
Version 2.2 of the SDK adds support for the following phones running Windows Mobile 6.5:
SCH-M710/715 T*Omnia II
SPH-M7350 Oz Omnia
Support for Windows Mobile 6.1 is also deprecated with this release, and Samsung suggest developers who target phones running the OS use the older 1.2 version of the SDK.
Rumors about BlackBerry Application Suite for Windows Mobile have been floating around the interwebs for well over a year. Back in December of 2008 RIM got it running on an HTC Pro and they even demonstrated a few months later at Mobile World Congress.
Today, a leaked version of BlackBerry Application Suite for Windows Mobile is floating around the interwebs…
BlackBerry Application Suite (BAS) essentially allows Operating systems other than BlackBerry OS to run BlackBerry OS as a virtual machine. In the case of BAS for Windows, think of the entire BlackBerry OS running as an application within Windows Mobile just like any other application.
