Some tech savvy wanted to switch loyalty from iPhone to Google’s Android powered smartphone. They, however, are forced to switch back to iPhone for the slow development of Android, says Harry Wang of Parks Associates

It is almost two years since Google launched Android but so far it has disappointed. After the initial hype, Harry Wang, analyst at Parks Associates, said he was surprised by how slow the rise of the software had been. “After the G1 was introduced I expected more products to arrive featuring Android. The pace is so slow,” he said.

Some have pinned the slow start on Google’s decision not to launch its own phone but to partner with a variety of providers. Announcing Android in November 2007, Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said the operating system was “more ambitious than any single Google phone”. “Our vision is that the powerful platform we are unveiling will power thousands of different phone models,” he said.

So far those phones have failed to materialise and the iPhone’s popularity has convinced developers to set aside their open source preferences to work on applications for Apple. As for consumers: “They care about the experience,” said Wang. “So far Android hasn’t offered much in that regard.”

Android Phone Finally Appears From HTC
High Tech Computer (HTC) unveiled its second Google Android-based smartphone, the HTC Magic, with mobile service provider Vodafone on Tuesday.
Specification:
The Dream is a quad-band touch-screen GSM 3G phone fitted with WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS capabilities, a 3-megapixel camera and a single USB port but no 3.5 millimetre headphone jack.

A microSD card of up to 8gigabytes can be fitted. Software includes a web browser based on Google’s Chrome application.

Bundled features include access to YouTube, Google Maps, including Street View, a music player, instant messaging and email.
HTC Dream in Picture

Adobe and Nokia pledge $10m for Flash and AIR apps,
A full-fledged version of the Adobe Flash player is coming soon to a whole slew of smartphones. Unfortunately, Apple’s iPhone isn’t one of them.

Adobe announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress here Monday that Flash Player 10, which is the full version of Flash that runs on PCs, will be available on smartphones running Windows Mobile, Google’s Android, Nokia S60/Symbian, and the new Palm operating systems. Devices with Flash Player 10 are expected to hit the market starting in early 2010.

The company has worked for years on a lightweight incarnation of its Flash technology for mobile phones. Adobe executives said that about 40 percent of all phones that are shipped today use this version of its technology. But because Flash Lite doesn’t allow for the same functionality as what’s available on the Flash 10 desktop version of the technology, mobile users are missing out.
Palm Pre too.

Lance Ulanoff of PC Mag thinks that the Palm Pre is the hottest product of CES 2009
The Palm Pre A touchscreen phone with a full QWERTY keyboard.

First of all, the specs are impressive: a large multi-touch screen, powerful processor, accelerometer, hidden QWERTY keyboard, multitasking, GPS, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and 3.2 megapixel camera… it offers real innovation. From a new app and tasks management metaphor known as “Cards” to the gesture area, this is a smart phone that’s breaking new ground.

Pre will give me what the iPhone and Bold (the former leader in my smartphone lust affections) can not: a full-sized touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard. The combination of touch screen and QWERTY keyboard is one of the reasons I fell in love with my Treo 700p. That thing is old, dust filled and hoary now, but once it was my beloved.

Like my old Treo, the Pre will be exclusive – at least initially – on the Sprint platform early in 2009. (There is no pricing info yet). For some, this is a downer, but Sprint has become a much better and more reliable service over the years and I have no complaints about the EVDO Rev A 3G service.
Palm Pre Smartphone

Is it possible some at Microsoft find the iPhone a more attractive platform than the software giant’s own Windows Mobile? Engineers in the company’s Live Labs on has released the company’s first application for Apple’s popular smartphone.

Whenever a new Smartphone is about to hit the market it will always get compared to the Apple iPhone. The BlackBerry Storm did, and now the Nokia N97 is, but it is a fairer comparison to put the N97 and the Storm together.

Apple moves into 2nd place in worldwide smartphone sales. Nokia continues to lead with a large percentage.