Zeebox launches Android app

zeebox today announces the availability of its award-winning social TV app for Android smartphones and the launch of a new home page to its web service, providing users with a new personalised way to discover programmes to watch on TV.

zeebox’s Android app – available in the UK Google Play store – provides consumers with a rich social TV guide, interactive information about TV programmes, links to relevant apps and downloads, and contextual ‘zeetags’ that magically surface web content related to what’s happening on TV.

The Android app synchs seamlessly with connected TVs, acting as a remote control for Sony, Panasonic and Samsung TVs, as well as Virgin’s Tivo boxes.  Now Android smartphone users will have access to the all the features that madezeebox a hit with hundreds of thousands of iPad and iPhone users in the UK.

Consumers will be able to discover TV content by seeing at a glance what their friends and favourite celebrities are watching, to see what the Twitter buzz is around their most loved TV shows, and to get access to a wealth of web content that magically appears in the context of the show they’re watching.

Ernesto Schmitt, CEO of zeebox said:

“We’re delighted to bring our hugely popular app to the Android market in record time, extending the reach of the leading social TV platform to many more devices. For broadcasters and production companies, the extension of our platform creates additional touch points with fans of their shows.”

In a further step toward providing consumers with a personalised way to discover TV programmes, zeebox’s web service also relaunches today with a new MY TV home page.  MY TV shows you the programmes your friends are watching, right now. You can also see the programmes that are most popular with everyone, right now, completewith the zeebox audience ranking and Twitter buzz measures for that show.

Anthony Rose, CTO of zeebox said:

“The new MY TV page is our first step in using our analysis of TV viewing behaviour through zeebox to create personalized, social recommendations.  It’s fascinating to see how some programmes have high viewing but low social buzz, and vice versa.  This will soon provide the industry with significant new insights into TV viewing behaviour.”

Since launching in October 2011, zeebox has led innovation in the market of social TV apps, uniquely enabling consumers to discover TV content through their extended social graph, to follow their favourite celebrities’ TV viewing, and to automatically get more information about the programmes they’re watching. zeebox knows what consumers are watching, and engages them with relevant content and ecommerce opportunities in synch with live TV.

Zeebox is available from today for most Android smartphones in the Google Play store here, with tablet versions to follow.  The new MY TV page goes live on http://zeebox.com, with iPad, iPhone and Android apps being updated in due course to include this new functionality.

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Android App Development

Why Google Android Can't Compete With Apple's iPhone

There's an inherent flaw in Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system.

The flaw isn't a technical glitch.

In fact, most agree that Google's Android is a first-rate mobile operating system that has gotten better with each update. Some even prefer it to Apple's iOS.

It's not adoption either.

According to recent data from Nielsen, Android's U.S. market share among smartphones has reached 48%, compared to 32.1% for Apple's iPhone. And Google says it has activated more than 300 million Android devices.

The problem is partly the result of Google Android's overall success.

The biggest flaw is fragmentation and it will be what prevents Google from defeating Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone in the mobile computing wars.

There are simply too many versions of Android running on too many (over 1,400) different pieces of hardware. And the issue gets worse with each new version of Android, as older devices are rarely updated.

That's a huge problem for Android application developers, who need to write apps that will work on a bewildering array of possible configurations. And it's starting to have an impact.

According to Appcelerator's most recent quarterly survey of developers, interest in writing apps for Android phones fell 4.7 percentage points to 78.6%, and interest in writing apps for Android tablets fell 2.2 percentage points to 65.9%.

By comparison, 89% of developers were interested in writing apps for Apple's iOS, a number that has remained steady.

"Massive platform fragmentation is a big reason that we're seeing this decline in interest," Mike King, Appcelerator's principal mobile strategist, told Network World. "If you look at all the other numbers such as Android smartphone market share it's on the upswing, but for app developers it's a real challenge."

It's a headache iOS developers don't share. Most Apple customers stay current with the latest version of iOS.

And because Apple makes all the hardware, limited to just a handful of models, it's much easier to write an app that runs on nearly all of the millions of iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads in use.

Google Android Users Not Big Spenders

Making matters worse for developers is that Android users tend to spend less money on apps than owners of Apple devices.

According to a report last year by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, the Google Android Market (recently renamed Google Play) generated just 7% of the revenue of Apple's iTunes App Store.

Munster estimated that in terms of dollars spent on mobile computing apps, Apple has an 85%-90% share. He expects Apple's dominance of app revenue to remain over 70% for the next three to four years.Some defenders of the Android market claim Munster's methodology is flawed. They point out that Android apps, unlike iOS apps, are sold in multiple online stores.

But that, too, creates issues for developers, who need to make sure they cover all their distribution bases with each release.

Put it all together and it means Android developers need to put in more effort while making less money than iOS developers. And it's driven at least one developer to throw in the towel.

"Our Android apps aren't making money," wrote Mika Mobile, creator of such games as Zombieville USA and Battleheart, in a March 9 blog post. "Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable."

Much of the money Mika Mobile's Android sales did generate got swallowed up by extra development costs - time spent tweaking apps to work properly on the proliferating combinations of new hardware and versions of Android.

One more thing: The lower Android app sales have pushed prices in the Android Market higher. A recent survey by Canalys showed the average cost per app for the top 100 offerings in the Android Market was $3.74, but just $1.47 for the top 100 in the iTunes App Store.

The higher prices tend to further discourage buying, which in turn helps keep the prices high.

Hitting Google Android in the Apps

Despite is successes, Google needs to do something about Android's fragmentation to keep its developers from jumping ship. Google needs to make sure the developers can make money.

Disenchantment on the part of many Android developers could result in a falling number of quality apps and increasing compatibility issues as older apps are no longer updated.

"Developers go where the money is. End users go where the apps are. Developers create apps where users are," writes veteran tech pundit Joe Wilcox in an article called "iPhone is Unstoppable."

Wilcox theorizes that Apple's ecosystem will be difficult to disrupt. Google will need to fix its fragmentation issues quickly to avoid the fate that Apple's Mac platform suffered in an earlier OS War.

"In the 1990s, Microsoft sought to achieve a "standard' platform for developers and succeeded with Windows. Apple is quickly doing the same around iOS, iPhone and iPad," Wilcox said.

The Windows Wild Card

Speaking of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), its plans for Windows 8 gives Google something else to worry about in the mobile computing space.

Microsoft, until now left on the mobile computing sidelines, will aggressively market Windows 8. And it will likely do a better job of preventing the sort of fragmentation that's stinging Android.

A wave of Windows 8 tablets and smartphones arriving in the fall no doubt will end up competing for the same cost-conscious customers that have been buying Android-powered devices.

With only about 70,000 apps, the Windows Phone Marketplace is far behind the leaders, (which have over 500,000 apps each) but Microsoft plans to woo developers in an effort to catch up.

Microsoft and hardware partner Nokia Corporation (NYSE ADR: NOK) announced just last week they'd jointly invest in a $23.9 million mobile app development program over the next three years.

Should Windows 8 get traction in the mobile computing market - and history shows that Microsoft is nothing if not persistent - it could further undermine Android.

Still, Android isn't going anywhere. It's certainly not in danger of disappearing. But neither is it going to race to dominance, as some predicted last year.

Ultimately, Android's status in the mobile computing market largely depends on how seriously Google and its hardware partners take the fragmentation problem.

"Android is not facing an imminent crisis amongst developers," writes Jeff Duncan for Digital Trends.com. "But, looking out over the next two years, Android (and Google) are clearly going to have to move application development and revenue generation to the same priority level as [hardware] adoption and device activations, or face a stagnating software and content ecosystem."

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Android App Development

Instagram app debuts on Android, finally

The popular iPhone photo clicking and sharing app, Instagram, is now available on Android. The app, which has been available on iOS device for some time, now has been downloaded more that 30 million times.

Instagram lets users add effects to pictures they click from their smartphone and upload it to popular social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Posterous, Foursquare or even e-mail the clicks. The app is free on the Google Play Store and can be downloaded here.

The official Instagram blog says, “We’ve been working tirelessly to make this new Android app a first-class mobile photo-sharing experience. We’ve been meticulous about translating the Instagram experience to the Android platform. The Android app offers an extremely familiar Instagram experience when compared to the iOS app. You’ll find all the same exact filters and community as our iOS version.”

The app requires that the smartphone be Android v2.2 or higher ensuring that a wide variety of Android users are able to use the app with ease.

The app also lets users build followers with Instagram’s social network. A star icon on the app shows the most popular photos where as a heart bubble icon brings up the latest creations from your friends. Even though the app is said to be identical to its iOS counterpart, it does miss out on a few features such as Tilt/Shift and Flickr integration. But users don’t need to worry as these features can be easily added with subsequent updates.

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Android App Development

Motorola releases MOTOACTV fitness app for Android phones

Motorola has extended the support of the fitness tracking app - MOTOACTV to all major Android smartphones. However, one still needs to buy the MOTOACTV accessory to use the app.

Motorola has made its MOTOACTV fitness app available to all Android devices. MOTOACTV is a pair of apps that includes Motorola's fitness tracker and a smart music player gadget. With this app, users can track their personal fitness and even plan work outs.

Currently, the MOTOACTV pairing app is limited only to select number of Android devices. This app receives notifications about incoming calls and even attends the calls during the work out.

The MOTOACTV pairing app has been updated with new set of features and now made available for all Android devices running Android 2.1 or higher.

MOTOACTV app for Android now lets users to plan the workout routine on the device. Users can set goals and check progress anytime to see if they are on track to achieve the set goals. The app also offers daily activity monitoring with step and calorie count.

To use MOTOACTV app, one needs to create MotoCast ID. You will have to download the MotoCast software from here, install it and create an account.

However, the bottom line lies that one needs to have MOTOACTV accessory to create a MOTOCAST account and use the app with any other Android smartphone.

At the end of the day, you can always push your data to the MOTOACTV.com website. Certain features are network dependent and also exclusive to the MOTOACTV accessory. Sadly, Motorola has not released MOTOACTV accessory in India as yet.

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Android App Development

Android 4.0 powered HTC One S to launch in India in May

Fresh reports indicate a May release for HTC One S in India is on the cards

The HTC One S will hit the Indian market sometime next month.

Sources claim that a company senior executive reportedly revealed the information during the launch of HTC One X in Singapore last week.

In a conversation with the Mobile Indian, the president of HTC South Asia Pacific, Lennard Hoornik mentioned, ‘HTC One S will be launched in the Indian market in May’.

While we still wait for an official word on the expected price tag for the handset, interestingly, the pricedekho website has listed the handset to around Rs 28,000.

It does seem like a reasonably good deal if you weigh it against the gadget’s enviable features.
To begin with, the handset boasts of the much-desired Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Then, its functioning is well supported by a 16GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM. 

Powered by a powerful 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Krait MSM8260A dual-core chipset, it carries the added advantage of being backed by an Adreno 225 GPU.

In addition, the 4.3-inch multi-touch capacitive display is also a facet to brag about as it employs the Super AMOLED technology, offering a pixel resolution of 540x960 pixels and a pixel density of 256 pixels-per-inch (ppi). The device renders some rather crisp and stupendous quality images.

Although we eagerly await the launch of the HTC One S to take place in May, the Indian Market has already started experiencing the first wave of the HTC One Series release. Just a couple of days back, the 2nd of April marked the onset of the One Series launch in India with HTC launching its flagship model One X along with its mid-range handset, the One V.

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Android App Development

 

HCL Launches Android ICS Tablet “My Edu” Starting At Rs 7,990

HCL Technologies, has launched three new tablets in India, focusing on the education segment, with a starting price of Rs 7,999, reports The Mobile Indian. My Edu Tab U1, the first tablet from HCL, is targeted towards mass market and is the cheapest tablet from HCL starting at Rs 7,999. The other two tablets; My Edu Tab K12 and My Edu Tab HE are tablets specially designed for students.

The ‘My Edu Tab K12′ comes with pre-installed educational apps and NCERT books for free with a memory card for students up to 12th Std and retails for Rs  11,499. The ‘My Edu Tab HE’ comes with pre-installed apps and multimedia content for  professional and technical skills for college students and retails at Rs 9,999. Both the tablets also come with support for cloud storage.

Specifications

All the tablets: My Edu Tab U1, My Edu Tab K12, and My Edu Tab HE comes with similar hardware specifications. HCL’s tablets sports a 7-inch Capacitive screen with 800*480 pixel resolution, 1GHz Arm Cortex A8 processor processor and runs on the latest version of Google’s Android operating system Ice Cream Sandwich.  It also comes with 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal memory, 0.3 Megapixel front facing camera, USB support, a mini USB port and a micro SD card slot. It with 3600mAh battery to support the powerful 1GHz processor and Android OS which with normal usage might last up to 4-5 hours.

3G connectivity

Although the tablets do not come with support for 3G out of the box customers can enjoy 3G connectivity via USB modem. There are a tons of exciting packages from Vodafone, Reliance, Airtel, BSNL and MTNL.

Apps

None of the HCL’s latest tablet support Google Play (Previously Android Market) but comes with support for  HCL Me App Store from where users can download applications. HCL claims that HCL Me App Store features more than 10,000 apps. All three tablets come with pre-installed apps like BookMyShow, Clear Trip, Hungama, Money Control and more.

HCL entered the tablets market late last year with HCL Me X1 Tab which again didn’t come with support for Android Market. Although Android Market could be separately installed if customers could get hold of the installer file for the same which becomes too technical for an average Joe. The same is bound to happen with HCL’s newer tablets.

Competition

Currently, there are plenty of tablets in the market targeted towards Indian mass market from Reliance’s CDMA Tab (Our take), Beetel Magiq, Wishtel, iBerry, and governments own Aakash tablet. While other tablets in the market may not come with pre-installed educational packages the only way for HCL’s new offerings to succeed is if they directly market them to schools and colleges.

The only competition to HCL’s educational tablets comes from AcrossWorld’s educational tablet ATab which retails at just about Rs 5,000 and has tie ups with educational institutions  and universities like Carmel Public School, Gaujrala; Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Institute of Technology, Rourkela; Shikhar Shishu Sadan Convent School, Dhampur; and, Gandhinagar Public School, Moradabad with a dozen schools and colleges from cities like Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Rourkela and Gaujarala indicating interest in the ATab.

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Android App Development

Sony says Android ICS coming in April

Good news Xperia owners! Sony Mobile is preparing the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for its 2011 Xperia smartphones and it should start rolling out in the middle of April.

The Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray will start to receive the ICS update in April and it should take about 4-6 weeks to roll out. The Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will get the update at the end of May or early June.

Why so long? Well, it takes a lot of work to port Android 4.0 to Sony devices while still keeping its custom user interface software on there. While it’s annoying to have to wait for so long, I do comment Sony for being very transparent about the process. Check out this developer blog which spells out the technical differences between ICS and Android Gingerbread.

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Android App Development

Lenovo Launches Android Enterprise App Shop For Business Clients Only

Lenovo Launches Android Enterprise App Shop for Business Clients Only

With Google serving a pretty nice collection of apps inside their Play marketplace, the need for business-orientated mobile software was felt. Lenovo has volunteered to fill the gap by launching the Enterprise App Shop, a store which distributes Android applications to business customers only.

As the company describes it, the Enterprise App Shop simplifies the access and use of productivity applications for corporate clients owning a Lenovo tablet, or any other Android 3.1 (or higher) based slate. The service features LDAP integration and cross platform support to facilitate IT management, while serving much-needed applications that boost productivity.

Using Lenovo's Enterprise shop, corporations can create their own customised software marketplaces, where employees can enter and install company-based programs without having to worry about app permissions forced by the marketplace itself. These can all be done by using Lenovo's App Shop Manager.

David Gannon, associate director of the Academic Computing & Media Services of Bryant University, claims that "The distribution and license management of applications for the classroom is simplified by the Lenovo Enterprise App Shop; eliminating factory resets and streamlining app installation. We were up and running quickly and the App Shop Manager is very intuitive and easy to use".

Other services brought by the App Shop Manager include a vetted catalogue, custom management, private corporate app publishing, volume purchase pricing and of course, the possibility of enabling and disabling apps.
Lenovo's App shop is now available worldwide, excluding China, through Lenovo sales.

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Run Android Apps on a PC With BlueStacks: Here's How

If you're dying to run Android applications on your Windows machine, then you'll want to check out the recently released BlueStacks App Player beta, an Android app emulator for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
The software gives you access to Android apps on the Android Market, GetJar, the Amazon AppStore or 1Mobile Market, and allows you to run them on your desktop.

You can also use a companion Android app to download the same apps you have on your Android device to your computer and receive SMS messages sent to your phone on your PC.
If you'd like to give BlueStacks a try, here's how to get started.

Download
 
BlueStacks download pageTo download the App Player beta grab it from the BlueStacks site by clicking on the "Download Now" button on the landing page and run the .EXE file. If your computer is missing the .NET framework 3.5, you will be prompted to download that utility before App Player will install. The program takes a few minutes to install as it grabs most of the app's required files and other information from online.

Android Phone

Setting BlueStacks up with your Android phoneThe set-up process is pretty straightforward, but Android smartphone owners will want to be sure they click the "Yes" radio button saying they have an Android phone. You will then be prompted for an email address and your telephone number including country code. BlueStacks will then send you an email and SMS message detailing how to sync your phone with App Player.
In my tests, I did not receive an SMS, but all the information I needed to sync my device was contained in the email.

Launch Apps

BlueStacks App Player start screenOnce you've entered your Android device details, you are ready to go, and you can start using the app. By default, you get a number of apps to try out right away such as Barnes & Noble's Nook app, Documents To Go, Evernote, Fruit Ninja Free, Pulse, and StumbleUpon.

To launch an app, click once on the program's icon. To return to the App Player start screen, click on the BlueStacks icon in the center of the navigation bar at the bottom of the App Player window.

Download New Apps

Download new appsTo download apps from the various Android app stores, just enter the app's name into the search bar found below your app gallery. You can download almost anything you could use on your phone; however, some messaging apps may not work. I use text messaging service WhatsApp Messenger, for example, to communicate with friends and family around the world. But in my tests, WhatsApp wouldn't work using App Player.

To find a new app to use, just enter its name into the search bar and press "Find." App Player grabs apps from Google Play.

But you can also download apps from other app stores including Amazon Appstore for Android, GetJar, and 1Mobile Market. Click on the transparent window at the top of your Windows desktop and select the basket icon to choose a specific market.

Setting Up Your Android Device

BlueStacks Cloud ConnectIf you want to receive SMS messages and put the same apps on your phone onto App Player on your desktop, you need to download BlueStacks' Cloud Connect free companion app from Google Play. The app will ask you to enter a PIN that was sent to you via email. You can also find the PIN on App Player by clicking on the "Settings" icon in the lower right corner of the navigation bar. Then, on the next page, select "Cloud Connect," and a pop-up window will appear with the PIN.

Cloud Connect is pretty straightforward to use: you just select the apps you'd like to "sync" with App Player and then press the sync button at the top of the screen. If you'd like to sync all apps to your desktop tap the box next to the sync button.

Despite being called "sync," this feature simply downloads the same apps that you have on your phone to App Player. It does not sync your app settings; log-in information, for example, will have to be reentered.

 Windows 8
App Player could be handy for upcoming Windows 8-based touch tablets. If the Windows Store is missing a Metro-style version of an app you'd like to use, you can turn to the BlueStacks App Player. The only downside is you'll be running Android apps on top of a traditional Windows desktop environment.

I briefly tested BlueStacks running in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and it worked about as expected. It was slow (to be fair, I was running Windows 8 in a virtual machine), but was still usable.
I also tried out App Player on a Vista machine with a dual-core 2.16 GHz Intel Pentium T3400 and 2GB of RAM. During that trial, App Player ran considerably faster, but was far from smooth. Keep in mind, however, this is a beta product and likely far from finalized.
Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter and Google+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

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