Stockholm (Sweden) – First, there was Apple, then there was Google and now we have Sony Ericsson that wants to recruit a developer base to build applications for its upcoming iPhone beater Xperia X1. But there are distinct differences between this effort and what Apple and Google are offering. At least for now, it appears that Sony Ericsson may be stuck in the past.
Sony is on track rolling out its Xperia X1 smartphone in the final quarter of this year to compete against Apple’s iPhone 3G. But if the recent weeks are any indication, than great hardware may not be enough anymore to convince buyers, it will be the platform and the software that will be offered next to the device. Apple pioneered this strategy quite successfully and Google even has what appears to be a nicely growing application market even before the first Android handset is available.
With Samsung and Sprint being busy marketing their Instinct phone through product-placement-movie commercials, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 could become the third big player in the smartphone space this year – and the most important promoter of the Windows Mobile platform.
The manufacturer has begun rallying developers to begin developing “Xperia Panels and applications for Windows Mobile 6.1 to be used on the Xperia X1 phone.” The company defines “Panels” as lightweight applications that “extend the phone’s ‘Today Screen’ API to provide a fully customizable user interface on the Xperia X1.” Probably most enticing, developers can use both HTML and Microsoft’s Visual Studio development environment to create Panels.
“With the release of the SDK for Windows Mobile 6.1, we are inviting developers and content creators to capitalize on the vast opportunity offered by mobile content in the coming years,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson.
For now, however, the SDK appears to be hanging a bit in the air and some developers may be wondering about the incentives why they should develop for the Xperia X1 and not for the iPhone or Google’s Android.
While Sony says that the SDK come with a phone device phone emulator that enables developers to build and test Panels directly on their PCs without resorting to phone hardware, the company also mentions that the emulator “does not currently support hard key functionality/hard key mappings” and that there is no way to guarantee that the HTML Panel displayed in the device emulator will look just like the HTML Panel displayed on a physical Xperia X1 device.
Developer support also seems to be very limited at this time, as Sony Ericsson stresses that it “has no obligation to furnish [developers] with technical support unless separately agreed in writing between [a developer] and Sony Ericsson.”
Lack of hardware and certain software functionality, limited developer and uncertain hardware shipments support may be tough hurdles to take for developers – who can easily jump into a potentially already lucrative iPhone store and Android’s heavily pushed market. When asked about application marketing opportunities, a company spokesperson told us that there is no information on this topic at this time. Microsoft is reportedly working on its own Windows Mobile store, but we haven’t heard many details about this effort yet.
To many developers, Sony Ericsson’s efforts may sound a bit like old times when a developer group such as Palm’s community almost grew by itself. That may not be the case anymore, especially if we consider the potentially huge monetary incentives Apple and Google are offering. Both Apple and Google already have changed the way how current and future consumer smartphones will be marketed – which may force other companies such as SonyEricsson, Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung to follow.
Sony is on track rolling out its Xperia X1 smartphone in the final quarter of this year to compete against Apple’s iPhone 3G. But if the recent weeks are any indication, than great hardware may not be enough anymore to convince buyers, it will be the platform and the software that will be offered next to the device. Apple pioneered this strategy quite successfully and Google even has what appears to be a nicely growing application market even before the first Android handset is available.
With Samsung and Sprint being busy marketing their Instinct phone through product-placement-movie commercials, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 could become the third big player in the smartphone space this year – and the most important promoter of the Windows Mobile platform.
The manufacturer has begun rallying developers to begin developing “Xperia Panels and applications for Windows Mobile 6.1 to be used on the Xperia X1 phone.” The company defines “Panels” as lightweight applications that “extend the phone’s ‘Today Screen’ API to provide a fully customizable user interface on the Xperia X1.” Probably most enticing, developers can use both HTML and Microsoft’s Visual Studio development environment to create Panels.
“With the release of the SDK for Windows Mobile 6.1, we are inviting developers and content creators to capitalize on the vast opportunity offered by mobile content in the coming years,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson.
For now, however, the SDK appears to be hanging a bit in the air and some developers may be wondering about the incentives why they should develop for the Xperia X1 and not for the iPhone or Google’s Android.
While Sony says that the SDK come with a phone device phone emulator that enables developers to build and test Panels directly on their PCs without resorting to phone hardware, the company also mentions that the emulator “does not currently support hard key functionality/hard key mappings” and that there is no way to guarantee that the HTML Panel displayed in the device emulator will look just like the HTML Panel displayed on a physical Xperia X1 device.
Developer support also seems to be very limited at this time, as Sony Ericsson stresses that it “has no obligation to furnish [developers] with technical support unless separately agreed in writing between [a developer] and Sony Ericsson.”
Lack of hardware and certain software functionality, limited developer and uncertain hardware shipments support may be tough hurdles to take for developers – who can easily jump into a potentially already lucrative iPhone store and Android’s heavily pushed market. When asked about application marketing opportunities, a company spokesperson told us that there is no information on this topic at this time. Microsoft is reportedly working on its own Windows Mobile store, but we haven’t heard many details about this effort yet.
To many developers, Sony Ericsson’s efforts may sound a bit like old times when a developer group such as Palm’s community almost grew by itself. That may not be the case anymore, especially if we consider the potentially huge monetary incentives Apple and Google are offering. Both Apple and Google already have changed the way how current and future consumer smartphones will be marketed – which may force other companies such as SonyEricsson, Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung to follow.
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