5 reasons why WebOS doesn't make the cut (Published on Rediff.com)

Read on Rediff.com

WebOS is one of the  innovative mobile OS platforms out there with a very unique interface. In fact it's card UI concepts have been adapted ( copied ) by other companies ( cough.. RIM) too. Palm's proprietary OS which is now HP's hasn't been very revenue generating though.

After what Apple did in 2007 with the iPhone, yeah they snatched market share from every other smart-phone manufacturer, all the mobile phone companies went crazy. Palm was one of them. Palm has seen some tremendous success in its time with Palm OS and devices like the Treo and Centro. However, the introduction of new devices to compete with the iPhone in 2009, viz. Palm Pre and then Palm Pixi later could hardly make a statement, irrespective of their aggressive yet unappealing marketing. HP saw use in WebOS and wanted to revive its mobile phone business and went on to acquire Palm to lead to one of the major acquisitions in the tech industry. HP now plans to embed WebOS into printers and PCs too.

Sure, there is tremendous potential in WebOS. In fact, its SDK is rated as one of the best platforms to develop for, on par with iOS SDK. Yet, most WebOS devices are still sitting in stores waiting for consumers to grab them. Following are the reasons why WebOS could not make it:-

1.  Attracting developers / Mediocre App Content

As earlier mentioned, WebOS does have a developer-friendly SDK. But it has certainly failed to attract many developers. The success of any mobile OS platform is directly proportional, to say the least, to the quality and quantity of the apps on it. The success of iOS and Android has always been directly linked to its App Store and App Market, respectively. On the other hand, WebOS has a mediocre ( Mediocre?? You kidding me? I was just being polite!) app store. It's in the news that HP is now gearing up by attracting developers to develop apps equivalent of the other platforms.

2.  Operator Collaboration

Mobile phones in the US and most European countries are sold with the concept of subsidy. There is a contract involved thus discounting on the price of the device which the operator charges indirectly over a period of say two years. This might look irrelevant to the readers from India and other countries but trust me it is not. Only the success of a device in it's primary and initial target markets will compel the manufacturers to foray into other markets or countries if you will. The reason Palm Pres and Pixis have not seen the light of day ( or even the darkness of night) in India is because it was a disaster in the North American market. Palm stuck to Sprint for a very long time, which itself was a sinking ship ( nah, it was a paper boat and still is). Apple on the other hand first approached Verizon and then Cingular (now AT&T) and was exclusive to AT&T for almost 4 years. That was a wise choice and the rest is history. Though WebOS devices are now offered on almost all operators in the US now, it will take a while to recover from the Sprint exclusivity debacle.

3.  Appeal / Form Factor of devices

Sure they are cute. But that is the problem. Palm's devices have always been uni-sexual in their appeal. I am not saying the Palm Pre is entirely feminine, but honestly the device appealed more to the fairer sex. Also, the size and unnecessary inclusion (many would think otherwise) of a physical qwerty keyboard could have reduced the overall appeal of WebOS devices.

4.  Touch feedback

WebOS devices have a very unique haptic feedback. Let me explain. When you click on an app or just any empty space on the screen, the screen responds by making few concentric circles at the point of contact. Feedback is very essential in devices especially the ones with touch-screens because we humans have seen some horrible touch-screens in our times ( also read as resistive touch-screens), but this feedback is unsatisfying and inconsistent.

5.  Marketing

Remember that Palm Pre commercial with that cute lady. Yeah I know, how can you forget that, and that too for all the bad reasons. The ads were irrelevant and did not portray what the device can actually do. Also, the mention of Sprint itself is a deal breaker,now that is going back to point 2. Well, Palm, that is not the way you introduce a revolutionary product ( at least they thought so ). HP has to learn a lesson or two from Apple in terms of marketing (and millions of lessons in other categories). Apple's commercials are subtle and to the point and there are no beautiful ladies to distract your attention. The device is the only form of beauty and elegance on the screen.

I know there are many Palm / HP fans out their waiting for the right WebOS device to be launched and released in their respective countries. Let's hope the next iteration of WebOS devices strikes gold. I don't see any success for HP with the TouchPad or the Pre 3 or the Veer.

P.S. : Please bear with my parenthesized sarcastic humor.

Must-have Android smartphone apps ( Published on Rediff.com)

Read on Rediff.com

Android is now a Mobile OS platform which cannot be neglected however skeptic you are about the whole openness of Android. It certainly has benefits over other OSs and it's business model is helping to gain and grab market share from it's competitors.

Android is the second biggest App store, second to Apple's. Though I would claim it has an app equivalent to most apps on other platforms, getting the right app can be a little cumbersome since Android does not have a very unified / organised App market. Also, it's openness has been criticized ( appreciated too by many) to attract independent developers which might lead to security loop holes. 

Okay, so let me cut the crap and get to some awesome apps you should have on your Android device. I am covering only smartphone apps for now ( the Android tablet app market is still very naive to comment on), and only the ones which are not on the build already, like Maps, Gmail, etc. Also, I am refraining from mentioning about games. The apps are not in the order of quality, rather in the order of frequency of use.

Launcher Pro

Android is open, fine! But most device manufacturers misuse this. We have the Touch Sense UIs, the Motoblurs, the Touch Wiz interfaces and so on sitting on top of the default Android UI and they suck big time. Launcher pro gives you  a ton of options for UI customization.

Facebook

Okay, the Facebook app for Android is far from perfect but is definitely the most used ( not useful, FB itself is such a waste of your precious productive time) app. The iOS counterpart is better in many ways but as there is not a very good alternative to this, Android users spend most of their smartphone time on this app. Certain features like sharing Facebook albums' photographs, etc are present on other platforms yet though. The Google + app is pretty cool too.

Advanced Task Killer Free

Android's true multi-tasking can be a little tricky sometimes. This gives rise to the need of manually managing the memory resources just like in our good old Windows. Of all the task managers out there, including the in-stock one, the Advanced Task Killer Free is the cheapest ( $0, can't get cheaper than that) and easiest to use.

Rock Player

This is probably the best video player out there for Android which supports most formats. The lite version has ads which do not interrupt the video substantially. The video is smooth and clear and satisfactory on a mobile phone.

Chrome to Phone

Register your phone and Chrome browser with this app and you are granted the power of sending any web link from your browser to phone instantly. It's more like Read-It-Later functionality, but on your phone.

Dropbox

This is the best productivity app out there. The option to view, download and share documents or any file for that matter makes it very appealing and a must-have. Documents are viewed using QuickOffice and the built-in pdf reader by default, which can be changed if alternate document viewers are installed.

Brightest Flashlight Free

Most Android phones have a camera and an LED flash too. The OS does not allow the flash to be continuously on and hence this app. I found this app easy to use and very simplistic. It makes a funny noise when launched though.

Google Music

Google Music Beta is an online music storing service where you can save your purchased ( or stolen for piracy sites) music in the cloud and play it from any device. There is an app for this on Android which plays your saved music both from your device and the cloud. The UI is impressive but a little laggy / buggy I must say.

Netflix

Netflix is finally out on most Android devices after having several hardware acceleration issues especially with NVIDIA processors. This is a must have for Netflix on-the-go users who watch Instant-Play videos on Netflix.

Browsers

The built-in browser is pretty slick and quick but lacks features like tabbed browsing, private browsing, etc. There are several browser replacements on the Android platform, viz. Skyfire, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, etc, etc. Dolphin browser's interface is neat and includes tabbed browsing. InBrowser can be used for private browsing.

Pulse

Pulse is a content aggregator with a beautiful interface. Several websites, blogs, RSS feeds can be added to this app for a one-stop access. You can also log into this app using Facebook connect to see the links and videos posted in your network.

QR Droid / Red Laser

These two apps are content directors. Use your phone's camera to point to a barcode or QR code and the app will direct you to a web page, app, give you contact details, product page with pricing and reviews, etc

Team Viewer

After a long wait i got Team Viewer installed on my Atrix without having to root the device. Team Viewer is the best fre VNC client. You can control your computer, share your desktop, etc using this VNC client. Another option is LogMe In Ignition, which is not free.

HeyWire

Heywire is a text/tweet/chat client. As it's tagline says " Text, tweet and chat like crazy", it certainly allows you to do that. The latest updates made this app fast and responsive. Facebook chat and twitter are integrated right into this app. This can be used to send free SMSs. The app issues you with an alternate phone number with which you can send SMSs. Pretty useful in the US where incoming and outgoing messages are charged $0.20.

Tango

Tango allows users to make cross-platform ( Andoid to iOS and vice versaFaceTime. Other services like Fring and Skype can also be used.

Sound Hound

Sound Hound works on an algorithm which identifies a song based on a recording a part of the song and checking it across it's own database. The app is almost accurate when you play the song. Might not work as expected when you sing into the app. Shazam is an alternative.

Zedge

Zedge is a one-stop shop for ringtones and wallpapers, all for free. The app is easy to use and has ton of options to personalize your phone.

Queue Tube

This app lets you play Youtube video's audio. Let me rephrase. You can queue youtube videos into this app so that only the audio from the video is played. This facilitates multi-tasking when trying to listen to a song on Youtube. 

Ustream

Ustream is for the amateur journalist out there who would like to stream live videos from their phone over 3G. The video quality is mediocre, yet will suffice.

Miscellaneous

Following is the list of apps I found useful and whose name is self-explanatory, hence no description is required.

Battery Status ( On Notification bar)

Auto Rotate Switch

CNN

Engadget

Cnet TV

Google Goggles

The list can go on and on. The more you use your device, the more interesting apps you ought to discover. 

Dear Soumyadip Choudhury, why do you hate Apple?

This is a very obvious response to this blog post from an avid admirer of Apple Inc. and its products. I personally have been very disgusted by this post and the hatred it has caused towards Apple Inc. over the internet. I am trying to be as polite as possible :) ( The smiley is intended to re-emphasize politeness)

Dear Soumyadip

I totally agree with your frustration over the delay of the launch of the latest Apple products in India. But this has very valid reasons. Firstly, India is not the only country in the list. Secondly, It is NOT UNETHICAL for a company to launch products in markets which have good selling potential. Just because Apple doesn't find India's market lucrative enough, it is not immoral on Apple's part and Apple or SJ are certainly not against India. Do you think a company like Apple would miss a market like India's if it thought it was profitable to launch products there? The reason you give for not owning even a single Apple product is respect? It is not true that Apple does not sell any of its latest products in India. Apple did partner with companies like HCL to sell iPods in India, which was not very successful, which is why it chose to delay the launch of certain products.

Coming to the prices of iPhone in India. Companies like Apple and many more sell mobile phones with the concept of 'subsidy'. A contract-free iPhone costs around $599, the reason it is being sold for $199 in the US is because it is subsidized by telecom operators like AT&T and Verizon. The same applies to the Indian market. The service providers ( Airtel and Vodafone ) have to be blamed for the sky-high, unaffordable prices.

Mac is a PC, true. But for a common man, PC is a device which runs Windows OS and that is the point and basis for the Mac VS PC commercials. PC is a generic word now, more generic to the Windows domain. Like how Googling is synonymous to searching on the internet, PC is to a windows machine.

No one can deny the fact that several devices have adapted the design and UI concepts from many Apple devices, be it tablets or mobile phones. Samsung did come up with its second iteration of the Galaxy Tab. But Why? Because it realized that 10.1 inches is a better form-factor than 7 inches and that is because of the tremendous success of the iPad. Just because Samsung launched its second tablet first does not make it a pioneer. Let's not forget, Apple started selling thousands of iPad 2s even before a single Galaxy Tab 10.1 was shipped.

The MacBook. Could there be a better design for a laptop? Hell no! There's nothing wrong with flaunting a device like that. I won't deny that it is not affordable to most people but is definitely worth every penny you  pay for it. When it comes to Macs, it is not the specs that matter. It is the hardware/software integration and overall experience that counts and no one does it better than Apple. 

Also, your blog post is not clear whether you are criticizing the tech by Apple ( by praising openness of Android and Linux ) or just have a problem with the delay of sale of awesome Apple products. No doubt about the success of Android. Remember, there are a ton of companies in the Open Handset Alliance and hence so many Android devices. Kudos to Apple as it competes with so many companies with just three devices, viz. iPhone, iPod, iPad.

Again, I share everybody's opinion over Apple not launching its products in India along with other major markets. Let's hope this changes soon.

Wishing SJ good health!

Kartheek Pathuri

(An ardent Apple fan)

Sym(bye)an

The Symbian platform! Does anyone remember it's glory? This is still the most successful Mobile OS platform ( Update 1/31/2011 ) but it's drastically loosing it's market share to giants like iOS and Android. It might be a little astonishing, but Symbian OS was one of the first ones that came up with the concept of apps. And it did have a well established app library. It had an app for almost everything. I remember having a ton of apps and games on my Nokia N70, none of which i bought. Websites like getjar.com, etc made it very easy to download and install apps on your Nokia mobile phones using Nokia's PC Suite. Just like in the browser segment, how Netscape was made extinct, Symbian lost it's glory and has become stagnant.

Nokia did try coming up with touch based OSes and tried to attract developers to create apps but failed miserably. Reasons? Well, firstly Nokia was loosing it's market share in the smartphone segment which discouraged the developers, also other blooming platforms like the iOS distracted them from Symbian. Also, Nokia did not come up with very intuitive devices to attract consumers or developers. They were very functional and feature rich for sure, but weren't as user-friendly as its competitors.

Nokia and the Symbian Foundation have to act fast to keep up in this rat race or it's just a BYE to Symbian.

Topic Suggestion: Ronak Bavishi.

Windows Phone Se7en

Well, I never thought the first post would be about a Microsoft product as I'm considered to be an Apple fanboy. Anyways, let me make it very clear that I'm not a fan of Apple Inc., I just appreciate what they do, the fact that everything they do is appreciable is a different matter ;)

Coming to the point, the reason I'm writing about Windows Phone 7 is that it's apparently very impressive. I believe that no body has the right to write a review about product like this without an actual hands-on. So I waited and waited till I got to see a Windows device live in action, and this was at an AT&T at Menlopark mall, New Jersey.

My friend Ronak Bavishi and me did not talk for almost an hour after playing with the Samsung Focus. Spellbound, awestruck, dumbstruck or whatever you wanna call it. Stunning device and amazing software!! The reason we felt like that was probably we did not expect something like that from Microsoft that sucked for a while now in the Mobile OS space.

Adapting the Zune UI onto a mobile phone is smart, but the way they did it is neat. The interface is so slick and intuitive that it does not require a user manual just like the iOS. This together with Samsung's hardware makes use and navigation a breeze. The tiles concept is a very different and innovative way to use a mobile device and people bored with an iPhone would definitely love it.

Now, The Name. Windows Phone 7 eh? Sucks big time!! See how catchy these names are : iOS, Android, WebOS? Microsoft does have a strong marketing campaign with AT&T advertising Samsung Focus, LG Quantum and HTC Surround, the posters are all over the place, that with 'Buy one get one free' makes it look like a prospective good purchase but the name of the OS could have been better.

Multitasking.. Well this is a highly debatable topic. Apple claims to have multitasking but Android is the only successful mobile OS that has true multitasking, which actually makes it difficult for a naive user. Microsoft did a good job by leaving it to the software by performing pseudo multitasking almost similar to the iOS.

Hmm, coming to the App marketplace. With industry leaders iOS AppStore and Android' Market, Microsoft has a loooong way to go to establish itself. They are doing a good job attracting the developers now, as many have already signed up (Not sure of Angry Birds though!).

In a jiffy...

The Good:-
Navigation - Concept of tiles

Fluid interface - almost no lag, credit shared by Microsoft and hardware manufacturer ( Samsung, HTC )

Brilliant display ( Samsung Focus )

Resources managed by software

Great mobile office suite

Obvious amazing Windows support

Xbox Live

The Bad:-

Limited number of apps/games on App Market

No cut/copy/paste

No support for flash

The Verdict:-

Windows Phone 7 : 7/10
Samsung Focus : 8/10

HTC Surround : 7/10

LG Quantum : 6.5/10

PS: My buddy Devesh Guha (The first follower of this blog!) took my advice and purchased the Samsung Focus.. Very much appreciated !! ;)