Android vs iPhone - Truly The Clash of the Titans!!

If there are two names that are creating a buzz in the mobile world today, they have to be "google android" and "iphone sdk". Both are aiming at providing young developers with free tools to design their own mobile applications, and also make some money off it! Both are backed by big tech giants, and both are ready to go to extreme lengths to woo the people, especially young talented developers. Its pretty interesting to see how people react to this unending competition; for some, it may actually create several opportunities to showcase their talents and get some serious attention!

With all of that money floating around, developers are rushing to build the next big widget, social network, or mapping technology for the mobile phone. Not only are developers lured by the idea of making money on the mobile phone, but they're also drawn by financial incentives coming from both camps that might seal their future.

Howard Chau, for example, has been developing a mobile application that's designed to alert people to their next calendar appointment, factoring in data like the person's physical location and traffic conditions en route to a meeting. In the next two weeks, Chau plans to submit the GPS-based application, called Mappily, to Google in the hopes of winning its Android Developer Challenge, a developer contest with $10 million in total prize money. Because Chau only stands to win tens of thousands of dollars in the first round of the challenge, the money would just be gravy. But Chau is not the only one contesting for it; apparently, this talent hunt has created quite a buzz, challenging and ispiring Silicon Valley's developers to create the hottest new mobile technology applications.

So who's pulling all these strings? Well, besides Google and Apple in a simmering battle in the handset market with respective new platforms and software development kits, venture capitalists, such as KPCB (with $100 million iFund for iphone apps) and Charles River Ventures(likely to fun Android apps) are also involved. Google's Android Developer Challenge is its own version of the iFund at a 10th the size. But surely other VCs are ruminating on forming the Android Fund to rival KPCB.

For many developers, Apple's iPhone is more alluring as a development platform because of the established customer list. Craig Hockenberry, CTO at IconFactory and a longtime Mac developer, said the iPhone offers a clear business path.(His company is developing a Twitter messaging tool called Twitterific for the iPhone, among other applications) "We just want to build small, fun apps and leave it at that. Those are the ideal apps for the iPhone." As for the Android contest, he quotes that "It's a bit of a gamble as there's no hardware yet. You can maybe make a million dollars, but what if you don't? You have nothing. I think what we have going onto the iPhone, it's going to sell.

On the other hand, Hank Williams company Kloudshare(develops an application that will help people manage data on their phone and desktop) aims to enter the Android contest. "The idea that Google's putting $10 million on the table to give it to the best companies by this deadline is more direct in my mind. I would imagine Google will write more checks than the Kleiner folks."

So while Apple seems to have the advantage of an established product, Android seems to be a developer's choice as the platform is easier to create applications for because of built-in mapping intelligence technology and so-called background processing. That's why Chau chose the Android platform, for its in-build mapping technology. Ultimately, it all ends on who succeeds in enticing the mass as well as the talent; but with such huge chunks of money on the market, it sure is an exciting race to witness!!

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Google Teams up with X-Prize for a $30 Million Prize for the Moon Race Winners!

If you've been reading about space travel, you must know that some wealthy people" have already booked their seats for the first official flight to moon. Space Travel is something that has excited a lot of people, including the search giant Google. And to make things even more exciting, and definitely more competitive as well as lucrative, Google and X-Prize officials have unveiled nine new privately funded teams that will compete for $30 million in the Google Lunar X Prize challenge, a race to the moon. Lots of adventurous people have already signed up, and if you've not heard about it yet, now's your chance to become a millionaire!

The Google Lunar X Prize, unveiled last September, aims to encourage privately funded lunar exploration — just as the $10 million Ansari X Prize provided a jump start for space tourism three years ago. Private-sector moonshots could open the way to commercial ventures ranging from robotic mining operations to lunar hotels and virtual reality-TV expeditions. The competition offers a multimillion-dollar prize for the first team to send an unmanned rover safely to the moon, and then get it to beam imagery and data back to Earth. The nine new teams join the Isle of Man-based Odyssey Moon team, which was the first group to take up the challenge.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that he was amazed that so many competitors had signed up so soon after the prize's announcement. Brin credited Google's participation to conversation he had had with Diamandis and mutual friend and Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-rocket builder, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. Google has always been either a pioneer or a supporter of new discoveries, and couldn't be left behind this time! Everything it does, has to be big, just like sponsoring this competition.

The Google Lunar X Prize organizers also announced their partnership with Space Florida, a group vested in drawing the Sunshine State onto the commercial spaceflight map. Voted into creation in 2006, the local organization is offering launch site services and $2 million in extra prize money to the winning team if they blast off from Florida, which would obviously add to the state's rich spaceflight history, and continue their moon-exploration activities.

As I said, several companies have already signed up. Visit the official website for more information. This gig has me really excited! Looks like Space Travel is not as far into the future as we imagined it to be!!

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Google's Android-based Prototypes Unveiled at Mobile Expo

A lot of hype and hooplah was created when Google announced that it would venture into the wireless world. People had conjured up images of the illusionary G-phone and were waiting with abated breath for its arrival. Sadly, that never happened. But investors and techies did find relief in the fact that Google would still develop a new mobile operating system called "Android", which would still change the face of a lot of applications, and the wait and excitement revved up again. Finally Google delivers on its plans as the first prototype of phones running Android make a public appearance!

Confirming earlier expectations, Texas Instruments and a handful of other chipset makers demonstrated a working example of Google's Android (mobile operating system) on functional hardware. The prototype device is said to prove the speed of the Linux-based software on even obsolete hardware. The version of the software on display also confirms several interface elements that bear a resemblance to Apple software. While the entire OS is considered open and modifiable down to key interface features, the default Android appearance includes a Mac OS X Dock-like application launcher as well as bubble pop-up notices that recall the iPhone. Google's media player software, camera functions and Google Maps are also available on the demonstrator model (img courtesy electronista)

Google plans to deploy the open source mobile phone system commercially in phones and services in the second half of 2008. Newsvine has it that HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung plan to build devices based on Android, so you might see them emerging into the markets by the later half of this year. Samsung suggested they would roll these out by early 2009.

Google hopes Android will create the same sort of applications explosion for mobile as we’ve seen on the Web. "Basically it means you no longer have to shoehorn applications in. Anything that can work in a Web environment will work well here, and also on PC or Mac – games, multiplayer, video and audio, social networking" said Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. With Apple's iPhone, Garmin's Nuvifone, and now Android-based phone, the wireless cell-phone world is surely seeing a lot of changes. What clicks and what fails is for you and me to decide, right?!

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