Angry Birds dev Rovio rolling out in-app payment platform with carrier integration
We're sure Finnish software shop Rovio is looking for every way imaginable to capitalize on the immense success of the Angry Birds franchise, and part of that will apparently involve in-app purchases, presumably to buy and download additional content on the fly -- but it sounds like they won't be using any third-party frameworks to do that. Instead, the company's putting together its own micropayment framework and partnering up with carriers to cut them in on the profit, turning first to Finnish network Elisa with new content for Angry Birds' Android build in early 2011.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: angry, app-ecosystem, developers, ecosystem, elisa, immense, mobile, party, platform, prospect, rovio
Sony Ericsson Z-System: the PlayStation Phone’s gaming platform?
A bumper crop of circumstantial evidence surrounding the Android-based PlayStation Phone is starting to come together today -- when it rains, it pours, as they say -- and one particularly interesting thread suggests that the ecosystem surrounding the device might be called "Z-System." An astute tipster notes that the term appears in the upper left of one of our shots, which maps to a domain -- z-system.com, naturally -- that's owned by Sony Ericsson. Turns out the company also holds trademarks for Z-System in the US and Benelux trademark offices (among others, presumably) that were filed (and approved) this year, and the filing category includes "software for interacting or playing with electronic or video games," not hardware, so that strongly suggests we're looking at a platform here. We suppose it's possible that this specific device will be called Z-System, but we're going to float the theory that its actually underlying gaming platform that'll bear that name -- possibly a premium game store and set of software libraries that together will earn a device the Z-System badge.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: circumstantial, ecosystem, filing-category, games, gaming, phone, playstationphone, rumor, sony, theory, video
RIM’s Jim Balsillie hits back at the Steve Jobs rant, Apple’s ‘distortion field’
You had to know that Steve wouldn't get away with putting his five minute, competition-slamming manifesto out into the ether without some snap back from the competition. We've already heard responses from TweetDeck and Andy Rubin , and now RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie has issued a statement in response to Jobs.
Categories: BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: assertion, blackberryplaybook, competition, customer, distortion, ecosystem, flash, jimbalsillie, majority, overwhelming, smartphones, sooner-or-later, story, web-sites
Amazon sends ‘welcome packet’ to prospective app store devs
There's now little doubt that Amazon -- for reasons that may or may not be borne of sound mind -- is hard at work setting up its own app store ecosystem for Android devices. We've got a tiny bit more evidence of that today in the form of the complete welcome kit being sent out to prospective developers; there's not anything too mind-boggling in here, but let's break down some of the key points: From the wording, there's no question that the system is exclusive to Android -- at least initially
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: app store, critical, digital, ecosystem, holidays, materials, packaging-tool, promotional, prospective, result
Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone
There's no question that gaming on the Android platform has heretofore been relatively underwhelming, but that looks like it's all about to change. It seems that Sony Ericsson -- a company that has yet to even introduce an Android 2.0 device -- is at work on a project to redefine gaming on Google's mobile platform
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: ecosystem, ericsson, gamechanger, gaming, gaming-platform, mobile, psp, psp2, result, sony, sony-ericsson, sony-ericsson-xperia
Motorola rumored to have acquired Azingo, part of some grander OS plans?
This one isn't official just yet, but if some changes in employment status on LinkedIn is any indication, it looks like Motorola may have recently acquired mobile Linux OS company Azingo . It may not exactly be a major player in the mobile OS field, but its Linux-based Azingo Mobile OS does look to be capable enough (complete with a Webkit-based browser and Flash runtime), and the acquisition is especially interesting in light of some recent comments made by Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha . Back during Moto's Q1 earnings call, he said that he has "always felt that owning your OS is important, provided you have an ecosystem, you have all the services and you have an ability and the scale to execute on keeping that OS at the leading edge," adding that he continues to believe "that at some point, if we have all of those attributes, that owning our own OS will be a very important thing." Is Azingo Mobile that OS?
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: ecosystem, employment, linuxos, mobile, mobile-os, mobileos, motorla, motorola, result, rumor
Apple’s iPhone lockdown: apps must be written in one of three languages, Adobe in the hurt locker
Apple's already got a veritable novella describing things you can't do with the iPhone as a developer -- create apps that execute their own code is the biggie, obviously, blocking technologies Flash and Java in the absence of a loophole -- but it seems they've locked down the ecosystem just a little further today with the release of the iPhone OS 4 beta SDK.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: biggie, boon, compiler, documented, ecosystem, iphone, iphone os, iphone os 4.0, layer-or-tool, result, snippet
Verizon launching V Cast Apps on March 29th, RIM devices get first dibs
We're here at Verizon Wireless' LTE forum at CTIA 2010 , and a higher-up speaking about application development just let a sweet little nugget of information slip: the long-awaited V Cast Apps market will launch on March 29th (that's the new target, anyway). If you'll recall, we've been hearing about this portal ever since last summer, but we're guessing that a bona fide launch was put on pause in order to tweak things for Verizon's eventual LTE release (a bit we'll touch on here later). Initially, the BlackBerry Storm (and Storm2 , presumably) will be supported, with other RIM devices coming onboard shortly thereafter
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: BlackBerry, cdma, ecosystem, engadget, launch, lte, markets, rim, smartphone, v cast, vcast apps, wireless
Sony prepping new line of handhelds, including PSP phone?
You know who knows everything? People familiar with the matter. In particular, they know everything when "the matter" happens to be Sony's handheld strategy for 2010, which is said to finally include an honest-to-goodness PSP with phone capabilities -- something the world's been demanding for as long as they've wanted a Zunephone
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: ecosystem, entry, handhelds, kunimasa-suzuki, matter, Monster, netbook, online, playstation, playstation portable, psp phone, reader, remote-play, result
MeeGo: Nokia and Intel merge Maemo and Moblin
Well this one is a... doozy? Today Nokia announced a rather bizarre partnership with Intel
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, breakingnews, convenience, ecosystem, kallasvuo, niche-platforms, press-release, today-nokia