Dell CEO Michael Dell recently spoke at an event in Hong Kong and declared that it was easier to develop for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 than it was for Google's Android platform. That's great news for Microsoft, given how important it will be for the company to build developer interest if the software giant's platform is going to successfully take on Apple and Google with a completely new platform. Dell did still have good things to say about Android though. "What's interesting about the smartphone space is how it's changing into a more open-modular system," he said according to Reuters. "It's staggering that Android has now surpassed Apple in terms of originations and this is happening at a much, much faster rate than what folks had envisioned." Android is dealing with fragmentation due to many versions, which Windows Phone will supposedly tackle effectively with its update system. Given that Windows Phone has yet to receive an update, however, Dell is saying apps are easier to develop on Microsoft's platform than Google's platform, fragmentation or not. Third party developers should thus be able to quickly jump on the Windows Phone bandwagon. Dell, the world's second biggest PC maker, this week also announced that it was buying US cloud-computing services company Boomi to improve its ability to provide software over computer networks. Terms of the deal for Boomi, which helps integrate cloud-based applications and smooth data transfers between programs, were not disclosed. Founded in 2000, Boomi raised $4 million in 2008 in an initial round of institutional funding and is based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
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Social Networking News
Facebook today held a mobile media event, in which it announced, among other things, that it has roughly 200 million active members using its mobile products. Last year, that number was at 65 million. Facebook has some 500 million users in total, and now the company is claiming that its mobile population is bigger than the iPhone or Android user base. Mobile users are twice as active on Facebook as people who are using just PCs, the social networking giant also noted.
To capitalize on the growth, Facebook announced several updated mobile offerings for iOS and Android. The new iOS Facebook application, now at version 1.4.0, will get the new Facebook Groups implementation, easier location tagging of people, and the ability to link and upload photos to Facebook Places. The new Android application, now at version 3.3, will also be getting the groups and places functionality. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised the two mobile applications will be more or less on par going forward (the Android release was lagging behind prior to today).
Facebook's strategy, the company says, is to make the mobile phone a more social experience. Oh, and throwing in some shopping discounts never hurt; businesses can now offer deals to users via their phone via "check-ins" (22 major retailers have already signed up). Facebook also revealed plans for a single sign-on feature: users only need to log in to applications once with their Facebook name and password. As a result, third party developers now have the opportunity to easily add a social layer to their applications. Print this post
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