Skype is embracing the Android platform with the expected launch of the Skype Lite app for devices running on Google’s mobile OS. The application will enable T-Mobile G1 users to make cheap calls without the need of a mobile Internet connection and also chat via instant messages with people in their Skype friends list.

The company’s first native VoIP client for Java, Skype Lite will also be available on many other Java-enabled phones, such as models from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG and Samsung. Depending on your mobile price plan, you can use your inclusive minutes or call your Skype friends for the cost of a local call with the new Skype Lite. The instant messaging feature though, will use your data plan.

Skype has been expanding its reach to a variety of mobile devices, from Windows Mobile smartphones to Internet tablets like the Nokia N810. Now it’s coming to the hottest new platform the Android OS, a platform that is set to expand exponentially this year, on forthcoming devices from Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

Skype Lite was already available to many handset models from Nokia, SE, Samsung and Motorola, but in a beta stage. The coming release, for both Android and other devices, is expected make it prime time and move the app out of beta status. As for availability, it will take a few days for Skype Lite to appear on Android Marketplace, while the version for the other devices should be available later on today from the Skype website.

Qik is a ground breaking video streaming service. Basically and very simply put they allow you to film from your mobile and stream directly to a central server which in turn broadcasts the stream to other mobile or web sites. They have a few competitors like Kyte and Flixwagon but have a significant lead.

Following is a simple diagram that demonstrates what it is that Qik does :

Here are some real life shots of what people stream. This is the most eloquent explanation of the rather trivial.. but actually kind of exciting and even scary possibilities that the mobile using Qik offers :

They have taken a rather interesting challenge to make this service available to the largest number of users by make a Java app that can be downloaded to non smart phones. It opens the doors to feature phones that a large audience uses.. and therefore make it possible that this could really go mass.. meaning the billions of Java enabled phones.. in Asia and South America.. along with Europe, Africa and of course the USA.

Here are the mobiles with which it is compatible in its Alpha launch :

Nokia handsets now supported: 5300, 6300, 6500 classic, 6500 slide, Nokia 6555, Nokia 8800 Arte

Sony Ericsson handsets now supported: K850, K858, W890, W910, W908, K660, G502, Z750

It will be interesting to see if there is really an up-take of this service as it could be very addictive. Lets watch and see.

Simon & Schuster, of Star Trek fame, has struck a deal with MPS Mobile’s Global Reader, which will distribute more than five hundred of the publisher’s bestselling and popular titles on its Global Reader mobile service. Simon & Schuster plans to make its entire eBook catalog available to the service in the coming months. For now, titles such as The Secret and books from the Star Trek series are available.

Books will be priced the same as they are in other digital formats–anywhere from $2.50-$10, depending on the title. Individual chapters will cost $0.99, which MPS Mobile says gives consumers a “low cost method” for “dipping” into a book to see if they want to buy it, or by giving them an easy way of accessing a specific chapter of a book they may have already bought in print or e-book format. Global Reader is available on over 75 mobile carriers in 160 different countries.

Ajit Joakar :

This is interesting .. and makes me think ..

Just because we WANT people to pay – does not mean that they WILL .. If the observation in this blog is true, it means that many a business plan based on paying for Context will also hit rough waters (considering that location is one of the most important elements of the Mobile context)

Consider some of the paid iPhone apps from the telegraph.

Vicinity (has got good reviews etc and also GPS based with wikipedia links and so on) is only £1.79??. Is that 1.79 per month or for all times??.

As far as I can see, it’s a £1.79 price as a one off charge.

Other paid iPhone apps are (from the Telegraph link above)

* Starmap Planetarium (£6.99): Astronomers and space nuts will love this – a stargazing guide that provides information about constellations, planets and even shooting stars, plus oodles of scientific details.

* Etch-a-Sketch (£2.99): Twiddle the virtual dials to start a sketch, or draw directly on screen using your finger. “Tilt technology” will be added soon to enable you to move the iPhone itself to create a drawing.

* Meal Splitter (£4.99): There will be no need to squabble over restaurant bills with this application, which precisely calculates what each diner owes based on the cost of the meal. Okay, so the iPhone’s in-built calculator could do pretty much the same thing, but this takes the pain out of the entire process; it will even work out how much the non-drinkers should pay compared to the drinkers.

* Vicinity (£1.79): Takes advantage of the iPhone 3G’s GPS to provide one-tap access to information about local services and amenities. It will even pull in relevant Wikipedia entries and Flickr photos.

* Band (£5.99): Compose your own music using the collection of virtual instruments.

* Stage Hand (£4.99): Control your Apple Keynote presentations using your iPhone or iPod touch, and read and review slides on its screen.

* Super Monkey Ball (£5.99): The pick of the bunch of new games for the iPhone and iPod touch. Tilt the device itself to control the progress of a monkey inside a transparent bubble. The graphics are first-rate, and the gameplay is highly addictive.

The games(super monkey Ball) seem to be valued higher as does niche apps

However, the business model does not seem to be so good based on this evidence since the useful apps like vicinity seem to be valued only at £1.79

We have all seen many many reports saying that LBS will be the big saviour, people will pay for location etc etc – and then we see a very good LBS application priced at only £1.79. This is in the same series of posts where I talked about taking the principles of better than free for mobile and also said that Google’s initiatives point to a pricepoint of free for mobile applications – for instance, if we contrast Vicinity to Google maps – then Google maps on mobile is free. And although Vicinity gives us some cool features like wikipedia integration which I love – it does point to a very low pricepoint if that becomes a precedent. Further, it points to a one off price point i.e. not a monthly fee ..

By Ajit JAOKAR

Android – iPhone revenue models: Can 70 plus 30 equal free? – Is the future of mobile apps free or fee based?

The iPhone has a simple revenue share model – 70 percent to the developer.

Considering Google’s developer friendly credentials, one would have hoped for something along the same lines .. But disappointingly – that’s not the case .. Because the revenue share depends on the agreements between the carrier and the developer.

Moco news points out that It will purely be an arrangement between the carrier and the mobile app developer. It is unknown what the revenue-share agreement will be between the carrier and a developer.”

To me, this is not a good development in the short term and needs to be clarified in the long term.

It appears that Google is working on the equation that 70 plus 30 equals free i.e. instead of the 70 30 model adopted by the iPhone. Also, Android itself appears to lean to free (ad funded model) for all mobile applications.

Here is why:

1) In terms of data usage and subscribers, I do not believe that individual Operators can have a large enough user base to make a commercial difference to a developer.

2) Individual agreements between developers and Operators are not feasible for Long Tail applications when most of the applications do not make a lot of money in the first place.

3) Also, we start to get fragmentation immediately(for example if developer gets 70 perc for supporting x devices and 50 percent for not doing so etc etc)

All this means that (at least) initially, free applications will proliferate.

This makes little difference for Google since every element of Android is a Mobile web 20 element – (because every element of the stack is capable of creating metadata – all of which can be harnessed towards targeted advertising – just like Gmail)

Hence, Google has a viable economic model but I do not believe that small developers can survive on an ad model alone(and further it is likely that operators may want a share of the ad pie as well)

On the other hand, Android may provide a genuine opportunity for operators to start with a clean slate. Apart from the Korean and Japanese operators, none of the operators have built viable portals. Android offers the choice to start with a clean slate and attract developers and to create a viable ecosystem.

Android raises a broader question is : Are all mobile applications likely to be free(ad funded)?

If we consider the example of the iphone, so far paid iphone applications have not fared well.

So on one hand, while we worry about the contrast between 70 30 and free, we have to consider the broader question of – which mobile applications will users pay for? And the answer is not very clear cut ( see this post where I say that we may have to adopt Kevin Kelly’s principles to the Mobile ecosystem ).

Longer term, I see an irreversible trend with more value being abstracted up the stack, multiple payment systems(Paypal and Google checkout), multiple networks(Wimax, WiFi and so on) – but the short term is unclear.

William Volk makes an interesting point when he says :

“The problem isn’t just the revenue share. It’s that Google, by handing off the sale of paid apps to individual carriers, have added an element of ‘friction’ to the entire publishing process:
With existing content sales carrier terms are typically net 60 to 90 days.
What’s more if you sell in multiple territories, then you will have to deal with multiple carriers.
Also, while there is an unfettered process for free apps, paid apps will certainly be subject to a review and approval process if for no other reason for issues of insuring appropriate content. What will that approval process entail?”

So, Can 70 plus 30 equal free? To me, it seems that Google is going towards Free and not a revenue share model.

A new survey has revealed that people are more interested in social networking sites than online pornography.

Facebook can ‘completely obliterate’ social lives
Bill Tancer, a self-confessed ‘data geek’ who analysed the search habits of more than 10 million web users, said that internet searches provide an up-to-date view of how society is changing.

“There are some patterns to our internet use that we tend to repeat very specifically and predictably, from diet searches to prom dresses to what we do around the holidays,” said Mr Tancer in an interview with Reuters.

His research reveals that elbows, belly button fluff and ceiling fans rank among the things people fear most, as do social intimacy and worries about rejection.
He also said that internet searches for anti-depression drugs peak around the November Thanksgiving period in the US.

“As social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased,” he said.

A decade ago, porn-related searches accounted for 20 per cent of all internet searches made, he noted. They now account for about 10 per cent, said Mr Tancer, who also found that web users aged between 18 and 24 were searching for less porn.

“My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don’t have time to look at adult sites,” he said.

Mr Tancer, a general manager at global internet research company Hitwise, has written a new book, entitled Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters. In it, Mr Tancer notes that celebrity websites get more hits than sites devoted to religion, politics, wellbeing and diets combined.

He also warns that web users are searching for pictures of the US Republican party’s vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, rather than information about her policies.

“A lot of the focus around the candidates in general is image-based. People want to know how tall Barack Obama is,” he told Reuters.

“You have to get far down in the search terms to link the search for a candidate with any issue.”

Mr Tancer also noted that in some instances, the speed of dissemination on the web had led to the spread of disinformation.

“With the explosion of thus type of false information on the internet, I think we will see someone come forward and develop a new type of software that can filter for the most accurate information. “Maybe accuracy is the next thing we will all search for,” Mr Tancer concluded.

His comments come just days after Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web, called for a system to be put in place to rank the trustworthiness of websites, and launched a charitable foundation that seeks to bring the internet to a wider audience in developing nations.

Picked up this announcement from Google about their new mobile location based search service. They call it “Search with My Location”. It only works on Windows Mobile phones but it is a very cool app no doubt.

Previously, when you went to google.com from your phone’s browser and performed a local search, the results were tailored to the last location you entered. Now, using the Gears Geolocation API, Search with My Location approximates your actual location using the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile. So if you want to find sushi nearby, just type “sushi” and Google will return local business listings around you. If you want to know the forecast, type “weather”. If you want to search somewhere else, specify a location in the query like “pizza Kansas City”.

Initially, Search with My Location will be available in the US and UK. To get started, visit google.com from your phone and click on the My Location link under the search box (you may have to refresh the page to see the link).

Swype is an amazing gesture-based data entry system that is truly revolutionary. To type a word, you simply connect letters together using a stylus or finger and predictive text to pick letters and words out of seemingly unintelligible squiggles.

The inventor of the ubiquitous T9 tool, which is installed on a billion plus phones, is one of the founders : Cliff Kushler. There are some hold outs against T9 but generally to send a long SMS or to type your mobile blog if you don’t use T9 your masochist. Nevertheless T9 is on the way out with touch screen mobile devices. The iPhone uses the app Shapewriter but the Swype system is substantially more robust and very powerful. It works on Windows Mobile and Windows right now and will soon be available for the iPhone.

Swype works with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard like you have on the tablet version of Windows and on the iPhone. But instead of tapping letters out, you press your finger or stylus on the first letter, then, without lifting it, move it to the remaining letters in the word. When the word is done, then you lift.

A built-in 65,000-word dictionary corrects obvious and even creative spelling errors. A word menu pops up if the correction is somewhat ambiguous; in our tests, the top choice was usually correct, and it can be selected with a simple swipe upward.

Little tricks make it possible to capitalize words (jerk the stylus up and down) or select double letters (wiggle the pen over a letter).

The development team is focused on Windows Mobile (smartphones) and also the tablet version of XP and Vista, and Surface. However, Kushler mentioned how great the iPhone hardware was for his method.

The great news for the millions of mobile users out there is that they may also develop Swype for Symbian.

See the interview and demo with Kushler here:

I use Yahoo Mail a lot on my phone, all mail to the wapreview.com domain gets forwarded to my Yahoo account and I end up reading much of it on my phone with Opera Mini. Unfortunately reading Yahoo Mail on a phone is a bit of a pain. I can’t use the N95’s built in email client as Yahoo doesn’t support IMAP and using POP3 with multiple clients (desktop and various mobiles) is insane. Neither the full or mobile versions of Y! Mail work very well in Mini. It’s fairly easy to read mail in both but the JavaScript driven drop downs for moving messages to folders in the full version don’t work at all with Mini’s somewhat limited JavaScript implementation. With Yahoo’s mobile webmail client, I can move messages easily enough but Yahoo removes html links from the body of messages. Not good as much of my email consists of people sending me links to mobile sites.

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As for Yahoo Go!, I tried version 2.0 but didn’t like it. I prefer doing everything in the browser, It takes longer to start Go! and have it retrieve the latest email headers than to just load mail.yahoo.com in Opera Mini. Plus when you follow a link in an e-mail, Go! uses it’s built-in mini-browser to show a transcoded copy with no way to open the original in a real browser. Go! 3.0 is out now. Maybe it’s better. I haven’t tried it yet, I’ve you have please leave a comment with your experiences.

I’ve also used gMail’s “Basic HTML” version on the phone and it works perfectly with Opera Mini. I’d switch everything to gMail but for one thing. Y!Mail Beta – Message MenuIn an effort to reduce SPAM, I try to keep my primary email address somewhat hidden and use alternate addresses that I can delete when they start getting too much junk mail. In gMail, when I reply with an alternate address, Google still shows my primary gMail address in the Sender: and Return Path: headers. Yahoo doesn’t do this. Google says this to “help prevent your mail from being marked as spam.” No one’s ever complained about my email being “marked as spam”, but I do know that by revealing my “real” address, Google is subjecting it to SPAM.

I think I’ve finally found a better way to do Yahoo Mail on my phone. It’s the mail client that is part of Yahoo’s Beta personalized mobile portal at beta.m.yahoo.com. I’ve written about the Beta before but never used it much. It was just too buggy, especially the e-mail portion. It seemed like at least half the time I tried to open or send an an e-mail, I’d see:

“We have run into a problem processing your last request! Please try again later.”

Well, I started using the Beta again last week, read dozens of emails and sent a few and so far I haven’t seen that or any other errors. Finally, a single Y!Mail client where I can move mail to folders and follow links and have them open right in Opera Mini. The Beta is my new preferred way to use Y!Mail on my phone. Y!Mail Beta – Personalized PortalThere are some nice touches in the Beta, I like that when I get to the bottom of a message there’s a menu (2nd image) with choices for disposition of the message; Delete, Move, Reply, etc. I’ve also started using the Beta’s personalized home page to check news headlines, local weather and (falling) stock market. The portal (bottom image) is pretty slick with lots of predefined content modules to chose from, even a WapReview snippet . Plus you can add your own links to any sites.

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Not that the Y! Mobile Beta is perfect. I wish the end of message menu had a Next link for those times when I want to leave a message in my inbox (so I can reply later from a PC) and go on to the next one. True, there is a Next link at the top of the page but it would be nice to have one at the bottom too. And there is an annoying bug in the display of both mail headers and news headlines. The text wraps at 160 pixels instead of using the full width of the screen. You can see this in the first and last images on this page. It looks ugly and is harder to read. This doesn’t happen with all browsers, the full screen width is used in S60WebKit for example. I looked at the markup and Yahoo is using a layout table with a cell width of 160px for Opera Mini. I guess this is meant to be a compromise as Mini runs on devices with varying screen sizes. I wonder why they don’t just set width to 100% and let Mini deal with fitting it to the screen?

Yahoo has been rolling out the Beta incrementally. It originally worked on only a handful of phones but support seems to be pretty widespread, It’s available with Opera Mini and in the built in browsers of three of my test handsets, the N95-3, Motorola Z8 and Motorola i855, but not on a Nokia 6200. I’m in the US, I don’t know about the Beta’s availability in other markets.

Courtesy of Dennis Bournique of WapReview

Google announced yesterday a new geolocation tool for both users and an API for mobile website owners and wapmasters. What is cool this works for mobiles without GPS capabilities.

This opens all sorts of possibilities for wapmasters who have services that till now could or didn’t want to put in place complicated LBS.

Charles Wells from Google Labs demons this new tool with a new mobile restaurant finder service from LastMinute.com called FoneFood on the following YouTube video :

Sadly this tool works only on Windows Mobile applications for the moment but Google promises that we will have an Android version soon. What we would really like is a Symbian and Java versions so that we can touch the largest possible number of users. I feel that it is only that way that LBS will really take off.

If you know of any other LBS tools like this that work on Java we would love to know. Just post a comment. Thanks