Apps
Novatel shows off next-gen GPS-enabled MiFi, integrated ‘apps’ (video)
Feb 19th
If you haven’t freaked out and given up on after they were shown to be, well, a , good for you, because there’s good things in store. Novatel is working on a new revision of its routers with integrated GPS, USB charging, and what’s pledged to be better battery life. Perhaps most interesting among the revisions is firmware able to run Linux “apps” that display content within the MiFi’s admin webpage. Current apps are things like data usage and weather but the possibilities are endless — or slightly broader than weather and usage, at least. It’s unclear which (if any) of the current MiFi models will be also be blessed with this firmware update and its resplendent selection of homebrew widgets, but we do know that the new MiFi model will be hitting carriers sometime toward the middle of 2010 and will be selling unlocked around the end of the year.
originally appeared on on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:49:00 EST. Please see our .
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Mobile companies band together and rise against Apple
Feb 15th
When one thinks of mobile apps, it’s tough to think of anything other than the ones for the iPhone. There’s an app for that rings through our heads as TV commercials and websites reveal to us that the iPhone is the platform of choice when businesses want to develop mobile apps. Apple now has a little over 175,000 apps in its store and over 3 billion have been downloaded to date. Attempts to topple Apple have probably left the company thinking, “You and what army?”
An army of 24 mobile companies, that’s who. AT&T, Verizon, Spring, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and so many more big names are banning together to form Voltron Wholesale Applications Community or WAC. While it’s not the most exciting name, the WAC is looking to bring more excitement to the mobile application space, but how well can it compete with Apple? It’s , and most of those efforts have failed, although to be fair, none were quite this large in scope.
Right now, Apple’s ecosystem works and it works well. Even though app store approval process has been a headache to most developers, it hasn’t stopped Apple’s success. Is that the recipe for an app store that works? Could the WAC be spoiling the broth with too many cooks?
[via ]
