[Melbourne] Android Hack Night - Wedsnesday 2 September 6:30pm

[Nick Burton]

Howdy all,

Got a solid response from the call-out to Melbourne devs keen to start
pushing forward on Android.. and I've discovered more than a few with
apps already on the Market.

I just got the ok from the jTribe guys who've offered to let us use
the OpenHub offices at Level 2, 140 Queen Street (thanks Daniel &
Armin!). FYI these are the guys behind AndroidStats, FirePin and
others.

So since it's mid-semester break for universities next week, it's as
good a time as any to get started. Bring your laptops, half-built
applications, test phones, reference material and any food/caffeine
you need. Whatever stage you're at just come in and move it forward.
The goal is to leverage the knowledge and experience amongst the
group. My aim is to build a P2P game for a project due next semester.

Hope to see you there.

Nick

Details:
OpenHub
Level 2, 140 Queen Street http://bit.ly/44hkej
Wednesday 2 September
6:30 to whenever..

p.s. don't fret if this timing doesn't suit, I anticipate a fluid time/
day to begin with so we don't cross-over with other groups (such as
MGTUG which have tentatively nominated Wednesdays for their meetups).

[hank]

Excellent, thanks for organzing this. Will be there!

On Aug 29, 12:07 pm, Nick Burton <charlesnicholasbur...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> Got a solid response from the call-out to Melbourne devs keen to start
> pushing forward on Android.. and I've discovered more than a few with
> apps already on the Market.
>
> I just got the ok from the jTribe guys who've offered to let us use
> the OpenHub offices at Level 2, 140 Queen Street (thanks Daniel &
> Armin!). FYI these are the guys behind AndroidStats, FirePin and
> others.
>
> So since it's mid-semester break for universities next week, it's as
> good a time as any to get started. Bring your laptops, half-built
> applications, test phones, reference material and any food/caffeine
> you need. Whatever stage you're at just come in and move it forward.
> The goal is to leverage the knowledge and experience amongst the
> group. My aim is to build a P2P game for a project due next semester.
>
> Hope to see you there.
>
> Nick
>
> Details:
> OpenHub

> Level 2, 140 Queen Streethttp://bit.ly/44hkej

[Donny Kurniawan]

Hello,


Hopefully this is not a discouragement :)

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=796685


Thanks for organising the hack night. Will be there.


Donny

[Nick Burton]

Mmm sounds like the standard debate... including the open-source vs. proprietary models. Google has a history of releasing early to the market hence still work to be done. But with Apple you're ultimately at the mercy of one (albeit very intelligent) man.... who if he decides doesn't want X, you will  not have that X.

I'm interested to see what the likes of Motorola do with Android....

2009/9/1 Donny Kurniawan <donny.k...@gmail.com>

--
Nick Burton | 0412 105 324 | bit.ly/nickburton

[Sadat Rahman]

Well put, Nick. :) At times, Apple are no better than Microsoft. However, at the end of the day, they have a killer OS and have created some fantastic products (iPod, iPhone, MacBook Pro, ...) which almost all g33ks and your "joe average" users are in love with.

Whether Android developers will make the kind of money that iPhone developers are making on the app store will all depend on the adoption rate of the devices that are coming out. It will be interesting to see the market share of iPhones and Android-based handsets in another year or so.

[Nick Burton]

Yes agree that...

Actually just thinking more about Motorola... I'm not sure HTC are
doing anyone a favour by putting their own skin on it. I think people
need to be aware of the common and functional Android o/s or else
consumers will just buy based on the hardware.

[hank]

Apps? What are apps anyways. Sounds like 1989. In case they have been
living in a cave, we've got the internets now. Sell online services,
the phone is your delivery vehicle. Have recurring income. Cheers.

> >> MGTUG which have tentatively nominated Wednesdays for their meetups).- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Nick Burton]

[Reminder]

Android Hack night _tonight_ from 6:30pm at OpenHub!

See you there ;-)

Nick

[Brett Gibson]

Guys and Gals - there is a Board that twitter user @Motodev (the motorola developer program) has put together.

Might be worth putting it up there...I know it's late but it might be good to show you are working some stuff.

http://ow.ly/nE7B

Cheers - Gibbo

[Nick Burton]

Good idea Gibbo, just posted a note up there. Thanks mate

2009/9/2 Brett Gibson <brcg...@gmail.com>

[Ashin Wimalajeewa]

> I'm not sure HTC are doing anyone a favour by putting their own skin on it.

i think skinning is an important part of the handset manufacturers value proposition. htc have a very clear goal & message with their skin in hero. off-topic:i wish htc would release their ui controls into the market for the rest of us to consume in our applications.

however, you do have a point. skinning will only lead to diversification. as with linux, diversification does not help win the war against the elephant. fortunately, i believe the platform sdk, distribution model and market will be sufficient to win many battles.

btw, the only way i can make tonight is if you guys skype me in.

rgds ash

[David Jones]

> i think skinning is an important part of the handset manufacturers value proposition.
> htc have a very clear goal & message with their skin in hero.

I agree - I'm relaxed about the skinning or shell as a decent platform should provide greater diversity and personalisation than at the application layer. I discussed this in "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" barcamp syd talk http://www.slideshare.net/djinoz
(mind you broad consumer adoption seems to favour uniformity - in the early days of windows there were a bunch of "shells" but they all seem to have disappeared).
The more important issue is that developers apps have a clear channel to the consumer and the experience within the app is moderately uniform.

> and market will be sufficient to win many battles.

I'm interested in this statement. I've not really tried to understand it but I have a few questions:
1. I heard (second-hand) that not all handset manufacturers have access to the default market place - is this true/false?
2. If #1 is false then there is nothing to stop many marketplaces (assuming handsets have a allow "Unknown sources" tickbox). Is there anyone doing a meta-marketplace?

thanks
d.

[Nick Burton]

Yeah check out AndroidStats.com ;-)

On Sep 2, 4:55 pm, David Jones <david.jo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > i think skinning is an important part of the handset manufacturers value
> proposition.
> > htc have a very clear goal & message with their skin in hero.
>
> I agree - I'm relaxed about the skinning or shell as a decent platform
> should provide greater diversity and personalisation than at the application

> layer. I discussed this in "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" barcamp syd talkhttp://www.slideshare.net/djinoz

> (mind you broad consumer adoption seems to favour uniformity - in the early
> days of windows there were a bunch of "shells" but they all seem to have
> disappeared).
> The more important issue is that developers apps have a clear channel to the
> consumer and the experience within the app is moderately uniform.
>
> > and market will be sufficient to win many battles.
>

> I'm interested in this statement. I've not really tried to understand it *but
> I have a few questions*:

[David Jones]

Does Androidstats meta other markets like slideme and sites like handango? I've always been on an old g1 but was told local optus handsets see a smaller marketplace.

On Sep 3, 2009 8:18 AM, "Nick Burton" <charlesnic...@gmail.com> wrote:


Yeah check out AndroidStats.com ;-)

On Sep 2, 4:55 pm, David Jones <david.jo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > i think skinning is an importan...

> layer. I discussed this in "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" barcamp syd talkhttp://www.slideshare.net/djinoz

> (mind you broad consumer adoption seems to favour uniformity - in the early > days of windows ther...

> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 3:00 PM, Ashin Wimalajeewa <ash...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I'm not sure HTC...

> > charlesnicholasbur...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> Yes agree that... > > >> Actually just thinking m...

[brcg...@gmail.com]

Paid Apps aren't yet available to users on the Optus/Virgin networks. According to the @Optus twitter account they are working on it.

Cheers - Gibbo