Yeah, I think it's all just earlier in the process than we'd like. I think that we might all agree that the key for success now is real phones, running solid V1 Android OS, with more carriers signed up and the start at a marketplace for innovative software.
If they have to cut back on the SDK iterations, or narrow their support to a subset of us, that's probably for the best. Face it, the million-developers model is not really the key ingredient to success here. I do think that iPhone is making important steps. The app store details are sounding good, including the ability for enterprises to control the distribution of their apps (compare BREW, where it's impossible). I also think that MobileMe might be the sleeper big news. iPhone sync (to a Mac) is fantastic. Google *has the opportunity* to provide that same sort of sync, OTA, to their apps in the cloud, and that could be a game changer. We haven't seen anything of it yet, just some talk about Google Gears, and so on. Well, Apple just stepped into that position. You can sync your mobile to your "desktop" apps, even if you don't own your own desktop (emerging markets) or are on the road (internet cafe). Those cats are moving it along. Also, we can look to Apple/iPhone soon for insight into the One Big Question: "Once there is an open path to market for mobile applications, can an independent software developer make any real money?" First indications from Apple WWDC is that "class A" apps/ games are going to sell for "less than expected." Palm apps could get distributed; are there any examples of wildly successful Palm apps? Are there any Palm developers driving Bentleys? For those of us who can no longer afford to work solely for pizza and glory, is this "open revolution," whichever company drives it, going to result in real opportunities for developers? I'll be happy to wait patiently for the next SDK broad release while they try to get it right, for the Rest of Us. JM On Jun 11, 8:59 am, David Given <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Danny wrote: > > [...] > > > But yeah, it is time for a new SDK release. It's a little tiresome > > working with old documentation that still references the M3 build. > > I'd be very surprised to see anything any time soon, for one simple > reason: m5 is full of bugs, but is almost usable. A newer, more stable > release would be usable, just. If they released it, someone would > instantly slap it on a phone and go into production, simply to cash in > on the Google brand. > > And it would suck, because it's not finished. > > So rather than generate the huge amount of bad press that would cause, I > think they'd be far more likely to generate a small amount of bad press > instead by keeping things quiet until they have something that *really* > works, and then making the announcement as a real device and SDK go into > production. m3 and m5 have achieved their purpose; there are a lot of > programmers out there who know enough about the OS to write apps on it, > and they've sourced a reasonable number of private beta testers. > > -- > David Given > [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Announcing the new M5 SDK! http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/02/android-sdk-m5-rc14-now-available.html For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
