Now that Nokia has abandoned Intel’s MeeGo,the most logical way forward for Intel is to start designing its own phone and tablet device. That way Intel will control both the hardware and the software and will be able to make them work together well.So what do you think? Can Intel become the next Apple?
A few days ago Nokia announced that it would start using Windows Phone 7 as the main mobile operating system on all its future smartphones. I think this is probably a good deal for Microsoft. I do not see how this is good for Nokia though. This deal basically reduces Nokia to just a hardware manufacturer.
The worst part is that Nokia becomes completely dependent on Windows Phone 7 which as a platform is way behind Android. Nokia should have chosen Android, kept their investment in MeeGo, and provided Android and MeeGo migration tools to Symbian developers.
The nice folks on the Novell’s Mono team are almost ready with MonoDroid – a C# version of the Android API, and MonoTouch – the C# version of the iOS frameworks has been around for a while now. So, if you are about to start a new iPhone/iPad application and you already know C#, you should definitely check MonoTouch. If later you decide to support Android, it will be easier to port your app from MonoTouchto MonoDroid than to rewrite it from Objective-C to Java.
At CES this year, I saw more than a dozen vendors who are preparing to launch tab, slate or pad device in 2011. Most of the devices are going to be Android based. Except for a few big exhibitors like Samsung and RIM, most companies were showing just prototypes.
So this year will be the year of the tablets. We will see a lot of devices and ultimately the competition will drive the prices down. As the devices become more affordable, soon there will be at least one and likely a few tab devices per household. The demand for tablet apps is going to be huge. Same is true forother products like movies, newspapers, magazines and books.
If you have been a Windows developer and at the same time Apple iPhone/iPad or Google Android user then you probably know what I am talking about here.
Windows Phone 7 is running on top of Silverlight and XNA, and then you can use Visual Studio and/or XNA Game Studio for WP7 development. So in terms of development WP7 is a dream platform.
That being said, I am looking at the WP7 phone that I got for research, and the user interface is just plain ugly. I am talking about the square boxes, or info tiles (or however you want to call them) on the home screen; the black and white lists and dialog boxes; the square black and white buttons and the half-hidden page titles.
I keep wondering why, given the capabilities of Silverlight and XNA, why has Microsoft created such an unexciting user interface?
The phone I have is SAMSUNG SGH-i917 with AT&T