This is the monthly archive for August 2011.
The Mobilism conference is still nine months away. If you can’t wait that long for good advice on the mobile web, you could come to one of our workshops.
On 28th and 29th of September we’ll go to Frankfurt, where we’ll settle down for two days in the Pulse Club to discuss the mobile web with you.
On 10th and 11th of May we’re organising the second edition of Mobilism in Amsterdam. The first one was a huge success; see for instance the videos of Luke Wroblewski’s and Nikolai Onken’s sessions.
We’re eager to repeat this succes, and therefore we’re happy to announce that Jason Grigsby, co-founder of CloudFour in Portland and mobile strategist extraordinaire, will join the Mobilism 2012 line-up.
Well, the webOS saga has already entered a new phase. The Next Web reports that Samsung is seriously considering buying webOS (in addition to hiring a former HP VC for marketing their PCs.)
So it’s outright sale, and not licensing. And it’s Samsung. Neither is unexpected; I predicted both a week ago. (And I must admit I’m very happy to finally get something right, even though it wasn’t a particularly complicated prediction.)
This week’s normal news.
I don’t link to any articles about Steve Jobs’s resignation; nothing will change in the short run for Apple, and therefore the mobile market will not change, either. The Android situation and webOS’s future remain the most important questions in mobility for now.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of webOS, and have decided it does have one, maybe even a glorious one, provided the new owner or licensee reaches out to web developers, as Palm should have done back in 2009.
So here are twelve steps the new owner should take in order to get webOS to thrive.
MotoGoogle/webOS special. MotoGoogle first, then webOS.
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It’s time for the Q1 and Q2 overview of smartphone sales. Headlines: Nokia falls apart; Android vendors pick up the pieces. Most of this entry was written two weeks ago, before the MotoGoogle and webOS bombshells.
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HP kills off webOS. However, I do not believe this is the end of webOS. On the contrary, I think it’s the start.
The quote from the press release:
HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.
How do you optimize the value of webOS software without producing webOS devices? By selling it.
HP was already in talks with Samsung, so that’s one definite option. HTC is another. Basically anyone who needs a good mobile OS does.
Anyway, HP did something very clever (or lucky) by announcing this just after the MotoGoogle bombshell. “Dear discontented Android vendors, if you’re doubting your eternal and undying allegiance to Google, we have a shiny OS for sale for you. No strings attached. Place your bids.”
HP had no fucking clue what to do with a progressive mobile OS. It’s likely that webOS’s future owners will perform better. They can hardly do worse.
This week’s. Non-MotoGoogle.
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Opinions abound on the Motorola acquisition. A quick rundown is in order.
So Google buys Motorola. What does this mean?
Personally I feel this heralds the high-water mark of Android’s OS market share. That’s not the same as its developer mindshare, or customer satisfaction, but I don’t think the other Android vendors are going to be thrilled, and that we’re going to see that in Q1’s sales stats. Android will drop slightly, and one or more new OSs will take its place.
Here are the July mobile browser stats. The StatCounter change has been fully integrated, which means we’re back to normal but with a few extra browsers in the long tail.
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This week’s. Or something’s.
Your donation for keeping this series up and running would be much appreciated.
The release of US mobile usage statistics allows me to calculate the “smartness” of several platforms in the US market according to the method I proposed earlier. Better still, I can include non-smartphones in the calculation, which gives a more honest picture of the overall phone market.
iOS users turn out to surf about 4 times as much as the average phone owner, while BlackBerry and Android users surf about 2.5 times as much. The real surprises, however, come from Windows and Symbian.
Today we’ll finish the report on the Q2 2011 mobile browser stats according to StatCounter by treating the six countries with the least mobile browsing market share. Remember that the methodology of the detection changed in late April.
Part 1 appeared last week. Your donation for keeping this series up and running would be much appreciated.
John Gruber points to and agrees with this article that says that many activated Android phones are not used as smartphones, proving that iOS is more important in the smartphone market than the sales market shares show.
They could be right, they could be wrong. The question is: How do you measure a platform’s “smartness?” Unfortunately the article does not offer any answers to this crucial question.
It’s time for the quarterly mobile browser statistics from 12 selected countries according to StatCounter. Remember that the methodology of the detection changed in late April. This is noticeable in most countries, and especially in India and Brazil.
This post treats the first six countries; the second six will appear next week. Your donation for keeping this series up and running would be much appreciated.
See the July 2011 archive.
This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer.
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