To iPhone or not to iPhone? That is the question on which a number of high-profile app developers are weighing-in. A couple of weeks ago it was Facebook app developer Joe Hewitt and software maker Rogue Amoeba saying they'd had enough of jumping through hoops to be on the iPhone and that they'd be working on other things.

Last week, Instapaper web-service and iPhone app [iTunes link] developer Marco Arment said, "Go if you want to, but there are more than enough people in the App Store to keep me fat and happy and not nearly enough in any other mobile app ecosystem to draw me away." I'm paraphrasing of course.

Now, French mobile phone game developer Gameloft has given its two cents. According to a company exec, Gameloft and other software developers are drawing down the resources spent on developing applications for Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said at an investor conference late last week, "We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like ... many others."

Did he say what others? No. Did he say why? Yes.

Rochefort, like Instapaper's Arment, says the people just aren't there for the Android. "It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone," says the exec. "Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

Meanwhile on the App Store, money flows like water for Gameloft and the water's fine. Games for Apple's handhelds generated 13% of Gameloft's revenue last quarter. According to Rochefort, Gameloft is selling 400 times as many games for the iPhone and iPod touch as it is for the various Android powered phones.

[via Reuters]

Just when you thought it was safe to buy a nav app for the iPhone, Google goes and announces a free app for Android, and says it's going to be available for the iPhone if Apple will let it into the App Store.

The app, called Google Maps Navigation, will ship with phones running the Android OS 2.0 and includes search by voice, search for points of interest by voice while in route, satellite and street view, and support for a hardware dock for 'certain devices.'

This won't be great news for TomTom, Navigon, or any of the rest. Google says the app is U.S. only for now, and will be seen first on the Verizon Droid which will appear in November.

Talk about disruption! With the FCC watching it will be most interesting to see if Apple allows the app onto the iPhone and, whether yes or no, the effect on Android sales.

I can't wait for all the fur to fly. You can watch a video of the app in action in this YouTube clip. Admit it. You want this!

Whether you think he's the voice of reason on the Web or an annoying pest, when Robert Scoble over at the Scobleizer blog speaks, people listen.

Yesterday, a Twitter follower of Mr. Scoble stated that he thought "iPhone users were beyond reason," referring to the almost unnatural fixation that most of us have for our phones. Scoble brought up a very good point in his blogged response -- every app that comes out on the market (more than 85,000 at this point) provides another way to customize your iPhone to the way that you live and work.

In order for another manufacturer to come out with a device that will pry that iPhone out of our fingers, they're going to need to exactly duplicate or surpass the functionality that we've become used to. That's not likely to happen, in Scoble's opinion, because the 85,000+ apps that filter down to a couple of dozen (or hundred) apps on each iPhone turn that iPhone into something completely unique. It's not likely that any iPhone user is going to want to give up that up unless every app in the special combination on his or her iPhone is replaced by something better.

It makes sense. I've worked with all of the other smartphone platforms, and in no case have there been compelling apps that hold me to the platform. With the iPhone, I've tried thousands of apps, kept about a hundred, and those hundred apps let me work and play the way I want to. iPhone developers have also made sure that the apps are simple to use, too.

Perhaps the Android or some other smartphone platform will eventually evolve to the point that there is a critical mass of compelling apps that provides the same magical combination of power, ease-of-use, and fun, but until that time the iPhone will reign supreme. That's even despite Microsoft CEO and iPhone hater Steve Ballmer's recent assertion about the iPhone, "That's why they've got 75,000 applications -- they're all trying to make the Internet look decent on the iPhone."

Obviously Mr. Ballmer hasn't used an iPhone, or he'd realize that the iPhone is much more than Web apps. That might also give Ballmer a clue why Windows phones aren't even on the radar for most smartphone buyers today.

It's the end of an era for the relationship between Google and Apple -- Google has announced that Dr. Arthur Levinson has resigned from its board of directors, meaning that the last common member between the boards of the two companies has now "chosen a side," so to speak.

I doubt it was that serious, but you never know: the Department of Justice had announced that they were looking into the connections between the two boards, with both former Apple boardmember and Google CEO Eric Schimidt being one link, and Levinson being the other. Not that the DoJ was really breathing down any necks (they'd only requested documents, and there were no signs at all, other than, you know, Google Maps being an original iPhone application, that there was any collusion between the two companies).

But it is possible that between them, they decided to play it safe, and with the two companies getting closer and closer to competition every day (with Google's Android OS and the continuing saga of Chrome going on), this is probably for the better. Levinson and Schmidt, meanwhile, will both still continue to make millions of dollars anyway. So they have that going for them. Which is nice.

The U.K. advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, says Apple is correct when it claims its App Store is better than the Google store for the Android.

In a TV ad Apple claimed that the iPhone had apps for "just about anything". Fans of the Google Android, or at least ten of them, complained that their phone offered a similar and equal function.

Apple responded that it made the claim "only on the iPhone" because its App Store "provided users with a unique experience unmatched by any other application marketplace, including the Android Market".

"Because Apple had shown there were far more applications available for the iPhone than the G1 phone, and user experience of the iPhone and the App Store was distinct from its competitor, we concluded that the claim 'only on the iPhone' was justified and not misleading," said the ASA in its ruling.

The Apple App Store has about 50,000 applications, while Google offers about 2,100.

In the past, Apple hasn't done too well with the ASA. In November an iPhone ad was banned for misleading customers about the speed of the phone on the internet. Apple also had to pull ads for its first generation iPhone in August of 2008.

One of my favorite episodes of The Brady Bunch is "Quarterback Sneak." In it, Marcia starts dating Jerry Rogers, quarterback of the Fairview High School football team. Problem is, Fairview happens to be the rival of Marcia & Greg's Westdale High School, and the two teams are scheduled to play in their annual big game on Saturday.

Marcia may not see it (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia never seems to), but it's fairly apparent that Jerry Rogers isn't as concerned about winning Marcia's heart as he is about winning the big game against Westdale.

But Marcia has to find this out the hard way, as she always does. The story unfolds in an oh-so-predictable sitcom television manner:

Marcia invites Jerry in for a drink of lemonade.

While Marcia is preparing the lemonade, Jerry snoops around and takes a look at the Westdale playbook, which happens to be on the coffee table.

Bobby, who just got flattened by the teeter totter outside, sees that Jerry is up to no good. Marcia sees none of this. She's too busy preparing lemonade.

Bobby and Greg confront Marcia about Jerry's evil, no good do-er ways; Marcia, being Marcia, is obviously in a state of denial and dares Bobby and Greg to prove her wrong. And they did.

On their next lemonade date, Marcia sees that Jerry, indeed, could not resist swiping the Westdale playbook. Needless to say, Marcia's crushed.

With Google announcing its intention to develop the Chrome OS, Apple has a Jerry Rogers-like situation right now with Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting on its board of directors. Although Schmidt says there's "no issue" at the moment, the best situation for both parties would be one in which Schmidt relieved himself of his duties on Apple's board of directors.

If you caught the Copper Robot show on Sunday or any of our recent talkcasts, you may have heard me yammering at length about the possibilities for using the iPhone 3G S in enhanced or augmented reality applications. After the dynamic demo of compass-enhanced Google Street View on the Android Dream, the news of a magnetometer included with the 3G S -- allowing the phone to determine its direction with respect to the real world, along with position (GPS/SkyHook) and orientation/acceleration (accelerometer) -- starts to make geeks drool with eagerness for practical heads-up displays or browsable views of the world.

Here it comes, folks. As noted over at 9to5Mac, the Layar app from Dutch developer SPRXmobile will get Android phones into the realm of science fiction X-ray specs when it comes out at the end of this month. Point your phone across the street to see what houses are for sale, which bars are offering happy hour specials, or where the nearest ATM might be. A live, animated overlay points out the key locations and moves with your camera view. It's tough enough to describe, so I've got the video in the second half of this post -- but the effect is impressive. The previously-announced Wikitude app gives a travel guide the same augmented treatment for Android.

The guys at IntoMobile have given Layar a good once-over and come away quite awed. I can't wait to see this app, or one like it, make it over to the App Store. Add some social networking features from Brightkite or foursquare and iPhone users will jump all over this -- but they'll have to be careful not to walk into lampposts.

[via MacRumors]

It's no secret that in addition to the initial price for the iPhone, that there's also months upon months of service plans to pay as well. BillShrink.com gave us some perspective yesterday, showing just how much of an Apple tax we really do pay for the iPhone.

In a very easy-to-read infographic, the site pits the entry level iPhone 3G S against the Palm Pre and Android G1 to see what you exactly get and how much you're paying for it when you sign up with the exclusive US carrier for each device (AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile respectively).

The winner, when it comes to storage space and features, is the iPhone 3G S. But, it's also showing that the Android G1 isn't that bad of a deal either. Its 3.2MP camera just squeaks by the iPhone and it has both a lower subsidized cost and price without contract.

But where Apple really loses is the overall cost of ownership. By far, the cheapest phone to own over a two-year period is the Palm Pre, which clocks in at $2,400. The cost calculated is based off of a service plan with two years of unlimited voice, data, and messaging services. The Android G1 follows with $3,240 and finally the iPhone 3G S at $3,600 -- not including tax for any of them.

Edit: There was some confusion on the back-end of TUAW about whether or not those numbers are for the service plans alone, or if they include the initial cost of the handset. As originally stated, the final totals in the graphic DO NOT include the cost of the headset. For example, the iPhone plan is $99.99+$30+$20 x 24 months = $3599.96 -- rounds to $3600, that matches what's in the graphic. The same holds true for the Android G1 and Palm Pre as well.

Hot on the heels of the new version of Gmail Mobile for the iPhone comes a new mobile version of Google Calendar leveraging some of the same technology. The previous iteration was frustratingly feature-poor, allowing you only to view your appointments and add new ones using a natural language interface which could be frustrating with the iPhone's keyboard. Thankfully the new version has a more typical appointment entry screen.

Better appointment entry is nice, but the big new features in the new version of Google Calendar for the iPhone are the ability to edit existing appointments, invite other people to events, and the ability to manage appointment invitations and attendance statuses.

Although the official announcement on the Official Google Mobile Blog inexplicably downplays it, Google Calendar now has a modicum of offline functionality on the iPhone and Android phones. Now even if you have no network connection it can still show you appointments that you've previously viewed, though you can't edit them. Hopefully this matures into a true offline capability in future versions, but it's sure nice to know that you can get to your appointments if you need to when you're without a network connection.

Back in March I made a plea for a native Gmail application on the iPhone. As it turned out, Google was working on a new version of the Gmail Mobile site that takes advantage of HTML5 features like database storage to provide caching functionality on the iPhone and Android phones. The demo was compelling; a super-fast Gmail experience that includes long-awaited features like full label support, the ability to apply changes to multiple messages at once, and a floating action bar (dubbed the "floaty bar") that allows you to archive, delete, mark read/unread, add or remove a star, or mark messages as spam without having to scroll to the top or bottom of the thread you are viewing to do so.

The demo was certainly exciting, but though I was hoping would be released soon, I was fearing we were still a year away from seeing this new version of Gmail Mobile. Boy, was I wrong.

This sexy new web version of Gmail Mobile was released yesterday, and as a heavy Gmail user I have only one word for it: Glorious! Okay, I'm a blogger, so we know I never only have one word for something. But if you've been using the built in Mail app on your iPhone to avoid the clunky web version, it's time to try Google Mobile again.

While it's a huge, massive improvement on the previous version, the new Google Mobile is not without areas that could use improvement. For one, it is very slow to load. For me, I'm willing to put up with this since once it does load everything is significantly faster than it was. But it would certainly be nice to see an improvement in this regard, and that's something that was hinted at on the Official Gmail blog post announcing this new version. Another small annoyance is that the buttons are smaller than standard iPhone buttons, and there are more of them. It's manageable, but does require a bit of extra care and attention.

All in all, a very solid improvement, and one that makes working with email on the iPhone significantly more pleasant for Gmail users.

Two of Apple's rival mobile platforms announced news this week at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on the way, and a new Android-based handset from HTC.

Windows Mobile has updated its user interface to more closely resemble the iPhone's. I can imagine the brainstorming session:

Developer 1: "It needs to look, work, and feel like the iPhone, but -- you know -- not be."

Developer 2: "Instead of putting the icons on a rectangular grid, let's do a (one two three four five six) hexagonal one!"

Developer 1: "Brilliant! Book it. Done."

I kid, I kid. I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, Windows Mobile will also feature two new services, a "My Phone" synchronization service, and a new marketplace that will sell mobile applications from both phones and desktops. It's like I've heard this song before, but can't remember exactly where.

Also at the conference, HTC announced the Magic, a handset to run Google's Android operating system. Unlike the G1, the Magic will not have a slide-out keyboard. It will first be available to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany and Spain, among other European carriers. Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland suspects T-Mobile will carry the handset in the U.S. because it can handle the phone's transmission protocols.

Both the Windows Mobile and Android platforms also announced they'll support Flash (along with Symbian and Palm's new webOS) in 2010. And what of the iPhone? No dice: Adobe lobs the ball back in Apple's court, saying during the announcement, "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too, but it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."

[Via Hardmac, MDN, and IGM.]

Opera Software CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner said in a New York Times interview yesterday that its engineers have developed a version of the Opera web browser that works on the iPhone, but Apple has rejected it for the App Store because it competes with Safari.

This isn't unprecedented: Apple rejected an app called Podcaster possibly because it duplicates functionality in an upcoming version of the iPhone software. Podcaster was (for a time) available via ad-hoc distribution before that, too, was shut down.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber suggests that Apple rejected Opera because the browser included its own JavaScript interpreter, something forbidden by the iPhone SDK developer agreement.

Opera makes two flavors of its mobile web browser: Opera Mini for most mobile phones, BlackBerry, Palm, or Windows Mobile; and Opera Mobile, a more featured version for Symbian and Windows Mobile. A beta version of Opera Mini for Android is also in development.

Update: Gruber used his massive Rolodex over the weekend to determine through an unnamed source that the app may not have even been submitted to the App Store. Huh.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google's mobile phone platform, Android, is experiencing delays that may move the launch of Android-based phones into early 2009.

In a Monday article about the delays, the WSJ noted that at the launch of Android last November it was expected that the new breed of smartphones would appear in the second quarter of 2008. Due to developmental difficulties, the first carrier to have an Android-based phone -- T-Mobile -- may not see one until the fourth quarter. Google is focused on the T-Mobile launch, which is causing further delays for other partners such as Sprint Nextel and China Mobile.

What does this mean for Apple? A lot of good things. By the fourth quarter of 2008 or early 2009, the iPhone 3G, App Store, and development for iPhone will be well established, with tens of millions of the inexpensive handsets sold. It also points out the intelligence of Apple in owning all pieces of the puzzle -- hardware, software, development, and software distribution -- instead of relying on various open source development teams and numerous hardware partners.

Apple's won this battle, and things are looking good for winning the handset war.