Iambic is one of the already established mobile software companies that started developping for the Android platform. You have probably met with one of their Android applications GoogHelper or Tipper that we announced in previous posts . Adriano Chiaretta - Chief Operating and Information Officer at Iambic - accepted to answer our questions and share their development experience with Google Android.

Q1 : We have introduced iambic in the last weeks to OHM readers with GoogHelper and Tipper, What can we know more about the company ?

iambic was founded at the end of 1993. At the time, the company had two people developing solutions for one of the very first PDAs, the Apple Newton. Making it easy to do time and expense tracking while on the go was the primary focus. Later in 1994 the company expanded its area of focus to include personal information management (PIM). As a result, Action Names was born. Through the years, that application evolved to what is now Agendus, currently available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, as well as Windows desktop PCs.

During the last few years, we expanded our portfolio of Windows Mobile applications — with the development of titles that had a broader reach in areas that include: personal productivity, including vehicle managers, health and diet applications, and call management and action taking. In a nutshell, our mission is to empower users to make the most out of their time wherever they are –on the go or at the desk–, through the creation of easy-to-use, yet powerfully customizable solutions.

Q2 : Why the interest to create applications for the Android platform ?

Since the announcement of the new Android mobile OS and related SDK, we have been intrigued by what it promises to deliver at a variety of levels. From a development standpoint, being able to access any tiny detail of the platform without having to jump through hoops is a great time saver, and also saves from countless “back and forths” with device manufacturers for updated handset specific SDKs.

Having the ability to closely interact with the built-in applications and related data storages (love Sqlite and I’m glad it’s the storage engine of choice of Android) is another definite plus. This without forgetting the new operating system is backed by a rather consistent number of prominent companies, leaders in their industry and market specific area. All this, of course, so far on “paper” or “bits” if you want in the form of a quickly evolving SDK, and slick emulator. Will the promises I mentioned above become reality when the first handsets hit the market? I truly hope so.

Q3 : How many developers are currently working on Android projects ? Did you hire or is it from the current dev team?

We have a developer fully dedicated to Android projects, from the current development team, while another one is playing with the SDK “just for fun” — creating small tools so to speak. I’m getting my hands dirty too. I’ve been checking out examples, documentation, and thinking about what else we can creatively use out of what made available through the SDK.

Q4 : Are you just porting current iambic mobile projects to Android or planning new ones also ?

So far, in order to start getting our “feet wet,” we ported a few titles while exploring the possibility of the platform, along with the expected rough edges of the SDK.

Q5 : Any commercial application for Android in your plans ?

We do plan to release commercial solutions for Android. GoogHelper and Tipper themselves might get revised and “enriched” to become commercially distributable.

Q6 : Will any of your iambic projects will take part of the Challenge ?

Yes, we are currently working on a project we plan to submit to the Developer Challenge.

Q7 : How do you compare development under Android to other mobile platforms ?

So far we are finding the development for Android a much more streamlined experience compared to other platforms. I believe this is because the operating system is young (there are no phones based on it yet), and therefore getting up and running with the development environment is extremely quick and straightforward. Unzipping the latest Eclipse, the Android SDK, getting the Android plug-in setup in Eclipse and being off stepping through a few breakpoints while debugging the app on the emulator took less than 15 minutes. On mature mobile platforms such as Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, or BlackBerry the process of installing a development environment, main SDK, various licensees’ customizations, etc. can easily take half day.

That said, the SDK itself is clearly a work in progress. Its documentation is sort of “hit and miss” at the moment and definitely not super clear. And a few of the API calls are not working as expected. Then again, this is the type of stuff I’ve seen in SDKs that are much more mature, so no real news there. It often comes down to looking around forums and message boards for solutions, and spicing up the approach with some trial & error.

The latest SDK released just a few days ago is quite a step forward, although it introduces a variety of changes both from an API/development standpoint as well as from a user interaction / usage model standpoint. The latter according to what the UI showcased by the emulator is telling us. We are investing quite some time now getting the projects we are currently developing up to speed with the latest SDK. Hopefully we won’t see a similar rather deep change in the coming updates.

Popularity: 91%

The most awaited update of Android SDK is finally available! Most notable change in this release is the new user interface; I really feel this time that I’m on a Linux-based mobile phone. The interface looks really much better and definitely ready for the prime time, even with work in progress. The bad news is that for the first time we started talking about “porting an application” and “API change”. At this time everything is under development, but it’s worrying for the future of Android platform if we see many version of the SDK where applications are not compatible and have to be changed and recompiled, and go back to old times !

Highlighted features in this release :

• New user interface - totally remodeled interface, new design and icons, looks much better.
• Layout animations - Developers can now create layout animations for their applications using the capabilities introduced in the android.view.animation package
• Geo-coding - android.location.Geocoder enables developers to forward and reverse geo-code (i.e. translate an address into a coordinate and vice-versa), and also search for businesses.
• New media codecs - The MediaPlayer class has added support for the OGG Vorbis, MIDI, XMF, iMelody, RTTL/RTX, and OTA audio file formats.
• Search Manager - A new search API is now available android.app.SearchManager, providing the ability to to search for user, system or network based data, making search a seamless, system-wide feature.
• Updated Eclipse plug-in - A new version of ADT is available and provides improvements to the Android developer experience. In particular, check out the new Android Manifest editor.

Something very interesting in the new interface is the new menus. Now it is more iphone-like - if I can say - Menus have been iconized which make it easier for touchscreen phones, and we can see the blurred menus by the end, so you can scroll down/up to see more menu options. To dig into the new Android interface here is some screenshots from the new SDK :

Home of the Android Platform

Android dialer

Android Dev Tools

Browser Menu replaced by icons

By clicking on more you get the entire menu

Android New Contact

Android Call Manager

Ready to go ? download the new Android SDK, read M5 announcement on the Developers blog.

Popularity: 88%

Even if the way “how Google will really profit from Android” still a mystery until today, the answer is certainly around advertising. The mobile advertising market is really booming, even if some market predection are confusing, for example according to ABI research Mobile Marketing revenue will hit the $24 Billion in 2013, jumping from just $1.8 Billion in 2007, while consultancy Forrester in the other side predict revenue under $1 billion by 2012. Open Handset Magazine asked the emerging players in the mobile advertising market about Android and mobile marketing. Admob and Millennial Media accepted to answer our questions.

OHM: What do you think about Android Mobile Platform?

Eric Eller, SVP Products and Marketing at Millennial Media

With good reason, there is lots of excitement surrounding any open initiative. It provides increased opportunity for developers to be creative and innovative while taking an active role in the future of consumer applications and services. More mobile applications mean more choices and more compelling content for users, which will lead to higher mobile usage - obviously a positive thing for the industry.

Jason Spero, VP Marketing at Admob :

The launch of the iPhone and the announcement of the Android project are about users. The potential of the mobile ecosystem has been well documented (and well marketed). Many blame the Operators for the perceived lack of progress toward this potential, but a variety of forces have constrained the user experience on the mobile device. These include: device form factor, text entry and capabilities, network speeds and capabilities, billing mechanisms, discovery mechanisms, non-commerce monetization mechanisms, fragmentation of application platforms, fragmentation of browser platforms and more. Each of these needs to be addressed for mobile to achieve its promise. Apple and Google recognize the opportunity and have grown frustrated with the pace at which the obstacles are being address.

Android is a market development effort. Google understands the opportunity for its business model once the mobile internet takes off. Google is now working actively to accelerate that takeoff. Android addresses some (but not all) of the ecosystem needs. In theory, the availability of a robust underlying software platform will reduce fragmentation for application developers, decrease cost and time to market for device manufacturers and spark a new wave of competition in device form factors that will deliver better user experience for mobile data. This will drive use of the mobile internet. In theory. What remains to be seen is how manufacturers will leverage and extend Android to their needs and whether this will undermine the core goal of decreasing fragmentation. But we remain hopeful that Android will deliver on its promise.

AdMob has had a front row seat for the acceleration of the mobile internet in 2006 and 2007. We see dramatic progress against the constraints to mobile web usage.

• Devices are dramatically improved even before the impact of iPhone and Android
• Increases in network speeds have improved the mobile browsing experience
• Simpler data pricing models have made mobile internet more accessible for all
• Content providers have a viable means to monetize their offerings via advertising
• Discovery is being addressed via search, directories and advertising

The launch of the iPhone gave the market a picture of what a mobile data experience could be. This is an example that has catalyzed investment against all of the requirements for mobile data. The iPhone and Android have accelerated something that was already happening.

AdMob is pro mobile internet for all the same reasons that Google is pro mobile internet. AdMob is device agnostic and can benefit from any and all improvements in the mobile web experience. The launch of Android devices in 2008 and beyond will drive increased usage of the mobile internet. Google has said that it will keep separate its market development efforts via Android from its search and AdSense businesses. AdMob believes this ensures fair competition. So AdMob, awaits the arrival of Android devices in the same way we anticipate innovation from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and others. Improvements in user experience will drive usage, which is all we can ask.

OHM: How could Google Android change the mobile advertising market?

Eric E.: “Google is obviously a major player in online advertising and anything they do in the mobile space will have an impact. What remains to be seen is the nature of that impact. On the one hand, by enabling developers to quickly create new innovative mobile applications, Android could help increase the availability of mobile content that is available for free using the ad-supported model. On the other hand, if developers are compelled to preferentially utilize Google advertising services versus other opportunities in the market, the perception of openness will disappear.”

Jason S.: “The mobile ad market is already growing rapidly.

If Android delivers an improved user experience this will drive usage of the mobile internet. This will further accelerate the growing interest in reaching users on their mobile devices and will motivate more and more content providers to invest in mobile. User experience improvements will drive both supply of and demand for mobile advertising.”

Popularity: 37%

Japan is one of the most interesting market for mobile marketing, a market which is expected to grow to over $24 billion worldwide in 2013, jumping from just $1.8 billion in 2007, according to ABI Research. NTT DoCoMo and Google partnership announcement came mainly to reinforce Google position in this mobile advertising market, and possibly to bring Android based handsets to the Japanese market.

NTT DoCoMo is one of leading mobile communications companies worldwide, Headquartered in Tokyo, and is owner of i-mode, the world’s most popular mobile e-mail/Internet service, used by nearly 48 million people.

The company provides already a set of Handsets in collaboration with handset manufacturers such Fujitsu, including : Raku-Raku PHONE Basic, Secure 3G FOMA F903iBSC, 3G FOMA 703i Series, D800iDS and SO903iTV.

According to a new study by Mobile Consumer Behavior, outlining key challenges and success factors for the Open Handset Alliance :

Google’s Android is the first legitimate attempt to re-create the success of Japan’s “Wireless Ecosystem” model within the context and realities of international mobile markets. If successful, Google could spark unprecedented innovations within mobile content, service and application development, yet a number a critical factors stand in the way of such success.

Google is facing a big challenge in the Japanese Mobile Marketing Market first, then to reproduce this wireless ecosystem worldwide. Dr. Philip Sugai, Director of the Mobile Consumer Lab at the International University of Japan and lead author of MCB report, stated :

“Although Symbian and Microsoft have offered the most stinging criticisms of Google’s Android, Google’s next (and most) critical challenge at this early stage of development actually lies in how it will address MontaVista, and galvanize the mobile Linux development movement. Without successfully accomplishing this goal, Android will become obsolete within 2008, never ever leveling a substantial competitive threat against either Symbian or Microsoft.”

Popularity: 42%

Tira Wireless announced today the support of Android Platform for its Jump 2008 Go Mobile solution. Jump 2008 is an innovative solution to reduce the cost of porting of Java-based mobile application across all mobile handsets. The Tira Wireless device knowledgebase includes 1,253 devices supported representing 44 handset manufacturers, 14,943 unique device/operator combinations, 2,643 devices in physical inventory, and 201 channels (mobile operators, content portals, etc.).

By supporting Android, Tira Wireless partners will be able to convert their applications from JavaME to Android easily. Another porting solution from JavaME to Android is now available after Esmertec and ME4Android. Tira Wireless solution will fit very well for organizations with limited internal development resources or those that require the scalability that Tira Wireless provides.

“Tira Wireless’ move to support Android is in line with our vision to support the major platforms and manage all elements of the mobile content lifecycle, regardless of the device or mobile operator,” said Juan Dewar, CEO of Tira Wireless. “Supporting the Android platform is also a natural extension of the work we have been doing with Java ME applications. Because of our years of experience in this market, we are very well positioned to understand the challenges of developing mobile content in a similar environment, and as a result, can maximize Android’s unique capabilities.”

Tira Wireless customers include Content publishers such Airbone Entertainment, Disney Mobile, Dwango Wireless, I-Play, Warner Bros, Pixiem, THQ Wireless, Dwango Wireless, Hudson Soft, ifone, Jumbuck, Mforma, Mobile Scope, Mobliss, Namco, Sega, SkyZone Entertainment, Sonic Branding Solutions, Sony Pictures Mobile, and Summus; Engineering Services Providers such Babel Media, Mahindra British Telecom, and Absolute Quality; and finally Mobile Operators : Telus, T-Mobile, and Helio.

The GoMobile Edition of the Jump Developer Desktop can be used to commercially deploy a single application on up to 12 handsets. For non-commercial purposes, it is free.

Popularity: 31%