If  Thomas L. Friedman’s book,  “The World is Flat” alerted people to the effects of globalization in all levels of societal functioning, imagine what impact the mobile industry platform can have is having on our everyday lives.

It’s already changing the way we do things, say things, listen to things, find things, use things, share things, record things, report things – you get the point.

It is only a platform and as such, can give a solid foundation for other technological seeds to flourish. The planting of the seed is the easy  part. It’s the nurturing and the “seeing it through” to a successful, and hopefully, profitable harvest that becomes the challenge.

Act Local. Think Global.

Act Global. Think Local.

In which ever mindset you choose to take from the above two statements, one thing you MUST implement is the mindset of going Mobile.

I’m not talking about taking a trip to various destinations using different modes of transportation. I’m talking about having access to local and global anything, right in the palm of your hand using a smartphone with a wireless data plan. (Preferably with an Android Device but any smartphone will do)

In my previous post, I identified three technologies that are becoming should be the standard implemented/integrated with anything features (and I DO mean, anything).

Let’s put it this way. If your website cannot be viewed on a mobile device in the next year (2010), you’ve probably lost major brownie points.

The “we want it now” generation has given rise to applications that provide real time (now) information based on topic, availability, location, its latest buzz and so on. The world is not necessarily becoming more and more flat, it’s becoming more and more accessible by anyone, anywhere, anytime.

With that said, let’s discuss the future of brands. You know what I’m talking about. Brands that we’ve all come to trust, love and some, can’t even live without. I never knew how much a brand could be attached to an emotion (that’s in another blog post), but a good brand can resonate such feelings within a customer’s perception OF it.

The rise of Social Media platforms have changed the way  people see brands and most of all, the kind of relationships people demand from companies. Transparency, real time feedback (the more immediate the better) and definitely a two way communication path. People want to share their opinions, state their likes and dislikes and expect companies to adjust their products and services, accordingly. If they don’t, individuals can easily go somewhere else, because that’s just how it is now. Gone are the days of the Monopoly Kings (sort of). Things have gotten de-regulated and de-centralized. More entities are emerging. Entities that realize the new needs of customers and have implemented a “flexibility module” into their business models, making it possible to meet their customer’s needs.

One crucial, “do it now” feature that companies need to understand, grasp and jump into is mobile marketing / mobile advertising – basically,  getting their brands to go where the people are.

Outdoor advertising … okay. People still drive, walk, jog, roller blade and occassionally look up. I suppose that’s why ads have become plastered on sides of buildings. Not so much to make a statement (a Guess underwear ad pasted on the side of a 14 story building in NYC or even Manila always makes a statement), but to get people to just look.

But have you taken a walk, jog, or even ride lately and see where people are mostly focusing their attention on? Their smart phones, netbooks etc …

Mobile devices that are hand held can now deliver anything that traditional forms of media have been doing for decades – but faster, more accurate and in most cases, better. In fact, mobile hand held devices have become pseudo TV stations minus the crew it takes to tape a segment. This fact should be a no-brainer for companies (startup, medium or big). It should alert them to go mobile.

Let’s put it this way. If your website cannot be viewed on a mobile device in the next year (2010), you’ve probably lost major brownie points.

Kevin Nakao, VP of Mobile & Business Search for Whitepages.com recently published  an article on Mashable entitled: Mobile Advertising: 5 Things You Need to Know to Succeed in 2010.  Read it then come back here.

…..

…..

…..

What’s the big deal with Android?

The big deal with Android is, not just the fact that it’s open source and companies have a pick of the creme of the crop in Android Developers to create specific innovative, integrated, engaging mobile apps for their products or services …. but also, Android smartphones are being made available worldwide to run on more mobile carrier networks. What does this mean? It means that a company’s brand (product / service) can have more of a global reach just on one mobile operating system alone.

Indeed, I am aware of the challenges that fragmentation imposes on Android but … as frustrated as an Android developer may get, developers in general live off  challenge.

I’m betting, that these very factors alone with Android (open source AND availability on more  mobile networks) will make it easier for companies to envision going mobile and will also make it much easier for companies to implement a more respectable mobile advertising budget.

I’m not saying that companies should only look to the Android platform (have you read Kevin Nakao’s article?). I’m saying that the character of the Android Platform may make it easier for companies to see the viability of going mobile. Just saying.

What do you think?

I’ve been touting in pretty much this past month’s blog posts that we need not pit Android phones against iPhones. Why can’t we do both? Why do we always  need to choose teams? Why does  it always have to be a battle?

Today’s Android Twitter stream was inundated with links to an article on eMarketer, “How Alike Are Android and iPhone Users?”

Awareness of the Android mobile operating system is rising, and users have a lot in common with iPhone fans, according to research from comScore and Compete.

Bingo! It’s happening and we’re slowly seeing signs of the parallel rise of both mobile operating systems.

I for one, know quite a few Mac users that  have jumped on the Android Band Wagon and have NOT deserted their Apple products at all. They live, guilt free and have the best of both worlds. The rules are changing people and one rule is —> we don’t have to follow any rules!

Whether or not comScore’s and Compete’s research are accurate, the fact remains that the numbers are changing and we’ll definitely be seeing more and more research firms grinding out more data that will give us a better picture of where the two celebrity mobile operating systems fare.

The cartoon above, was originally created for an upcoming article on Mashable and was entitled “iCompromise”.

I’ve created two more updated cartoons to compliment eMarketer’s article.

Trying to keep abreast of new technologies is a feat unto itself. Especially when the technology soup has gotten a whole lot tastier. More exotic ingredients makes for a hearty dish AND people are expecting a whole lot more than just the typical menu flare.

The term Web 2.0 will slowly fade but still be part of the vocabularly for those early adopters that managed to jump in with both feet first and bravely navigate their way into the new frontier.

We’ve seen platforms like Twitter and Facebook – evolve the concept of communication and present to us a hint of what might be.

We’ve witnessed a very ambitous Search Engine enter the industry after the fact and literally take the world by its balls. It not only took “searching” to a rather simplistic art form but has managed to re-invent the way people can become more dependent on technology all at the same time providing several of their platforms as an open book for people to look into, take a part and recreate child platforms that integrate with the mothership. For those of you that aren’t quite sure of who I’m talking about, it’s Google.

We’re experiencing the non-chalant attitude that has swept over people’s mind sets in terms of their data being stored – elsewhere. No longer are people storing data on their own hard drives but have actually adapted and trust companies to host their data on servers thousands of miles away, neighboured with other’s data and it’s perfectly okay. Perfectly, okay I tell you. Five years ago this concept raised several serious security and privacy issues but fast forward five years later to now, and people welcome the idea of partly existing in a cloud.

Not only are we partly existing in a cloud (cloud computing), but we’re also partly living and working in virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds are not  new. There were virtual worlds being used for educational collaborative projects back in the mid ’90’s but the hype of Linden Lab’s, Second Life brought virtual worlds to mainstream. 2005 saw the hype, climax and then slowly grind to a dead halt or so it seemed.  Just because the media reported a few negative stories or companies bailing out, Second Life continued to thrive as people continued to exploit its technology for a greater means. Yes mainstream, Second Life still exists and its economy is far better than our real life one. Second Life technology, when open sourced back in early 2007 saw a growth of open simulators and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Let’s just say for the record that these virtual worlds are really the 3D internet that will become a vital extension to 2D internet (i.e. a website) in the near future.

The mention of just a few basic platforms that have managed to set a base foundation for the technological canvas of the future will now seem rather doldrum when I mention other platforms that will really change the face of the way society uses technology.

1. Mobile Wireless taken to the nth degree. I’m thinking operating on a whole other spectrum, away from the chains that bind us to contractual data plans where our uploads  and downloads are limited. My guess is that Google will have some hand in this … why not?

2. Location Based Services (LBS). This will take GPS to a whole other level. Finding where your spouse is  and seeing whether he/she, really is where they say they are will be peanuts compared to what’s about to happen in 2010. LBS married with real time data and innovative mobile applications will be the cats pajamas! Just saying.

3. Augmented Reality (AR). Not really sure of what exactly Augmented reality is? Mashable did a general rundown on just some of the uses of AR in marketing, alone.  Then there’s DroidSpray, an augmented reality app created by the development team of OpenIntents. A mobile app that allows people to literally “spray paint their world”. This takes the phrase “Painting the town red” to a whole other level.

I’ll stop here. But I will leave you with this thought. Imagine integrating any of the above or all of the above with any or all of the previous base technology platforms I mentioned early in the blog post. This is not a new thought. In fact, I had a conversation like this with a few friends 2 years ago. In fact, these concepts were imagined 10 years ago .. only thing was, the technology was not yet there. But now, it’s a whole other story and anyone who’s eyes are wide opened and with passion to be one of the first to take any of these technologies into the daily living activities of mainstream .. and it has to happen in 2010, will be leaving everyone else in the  dust.

So, are you one of the doers or simply one of the early adopter users?

Yes. Please. Augment my reality because frankly, the REAL has ceased to excite me and the more time I spend holding my wireless device to communicate, navigate, extrapolate and maybe even masturbate, would just make my life a whole lot easier.

NOT!

The holidays wouldn’t be complete without a peak at what antics our androids are up to.

whatsupandroid.com wants to wish everyone a safe  and special holiday. I hope everyone finds an Android under their tree,  in their stocking, but most of all, in their hands! :-)

I’ve always said (like many others before me) that to compare Apple’s iPhone to any Android phone is like comparing apples to oranges. People still pit the respective app stores as obvious rivals and understandably so. I suppose coming up with ways in which Android differs from Apple or the ways in which Apple’s iPhone is superior to Android makes for good blog content.

Let’s take a journey however, to the abstract recesses of our minds. Let’s imagine that Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone courageously go where no other two rival operating systems have gone before (not to my knowledge anyway) – onward into the future, hand in hand (sort of).

This isn’t the first time I came up with such an absurd thought. I did imagine a scenario that involved Steve Jobs announcing at a future MacWorld Expo .. something about Android. That didn’t fly to well with a few readers. No one really commented on my insanity, but I did get a few interesting DM’s.

Having been a Mac Addict for 23 years and now a closet one, I understand the strength of the Apple brand. Apple is a brand that has backed it’s fruit logo with a well disciplined engine. Its strength lies in their strict control over everything that comes out of the Cupertino building, so to speak. In Apple’s more youthful days, one of their missions was to change the way the computer industry was being handled. Their number one opponent was IBM and Apple wanted to do everything in their power to be different from IBM.

Times have changed and thinkers have evolved. What IBM represented 20 something years ago and what Apple wanted to be known for is almost similar to what Apple represents now, in context to Google’s open source operating system. Apple now appears as the old school, controlling entity and Google .. errr, Android, opens up a free to do what I want mentality (sort of).

Because history does repeat itself and because man seldom ever learns from his past, partly because he is so focused on finding ways to increase the “bottom line” and only meeting the needs of a few select target markets, I say it’s time for a change.

There is strength in numbers and two heads are definitely better than one. Steve Jobs may never adapt anything Android into Apple’s environment and Android may never be a tightly controlled power engine (it’s open source) but that doesn’t mean we have to be pitted against one or the other.

We should all feel opportuned to be able to have both devices sitting side by side on our desks or even occupying the same pocket space on our person. I will no longer stay the closet mac addict that I am. I will happily move forward embracing the fact that I LOVE my Apple products as much as I LOVE the Android OS.

In this case, I can have my Apple and Donut or Eclair or Flan and eat them too!

So if anyone asks me which I prefer more, Android or Apple I’ll just simply say, iDO both.

I read a very interesting article today on the CNN site, written by By Tom Krazit, CNET. The jist of the read pointed out the risqué’ness of Google’s decision to come out with a Google Phone *their own*, said to be named the Nexus One.

If Google plans to sell the Nexus One directly to consumers, will it insist upon using its brand as the lead brand, rather than the “With Google” branding found on the back of many Android phones?

Good question. But so what? It’s Android.

Granted, a power image such as Google, coming out with their *own* phone would seem like a big deal (actually, it IS a big deal) but not from the point of how the masses may see it.

It’s a big deal because surely, the Android Version that will be running on this phone will be tweaked to seemlessly run and have all the nifty Google apps and possibly, enterprise components integrated like bread and butter. Mind you, this may signal possible orgasmic episodes for those Google Geek Die Hards but for others, it’s simply another cool phone that runs a cool mobile operating system.

May I remind you, that there IS a strong non-Google following that has made it their mission statement to avoid anything that Google has touched (not too sure how easy that is with YouTube though), but … There are also masses that aren’t really that well acquainted with Google’s “making your online life easier” experience, I mean, I still have friends with Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and MSN email accounts. Imagine that!

This could be a very telling moment in Google’s history. At the moment, Google’s mobile division does not seem to be completely in control of the message it wants to send consumers, partners, and competitors.

And what message is that? I would like to think that Google’s mobile division would be more concerned and focused on providing the BEST MOBILE EXPERIENCE for their customers, be it operating system, applications, and I suppose, now, hardware. But sources have already said that Google is not manufacturing these *Google Phones*. The first one will be from HTC, and the buzz out there is that these *Google Phones* may also be made available via T-Mobile.

NEWSFLASH: The Twitter Android Stream just reported via @phandroid that Google has filed and received the trademark rights for the name “Nexus One”.

Taken from Phandroid’s Post:

Let the conspiracy theories continue from all sides of the issue, but if the HTC Passion is the Nexus One and the Nexus One is what Google Employees were given over the weekend AND Google just patented the name “Nexus One” – what does that say? HTC wouldn’t have Google trademarking a name for a phone THEY release.

Crazy, right?

Discuss.

Crazy Indeed!

I love Twitter! I just checked the android twitter stream and caught @Phandroid’s post. Now I need to re-think things.

…..
…..
….

NEWSFLASH: Just caught this on Engadget. Twitter friend Michael Gartenberg (@Gartenberg)
just write on article that’s posted on Engadget.

Taken from Michael’s post:

Selling unlocked devices sans carrier is a lousy business model in the States, however. There’s no mass market for unlocked phones in the US — just ask Nokia how hard it is to sell a high end phone with no carrier subsidy or support. Either Google would need to take a huge loss on every device to achieve a consumer-friendly price point, or hope to convince consumers to pay full price for an unsubsidized device — even though Eric Schmidt in the past has argued phone prices need to trend to zero through full subsidies. What’s more, an unlocked device will at least get you onto T-Mobile and AT&T’s EDGE networks, but Verizon and Sprint both require phones that are approved for network use and can easily be locked out.

Michael, what if the price of Google’s Phone will be ridiculously affordable? I understand, that given the specs etc … it would be difficult to imagine how Google or any other industry mobile phone entity can price such phones at affordable costs, but .. what if?

I’m not sure what will happen if Verizon and Sprint does not approve the Googe Phone into their networks. Hmm, how difficult would it be for Google to have their own network? Just wondering ….

At the time of Michael’s post, I am sure he was not aware that Google filed and got approved to the trademark rights for the name Nexus One.

At this point I am not even sure anymore if the name Nexus One applies to a device such as a phone. I haven’t been following up on Google’s plight on the bidding of the upcoming 700 MHz auction a few years ago.

And remember a few months ago when the FCC did an investigation on Google Voice?

All this may or may not be related to all the Buzz that seems to be climaxing towards the end of 2009. But now my Android PR Gal is reeling with all sorts of crazy thoughts.

I won’t be surprised if my dreams tonight are about Google coming up with their own wireless network for unlocked android phones to operate within and through, or .. for any unlocked phone, for that matter.

All I know is, the Google Buzz just got a whole lot more exciting! Everybody hang on to their seats. We’re going for a ride!

The news came in bits and bytes over the past month. Arrington confirmed it here but after that, it was still a “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Then, more bits and bytes streamed in yesterday. Talk of giving Google employees dog food. Then the “self contained” jealous tweets about the public not being privy to this dog food, which ended up being proof of Google’s new phone, given to employees for playing around with testing.

I continued to watch my Android Twitter stream yesterday as the content of the “dog food” tweets transformed into what is now buzzing – Nexus One, the name of Google’s new phone. For the record Michael (@arrington), I never doubted you for an hour.

No, Google will not be building it. HTC will. Way to go HTC! I’m not the least bit disturbed by this fact. Afterall, if the leaked line-up of HTC’s 2010 models are true (some are pretty damn sexy to me!), then I have perfect confidence that HTC will pull this job off. ;-)

Well folks, this is it. Android is getting wings!

What does that really mean Android PR Gal? You’re getting *lost in translation* again.

Let me explain.

Google’s new phone, slated to be first made available online sometime January 2010 will be offered as an *unlocked* phone! Translation? “WE get to CHOOSE which mobile phone carrier WE want to use”.

Empowerment?

Indeed!

We’ll get to choose what network we want to use, how we want to use our data plan and best of all, we may even get to choose how much money (monthly, daily etc .. ) we want to put into our smartphone experience. Hmmm, those pre-paid mobile broadband cards are looking pretty appealing right now.

*Unlocked* phones are definitely not new. In fact, our tech lovin’ brothers and sisters on the other side of the world (Asia) have been experiencing the joy and empowerment of unlocked phones for decades. It’s just not a common practice for Western World Mobile Phone Carriers (heaven forbid).

The fact that Google is coming out with their own Google phone, surely packed with all of Google’s rich innovations, and are NOT mobile phone carriers totally changes the *game*. Again, this does not surprise me. Ever since Google joined the *game* , the rules have been changing slowly. More like, the rules are slowly fading off into distant *clouds*. I like that. I despise rules. :-)

Currently, I’m sitting in the comfort of my own little Android PR Gal world. It seems as if my work has been cut out for me. Everything is going as it should. Android continues to empower. Android continues to be part of a *change* that people still can’t quite figure out yet.

It would be nice to say my job is done. But no! There is much more work to do. The Android Movement is picking up pace and how. Looks like 2010 will be a very busy year for building “People Relationships”. Yay!

Want the BEST Google *unlocked* Android OS Phone experience? Get a MAXROAM or/and QIKROAM prepaid sim card and NEVER have to worry about roaming charges OR whether your current sim card will work.

OMG. That just sounded like a line for a tv commercial! Hmmm …

MAXROAM and QIKROAM are pre paid sim cards that have access to networks ALL over the world. Imagine paying local rates wherever and whenever. PLUS, you get to control how much you spend monthly! Now how’s THAT for total empowerment!

Well, don’t just sit there. Comment on what I just said? What do you think?

the conference app

Ah, the conference. We’ve all been there, done that. We pick out an industry event we want to attend for the value of learning new things, networking with people, meeting some key contacts and best of all, having the opportunity to perhaps, connect with the right person or persons that could help benefit our current situations.

We get to the venue and despite the fact that we’ve managed to download the event information on our smartphone or even have a hard copy of the event’s agenda and building layout, we still seem somewhat … lost.

We’ve even planned to meet a few people during this time except, we’ve only seen their twitter profile and have never really met them before. We did exchange mobile numbers just in case we don’t catch their tweets alerting us, via DM of their location.

Let’s say we just finished attending a session and are on our way to another one but … what if, we had the power to simply look down at our mobile devices, power up an app and have access in real time to where all the sessions are, AND being able to navigate to their locations from our mobile devices! We would also be able to know who are currently attending which of these sessions and/or where the people we want to meet are at any given time during the conference?

Wouldn’t this make the “conference experience” so much more … awesome?!

Introducing the conference app!

My friends, the mobilers, have come up with a concept to do all this and much more. I’m not going to give away all the juicy details here. You’ll have to visit their site to find out more.

I just thought I’d tease you a bit in preparation for what’s to come.

There IS a video given by one of the mobiler members, Sabine, explaining the conference app. (video is currently in German)

Honestly, this is one app I am really looking forward to. It’s like a mashup of gps navigation, twitter and facebook’s built in chat all rolled into one app that somehow managed to get out of the matrix and make itself *real*.

Kudos to the Samsung mobilers for coming up with this amazing conference app. Looking forward to getting an invite to test the app! ;-)

Brussels is gathering up local and nearby android developers for their December 13th Android Hackathon.

The team at OpenIntents has really gotten behind the Android Movement and have shown great support and drive in terms of organizing Android Events throughout Europe. The First DroidCon (Android Conferernce) that took place in Berlin early in November of this year was a great success. One month later, there was a DroidCon London and early next year, 2010, there will be a DroidCon in Brussels.

Despite the borders and language barrier(s) that are encountered here in Europe, the Android Movement easily traverses these challenges and helps bring developers together, passionate about the platform and its open source qualities.

If you’re and Android developer this would be a great chance for you to network, learn, have a great time and hack a way!

Do, register for this event here.

MiKandi: The place for Adult Only Apps

MiKandi’s Latest PRESS RELEASE provides a great overall view of what the portal is really all about.

What started off as a trickle of “Porn on Android” buzz on Twitter soon saw a torrent of tweets and retweets that a Porn App Store was going to be made available for the Android Platform. Now don’t you fret Apple iPhone Users, Porn Apps will be coming to your iPhone too. There’s enough luv to go around.

Currently, MiKandi is seeking developers to help meet the demands of their already anxious users.

MiKandi’s Developer Portal, located at http://developer.mikandi.com, allows developers to easily upload and publish apps of any kind to the MiKandi app store. Early developers who have signed up for MiKandi’s application store are working on innovative methods of harnessing the full power of Android’s capabilities including: GPS, voice recognition, video capture and the device accelerometer. According to MiKandi president Jesse Adams these features, “offer a more dynamic and relevant user experience that will catapult the Adult Mobile App market beyond simple mobile websites.”

I understand that the use of the word *porn* may sound rather abrasive to some and indeed, my casual use of the word may get me *unfollowed* or *blocked* by people on Twitter. Oh please. Let’s just call it what it is and get on with our lives. Besides, I just like the “shock” factor effect, is all.

Political correctness warrants the term, “Adult Content”, and rightly so. As Mikandi’s President, Jesse Adams states,

“Adult games, adult books, adult comics, adult humor, adult video… we want people to think about more than just pornography.”

Adult comics did he say??? w00t! You mean I can be a passionate contributor too! Oh my!

MiKandi’s latest PRESS RELEASE also aimed at speaking to developers should clarify a few things. But don’t just stop at reading their PRESS RELEASE. Please view their latest video that addresses these points:

1.) Is this a porn app store for Andriod?
2.) Why can’t I install this on my iPhone?
3.) Where are all the apps?

I recently interviewed the Mikandi Team too. Read the interview when you can.

And in case you missed my first post on MiKandi showcasing my first ever Android Porn Cartoon, here it is again. Yes, the penis is a different colour. Have you ever seen a penis that had the same skin colour as its owner? I think not. So why should our Android be any different?

You can follow MiKandi on Twitter: @Mikandistore for all their latest news.