It's important for MS to do this because a number of people we personally know are thinking of buying a PS3 because it is the best BR player out there. I don't like BR or the heavy Java implementation, but in terms of the console wars, MS is leaving the door open for Sony until it releases this player. The best thing for them would be to release the player for cheap so people buy it and then realize that they watch all their media via streaming Netflix. In fact, timing the BR player with the new dashboard update would be great, since they don't really want to make that big a deal of announcing it.

Just in time for Netflix to start charging extra for Blur-Ray rentals.

Related: Netflix also announced they plan to have OSX support by the end of the year.

My feeling is that this release will hold potential, but seem rushed. There was much talk of Android being delayed, and I think this will definitely be a 1.0... er... BETA Google project.

There is no guarantee that just because the firmware is based on open source, that the additional applications and drivers will be open or available.

That said, if the actual Android OS with kernel, etc. is released, that's what's interesting to me. I'd like to see ports of this OS show up for T-Mobile Dash and other WinMo phones.

The HTC hardware rumored to be released isn't the best looking, but does have a hardware keyboard. I think a more polished Android OS + HTC HD phone that was just released will be a more popular combination. This definitely won't be an iPhone killer, but should put some heat on Apple down the line.

Added phone graphic.

MS picks today to announce that Windows Mobile 7 will be delayed.

And MS picked the big Apple iPod day to announce new Zunes.

So - is the source of Android OS now fully available? Can I actually compile the full OS and everything from source and install it on this G1 phone?

Verdict: Dud.

I'm sure this will improve with newer devices and different carriers, but for now I am un-impressed. About the only thing I saw that I thought was cool was the maps street view with compass and the Amazon mp3 store. I have a much longer list of complaints:

No Stereo Bluetooth
No tethering
No exchange support or outlook syncing.
No video playback built in.
No standard headphone support (need adapter)
No MP3 download over 3G (wifi only)
No soft keyboard. Must rotate and use hardware keys for all text entry.
1Gb data cap per month, after that it drops to 50kbps!

Although the 480x320 screen is the same res as the iPhone, I'd still prefer VGA. Finally the browser is pretty lame. The zoom is cumbersome, not at all useful like the double-tab zoom in iPhone and Opera 9.5.

Given Apple's terrible app rejection strategy, I really want to see a powerful Android phone. Unfortunately, it looks like the iPhone is still the best choice for me.

I'm not going to write code for it though.

Yes, this is no iPhone killer. Gizmodo totally hated it, but in kind of a not-fair comparison, given that the first gen iPhone didn't have Exchange support or even 3G!

The most disappointing thing to hear about the G1 is the browser is choppy. Since it uses the same underlying engine, one would hope it could match the iPhone.

The price for this G1 phone will definitely drop - they won't be able to keep the same pricing as the iPhone. I'd probably get one if the price drops just for a cool mobile linux device.

Ahhh, if only you could run Mac OS under VmWare! Nice move going with Firewire networking. It is pretty nice.

Well I can run it under VmWare, but... I can't get networking to work and Xcode just crashes on start.

Oh, you've made a valiant effort. I was referring to the fact that Apple doesn't let you run it under VmWare... which is the real problem. Of course if you had a Macbook, you could run all the other OSs virtually! Oh that Jobs is a tricky one...

Yeah, but could I run Windows as my primary OS and put OSX under VmWare? That would stick it to the man.

Fixed?

On a positive note, the "Genius" functionality in iTunes 8 is pretty cool... I can certainly see myself spending more money on good music!

You have to be crazy to trust a Microsoft music subscription plan after they hosed all their "Plays For Sure" subscribers by shutting down the service.

Well I suspect that the music disables after you cancel your subscription anyway. It looks like Apple didn't announce their subscription plan today BTW.

The free tagging package itag will let you create Cooliris slide shows of your local photos and movies. Windows only though.

The only good iPhone is a jailbroken iPhone. Remember when Jobs and co. used to hack the phone system for free calls back in college?

Another app goes down.

That is bad. Does is compete with something Apple has? I don't see anything wrong with that type of app.

The two major things I was pretty sure would get banned on the app store were 1. A tethering app, and 2. Voip. I guess we'll wait for #2. Apple made some comment about allowing it, but not over ATT. I'm not sure how they can control / stop that.

VoIP over WiFi is not a problem for ATTle, you're already paying for voice and data, so they'd rather have you use another network because it's less bandwidth for them. Obviously VoIP over 3G loads their network so they won't want that. They can control it just like this - whacking the app.

It gets worse. Apple has some mechanism in place that allows the phone to automatically check for invalid apps and remove them. In some cases people have had their NetShare app automatically removed when they sync with iTunes.

More info on the App store's performance including Job's comment on the kill switch.

I thought this was a cool article about iPhone restrictions and why we need a black market. Microsoft gets drawn and quartered for having "secret apis", but with Apple it's standard practice.

Well is shows that there is interest in more powerful apps from both the developer and user communities. I guess the question in my mind is if people want those types of apps bad enough, will they switch platforms to get them? You can certainly develop nearly all the types of apps mentioned on Windows Mobile today (many already exist). It is also very likely you will be able to develop them on the Android/ G phone.

Sure you can do these things with the black market apps, but there is no business model there. You are at the whim of the Apple vs. Jailbreakers arms race. My advice is this; if you want to pressure Apple into changing their practices you're not going to do it building black market apps. Instead put your effort into developing cool things for iPhone competitors. Make Apple squirm a bit explaining again why the iPhone can do things you can do on a WM device.

More censorship. Why would anyone want to invest any time in building a fun little iPhone application when Apple can yank it for any reason?

It seems like they need a pre-approval process where you layout your idea and design. At least that way they can shoot it down before you waste time developing it.

The rejection game goes on. As a developer would you risk the Apple Lottery?

Nope. There are too many other things to do with my time than learn a bunch of iPhone specific APIs, only to then have Apple reject you for no good reason. You simply can't base a business on that... your investors would have to be insane.

I'm not even going to write a hello world test application for the iPhone until the policy is changed.

Another app banned for "duplicating functionality".

And now they are trying to silence any reports of app rejection? Sometimes you have to wonder about Apple.

Wil Shipley chimes in on the topic. He makes some interesting points, like what would happen if Apple baned Mac apps for "duplicating functionality".