AT&T First Android Phone HTC Lancaster Leaked [feedly]

AT&T First Android Phone HTC Lancaster Leaked>

Engadget apparently hit upon the motherload of AT&T powerpoints: Slides detailing the Palm Eos, a new HP iPaq and probably most thrilling, HTC Lancaster (aka the Android phone we've been waiting for).

I've always wondered what Android would be like on a Touch Pro, that's basically Lancaster. There is the dreary little note that "Initial Lab Entry dates were based on Google Mobile Services (GMS) UI, AT&T standard UI has been requested, which puts schedule in question" meaning AT&T could muck it up with their own UI, and take longer putting out the phone in the process. Its target date is Aug. 3, and it'll be AT&T-exclusive for six months it looks like. Update: Oops, didn't notice at first the screen resolution is a bit too squee for our tastes (240x320). Bummer.

The Palm Eos slide basically just confirms everything from before: emaciated WebOS phone with 4GB storage and AT&T all over it.

Update: Oh look, a whole bunch of BlackBerrys are now confirmed for AT&T too—Onyx, Gemini, Magnum and a 3G Pearl.

AT&T's fall lineup is looking pretty unassailable at this point: With iPhone 3, a WebOS phone, and a solid Android piece, all of their bases are covered, with the exception of a touchscreen BlackBerry, but um, who really wants one of those now? Good thing AT&T's network blows, since the other carriers have their work cut out for them. [Engadget]

[link to original | source: Gizmodo | published: 13 hours ago | shared via feedly]

MOBILE NEWS: 5 stories you should now about

All the stories all linked.

The theme is the impact new platforms are having on the market, and reactions of companies to try to catch up or how they lead the way



Nokia, reporting a 90 per cent fall in profits for Q1 2009. (shame big fan of the N series for years very good phone, all though its iPhone all the way now for me)

Net profits reached €122m, heavily down on the €1.2bn in the same period in 2008.

Sales were also down, dropping 27 per cent from €12.7bn last year to €9.28bn. However, the results were not as bad as many had predicted, the result of which was an eight per cent increase to the company’s share price.

Samsung steps on to a new platform with Google Android handsets soon to be released S8000 will be sporting the exciting mobile OS.

Samsung is also believed to be planning a trio of Android devices.

Sony Ericsson confirm that it will be revealing more details on its Entertainment Unlimited service on May 28th.

The company has already confirmed that the Idou – its first Entertainment Unlimited handset – will be launched in the second half of this year. Entertainment Unlimited itself broadly unites Walkman music, Cyber-shot imaging and Java gaming, with messaging and other services/apps also in the mix.

It also allows consumers to share content through the TV, PC and wi-fi and syncs with web applications and PlayNow.

The company earlier confirmed a massive pre-tax loss for Q1 09, albeit in line with earlier forecasts, and swiftly embarked on a €400m cost savings drive that will see 2,000 more jobs go this year.

PSP platform opened up the store to encourage uptake with tomorrow's 5.50 firmware upgrade removing the need for a PlayStation Network account to browse the store.

As long as a wi-fi connection is at hand, any PSP user will now be able to check out the latest games, trailers and demos available to download on the machine.

The 5.50 update also allows for access to the PSN Information Board via the machine’s XMB interface.

DSi sells 435,000 units in first US week

In an official response to the NPD's March 2009 sales numbers, Nintendo revealed that the Nintendo DSi handheld - released April 5, has sold 435,000 units in North America in its first week.

This figure surpasses initial sales of the handheld's previous iteration, the Nintendo DS Lite, which sold 226,300 in its first week on the market.

MOBILE: All the key stuff from the last 5 days

Symbian remains by far the most popular smartphone OS on the market. (for now)

New research from Gartner shows that for the fourth quarter of 2008 Symbian based smartphones accounted for 47.1 per cent of the sector’s total sales, with 17.9m handsets sold.

Blackberry-owning RIM was next at 19.5 per cent (7.4m units)
Microsoft Windows Mobile at 12.4 per cent (4.7m units)
Apple trailed with a 10.7 per cent market share (4.1m units)
Linux 8.4 per cent (3.2m units).

Of the Linux figure, Google Android phones (of which these is currently just one – the T-Mobile G1) accounted for 20 per cent – or 1.7 per cent of the total market.

Take Apple as a single device vendor and the numbers become very impressive for Apple – particularly considering that the numbers represent a 111.6 per cent year-on-year hike. Nokia, in contrast, suffered a 21.6 per cent annual drop. Personally I give Apple 2 to 3 years to take over......watch this space for the mini iphone and some other variations to give them more market share. And why not there OS is far superior, tech they produce is the best looking and the distribution channel tops all the competition. So if you want to beat Apple or stay in the market you need to be at least as good......but hell why not go for being better!

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Pop cap releases bookworm on the iphone (I think we will see more and more ports of popular casual games find there way to this platform)

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8 Million iphone downloads for digital chocolate (paid & free)

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GDC 09: iPhone games publisher Ngmoco head Neil Young today opened GDC with a keynote heralding the big changes the iphone & itouch have brought to the games market for developers and publishers.

He then outlined how the iPhone has changed the industry in four key areas: the market, games themselves, game making and publishing.

THE MARKET (ovierview)

800m App Store downloads of the 25,000 apps available, and how 165 apps are released released every day.

Even though the App Store is incredibly 'cluttered', the point to envy is how Apple has normalized digital distribution of game content, said Young.

He said: "Apple have trained 30m people to download and and install applications on their phone where ever they are. It is an amazing process we are witnessing."

And as games are largest part of the App Store, this is an "awesome opportunity" to generate revenue.

Full story

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UK telecoms company T-Mobile has stated that the average owner of the HTC Google Android phone the G1, which is exclusive to the network in the region, has downloaded 40 apps from the Android Market.

PocketGamer reports that the network’s CTO Cole Brodman added that there are around 2,300 games and applications currently available for download. He also stated that 80 per cent of G1 users surf the internet on their handset every day.

However, Brodman added that as the number of apps increases, the Android Market has become increasingly hard to navigate – particularly when compared to Apple’s App Store.

The exec went on to say that T-Mobile has big plans to expand its 3G network to accommodate the increased data usage encouraged by handsets such as the G1.

NEWS: Gaming will soon be a part of everyday for most people

1. DS breaks 100 million barrier

What does this mean? it means another bit of the puzzle that will lead to gaming becoming something that will be part of most peoples lives. May be it will take another generation or 2 but soon everyone will play games (electronic games as I challenge you to find me people who don't play a game in one form or other)

2. Paid apps arrive on Android market

Now developers can start to monetize there devs, and if Google are smart they will make the APP store as good as Apples store. (apple really have shown the mobile companies how its done) In case you haven't tried it its the best experience I have ever had on a mobile. This further expands the reach of gaming.

3. 6000 games now available from APP store

Ok so not everyone has an iphone or ipod touch, but look what Apple have achieved so far and give it a few years and it could be a standard platform, They have dominated music download market and I bet they do the same here, they are actively increasing the expose of gaming to NONE gamers.

4. Xbox 360 takes half of its consoles online

A strong indication that people want to play together and be more social, while having the convenience of DLC and added unique features that DLC brings, the more social people are them more they explore other games and ulitmatley they invite non gaming friends to join, if you get an email or SMS telling you your buddy is playing with your other buddies online somewhere and you not invloved you are gonna feel left out at some point. Think Scraboulous

5. Over 5 million Players daily for Mafia Wars

Facebook game Mafia wars by Zynga (copy of MOB wars) is further indication that gamining is penetrating deeper and deeper in to society utilizing any possible channel, in this case social networks are fast becoming a hub of gaming activity.

Several things do need to be worked out to keep us on track as our industry does have its problems like any.

Game Link - This weeks casual games news

Week Round up.

1) New Event to Be hosted called "The future is online"

2) Lead Economist talks about Eve and the virtual economy

3) Microtransactions make it to mobile with Supper Boom Boom

4) Game loft pledge 10 titles for Android (google)

5) Atari sale is completed

6) Sega launches free to play casual games site

7) Sony to launch digital distribution for PSP (big opportunity for casual games)

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The Future is Online, says GameHorizon | Game Development | News by Develop: "GameHorizon is to hold a MMO-focused event in Newcastle next week.

Called 'The Future is Online', the evening will take a look at what it takes to be successful in the online space, and how studios can make the transition to online."

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Dr. Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, the Lead Economist at CCP, developer of EVE Online, talks about the impact of what's essentially a real-world economy in a virtual world.

by Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, PH.D. on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
My Turn: The Birth of the First Virtual Nation

It has been over 30 years since online virtual worlds have started to emerge in the form of MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons). Over this time period several variants of virtual worlds have emerged, with each form having different opportunities and challenges for the developers.

Stating that the economy in EVE is realistic is wrong. The economy in EVE is actually just as real as our real life economies, by all measures and definition of economic value based on economic theory. This fact has great implications in terms of how to interpret information from economies in virtual worlds, and shows that economics must be used as a fundamental feature in the design and operation of these worlds.

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A sequel to last year's Super Boom Boom, the one-button action game features five stages with bosses, three unlockable extra stages, casino mini-games, a driving mode, and a nationwide leaderboard.

Gamevil claims that Super Boom Boom 2's microtransaction system will cover 98% of available handhsets, enabling players to purchase G-Points (in-game currency), which can be exchanged for new stages, items, and mini-games. The G-Points can be earned for free while playing the game, but users can bypass that step by purchasing them.

The company's previous forays into microtransaction-enabled mobile games include Baseball Superstars 2008, which reportedly saw 1.3 million downloads withing 10 months.

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Gameloft plans 10 titles for Android, Google's open source mobile platform.

Bubble Bash, which is currently available for the iPhone and other mobile devices, will be the first Gameloft title to launch through the Android Market content distribution system in the first quarter of 2009.

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Atari is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames. The acquisition will enable Atari to expand its distribution capabilities and online initiatives.

by James Brightman on Monday, October 13, 2008
Infogrames Completes Atari Acquisition

Infogrames' plan to buy the outstanding stock in Atari, first revealed back in March, is finally complete. The French publisher now owns all of Atari, as compared with 51.4 percent before the acquisition.

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Sega has taken the wraps off of a new casual games site with free-to-play games. PlaySega features a wide variety of titles in addition to Sonic-based gaming.

by James Brightman on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sega Launches Casual Portal PlaySega.com

It's been somewhat under the radar, but Sega has launched a new casual gaming portal with free-to-play games at PlaySega.com. The portal (currently in beta) features an assortment of arcade games, puzzle games, card games, quiz games, word games, sports games, and Sonic games, the first being Sonic at The Olympic Games. There are apparently more than 30 new titles in development for the site.

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SCEE: Digital distribution to "ignite" PSP development

The PlayStation Portable's new distribution methods will spur on creative development for the handheld, according to Zeno Colaço vice president of publisher and developer relations for SCEE.

Colaço described how the combination of digital distribution with the increased functions of the PSP 3000, announced at the Leipzig Games Convention, would make the handheld a more compelling platform for developers to work on.