Category Archives: Smartphones

Could Android become the OS for everything? Ford thinks so…

Fascinating news today from Ford (by way of Mashable’s Christina Warren): the automaker has just released the first version of their SYNC AppLink platform, allowing hands-free voice control of Android and BlackBerry applications to drivers of SYNC-enabled Ford cars. The company is working on an API for developers who want to tie their smartphone app continue…

Excellent mobile web share analysis by Quantcast

Web analytics provider Quantcast has just released their 2009 Mobile Web Trends Report, a fascinating snapshot of the explosive growth in smartphone adoption and use worldwide. The Apple iPhone phenomenon isn’t exactly news, but the report will help you visualize just how mind-blowing their 30-month rise from zero to 60% global share of mobile web continue…

Announcing our latest Founder’s Co-op Investment: Urban Airship

I’m excited to announce that Founder’s Co-op just completed an investment in Urban Airship, a new mobile infrastructure company that’s making it radically easier for smartphone developers to implement core features like push messaging and in-app transactions. The deal is is a first for us in several ways: it’s our first significant investment outside Seattle continue…

Do iPhone developers care about the iPad? Here’s a data point…

I picked up an interesting factoid this week from AppStoreHQ – a Founder’s Co-op portfolio company that offers iPhone app search, discovery and social recommendations. In addition to their consumer-facing site, the company also owns and operates iPhoneDevSDK, the leading independent community site for iPhone developers. iPhoneDevSDK has over 20,000 registered members, but also picks continue…

Carrier-free cellphone coming in early 2010?

In March of this year I speculated that – between Google Voice and Android – the era of the carrier-free cellphone might be upon us. Many of my mobile-savvy friends scoffed – the existing model was too entrenched, they argued, and the carriers would fight like hell to delay their transition from value-added service provider continue…

Spam-bashing on Twitter – A True Story

Earlier this week, AppStoreHQ released Hottest Apps on Twitter, a ranking of iPhone apps based on the volume and quality of tweets about each app (if you’re curious, you can read more about the ranking methodology here). The project was a fun one for several reasons, but the biggest eye-opener was the sheer volume of continue…