20th MobileMonday Taipei Event Report By Steve Follmer
Posted on: May 7, 2009 – Filed under: Taipei
>Steve Follmer consulted in Silicon Valley for many years, where he co-founded live365.com. He is currently between startups and analyzing opportunities in the mobile space. Steve holds a BSE degree from Princeton University.
20th MobileMonday Taipei Event Report
20th MobileMonday Taipei – Windows Shopping: the Future of Windows Market Place for Mobile
MoMo 20 was held April 20, 2009, at Mary’s Bistro in downtown Taipei, where we gobbled down Australian pizza and three presentations.
FFirst off was Vincent Chiang of Microsoft Taiwan, presenting their .NET Micro Framework. In a word, it turns feature phones into smart phones. The framework is already in use on devices such as Garmin navigation devices and Comcast set top boxes; the version for cell handsets will launch later this year. Nicolas Sauvage and Open-Plug are assisting local manufacturers with integration. The platform is fully elaborated here.
Next, Kai Su of iMobile Mind discussed their experience developing for the Windows Mobile platform. They have extensive worldwide expertise generating custom turnkey solutions for industries including field service, healthcare, hospitality, real estate etc. Industry data shows double digit annual growth across numerous industries enjoying extensive deployments of handset and PDA “Enterprise Mobility Solutions”. Check out their powerpoint.
Finally, Johnson Huang, a Microsoft MVP at Delta Electronics, shared his positive experiences developing for Microsoft. Their “Windows Marketplace for Mobile” boasts 20,000 applications, with developers cut in for 70% of revenues, as seems standard. In particular, Johnson explained how VUI (Voice User Interfaces) are particularly suitable for handset apps. The presentation can be downloaded here.
Over the last 3 sessions, we’ve seen what Apple, Google, and Microsoft are bringing to the mobile world. Revolutionary not just on technical merits, they also level the playing field for consumer and developer alike, by bringing the carriers to heel, and through a veritable mall of app stores. With handsets being upgraded on an annual basis in many countries, what will the league table look like a year from now? Microsoft and RIM have strong established user bases, but Apple has the inside track, and nobody is counting Google out. We live in interesting times.