The Mobile Playing Field
Okay, I just wanted to point out this quick link I found, the DevX BREW Resources Page with a ton of links on getting started with BREW.
I'm fascinated by BREW because I'm fascinated by Qualcomm at the moment. No I haven't lived in the San Diego area, so to me Qualcomm is this company I know little about and have absolutely no ties to. But it's hard to bet against this company right now. They're going to derive revenue from every single 3G phone and piece of equipment on the planet. They also earn 10% of every BREW application sold, which could be some serious cash if that platform takes off with the 3G chipsets its bundled with. So even though I have *no* experience in C++ and am thinking Symbian is the platform to beat, BREW calls to me like star quarterback of top ranked football team. You just want to be on the receiving end of that pass...
So, to review, the platforms for mobile developers are:
- Symbian OS
- Microsoft Windows Mobile
- Linux
- Palm
- Brew
- Java
(Did I miss any?)
When I look at those platforms, Qualcomm's is the only one where there's *so few* questions! For example, when I read about Symbian, I immediately ask "How is an OS company going to continue growing and investing if they're only earning $7 a license?". When I read about Java, I think "Is Sun going to tank soon from Linux pressure on its core business? And where is the business model for small developers to make money from their J2ME apps?". When I read about Palm and Microsoft I think, "How are these guys going to get enough phones out there with their OS to give them any sort of momentum in the marketplace and gain developers?" But with Qualcomm, I don't see any of these problems. Maybe because I just don't know them well enough.
Interesting. The starting gun has gone off, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the race during the next year...
-Russ