samiq

just take a look at http://bit.ly/cUF0zC and see the disruption of experience there is between the myriad of flavor implementations in android... just for a single task which btw... is not implemented across all phones.

android still has a good way to go to catch up and in order to google get there they have to add more control to the experience and succeed because it is good and not because is good enough

I can't but agree with MG... even when he is an apple fan boy diehard... for the most part everything he writes has some point of trueness.

For me, as a entrepreneur and with a product targeting both platforms, the experience with android has made me think twice the whole idea of iphone and its appstore stupidity, in a way where it makes me believe they are there for a reason.

Apple provides probably the best user experience for a mobile phone out there, everything is consistent, simple and geared to make the life of their users likewise... and apple enforces this but also they provide tools so that we as developers stay that way with not too much pain.

Android on the other hand stays too much to its Linux parenthood... yes it's open, yes you can do lots of stuff with it, it even can power the coffee pot if you wanted it to... but everything comes at a price! And the price that google has have to pay for that "flexibility" comes in direct impact of the experience... and microsoft seems to have learnt this too, hence the level of control they are putting back on the WP7.

Google has to pick up the ball while there is still time... provide developers with the right tools so we don't go reinventing the warm water everything we need to do something and provided them so that it remains consistent with the experience the have created with the phone... and enforce OEMs to do the same.

Now will google do this before apple pulls the trigger on new carriers for the iPhone or before WP7 takes power?... I hope so, as competition is always good for innovation.

in the mean time I will keep my Galaxy (with its 12+ carrier stupid apps) at lab for testing purposes and will carry my iPhone for the every day experience.

I just hang up on my gf who is, literally, in the other side of the world (i'm in seoul, she is in costa rica) and were discussing the same stuff.

we work together, at the distance, she spent the first 7 months of this year here with me and now we have a few months aside... and quality time, distraction-free, thru skype makes wonders and is needed no matter what.

when were together here we'd go to momments of solitud where we'd focus on each other, this not only made us relax and forget about all the project's stuff it nurtured our relationship.

I don't know if Brad's policy of answering the phone is wrong or good, but seriously guys work is just a mean to be happy... been with ur SO is been happy.

I think us as entrepreneurs will tend to let ourselves go with all the crazy stuff that goes on launching a project or staying ahead of the google's, apple's and facebook's stilling our thunder... but we cannot let all that take our life just as well.

nice post and thanks for sharing!

with the iOS event today and the numbers that apple disclosed today I guess is to be seen how microsoft can leverage the mobile space. as a mobile entrepreneur I start to think how much it will take for them to start making a dent in the mobile space...

I hope to see zune hardware to be making the rounds as well, ipod + iphone pretty much rulz the mobile space regardless of how android is playing right now

what do u guys think?

I'm in seoul and it has not frozen once... and the streaming quality is HD... sadly due to their streaming tech it only works on apple products

the asian market is for the most part untapped by the western world, sometime because of ignorance to the market and sometimes by culture difference. nonetheless the east asian market (china, korea and japan... especially the last 2) is probably the most digital of the world. I've never seen more screens in front of people's eyes as I have in my 2 years living here in korea, it's a gold mine if you know how to approach it... but there resides the challenge, approaching it, which for the most part is a close culture, takes local help and that's what I guess these guys are offering.

maybe we should keep an close look here and see what will they bring to the table. 'cause if it works it may be a new opportunity door to start making the cross over.

thanks for sharing! undoubtedly a great part of history written there and great incentive to all of us entrepreneur.

one thing that strikes every time I read this success stories is how passion and love for the task on hand is always present. something that is getting more and more lost with some of today's riders of the bubble

I think this is part of the startup thinking that lives within apple itself... when u move to corporate america then you start worrying less for the average joe who saves money to go cash it on ur goods... look at msft

Why I can't afford it : I'm a grad student from Costa Rica researching in South Korea. I'm about to launch my thesis project as a product here in Korea (http://www.discovr.net) and I'm very much deep in blogs, videos and books learning about bootstrapping and launching a startup while I code and manage 2 under-grad students from Costa Rica who are helping me bring the project to life (iOS, Android and Server)... everything under the budget and time of a grad student... u guys do the math :) - hint: I only get to sleep 4h a day and I'm exited!

My commitment: For more than a year now I've been running a twitter account (innovacr) where I curate articles, books and talks about innovation and entrepreneurship with the mission to foster innovation in Costa Rica (my home country) and this week I've put the final touches to a posterous site that will be used to accommodate similar findings but in a more search and read-friendly approach along with adding comments of my own and guest leaders not only in innovation but also in how we can make a better job at changing the mindset of fellow costarricans towards bootstrapping and startup founding. You can take a look at the new website at http://www.innovatiquicia.com . Whether I get selected or not my commitment is already on the run but I assure you that if I do get selected I will do my best to bring the goddies of the conference not only in practice in my project but into the innovator community of costa rica, which btw is one of the most technology advanced in latin america.

cheers!

there is something about Prolog and ML-like languagges that makes them unique and powerful, but also makes their approach a bit difficult to grasp at first sight.

as the article puts it, it's just a new way of thinking that you have to put on yourself... a new way of putting the right things together and then let the magic happen... somehow letting us wondering how it works.

even though I think more of what we do nowadays fall into the magic hat, the forward thinking and keeping developers feeling "under control" of the structured programing languages is what have made them keep ruling... maybe we need a bit more of UX build on functional and predicate languages to go a bit with the change of mind.

good feedback... I'm reading thru it right now and have found there is great stuff there... I'm half way thru already!

specially for entrepreneurs I found that knowing the way people go around your products and providing the tools for people to take them to the next level is key nowadays.

there is so much a startup can make, but by providing the right features for the majority and a platform for your lead users and crafters to build upon, makes you set your self as the founding platform while focusing on the long run and keeping the boat going.

somehow I feel this is a shot to the close environments that the Apple's of world are putting around products like the iDevices... build great products but also give the chance for others to innovate freely on top of that!