OnlyGizmos

When Google announced the open source Android, they kicked off a developers challenge to create apps for the Android platform. And they promised a whooping $10 million to be distributed for the best apps. So why does Google care so much for the apps? Why such a big amount? Its not that 10mln is too big for Google, but it is a significant amount.

My questions were answered by Apple’s Appstore for the iPhone! Apple recently launched the iPhone v2.0 with Appstore enabling 3rd party apps. And accorging to a WSJ report, Apple has already sold apps worth $30 million in the first month. If this trend continues, Apple takes home atleast $360 in revenues (offcourse a good part of that will go to the developers). But still, with the impending release of iPhone in many other countries, the figure will only rise.

iPhone is a close platform. Everything that comes in goes through a firm check, and anything that displeases Apple, won’t make it there. Still we see such good figures. This only makes me wonder, what is the real potential of Android?

Full coverage of the Android product launch!

image source

Apparently the activation process was tricky for Airtel due to some conflicts with TRAI regulations (rumored!), They seem to have finally cracked the issue. iPhone in India would run on EDGE untill 3G is rolled out next year.

Update: All iPhone India Updates on iPhone Help

Yes we are late to write on this, but we sure have some story to tell. iPhone will surely go down in the history books as one of the most hyped gadgets. And when its such a substance with good hype things do get spicy! Here is the showdown of the Apple iPhone 3G launch:

• Apple and Rogers faced downtime: Rogers brings the iPhone to Canada and the mad demand for the iPhone crashed their systems, resulting in a outage. Not surprising? Well then the Apple iTunes Registering system failure left millions of iPhones BRICKED. Many new buyers for the iPhone were sent back with unactivated device as the system was down. Adding to the traffic was the iPhone 1st gen customers upgrading to the iPhone Firmware V2.0.
• The transition form .mac to MobileMe the new seamless data integration service from Apple was delayed. And went online late.
• Many AT&T stores and later the Apple Stores then turned back customers apparently due to stock issues. Though TechCrunch suspected that the iPhone shortage might have been fake, here is the complete picture at iPhoneHelp.
• Not too concerning but some reports of defective LCD (like last time)
• Bad news for Apple that the iPhone 3G reviews have given a THUMBS DOWN to the BATTERY life. read the review
• The AppStore is live and is a Super Hit as expected! More on the AppStore here
• So here we are awaiting the second wave of iPhone 3G launch across the globe, Stay tuned!

With the launch of iPhone SDK and the subsequent release of iPhone Firmware Version 2.0, 3rd party applications now become official for the iPhone. The online Apple Online Applications Store for the iPhone is live with 500+ softwares (and games) out of which many are totally FREE.

Tonnes of applications were seen on Jailbroken iPhones earlier. But most of them were buggy and out test handset at iPhone Help had to be restored almost once a week. Now powered by the official SDK (Software Dev Kit) companies like Sega has some supergames for the iPhone. The ones who have previewed it confirm that the graphics of these games are excellent! Also Applications would change the way you use your mobile. MLB.com presented an application showing latest scores, real-time video highlights of almost all games. eBay also has its own app for the iPhone now!

Tired of using Meebo and Fring for chatting on Gtalk, well we have some good news. Google has released a new specially optimized version of Gtalk for the Apple iPhone (and iPod touch). We also read about Google customizing its ‘Google Reader’ for the iPhone, and now the ‘Google Talk’ IM. Google has realised the power of the iPhone Safari, which makes internet surfing on mobile better than ever before.

Although the 1st Gen iPhone never made it to Asia officially, we saw thousands of them coming in Unlocked and selling like Hot Cakes. But this might not be the case with New iPhone 3G which is due to launch in India and several other countries later this year.

The original iPhone were sold by Apple Stores (online and offline) without a AT&T contract activated. This allowed traders to purchase these devices from Apple and instead of going over to AT&T to activate a plan under the 2yr contract with them, the devices were exported out of the US. But this time around since the iPhone’s are significantly subsidized by Apple / AT&T (starting @ $199) a lot of care has been taken to avoid a similar situation.

The new Apple iPhone 3G wont sell online ++ you cannot buy it without activating a service plan from AT&T (even at the Apple stores). So we believe that this time iPhones wont make it to the Grey markets and fans would have to wait for the official launch by Vodafone and Airtel.

Since the supply of the original 1st Gen iPhone has stopped the Grey Market rates for the same has jumped by nearly Rs 9000 ($200) in India.