Thou shalt not steal ...others Wallet...

lest...you are ready to part with your keepings....Patents are public knowledge, and if they aren't they should be, lawyers are expensive. Looking at all the patent infringements law suits on the mobile front I have come to the understanding that before inventing one should consult a lawyer.The mobile space is evolving and ideas come to mind, but sometimes they come to other minds earlier and faster. Recognizing that can save some pretty penny.
While every major player is looking at it with different angle, it is clear that for consumers to feel inclined towards mobile transactions using their mobile device as their currency/ID, an integrated, smooth, no hassle, simple, secure service has to be offered, which is not possible without the participation of major players in specific industries. The perfect storm needs the Financial institutions, Carriers, OS platforms and payment networks to all play together nicely, even if the solutions are separate, they need to coexist. Consumers are all about convenience; and more options, when it comes to pay are convenient, they are less bothered by who is going to win the monetization race, or how the pie is being split.
I looked at the Device Fidelity's mobile wallet patent and it is comprehensive. I am a believer that law suits are an excellent source of income to..well the lawyers, the rest of us techies would careless. The pdf for Device Fidelity mobile wallet patent with the images in their places can be found in the link below.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_40SUf1ic7PODRlOTI0OGItMjk1NC00Zjc1LTkxOWMtYzk2YzYyZmNjODI3&hl=en_US

We will tackle the synopsis in the next blog....when you and me both have gone through 29 claims and 30 some pages of technicalities and patent jargon...

...planet of the Apps....

It's been few weeks since my last post and I feel a bit more ready to delve into the art of making an application. After exploring a few cross application platforms I have to admit that the reality is a bit harsher, specially when it comes to developing across platform. Developing for only one type of platform or hardware is a non option, unless one is developing app for his own kids, like myself. But even in the case of my overactive audience, a two year old swiping the droidX into smudge-dom and a six year old iPod touch power user, along with the prospect of iPhone5/iPad joining the family, while I crave a honeycomb tablet, there is enough diversification to make a case for cross platform or webapp.

Apple has played it beautifully and tied all app development to their platform. To open source proponents including myself, this is a nuisance, but the pain is not in the development itself, it is the pain of having to buy even a minimalistic Mac based system and installing Apple specific tools to be able to publish the application in Apple store(If you are into bungee jumping and other unncessary challenges, you can always try partitioning or virtualization). Alternately you can use Marmalade (Airplay) SDK on PC. To be fair it is same for Windows development and even more expensive(xcode is cheaper than VS), but Android dev is free on Eclipse. I want to be clear here, open source doesn't mean it is free. There is a price to be paid either in form of premier support services, hosted solutions or lincensing costs. Choosing between objective C or Java is one consideration but the future cycle time reduction, managability and recurring costs are more so. If you are a developer that have a great untested idea, then maybe choosing a platform and developing for it might be the way to go. If the app makes some money, investing in cross platform tools will become easy

Before I go further, some more thoughts on mobile apps as a cyber presence in addition to or replacement of conventional websites. Most big retailers have mobile apps, but the local potential is much greater. Mom and pop shops still don't have their own cyber presence, like the convenient store next door or the pizza shop. One can reach those through indirect channels (through sites that push local content) but most small shops don't have their own brand of internet front. I can imagine a case, where I can go to the wine shop in my neighborhood, wave at the NFC chip at the door, or scan the QR code and the phone automatically downloads the application for the store. Now I can order while walking and the store is able to push deals/discounts/coupons specific only to that store meant for the local audience, driven by presence based on zipcode or vicinity. The difference between internet and mobile app is the always on, less hassle and simplistic approach of apps; minimalism is the essence of a mobile app. If you ever see a loading status bar, or a rotating wheel, or a hourglass on an app, it is time to look for another.

Coming back to the development tools. The fact of the matter is configuration and installation of any of these cross platform dev tools is not simple, after all these opensource free to install tools come with premier (paid) support for a reason. This is a non issue if you are a developer who has chewed the ends of his finger nails on many a crowning nights troubleshooting your way to well earned stripes. For development houses, the setup is not as troublesome as it might appear. I have worked in a few development teams and the "tricks" travel fast and are well documented. Once the platform is selected usually there is a point person that keeps track of all the changes and keeps the developer community updated. Even then there is always some hickup from release to release but for the most part the dev engine keeps cranking. The learning curve for the newer team members is a pain that can't be avoided, but the cycle can be considerably reduced.
I must say that one of easiest development processes that I have experienced is through Microsoft platforms. One development studio packages all the necessary tools to develop, which makes life quiet easy. On top of that the Visual Basic and C# look pretty tempting and I am tempted, but as enthusiastic as I am, a little more mass on the device proliferation side needs to happen for the tropical fruit.
There are other choices to be made here, but I don't have time to go over the wireframing options, the project management using Agilo42 and my target "segment". ....I might post few details as my small projects crawls along.