attila77 | # 61 | 2009-08-10, 14:59 | Report

Just a note. After a critical mass (which is not THAT much) of software, it doesn't matter how many apps you have. Really. It's the killer apps that count. It's not the zillion shareware useless trinkets that won the war for windows, either, but apps (bundles) like MS Office, Photoshop, etc. Ditto for iPhone. Only the marketing division and fanboys care if it's a 1000 or 100.000 apps if the killer apps are there.

Nathan | # 62 | 2009-08-10, 15:18 | Report

Looking at the pictures, it doesn't look like it has a stylus... Has anyone from Nokia confirmed it actually DOES have a stylus?

Nathan.

Bernard | # 63 | 2009-08-10, 15:26 | Report

According to wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appstore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourceforge

If the iphone is representative of a "large" developer community on a mobile platform and Sourceforge is an indication of the size of the open source initiative:
The apple appstore has 65.000 application, and on Sourceforge 230.000 projects are hosted.
So based on those figures I would say that the open source developer community is a large one compared to mobile platforms.

But maybe you are right and it isn't that large, but it very much depends on what your definition is of an "open source developer", and it is difficult to measure in any case.

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Last edited by Bernard; 2009-08-10 at 15:28.

ysss | # 64 | 2009-08-10, 15:46 | Report

@bernard:
Well the AppStore churned out 65000 apps in one year whereas sf has been around for 10. And are the 230k projects active ones with proper deliverables or not? Not to mention, many of the apps in sf are low level apps that may provide duplicate functionaliities of maemo \ mobile osx, making them irrelevant in this comparison.

BUT, on the other hand, a big % of apps in the appstore are single apps repackaged with different contents (ebooks, apps with regionalized contents, etc) AND they also got way too many junk kitschy apps (fart generators, etc).

Anyhow, aside from their output numbers, I don't think the 'motivation' of opensource developers is in line with what the mainstream consumers want. So, there lies the mismatch where the demand isn't being met by the suppliers.

Bernard | # 65 | 2009-08-10, 16:25 | Report

I agree that the comparison is flawed.

But I really think that the OpenSource initiative is very powerful with a large and very talented community of developers.

I don't know about the "mismatch". I think that any innovation in software is a positive one that ultimately helps average consumers.

GeraldKo | # 66 | 2009-08-10, 17:04 | Report

OK, call me a curmudgeon, but where does this optimism arise from with regard to software development for the N900 and future Maemo devices? If it's going to be so great in the future, why wasn't it in the past? I mean, not a single polished PIM for maemo, even though it's been four years since the N770 came out? That's a pretty basic app for the consumer. No good, bug-free word processor? And you can make fun of the stupid iPhone apps, but plenty of them are useful and beautifully executed, like the ones that find the movies near you and link them to IMDB reviews. By comparison, very few polished consumer-oriented special-purpose apps have been developed for Maemo over the past four years.

FOSS developers don't have the financial incentive to make apps for the mainstream consumer, though that clearly doesn't stop all such development, e.g., GPodder or FBReader. I have a sort of political-utopian orientation that leads me to root for (US English slang for "support" and "cheer for") open source and to despise monopolies, but, judging from the past, I don't see reason to expect major success in the future.

I'd gladly be wrong. Tell me why I am.

Team C | # 67 | 2009-08-10, 17:34 | Report

It looks like it is built into the phone.

Attached Images

 

sachin007 | # 68 | 2009-08-10, 17:36 | Report

I agree. But most of those trivial apps for everything could be bypassed with a good and powerful browser...and then there is google for the most useful apps.

My friend has an iphone. The apps he uses as far as i remember is:

1. Facebook
2. orkut
3. Chase bank
4. calculator
5. internet radio
6. weather
7. Google maps.

All those can be done with a good web browser.... I personally think there is no need to have an app for location aware services and anything which needs internet connection. Its better if app developers can make thier apps run on good old websites .... so they can work on any platform as long as the hardware is good enough.... that is the reason the desktop does not have apps for facebook, chase etc.

ysss | # 69 | 2009-08-10, 17:40 | Report

@sachin: if you think there's anything in iphone's sales numbers, you've gotta stop wasting so much energy in finding faults in it and actually try to learn something from it.

Why does it sell?
Why don't people look for the same solution on their handhelds as their desktop? (hints: the answer to why browser-based solution doesn't work as well on handhelds lie here).
What do people want and why?

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Last edited by ysss; 2009-08-10 at 17:59.

Laughing Man | # 70 | 2009-08-10, 17:55 | Report

I don't think it's the App Store (I think there was a report that most of the sales from the App Store were games, and other most used apps were just iPhone versions of websites like Facebook) as much as it's the iPhone itself that's driving sales.

But there are things to learn, such as usability, ease of access, etc..etc..