Google sees mobile search increase

It seems the mobile web is beginning to come of age at last. Could it be down to the iPhone? The greater occurrence of phones with wireless built in? Better mobile web apps? Increasing addiction to the internet so you just have to get at it everywhere you are? Well, personally I think it's down to our increasing need for data, connections with our networks and need to access email on the go. Definitely the iPhone has made a big difference but I believe it's social networks which will really kick start the mobile phenomenon. Just look at Japan and the iMode surge a few years ago, the majority of apps used were related to social uses and email.

Anyway, ZDNet are reporting that Google have seen a 20% increase in mobile search usage.

Microsoft to take Silverlight offline and go mobile?

Microsoft would be nuts not to take Silverlight fully offline, and apparently although there's no specific plans yet, it will happen.

Very good timing for such a statement seeing as it's being reported that Nokia will use Silverlight in it's S60/40 mobile phones.

It would be a damn shame though if mobiles ended up as another platform for software wars with Google on one side and Microsoft on the other.

See my earlier post on Google Gears going mobile...

Google adds Gears to mobile

Google have announced the launch of Google Gears for Mobile.

I'm a regular user of mobile web apps on my phone, especially when travelling by train, and there's nothing worse than finding your signal dies and you lose connectivity at a crucial point. Well no longer; now developers can make their mobile apps Gears ready which will enable you to keep working until a connection returns.

I can already think of some great ideas for it; an offline blogger mobile interface which allowed you to write your blog posts offline, then connect to upload. Or maybe an offline mobile email app. And better still a mobile download of Google Calendars (or other online office apps) with both online and offline synchronisation capability!

It's currently only available for Internet Explorer Mobile so you're pretty much stuck unless you have a Windows smartphone, but expect it to go to other phone platforms pretty quickly.

This could be a great addition to Android, imagine a phone operating system which allows full on/offline synchronisation with all your favourite web apps available. That would be very cool!

More here from Google Code, including the video below.

Android appears in the wild

I blogged last week about the rumour of an Android phone appearing this week and lo and behold more than one have, in fact there's been a veritable plethora of Android based phones on show at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The BBC have a report on it here, and Techcrunch have a video of an Android phone in use (see below).

It looks good so far but obviously these are all a work in progress so not that pretty and definitely not iPhone competitors as yet.

Android prototype to demo next week

British chip maker ARM have announced that they will demo a Google Android based prototype phone at a show in Barcelona next week.

Sadly this isn't to be the Gphone that rumours again surfaced about last week, however it is definitely going to be interesting as ARM aren't a phone manufacturer, more an equipment and chips supplier.

Whether this is being worked on with Googles help remains unknown, I'm sure however that it is being demoed with their approval.

More GPhone rumours

The latest rumours have surfaced about the infamous Google GPhone. The latest (via Marketing Week) is that Google have teamed up with Dell and will be announcing the new phone next week at the 3GSM conference in Spain.

Great news if it does happen! It'll give me a real option over an iPhone I hope, I've been looking and nothing comes close for functionality, but then the iPhone lacks 3G, has a rubbish camera and seems a bit too much form over function for a user like me. As the link above says, Dell are well overdue a proper move into mobile after their pretty awful attempt with PDA's.

Yahoo making smart move on mobile?

Yahoo has announced a new developer platform for their Yahoo Go mobile web service. The new platform is being set up to enable developers and publishers to mobilise their services quickly, at high quality and low cost, across hundreds of devices.

This is a very different approach to Google's who are launching a whole mobile operating system (Android) with the help of many partners.

Yahoo's system aims to build on the success of Yahoo Go and allow developers to tap into multiple phone manufacturers and carriers much more easily. It probably won't have the flexibility to be able to create as sophisticated an application as you can on Android but it may well have the Facebook effect and allow developers to create simple apps with viral qualities which could prove very successful.

Travelocity add mobile functionality

I seem to be blogging about Travelocity quite a lot lately. They're at the forefront of technology in the online travel arena at the moment and seem to be one of the few who are trying to do something different for their customers online.

The latest announcement is the launch of a mobile service which allows users to view their itineraries, book transfers and hotels, get flight info, use a currency converter, check the weather and even check the security wait times at airports.

A great example of doing something useful for the customer instead of just gratuitous additional functionality for the sake of it. The service comes from Usablenet who offer services to get your website content onto the small screens.

So what is Android?

Well it's the codename for the Open Handset Alliance software created by Google with input from a raft of other software and handset companies. It should (if all goes to plan) open up the mobile world completely and allow for much better applications and integration to occur on mobiles in the future.

The Open Handset Alliance have released a video (below) to explain Android:

Sounds very promising. I wonder how RIM and Apple are feeling?

Gphone rumours continue

More rumours today about the possibility of Google launching a phone in the near future.

According to sources at Taiwan handset makers, Google will definitely launch its own-brand handset but has yet to finalize the handset's specifications, OS, production contractor and operating partners.

It seems Google can't make their mind up about whether to go EDGE or 3G. Texas Instruments handset chipsets will find their way into the Google phone should the company decide to roll out an EDGE-compliant handset, but Qualcomm could turn out to be the winner if Google decides to bet on a 3G model, the sources noted.

HTC is still earmarked as probable manufacturer of the Gphone. And there are still rumours that Google may try to launch with it's own operating system to compete with Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Google Adwords goes mobile

Google (GOOG) are getting quite subtle in announcing new products developments these days. They've added a new FAQ to the Adwords Help Center which discusses search adverts appearing on mobile devices. I'm surprised this didn't get shouted about on the Adwords blog...

They're going to be running ads for free on mobile until 19th November, so your ads could be on the small screen right now. Of course you do have to have a mobile viewable landing page linked to from the ad for it to work (which is something I'm glad Google have done so they aren't displaying pointless ads).

You'll be able to opt out at that date.

Mobile payments are go!

So maybe Gpay is going to be too late for Google to take advantage of mobile payments (as I blogged about yesterday)...

Today, the biggest mobile phone operators in the UK have all switched on a new mobile payments system called PayForIt. It's been designed for those who want to buy products or services up to the value of £10 using their mobile phone and bill. PayForIt will appear as an option on participating sites and services, at first just on mobile sites but soon it will be a standard payment option for goods on the wider internet.

It's a good first move in getting us all towards a digital wallet type scenario, it could become a standard very quickly, is safe and trusted and much more preferred to the old way of paying by premium rate SMS.

It's not quite the same as Google's patent but has the potential to get adopted very rapidly.

Google want to patent the world

Of SMS billing it seems...

This patent filing alludes to a new mobile billing tool powered by SMS. The patent has been filed for by Google (GOOG), it makes perfect sense for mobiles to become a mobile electronic wallet, it's a natural step for anyone who hates cash and always carries a phone.

Couple this with the Gphone news and it's beginning to look like Google could step into the mobile arena with a very powerful offering very soon!

Gphone rumours abound!

Since I posted the other day about the rumours of a forthcoming Gphone from Google Inc. (GOOG) the blogosphere has gone wild with more unsubstantiated facts.

Rumours range from an HTC exec confirming the forthcoming phones existence, to the fact that Yahoo are heading on a parallel tack and developing their own, to rumours that Google are just looking at the operating system side and linking up with phone manufacturers.

I reckon the most likely is the third rumour that Google will concentrate on the software and integrating their own services into someone elses phone and leave the hardware to those who know. As for Yahoo; it's quite likely they are working on phone apps as well, but whether that would be a whole OS or just another version of Yahoo Go who can tell...

The GPhone commeth?

I'm really not sure of the validity of this but thought I'd post anyway as it's bound to be a hot topic and generate some buzz over the next couple of weeks...

Rediff News, a well respected source of technology news and views from India, has a story stating that Google Inc. (GOOG) will be launching the GPhone in two weeks. Apparently talks are underway with carriers in India to get an exclusive launch on one of their networks and it should be launching simultaneously in the US and Europe.

It's said that any GPhone that does launch will be 3G compatible and have GPS built in for use with Google Maps. I'd also expect to see GMail integration and IM of some sort.

Google refused to comment. Obviously they will be launching a phone in the future either alone or with a partner, but is it this close to launch? I'm not so sure!

Google says: Mobiles hot!

In the news today Google has come out to say that usage of it's mobile services have soared during the summer months. Usually the summer months can see a dip in web usage and perhaps this is evidence that users are getting more comfortable with the small screen so continuing to use it when on the move.

Visits to Google's maps, Gmail and mobile searches on mobile phones and wireless handheld devices rose 35 percent between May and June. Thats a reverse of last years pattern which saw a decline at that time of year.

They attribute a jump in use of 40 percent to the launch of the iPhone. However I know that it's widely used in the UK too and we don't have the iPhone yet.

This is definitely all about better handsets being available, more people having decent handsets and the public at large getting more savvy with ways of accessing the web. I'd expect it to keep rising rapidly. For the UK, we've had such a poor summer weather wise that I'm surprised that usage hasn't shifted back to PC's, the test will be when we have a decent summer (we can pray that may be next year...).

Text for pizza? Now you can!

Domino's Pizza, the UK based pizza chain, are well known as being a forward thinking tech savvy company. They started online ordering of pizzas at a time when a lot of retailers weren't even online.

Now they're trailblazing again with the launch of their SMS for pizza service. You register your details and phone with them and set up a menu of meals, then you can just text them the name of one of your set meals and they'll text you back to confirm. Confirm the order and it'll be delivered to you from your nearest shop.

Great use of SMS in my opinion, and the pounds will no doubt ring the tills and go round my waist!

SpinVox in acquisition mode!

No not buying competitors, rather in acquiring reams of new customers! This is really good news about one of my favourite little apps called SpinVox. It's a service that, and I quote 'SpinVox converts voice messages, from any phone, to any screen: making messaging natural and accessible for everyone'. They also convert voice to text to allow you to blog from anywhere and are working on more services.

Anyway, the great news for SpinVox is that they've signed a deal with U.S. telecoms carrier Alltel Wireless. The Arkansas mobile operator will offer SpinVox to its 12 million subscribers making it a huge acquisition win for SpinVox.

It's a great little service too! I was lucky enough to get a free account a while ago and have found it really useful, especially being able to get voice mail details texted to me when in meetings.

Well done SpinVox!

Great viral website

Here's a great viral website called Jealouscomputers.com. It's all about the backlash from computers due to the jealousy caused by the release of Nokia N series phones such as the N95. Guess PC's are feeling a little upset that users can do everything on their handheld nowadays.

Anyway, it's a well executed viral marketing campaign and sure to generate some buzz for Nokia!

Want to get your web site or app iPhone ready? Here's how

Here's a useful link from Apple's Developer Connection which tells you all you need to know to get your web site or application ready for use by iPhone users.

To be honest it should be fairly straightforward as it's the Safari 3 engine under the hood of the iPhone so if it works in Safari it should be fine in iPhone. Of course you may want to look at serving up a different version scaled to fit the iPhone as I for one find the zoom browse of modern phones a pain in the neck*. I'd much rather use a web app that sizes itself to the device I am using, it makes the browsing experience so much easier.

Anyway, the link above has all you need to know and some handy hints on how to utilise mail and maps on the iPhone. If you're in any doubt about whether your app will work on iPhone then read the above.

*Of course, AT&T's lousy 2G connection speeds make the browsing experience a pain in the neck anyway at the moment for anyone who owns an iPhone.