Daily Marauder

WIRELESS

There is nothing worse than waiting for a mobile browser to fire up on your mobile phone (especially if it’s AT&T). That is why mobile apps customized for your phone still tend to deliver a better experience than going through the browser. Anyone building mobile apps knows this. Cut out any unnecessary steps and lag time, and the usage of your mobile app will go up. The folks on the Google Mobile team live by this rule and have been working hard to make their mobile apps faster (for search, Gmail, Maps). (More at MobileCrunch)  Below is a chart from Google showing how usage of Gmail on the iPhone took off once latency issues were resolved. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/19/google-mobile-learns-the-need-for-speed-but-is-still-not-fast-enough  3/19)

Remember that grand announcement from Verizon Wireless late last year that it was opening up its network? The company disclosed further details of how it plans to do this. Third party device makers who want access to Verizon’s 65 million customers can strike a direct deal with Verizon or buy wholesale minutes/data from the carrier and resell them under their own brand. Verizon has also released technical specs and best practices to guide application developers. (Cynopsis, 3/20)