G1 "pouring in China" with sky-high prices

Illegal G1s have been literally "pouring into China" since the US release, with dubious sellers speculating on expensive prices.

According to mocoNews, a G1 goes for more than 3,999 Chinese yuan (over $580, more than three times the US official price) and to this, you have to add a $70 unlocking fee. Of course none of this is official and is similar to what happened with the iPhone after its US release. iPhones were shipped all around the world at ridiculously high prices, sometimes reaching $2000.

The prices should not hit such crazy numbers, thanks to high supply level but when a popular desirable product is out, you'll always have people ready to bank on it.

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Android Market day one stats

For those big numbers lovers, stats for Android Market's first day have been released by Medialets.

First, in comparison to the first 24hours of the iPhone App store, there are several similiraties according to Medialets:

• Both users play games
• They know their music
• They both shop
• they share the same curiosity about the weather

For the first day of Android Market, 62 apps were made available, all for free. That's 10% less than on the App Store's first day but keep in mind that Apple also made available paid apps immediately, something that will only come in 2009 first quarter for Android Market.

About apps downloading, the most speaking stats are:

• Each app was downloaded at least 7, 800 times
• Nine apps reached the 10,000-50,000 download range

Picture from Medialets

When seeing in which categories those nine most downloaded apps are, it is easy to see that Android and iPhone users have similar taste. Games prove to be very popular once more, with three apps making the most downloaded chart.

These stats, however interesting or encouraging they might be, should not rush to any conclusion. They only relate to the first 24hours of Android Market and it only proves one thing, app downloading on mobiles are becoming a big thing and it will contribute substantially to the phone's success.

If you want more numbers, satisfy your hunger here with the original article. Enjoy!

First T-Mobile's G1 TV commercial

The T-Mobile G1 being the first Android powered phone, we were expecting a big ad push from T-Mobile and it is coming.

The promotion of Android was mainly done through informative videos from Google but T-Mobile is now ready to launch a full campaign.

According to T-Mobile’s marketing head Denny Marie Post in an interview with WSJ, T-Mobile will roll out a tv spot based on the idea that "curiosity is everywhere". The TV spot will be aired this week and will build up over the next weeks.

About Goole, Post said the entire ad strategy lies with T-Mobile, Google, a"nontraditional marketer" will only ensure their company is represented fairly.

Post when she was asked if the G1 could generate as much buzz as the iPhone, also said:

“More than the device, it’s opening the door to the open platform. And I think that’s where the news is going to come from. I think we've taken our own path here."

But enough bla bla and here's what you are waiting for, the first tv commercial for the T-Mobile G1:



When you think that exactly a month ago on September 23rd, Google released the first promotional videos of the G1 and it has now become a reality. For old days' sake, here's one of these promo videos from Google.

Android, a true music fan

Music on Android will be fun as the Android app Market welcomes two cool new music apps, while the G1 is one day away from its official launch.

The first one is called Imeem Mobile and is a music jukebox you can take anywhere with you to listen to your favorite songs. It exactly is a music social-networking app offering free music streaming and to share playlist with your friends.

Says CEO Dalton Caldwell:

"We look at what the most popular songs are across imeem, and in real time populate them to be available on mobile. The catalog is a literal representation of what the community finds most interesting at different times. So the songs available change daily as tastes change."

You can specifically search by artist or let the app create a playlist around that artist. All the usual controls are here, allowing to pause, skip to another song or buy it through Amazon music store. It all looks very smooth and the reception in wiffi is spotless.

Here's more with a review video of Imeem:



The second app is the one that many iPhone users will only know too well: Shazam. You're walking down the street, you hear a song and you are desperate to find who sings it.

Well, Shazam will take care of that for you. Open the app, let it listen to the song and in no time it will come up with the song's name, artist, cover and the album it was featured in. It will also provide links to related videoclips on youtube, or check the artist's MySpace or buy it through the Amazon Music Store.

I tried the app myself before (ok I admit it, it was the iPhone version) and it was working like a charm! It was actually working so well, that you find yourself stopping at all the songs on the radio to test this little app, and so far so good!

And here's a review of Shazam on Android:



Be sure to check out for these two cool apps when you get your G1 in a few hours.

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More on the Motorola Android phone

As we already discussed it previously, Motorola plan to release an Android-powered phone, orientated towards social-networking.

Thanks to a report in Business Week, we have more details on the phone. It should feature a touchscreen interface, similar to the iPhone's one, a full slide-out qwerty keyboard, very much like the T-Mobile G1 and will come with a whole lot of social-nertworking features.

Motorola, a member of the Open Handset Alliance said:

"We're excited about the innovation possibilities on Android and look forward to delivering great products in partnership with Google"

The phone is expected to be released in the second quarter of 2009.

The timing could not be more perfect for Motorola, as these details were leaked only three days before the release of the T-Mobile G1, the first Android-powered phone. The race for Android phones has indeed started.

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MocoNews get their hands on G1

MocoNews have also posted their hands on review of the T-Mobile G1, due to be released in two days in the US.

In a nutshell, the Android-powered phone is satisfying and competes well with the iPhone in terms of fun. Check the full article here.

And because pictures are sometimes more powerful than words, check out their hands on review video below:

Microsoft keeping an eye on Android

Microsoft consider bringing Silverlight to Android as they gave up on an iPhone version.

So said Microsoft Vice President Scott Guthrie:

“Basically where we’re at right now is we have talked with Apple. We are very interested in being able to run [Silverlight] on the iPhone. At the end of the day, Apple ultimately controls what software runs on the iPhone. To date, what they’ve said is that at this time, they’re not looking to enable browser plug-ins like Silverlight or Flash to run on top of it.”

The openness of the Android platform once again seduces third part developers and Microsoft is not exception. Not only can anyone submit an app but this app can also bring alternative possibilities to what the OS can do. Besides, Android apps will also be able to run in the background. Guthrie added:

“[The] Google phone is slightly different. It’s more of an open platform, that is something we’re going to continue to look at. Certainly as it’s gotten deployed and if sales are good we’ll definitely keep our eyes out and look at that in the future.”

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• Microsoft Considering Silverlight For The Android Platform

Lock that phone

People at TechCrunch, who are always hot on news, often ask themselves interesting questions and their last one is on the lock function on the T-Mobile G1.

You all probably know it but unlocking the G1 requires you to draw a pattern of at least 4 dots out of the 9 displayed on the screen.

This amounts to numerous possibilities and seems to be the most secure to lock your phone, unless.....your fingers give you away.

Those iPhone or other touchscreen phones users already know this but every time you use the screen, you leave a sort of oil trail and if you don't clean it, it's clearly obvious to see where your finger has been on. Besides this, TechCrunch argues that most users will start their pattern with the top left dot to go diagonally towards the right.

So remember that if your fingers can bettray you, well clean that screen and it will be all safe! And it will look better too!!

For those of you who still have no clue what we are talking about, check out the presentation video below of the locking/unlocking feature on Android.

Android, a game changer

MobileTechNews have a very interesting article on how Android can become a game changer in the smartphone industry. Android if proved to be a success, will shift around not only consumers' habits, but also mobile networks' strategies and phone manufacturers.

Smarthphones only represent 14% of the total mobile traffic so a standardization, says MobileTechNews is the way forward for Google to push Android all the way to the top. The trick is to convince Mobile networks and especially phone manufacturers that not only smartphones should run on Android but also "normal" phones to offer a more coherent lineup and a more efficient, better service.

This is all based on an ABI research on Smartphone and OS Markets and according Kevin Burden, ABI Research director, "If Android is to become the ubiquitous mobile phone platform that Google and the Open Handset Alliance hope it will be, it will be because operators and handset OEMs recognize the value to their own business models of using standard platforms, not because wireless subscribers clamor for feature-rich phones, much less an Android-based phone."

This is definitely an interesting one because there is a lot at stake with Android. If Google manages to bring their experience in the Mobile world, especially its ad-funded strategy, it will change the conception we, mobile networks or phone manufacturers have on phones. Google's implementation in the mobile business has been slow but steady and the success of the Google Maps app for iPhone for exemple is a simple proof of that.

For the full ABI Research "Smartphone and OS Markets", click here.

Find your way with Android

After a very detailed post on search in Android, David Convey, product manager, just posted more details on the official Google mobile blog about the Google Maps app for Android.

Besides already detailing what we all already know, it is interesting to see a recurrent theme in each of these posts. The developers are very adamant to remind us two main things:

- There will be strong interactions between apps so that in only a few clicks, you can perform several actions. The example taken here is that once you have received a mail or a text message with a location, click on it and it will show in Maps where you can find your way and have directions to go there. If that location comes with a number, click on it to instantly make a call. There's nothing new and many phones can actually do similar things but it's reassuring to see that for a first phone, it's working very well

- What's more interesting though is the openness of the platform and Google have been insisting on this for a long time. But it's coming to life and in this case, for example, any developers will be able to use the MapView or Location APIs to implement them in their own apps. This particular point is Android's biggest strength. It offers an easy and free environment for developers to create their apps. There were also recent rumours that some developers who planned to develop their apps for the iPhone have given up to turn to Android. At the moment, the App Store is a definite success with over 3,000 apps (mostly games) available and have topped 100 million downloads since July. But would it be a surprise if the Android Market reach those numbers? Surely not.

Coming to the Google Maps app, you can check out the video below. It will show all the different features we have come to know very well: location, map, satellite and street view with compass mode and search.

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G1 expected to sell well

Taiwanese news site CENS believes that T-Mobile will sell around 400 000 to 500 000 G1 phones within the first quarter.

According to the same source, T-Mobile will also order up to 2 million additionnal phones, giving HTC a huge boost.

The half million sales prediction is only half of what the first iPhone did in the first quarter but it is still a very good score in the saturated smartphone market.

Besides Nokia's recent annoucement of their touchscreen phone running on Symbian, 2009 is the year for smartphones, and surely Android's year.

Palm should go Android

Times are rough and this is especially true to smartphone maker Palm. Palm were almost the first to kick-start the smartphone era but have long lost the market to new comers like Apple's iPhone or RIM's Blackberry.

Fortune, a CNN blog, asks this very interesting question: why doesn't Palm join the Android train.

As we saw in previous posts, Android is on everyone's lips and this would not be a bold move from Palm.
Palm have not yet released their Linux-based OS, only due to be out in 9 months. Besides one can wonder how would Palm really benefit from releasing their own OS when you know that Android is a free open source plateform.

This article also reviews all the changes that the smartphone market has encountered with the arrival of appealing brands like Nokia, Google, Apple and so on!
Who knows? Maybe one of those big decision-makers at Palm will also have a curious look at this!

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Touch me!

Let's get a bit serious with some stats! Mobile Tech news has an interesting article on touchscreen mobiles and their increasing success.

According to a recent market research from Strategy Analytics , touchscreen mobiles' sales will reach 90 million units worldwide.

This is not really a surprise as 2009 seems to be the year for touchscreen mobiles.
Apple will build up on the iPhone success story, the new Windows Mobile 7, due to be out in 2009, will also be dedicated to exclusive finger usage and of course there is the arrival of Google's Android which was also designed for such mobiles.

Besides that, big brand names like Nokia (check the Tube) or RIM (check the Blackberry Thunder) have also announced their first touchscreens devices.

Competition is sure to be fierce and we can only hope that it will benefit everybody with plenty of cool phones and apps!

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Meanwhile, after the first phone's leaked pictures before the the official presentation, the leaked user manual, TmoNews have first leaked pictures of the T-Mobile G1 unboxing. No doubts, it is coming home real soon now!