After trying a few things with the HTC support folks (who, by the way, were very easy to deal with), they suggested I return the device. Reluctantly, I agreed, and within a couple of days I had my replacement device.

Little did I realize how far things have come in the smartphone world in the last year, particularly with Android. I inserted and installed my old SIM and SD cards into the device, powered it up, entered my google account name and password, and within 10 minutes, my new phone was setup nearly identical to my old phone. All of my contacts, emails, wifi and network settings (including hotspots and encryption keys), and applications were on the new phone. Outside of a few miscellaneous settings and icons that needed to be arranged on the home screen, everything was just like I had it on the old phone. Best of all, it was all done over the air. No need to find any cables, hook up the phone to a computer, sync with an App Store or desktop application, or any other extra steps. In short, I was blown away!

I then realized that with Android, you are storing all of your data in the cloud. So when you change phones, all of your important data moves with you. Given the advances that are occurring in smartphone hardware these days, this is an absolutely liberating feeling to know that I can go out, pick up the latest Android device (like a Nexus S or G2), and within minutes be up and running just like before. No longer am I locked into a device, manufacturer or carrier. Without a doubt, there is serious power in the marriage of mobile computing and the cloud.

By the way, to make sure this works, you need to have checked the “Back up my data” and “Automatic restore” boxes under the Privacy Settings in Android (Go to Settings -> Privacy). Yes, I know it is a little unsettling knowing that all of your data is being stored on someone else’s servers, but I’d say the convenience is worth it.

For anyone out there who has went through the upgrade process lately with an iPhone or BlackBerry, is it as simple as what I went through with Android, or is it painful and complex?

miniListings is a real estate listings search application that agents can personalize with their own branding and contact data. It is the easiest way for agents to go mobile and reach their clients anytime, anywhere, on any phone. Our goals are to provide agents with a mobile webapp that simplifies the home search process for their clients, differentiates them from other agents,  helps them grow their business, and allows them to take advantage of today’s fastest growing and most exciting marketing medium – mobile!

As you can tell from the lack of activity on our blog over the past month, we’ve been extremely busy with development and preparation for launch of the product. We’ve also been working hard to incorporate the feedback from the testers and users who participated in our beta program. I’d like to thank all those who participated in the beta test – their feedback has been invaluable in helping us fine tune the product and tighten up our messaging.

We hope that miniListings will be the first of many products that will use our automated mobile internet platform. Our vision is to develop webapps for other markets that will allow businesses to extend their online brand and presence to the mobile environment in a simple, relevant and effective manner. We believe we’ve successfully accomplished our objective for the real estate market with miniListings, although the release of the initial product is not a destination, but the first stop in a journey. miniListings will continue to advance and grow through the addition of new features made possible by mobile technology advancements. I am excited not only about today’s product but also about its future potential.

If you are interested in learning more and obtaining your personalized copy of miniListings, head over to the miniListings website at http://www.minilistings.com. You can also follow the latest miniListings developments on our Facebook fan page (facebook.minilistings.com) and on Twitter (@minilistings).

Luckily, in the meantime, the mobile industry continues to rocket forward. In case you missed it, the most exciting news of the past couple of weeks happened last week at the Google I/O Developer’s Conference where Google announced the release of Android 2.2, code named Froyo. Google’s Vic Gundotra delivered a polished keynote describing and demonstrating the features, as well as throwing in jab after jab at Apple. In fact, Android may have just found its Steve Jobs equivalent in Vic. Anyway, I’ve embedded the video below. While it’s a bit long, it’s well worth watching if you are at all interested in where mobile technology is heading. It’s also very entertaining to see Google lay down the gauntlet with Apple.

It’s clear that Google and Apple have become the key players in the development and advancement of mobile technology. These companies, which were once close allies in a battle against Microsoft, have become fierce competitors in computing’s latest battleground. (See the excellent post written by MG Seigler at Techcrunch on Google & Apple’s evolving relationship – it’s a must read for fans of ABC’s Lost Series)

While Apple has staked itself to a huge lead in mobile, it’s amazing how quickly Google has been able to close the gap in just 18 months. In fact, with the Froyo announcement, some might argue that, technologically speaking, Google has passed Apple – at least until Apple announces the iPhone 4.0 OS at its WWDC event on June 7. Given the frontal assault that Google unleashed at Apple, I suspect that Steve Jobs will have plenty to say when he kicks off Apple’s highly anticipated developer’s conference.

How has Google done it? Well, for one, they’ve innovated and released new features quickly, even at the risk of fragmenting the OS. It will be interesting to see how long they can maintain the pace of innovation. Secondly, Google has embraced the existing mobile ecosystem and allowed both OEM hardware manufacturers and carriers to customize Android to suit their requirements. Instead of going it alone as Apple has, Google has relied on the combined strength of many partners and companies.

In the end, I don’t see there being one clear winner in this battle. While I’ve chosen the Android camp for now, and can’t wait for Froyo to hit my Nexus One, I’m glad to see that two strong competitors have emerged in the mobile space. As Vic points out at the beginning of his keynote, a market in which one company and one person dominates is not good for innovation, or for consumers. With these two Goliaths going at it toe-to-toe, I expect the features and pace of innovation to accelerate – all for our benefit.

Game On!

Clearly, Apple’s biggest advantage with the iPhone is the App Store. Without a doubt, it attracts people.

Well, about a month ago, MG Siegler over at TechCrunch wrote an interesting piece entitled “The iPhone’s Peephole“. She wrote it in response to Apple’s new policy toward sexy apps in the App Store. Apple decided it was time to rid the App Store of so-called suggestive apps without providing any warning or notice to developers. Developers of those apps were miffed, and helpless.

Her underlying premise was that with the progress of HTML5, web apps have become viable - in some cases better than their desktop cousins, and that developers could avoid Apple’s whimsical and subjective App Store policies by designing in HTML5 for the mobile web. It got me thinking that Apple could eventually kill the App Store as developers frustrated over Apple’s App Store policies move their developments to web apps.

Fortunately for Apple, the lure of quick cash from the App Store is strong, and developers continue to develop for the iPhone. I almost forgot about the issue until Apple’s iPhone OS 4 announcement yesterday.

Overshadowed by the iPhone OS 4 accouncement is a statement Apple buried in the iPhone OS 4 developer’s agreement that prohibits you from developing apps “that link to documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool….” (more in-depth analyses can be found Engadget and TechCrunch).

A number of vendors, most notably Adobe, have developed tools to help developers build apps for multiple platforms: iPhone, Android, WebOS, etc. With this simple statement, Apple is effectively squashing these avenues that make it easier for developers to port their work across multiple platforms.

I expect this latest policy change to drive more developers to open platforms and web apps. As more and more people develop in HTML5, the apps will progress and get better. As more web apps become available,Apple’s advantage with the App Store will wane. In other words, is Apple slowly killing the biggest advantage they have over other mobile platforms today – their App Store?

My take is that the siren song of the App Store is still too strong, at least today. There are just too many iPhone users who are willing to pony up cash for apps. Developers would be foolish to walk away.

However, as Apple continues to strengthen its hold over the App Store and slowly suffocate its golden goose with more restrictive development policies, developers will walk. There have already been defections of high profile developers. And now that there are better mobile hardware options available, Apple could be heading toward repeating the same mistakes they made with the MacIntosh product line 25 years ago. It’s amazing how history repeats itself and how we are doomed to repeat our same mistakes….

Google’s Android OS had a huge presence at this show. Almost every handset manufacturer  showcased a phone running Android. Over 20 new Android handsets were announced during the course of the show. It seemed like Android was turning many handset manufacturers, who previously never had much success in the smartphone market, into serious contenders overnight.

The most impressive smartphone that I saw at the show this year was the Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.1. In terms of usability, speed, and responsiveness there are not many smartphones that are better than the iPhone, in fact, I personally don’t think there are any at the moment. The Motorola Droid was good and the HTC Nexus One comes very close and if I was an iPhone user (which I am not) wanting to switch to Android, that would be the one to go with…until now. The Samsung Galaxy S is definitely the best Android phone that I have seen to date. The device is fast and super responsive. And the AMOLED screen is amazingly sharp allowing playback of 720p videos. If I were to get an Android phone, this would be the one and it should be available later this summer.

Samsung Galaxy S

2010 will be an exciting year for wireless. It will be a big year for Android and I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple responds to this with their new iPhone. It’s great to see companies push each other to the limit in terms of innovation because as consumers, we all benefit from this, no matter what smartphone OS you prefer to use. With 4G networks becoming a reality, I see a trend for more devices that will allow you to share your data connection over WiFi across multiple devices (laptop, netbook, iPad, and even your phone). With 4G being an IP based network, voice usage will primarily be VoIP eliminating the need for voice minutes. It will be interesting to see how the service providers handle this and how data usage will be charged.

The Hockey News

Overview

This app is free and is available for OTA download by pointing your mobile browser to thn.mobi. The front page of the app shows the current scoreboard of the games during that day and you can scroll through them. If the game is in progress, you can click the link and it will take you to the live stats of that game. If you missed a game, you can go to the Scores/Schedules page to view today’s and yesterday’s game summaries. In the Team Standings page, you can view the standings by conference and by division and I have noticed that the stats were updated very quickly after a game has concluded. If you are a fantasy player, there is a section that shows Player Stats, but it only shows the top 10 skaters and goalies.

Aside from stats and numbers, there is a section that has links to the latest articles and news. The content is pretty good but it is limited to articles that are posted on The Hockey News. It would be better if they had a section that showed articles from different sources. The articles are cached on your device and if you set it up to automatically update, you can actually read them on a plane or somewhere where there isn’t any wireless coverage.

What I Like about the App:

• A single place to quickly and easily view the current day’s games and scores.
• The ability to view live game stats and the scores automatically refresh.
• Team standings are updated very quickly after each game. This is a great feature during playoff races when you’re trying to determine your team’s chances to get into the post season.

What I Don’t Like about the App:

• On the Team Standings page, I wish they had a column that showed the number of games played. That would come in handy during the end of the season when looking at playoff races.
• The Schedules page shows all the games that are scheduled for a certain day (all teams). It would be nice to be able to see a schedule for a specific team.
• The articles are limited to content from The Hockey News.

Summary

One criteria for a good application is that it needs to be self contained. That means it needs to provide all the information that I need without having to go to a second app or web page to get the remaining information.  Except for the fact that it doesn’t show the number of games played (or games remaining) in the standings, The Hockey News mobile app is a great application for hockey fans. It saves you from having to go to your computer when watching hockey to get scores from around the league. I give this app a 9/10 and is a must have for hockey fans. To download this free app, point your mobile browser to thn.mobi.

What’s most interesting to me is that mobile apps are not new.  I’ve been using a variety of enterprise and productivity apps on my BlackBerry for several years, but the only difference is now I can find apps easier using the respective stores.  Before these mobile stores opened their doors, I had to check a vendor’s website to see if they had a smartphone app for what I wanted. 

So why are apps (and app stores) all of a sudden the new hot craze?  It’s really a marketing gimmick by the handset manufacturers and carriers to generate more revenue from each mobile user.  Since mobile apps have to be downloaded and installed, the handset manufacturers and carriers can be the gatekeepers giving them access to new (and obviously plentiful) revenue streams.

This begs me to ask the question “are mobile apps really technology progression or regression?”

I find this question very interesting since it spurs a lot of heated debate with people I talk to, but in my mind, it’s a simple answer from a technology perspective.  Smartphone apps are regression! 

Looking at personal computing today, most consumers and businesses are working hard to free their desktop and move into the cloud so we can access our data and services anytime, anywhere.  So why should mobile be any different?  It’s really the same model as the desktop but a much thinner client, yet we are locking apps to our phones, the most mobile of devices.  As we load apps onto our phones, we run into the same issues as we’ve struggled to eliminate over the past decade, including constant app updates, app conflicts, and system compatibility issues.

 To give you a sneak peak of what we can expect if we keep following this regressive app path, Aumnia’s engineering manager loaded several new apps onto his phone last week and one of them corrupted his OS causing his email client to go nuts.  It would randomly delete, synchronize, or turn off.  He is extremely technical and tried hard to fix the problem.  But in the end, he was forced to wipe the entire handset and start from scratch.

 If we really desire technology progression, we need to ignore the hype from the handset manufacturers and carriers (who are financially motivated to push apps) and find ways to keep all functionality and applications that can be done in the cloud, in the cloud.  Then we could truly access what we want anytime, anywhere.

• How does a smartphone app fit into your overall mobile strategy?

When you do any marketing without a plan, you amplify the risk of not getting any return on your investment. A mobile strategy needs to have a plan. Are you developing a mobile app to increase brand awareness, increase sales, collect user data, provide a service, drive traffic to a website, or to just fit in? The goals of your mobile strategy will help determine if you should develop an app, define what kind of functionality you want in it, and identify how you will market it to consumers. Just as a well developed app can increase sales and improve your brand, a poorly designed app can do just as much damage to a brand if it is not part of a well thought out plan.

•  What value does a smartphone app bring to the table?

After you have defined the goals for your app, you need to identify if an app is the right place to do it. An app takes time to develop and release to a store, and then people have to download it. You also need to spend effort to maintain the app, as functionality and usability of it will change as the handset manufacturer releases new models or updates old ones. It’s also possible you will need to modify the app if your marketing goals or brand image change. If you can provide the same functionality effectively over the mobile internet, it may be much cheaper to build and maintain and provide an overall better user experience. Plus, it’s possible you may have an easier time measuring the user interaction, controlling the interaction, and converting the users into customers using the mobile internet, or an SMS text application, rather than an app. Look at all your mobile options before just doing an app.

• Should you focus exclusively on Apple, or look at RIM, Nokia and other stores?

An important key to any marketing campaign is targeting the proper demographics. Before assuming that you have to have an iPhone app, you need to figure out if your target demographic really is an iPhone user. As Devesh has pointed out earlier, RIM led the smartphone market in sales during Q1. Just because you think the iPhone is the greatest thing ever, it is possible that not all of your customers have one. Do your homework, and determine if you should also launch an app in the RIM, Android, or Nokia store instead of, or in addition to, the iTunes store. Keep in mind that Microsoft will be launching a store for Windows Mobile devices this fall as well.

• How do you plan to promote the app?

So the iTunes store has more than 25,000 apps in it - how will users find the app you just released? Yes, you also need a strategy to promote it. Everyone always hears about how these apps get downloaded over 10,000 times a day – that is the exception, not the rule. Make sure you include a promotional campaign with your app, or you will spend a lot of effort on an app that no one will ever be able to find, let alone use.

In summary, be careful not to get drawn into the hype of the smartphone app. Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t ever develop an app, but before you spend the effort to create one, be sure to ask yourself how it fits into your mobile strategy, what value it brings to the table, and if you are willing to put in the time and effort to launch and support it. A great article that reinforces these points and provides some useful tips on what makes a compelling app can be found here.

Remember: Don’t be fooled by cool!

For all the users out there, what has your experience been with apps? Which apps are done well, which leave you wanting more, and which should have never been done? And if you have created an app for your business or website, has it generated the return you thought it would, and what would you have done differently?

- Faster JavaScript: Web applications running in Mobile Safari will render almost 3x faster. There are a lot of cool apps that can run in the browser but the 2.x OS is slow and makes some apps not very usable. Running a web app doesn’t require you to download a program and you are always guaranteed to be running the latest version.

- In-App purchasing: This is an important feature that will allow you, as the developer,  to charge the end user (directly from your program) more money after the initial purchase (e.g product sales, subscription service, mobile payment, maintenance fees, more features,  etc….)

-VoIP capability: Skype has already released their new iPhone app which currently only works over WiFi. The big question is whether or not the carriers will allow VoIP apps to run over 3G data? If so, say goodbye to outrageous long distance and roaming charges on your phone. I doubt the carriers will allow this but I think it’s only a matter of time before they realize that there is nothing they can do to stop it.

-Peer-to-peer WiFi connectivity: communicating directly with other iPhones will open the door to some cool apps. Will we see P2P file sharing? With the combination of VoIP, we could possibly see the emergence of P2P wireless voice networks.

The new 3.0 OS has a lot of great new features,  giving developers more tools to create even more innovative applications. Not only is this exciting news for iPhone users, it is important to the entire mobile industry in general because it will push innovation across the board on all platforms.