Google is too big to go after this demographic for any other reason than Philanthropy, or possible press.
The way I see it, Google's first priority currently with Android is trying to establish itself in the highly competitive mobile market alongside the more established Apple and Windows Mobile and Palm, and others. Wireless is also a new arena, so network operators are important. While Google stays on this track, I think Google should not lose sight of its developer base amidst the biggies. My issue with the way Google handled the Humanitarian and economic development category is - first it put it in the categories, but later it doesn't seem to be considering these apps equal to the other popular/profitable/business related applications. On May 18, 1:18 pm, kurosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Some of the things that are really perplexing: > 1) Why do all the accessibilty/humanitarian apps have such a low score > on originality. There are very few handsets if any that have these > features. > 2) The target demographic of the disabled deaf/blind/cognitive/etc. is > a totally untapped market, as explained in 1) . > So wouldn't it be smarter to address an untapped demographic, than to > compete against existing handset players where there is cut-throat > competition? > > On May 18, 10:05 pm, gtandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > hmmmm....from the list here (and I am sure there must've been more), I > > would have traded one of these in lieu of one of the 3 weather apps, > > or one of the quite a few social networking apps doing the same thing, > > then there was the WriterPad thing where you move your pen on the > > letters to form words, quite a few family safety apps that seems to be > > doing useful work which could easily be doled out to 911, etc, etc... > > > So I don't buy it that there weren't enough apps to choose from, or > > that there were "more original" apps from the ones that were ranked > > higher up. Agreed, none of these would be either "popular" or > > "profitable" due to the marginal demographics that they support, but > > that is the nature of these type of applications. And Google should > > have been careful about including these categories for possible > > entries to the challenge. > > > My application is called SmallWorld, and it is meant to connect kids > > from developed nations with under priviledged kids all over the world. > > It is a kid-to-kid type of an application, where children would accrue > > reward points to find sponsors, make friends and keep connected with > > their under priviledged friends. The concept is that instead of just > > supporting them with money, kids from developed countries could also > > stay in touch (phone to PC). And what better way to have them than use > > their phone to do this, where they are always connected and can > > recieve reminders (thanks to Android notifications). > > > The application has a widget engine which allows kids to build mobile > > notes (with text, pictures or voice) and send it to a PC or phone > > (XMPP to another phone user). The application currently allows 6 > > different templates(including language templates) to choose from, > > finish with their content and sending to their counter parts. When > > Android starts supporting dynamic loading of layouts, a way for > > content providers to offer mobile content thru infinite templates, for > > kids to pick up and customize their content. > > > The application would fall under humanitarian (while these kids are > > helping other kids, they are also growing up with a much better > > understanding of the world than just Nick and Disney and facebook) as > > well something that will facilitate economic development (for example > > kids can generate sponsorship amounts toward's their friend's > > education, and education is the core of any economic development). And > > while doing all this the kids could be collecting reward points... > > > Agreed not as good as some other apps here from the perspective of > > immediate value. > > > This was my rank > > > Effective use: In the 50th to 75th percentile of all submitted > > applications > > Polish: In the 50th to 75th percentile of all submitted applications > > Indispensability: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > Originality: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > > Overall: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > > On May 17, 1:27 pm, "Dan U." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > There is no > > > > application from this category (except if we consider the family > > > > safety type of apps) in the first 50. > > > > I don't know why no humanitarian apps were chosen, but I could form a > > > guess. First, I recall shortly before the submission deadline, someone > > > in the group asked for more humanitarian app submissions. This person > > > had a google.com email, so it might have been a Google employee. I > > > don't really know. If so, it sounds like they hadn't gotten many > > > submissions for that category. Because of that, it seems like there > > > were few to choose from and the judges just may have not liked any of > > > them. > > > > And, just a guess on why a business entity would do this... Google > > > might just be a "different" company with some desire to help people > > > instead of just maximizing profits. I don't know though. Beyond that, > > > it might be a tax write-off to provide something usable for > > > humanitarian issues (although I don't know the tax laws for that). > > > > On May 16, 7:37 pm, gtandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Google's initial ADC announcement that among other applications, they > > > > would also be looking for humanitarian applications, or apps helping > > > > economic development, was a bit surprising at first, but also > > > > refreshing. This gave an impression that this business giant is also > > > > looking at "doing good" with the challenge. > > > > > But the following entry that was ranked in the lowest quartile for > > > > every category (originality of this app is below the weather app) > > > > broke all the illusion. > > > > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-challenge/browse_thread/thread... > > > > > At first I questioned why ADC put "humanitarian/economic development" > > > > as a category. As a business entity what would google gain by putting > > > > this as a category? I had answered my own question that Google does > > > > everything different, and possibly it is doing so again. There is no > > > > application from this category (except if we consider the family > > > > safety type of apps) in the first 50. > > > > > I want to find out how many applications submitted to ADC fall in this > > > > category, and how they are ranked.- Hide quoted text - > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Challenge" group. To post to this group, send email to android-challenge@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-challenge?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
