Apple’s iPhone platform and Google’s Android intiative are claiming most of the attention when it comes to phone-related apps.
But a story in the New York Times today remind us of the existence of alternatives such as the OpenMoko standard used by FIC‘s Neo FreeRunner open source phone.
An old Gizmodo piece discusses the FreeRunner in more detail. As reported by the Times, it goes for $400 and has a three-inch touch screen. It’s part of the OpenMoko project.
OpenMoko project
Could OpenMoko mean more e-book apps for mobile users? Or will it actually harm users by making it more expensive to develop apps in the e-book area and others—because of the need to cover the extra platform?
Whatever the case, here’s info on an HTML reader project for OpenMoko phones, which are hackable and Linux-based. The Opie-reader might be a starting point for the HTML app. Actually Opie can handle formats beyond HTML, such as Plucker, Doc and zTxt.
But wait! There’s also the LiMo Foundation, with its operating system to promote. What’s more, Nokia has bought up Symbian, yet another contender in the OS battles.
The iPhone App store as a popularizer of software choices—and how ePub could help
Meanwhile the smash success of the iPhone App Store is doing just what the Times says. It’s popularizing the open or at at least semi-open model. Phone companies see third-party apps as a good thing, leading to more demand for data plans, among other things.
So might any of this apply in the e-book format area and related matters? If the IDPF can get ePub to catch on and if DRM will kindly go away, we could see a richer assortment of book apps and more interest in pricey phones. DRM is a major barrier to competition in the app area.
The current DRMcentric model hurts even companies such as Adobe. The e-book pie is smaller than it could be without all the shackles and proprietary technology to bloat up costs. What’s more important, Adobe? A bigger slice of a small pie? Or a much bigger pie?
Related: OpenMoko site.
I understand your impulse to broaden the debate by including OpenMoko, but if you’ve looked at any YouTube vids of it, you’d see it’s a non-starter. (Paul Biba would have another column about ebook friction! “First, I have to compile the library software for my desktop … wtf?”)