The APAR Document (login required) is blank, but this seems to fix the issue where the Mobile App responded with “the July 2011 mobile fix needs to be installed†when it was actually installed on the server already. Thanks to Chris Whisonant for help figuring out at least one of the fixed issues.
The Mobile Update to enable the Android Mobile App (iOS and Blackberry apps still waiting approval in their app stores) is now available from Fix Central.
Amazon launched their App Store for Android this morning (I hope I don’t get sued for calling it an App Store), curious as ever I decided to take a look. First I searched in the Android Market, but found nothing new from Amazon there, so I went back to Amazon and clicked “Get App†which gave me instructions to install the App Store:
The instructions then go on to provide download and installation instructions for the Amazon AppStore.
So lets examine, first you have find and select the “Unknown Sources†box to allow installation of an app that is not in the Android Market. Of course if you are on AT&T they don’t support this setting, so you are out of luck (I guess it really sucks to be an Angry Birds fan with an ATT Android device).
Once installed, you log in with your Amazon account, which makes purchasing apps easy. The application itself is easy to use, and search, I would say better than the Android Market app which though improved still needs some work.
I just wonder what the long term plan is for the Amazon App Store, I think a lot of people will be turned off with the install process, and I suspect that Google will not allow the app in the Android Market, since an App that downloads other Apps violates the terms of use. Google might want to reconsider, given the recent problems with Apps that contained malware on Android, giving Android owners a trusted source like Amazon to download apps from might actually help grow the platform, not hurt it. In it’s current state though I think many people won’t even install it, and some can’t even if they want to, does not sound like a promising launch to me.
For anyone wondering, no I still have not downloaded Angry Birds, and don’t plan on it, even if Amazon is giving it away today.
I agree 100% with #5 regarding Application development, and #2 especially about the carrier modifications to Android, and the need to get upgrades out faster.
They nail it with #1 “be cheaper then the iPadâ€, there is yet to be an Android tablet that competes on feature and price with the iPad, even the Motorola XOOM which is getting decent reviews is still priced to high to drive people away from the iPad and to Android.
Of course we have to see what Apple has in store for us tomorrow with the iPad 2 announcement.
Live coverage and commentary of the Lotus Mobile Strategy session, presented by Kevin Cavanaugh and Bharti Patel. Feel free to post any questions or comments I will do my best to respond.
You might recall back in December I was the lucky recipient of a Google Chrome CR-48 Notebook. I have been using it quite a bit and it has some really good points among them:
Instant on
Great battery life (8-10 hours of use per charge easy)
Full Keyboard ( not the biggest deal in the world, but nice)
Built in WiFi, and 3G (100 MB free and pay as you go plans)
Light
Based on all this at one point I thought it was almost the perfect Lotusphere machine. Where it is lacking is in two areas.
1. The CR-48 has very limited USB device support, it can not read my camera, or any of the card readers that I own, so there is no way to upload photos.
2. No local storage – again this is really about photos, I take a bunch of them at Lotusphere and I really don’t like to trust them for an entire week on an SD Card. With the CR-48 there is no way to back them up locally or mass upload them to Dropbox or something similar.
So while I have other devices coming with me, my Lenovo S10 Netbook will be making the trip again this year, it is about the same weight as the CR-48, a drop heavier, and decent battery life, but adds a lot in functionality that I need.
All that said, I am sure the USB device support situation will improve over time and as Chrome netbooks hit the market, not sure what if anything they would do about small amounts of local storage. I also believe that unless they bring them to market cheap (I mean less than $100.00 cheap) they won’t even make a dent in the surging tablet market.
I also think a year from now this would not even be a discussion, and tablets will have (even) more apps, and I would not even be looking for a full laptop of any sort for additional functionality.
The #1 Reason “Carrier Choice†is a little out of date, as he still has AT&T as the only iPhone carrier, but 2-5 are some really good points for Android.
