Wednesday, January 25, 2006

It's in the cards...

From my SF desk...

Okay, the Treo 650 has a lot of great features. A substantial main memory is not one of them. With only 24MB at the user's disposal, half of which can be taken up by an email program--particularly if you are one of those folks who hate to delete--there isn't much room left for great applications such as Mobileplay. Enter the SD Card. I picked up a 1gig version on sale at CompUSA for only $50! That's a lot of data storage. As many of you are aware, the beta version of MP does not currently support SD Card storage of apps and data. But never fear, we have heard your cries of distress and our engineers are hard at work fixing this solution for the next rev of our product. Stay tuned! Among other things, later this spring we hope to offer you the capability of downloading not just HTML, not just apps but also audio and video via the MP sync--all of which, naturally, will go on the storage card, leaving you with the ability to not delete emails to your heart's content.

Happy Syncing!

What's Next?

Written at the kitchen table...

Hope everybody is logging in to your accounts on the web or checking out the recommended list ("+" sign) on your device. We have just added several new content partners that we are pretty excited about. Flavorpill, which pulls together the creme de la creme of nightlife info, is providing us with city guides for five top-destinations: NY, SF, CHI, LA and London. About.com, one of the most popular web destinations, has compiled some nifty lifestyle tips and tricks. Coming soon is a killer app from Fodor's, the travel guide specialists, with hotel, restaurant, museum and venue listings for dozens of cities around the globe. Then we have some new, challenging sponsored games: Folder Follies and Venture Quest. More FREE fun.

We, of course, welcome our users' suggestions for more content to add. If you haven't done so already, please fill out the "We want to know what you think" user feedback survey on your mobile device. Or post your comments to this blog.

Happy Syncing!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

New Toy, No Joy

Written at the Mobileplay conference table...

As a gadget geek AND mobile software developer, I must admit to feelings of mixed emotions every time I see a new device released. My pulse leaps a few rungs at the thought of another cool toy, but then my heart sinks when I peruse the specs and suddenly realize this means yet another screen configuration or OS we have to optimize for. Yikes! Such were my feelings recently when I got my hands on the new Treo 700. It's a pretty nifty device but poses some interesting dilemmas for developers. First of all it has a square screen when just about every other Win Mobile device has a rectangular screen. Secondly, it has the two button menu navigation system that Smartphone users will be familiar with, but also a touch screen. So is it a Pocket PC phone or a Smartphone? Actually, it's a hybrid of the two. And then there's the new Win Mobile 2005 operating system. More obstacles to resolve. Anyway, we know our users will want us to support this device...So the new gadget grin fades into a frown as I grab my laptop to draw up a new product spec.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Why an application?

Welcome to Mobileplay's blog. I want to thank everyone who has been helping us to test our new software for viewing content on your mobile device.

Let's face it, the "browser" model of content delivery on mobile devices-- opening a browser, typing in a a URL, establishing a connection, waiting for a page to download, waiting for the next page to download, losing your connection in the middle of the download... is sheer agony. Browsers were designed for desktop computers with mouses and keyboards and generally reliable connections. We offer an alternative.

With a couple of taps or clicks we will go and fetch your favorite content--optimized by our software for viewing on your device, cache it, and allow you to view it offline. And unlike mobile RSS Readers, we have partnered with content providers like Astrology.com, USA TODAY, The Sporting News, Fodor's, Weather.com to bring you the full article. Not just a headline and synopsis.

Coming soon are some really powerful applications to bring you restaurant & hotel listings, movie listings in your area, as well as cool ad-supported (and thus free) games, puzzles (Sudoku!), trivia, and more. Stuff RSS readers could never even dream of doing.

We are still in beta and still a work in progress so we hope our users will help us to make this an even better service. So send us your feedback and happy syncing!