I attended the Java SIG and the Mobile Internet SIG of SD Forum a couple of weeks ago. What was interesting was the amount of talk that I heard on the Google Android platform and the Google Phone, especially since the latest news from the Google IO conference the week before is that the rumored Google phone that was supposed to be released in time for Christmas this year is either pushed back to 2009 or not scheduled for production at all, depending on the source of the rumor. The latest stories are still officially quoting the release for the first Android-based phones to be at the end of 2008.

My guess after having played with the Google Android SDK and reviewing its rapid release updates as ordinary developers found problems in the SDK is that Google still has a ton of work to do on Android before it is ready for an actual phone. After all, the Android simulation really did not deal with the mobile Internet, accessing the cell phone network or playing music. Forget about getting the Location API to work easily with the cell phone carriers’ networks. The Android competition was a cheap, quick and easy way to get thousands of developers to check the SDK for bugs. But Google still needs to check the other parts of their operating system. Since Google does not have any experience creating a real physical phone, I am sure that there are many things that are not tested yet. Android is in for a bumpy ride before its first cell phones appear.

In related news stories that show how the brightest of wireless stars can come crashing down, Virgin Mobile has agreed to buy once-promising MVNO Helio for $39 million. This is a great deal all around. Earthlink and SK has finally managed to upload this bottomless pit of money. Both have literally lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Back in September, SK bought its way onto this sinking ship with $270 million, while Earthlink was losing over $300 million per year. The $39 million is in Virgin Mobile stock, which has been steadily dropping since its IPO in the mid-teens less then a year ago to its current value of $2.75. Virgin ends up with two new directors on its board from SK and a cash infusion of $25 million from SK and $25 million from its parent, Virgin Group. Even more plus side for Virgin Mobile is that they are getting $17 million of handset inventory and 170,000 subscribers practically for free. If the Virgin Mobile management cannot get the stock up with these huge additions to their company, then maybe it is just not possible to make it as an MVNO.

Yesterday at the Mobile Internet SIG of SD Forum featured a talk by a new mobile social site called Wichro. Its product is called ZKOUT. It is currently in private beta that became unexpectedly public when ZKOUT was selected as an Apple staff pick. They have had about 2000 users sign up a day. Not bad for a private beta. Just wait until it goes public.

What is interesting about ZKOUT is that it has been designed to run on the regular web and three mobile platforms, low-res mobile Internet, high-res mobile Internet and a mobile site customized for the iPhone. They decided not to create an iPhone app but to use the mobile web instead.

You can completely create your account on the mobile web without having to create a account on the regular web. With Facebook, you create your Facebook profile on the web and then link your account to a cell phone and network. ZKOUT seems to get around this by completely separating the different layers of the site, such as email, mobile Internet, SMS, MMS, etc. from each other. As a result, they can run on up to 10k phones. They are able to run on 10K phones because they have access to an online list of cell phones and cell phone features that let them tailor the mobile web site to each phone. One such site with this type of info is Phone Index.

The speaker from Wichro was not clear on how they plan to make money. Mobile ads were mentioned as was subscriptions. I could not tell if Wichro was trying to keep their revenue model secret or if they are still working it out. My guess is that they are still sorting it out.

Geogad has always had a mobile focus since it is heavily focused in delivering timely travel information. Making this information available to everyone, everywhere, all the time is our goal. Sadly, the mobile Internet is still a work in development.

Just this week, Mowser, a mobile website transcoder that you may never had heard of, is shutting down. Mowser translates full-blown web pages into stripped down versions viewable over mobile phones. Its purpose to existing seems to have been a band-aid between the Internet and the mobile Internet as it will one day exist. While everyone believes that the mobile Internet will be just good as the wired Internet, no one is sure when this will happen. Technology predictions are always saying that we will get the technology that we dream of in “…just a few more years…” Rarely does it work out that way. And the predictions for Mowser did not work out either.

Russell Beattie, the developer who created Mowser, has come to believe that the mobile Internet that he envisioned will never arrive. I have to agree with him. After you are used to the regular Internet over a high speed connection to your browser with all of its great plug-in programs, would you want to try to run Internet and Web 2.0 pages without a high speed connection, a full screen monitor, comfortable keyboard, and all those lovely plug-ins and Javascript/Ajax that make those pages come to life? You may be thinking, “I could handle it”, but would you want to? That is the key to a good customer experience, not something that you do because you have no other choice. I was frustrated just trying to “surf” the Net over a 64k modem connection after getting used to my high-speed connection.

Current mobile websites are not great places to visit yet. And the iPhone with its clean, cool browser really puts that into perspective. The iPhone makes people realize how much the entire mobile web community from carriers to content providers are just kidding themselves. People want the Internet, not some stripped down version. They don’t understand CDMA and GSM, and they don’t see any reason that they should learn. The people have spoken, and they are right.

Technorati tags: Mowser, mobile Internet, iPhone

Attended my first meeting of Mobile Monday (http://www.mobilemonday.us/) yesterday.  It was an unusual meeting because it was demo night.  There were about 6 different presentations.  Some presentation had the gods of demos smiling down peacefully while others had to survive the loss of the WiFi connection.  It was not pretty.

Two points came to mind while I was watching these demos.  The first was that most of the demos and two in particular tried to create simple ways to search the net using a mobile phone.  Unfortunately, it may be a while before any winners in this area appear.  The second point had less to do with the particular demo as opposed to the review of the current technology.  One person showed an application that he had created for linux-based WiFi phones.  I had not realized that the Open source programming for cell phones had advanced so far so fast.  His description of calling his parents in India for free using his WiFi phone just showed what a tight position the cell phone companies are going to be in.  He said that his parents preferred that he phoned using his WiFi phone as opposed to his cell phone because it sounded better.  The WiFi phone sends voice as 64kbs streams vs. the 32kbs stream of the cell phone.  Once again, I can’t figure out why anyone would pay billions for a 3G license.

One of the most interesting/scary demos was for Loopt (https://loopt.com/loopt/sess/index.aspx).  It lets you located your friends and lets you know when they are within a certain distance.  I realize that his is a great technology for tracking people and places.  I also realize that this type of technology is exactly the thing that will make Geogad Mobile Tours even easier to use.  However, it is a little creepy to see the screen of the demo cell phone map your friends, even down to saying that they are currently in a McDonalds that is 7.12 miles away from you.

On the way out, I bumped into a person who worked for NTT Japan.  Since Japan has had this “find friends” and “broadcast my position to my friends” technology for ages, I asked him if it has taken off in Japan yet.  He confirmed what I have always heard, that people don’t use this technology because they don’t what others to be able to track them.

I can understand this idea.  In fact, I asked the guy from Loopt a question along these lines during his presentation.  He said that they have considered many privacy issues and have included the ability to turn off your “broadcast my position” functionality by using the on-phone application, a SMS, or by dialing a phone number.  I asked if they had come up with any excuses for their customers to use when they shut off their broadcast position function and their girlfriends were no longer able to track them.

Technorati tags: Mobile Monday, Loopt, Linux phone, WiFi, mobile internet