In terms of gadgets, how will you remember 2010?
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Top 5 most exciting gadgets of 2010
They are all jumping on the Android bandwagon…
Isn’t it funny to see everybody name checking Android? About a year ago, when I told tech savvy friends I was developing for Android, I got blank stares and the usual “why not the iPhone?”. Six months ago, the same friends became vaguely aware that there were other smartphones besides the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Now, those same friends are bragging about their new HTC Desire!
The amount of books for Google Android has surged dramatically over the last few months and quite a few more are announced for the Fall. It’s exciting times. Or not. One such book – admittedly still only released as a “rough cuts” on Safari Online – seems to be an iPhone book regurgitated for Google Android. By that, I meant that there are glaring mistakes, including talking about the approval process taking several weeks! Clearly, the author hasn’t even bothered to check with an Android developer, or he would have found out there is no approval process.
So jump on the Android bandwagon if you must but please, do your homework first, no one likes reading stuff that was clearly written for another market! (The irony is that the book I refer to is about marketing your apps – talk about sending the wrong message to your market!).
AdMob announces accounts will be transferred to Google
AdMob has sent a newsletter to its publishers today, confirming Google buyout which took place on 27th May and asking publishers to sign a revised Terms of Service to enable transfer of the account to Google. The transfer to Google accounts is due to take place on 7th July.
AdMob is an ad service with a SDK for iPhone and Android developers, enabling them to show ads in their apps. In my experience, the payouts have fallen quite a lot over the last few months – I wonder if it is because there are too many publishers for not enough ads?
Anyway, as Google AdSense for mobile apps is only available within the USA and Canada at the moment, I am curious as to the effect of Google on AdMob ads inventory – hopefully, more advertisers will flock to the network and payouts will go up again 
Android vs iPhone – Android wins the web traffic battle in the USA in March 2010 (according to AdMob metrics report)
AdMob is an ad network for web internet and mobile phone applications and they publish a metrics report every month. Until March, the #1 operating system for smartphones in the USA was the iPhone but in March 2010, Android took over, with a few percents lead.
You can find the report here and the actual graph is on page 9 of the report. The figures are based on ad requests – that is, every time someone goes to a mobile web page or app that displays an AdMob ad, AdMob adds one to the counter. AdMob is one of the biggest provider of ads for the mobile market so this gives a good snapshot of the current market.
The iPhone still has the lead on the international market but Android is slowing eating away at its share of the market.
Of course, as an Android developer, I am very pleased 
Why I chose Google Android
Like many other programmers wanting to get into the smart phone market, I assumed the iPhone was the way forward. That is, until I looked into it. Back in July 2009, I decided to move my programming efforts towards the mobile phone and I explored my options.
My first research was the iPhone, then the Blackberry, then Nokia. They all seemed to be quite difficult for the solo programmer, requiring a long waiting time for approval of apps and/or a complex registration process. Then I came across Google Android. Open source. Open to all programmers. Simple and cheap registration process ($25).
Six months on, I’m still developping for Google Android and I’m trying to turn this into a full income. Over the next few months, I will be charting my progress on here. I will be adding the posts to the list below: