The future of mobile technology will be driven by software rather than hardware, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said at a media briefing yesterday, as evidenced by the focus on open ecosystems at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona last month.
Google Inc, Apple Inc and Nokia Oyj have all jumped on the open source bandwagon but to different degrees, said Joyce Chen (陳釧瑤), a mobile communications analyst at MIC.
For instance, Google’s Android operating system (OS) has an open platform and open source code, while Nokia’s Symbian OS has an open platform, with plans to follow Google’s footsteps and open up its source code next year.
“Contrary to popular belief, the Apple iPhone’s OS and BlackBerry’s OS both have closed platforms and closed source codes, which means developers need approval from the companies to obtain SDK codes to write software,” Chen said.
“Mobile platforms are like brick-and-mortar stores, and Apple and BlackBerry shops are simply not there for anyone to come and mess around,” Chen said.
Microsoft Corp remains the oddest of the open-concept participants, Chen said, as it opens up its platform by taking licensing fees but it isn’t really open to engineers writing softwares on its system.
As readers wonder what the benefit there is for geeks to write application softwares, Chen said the typical profit breakdown for each application or service download is typically 70 percent for the developer and 30 percent for the platform provider.
But Google has again broken the rules. Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), general manager of Google Taiwan, told Taipei Times last Friday that all profits go to the developers, while Android only takes a minor listing fee.
The latest MIC figures showed that the Apple store had more than 15,000 software applications. However, recent reports also showed that Apple’s iTunes Store was being increasingly challenged by unauthorized alternative online markets for iPhone applications.
Chen added that the Android market currently has more than 1,000 applications.
“But then again, Google’s revolutionary approach of truly embracing an open source network and making it free will rapidly develop a wide ecosystem and allow fast adoption on smartphones and netbooks worldwide,” he said.
At the MWC, international brands such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co, LG Electronics Inc, Motorola Inc all announced their intention to launch Android smartphones in the second half of this year.
MIC said some computer vendors had confirmed plans to produce Android-based netbooks.
As the global economic recession deepens, “the open ecosystem will certainly open up rich opportunities in mobile innovation infrastructure, application stores and services, as well as devices,” Chen said.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
RSS