focusing on m-learning & mobile phones

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• MobLang: Encouraging basic language uptake European Minority languages using mobile phones
• 30p per day internet from Virgin Mobile
• N97 Conclusions: Simon Cowell style
• iPhone Apps – the story so far
• The Nokia N97 and education?

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N97 Conclusions: Simon Cowell style

Based on feedback that the N97 post was too long here is my Simon Cowell style review of the performance of the N97 so far.

Is it a great phone? yes.

Does it have all the input methods a user could ask for? yes

Is this a great phone for media caputure? yes

Is this a phone priced / aimed at the majority of students? no

Is having a keyboard more important than a large set of applications? no

Are Nokia moving in the right direction? yes

Is it easier for Nokia to add an App Store equivalent to the iPhone, than it is for Apple to add a keyboard? no

Is the iPhone still the best example of a platform to deliver educational applications and content on? yes

Tags: education, iphone, n97

05.Dec.08 devices, mobile phones, off-topic Comment (1)

iPhone Apps – the story so far

Another week – another enthusiatic iPhone story from Al!

This is just a round up of some stories and stats that have been around this week about the App Store going over the 10,000 application threshold.

Before the App Store stories here is a quick note that Apple now own the second most popular smartphone operating system. They have now captured 16.6% of the smartphone market globally – ahead of Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Also note this does not include the iPod Touch – not a phone – but it must be the biggest selling PDA in the world now.

OK App Store news:

148apps.com have put together a page with the icons for all 10,000 apps and have some statistics breaking down the details of the applications on the right. You can see a breakdown of apps by date submitted, price or category. Category shows that there are now 770 apps marked as education in the App Store which by my calculation is 7.7%. This should probably be watered down a little as many of the language applications have the same application many times each with different vocabulary sets e.g. French, German, Russian etc.

Let’s call it 7% of the whole set of applications for the sake of argument. I have no real data about how PC software breaks down in terms of categories – but I think this number must be about right as a proportion of a software market place.

For those wanting more stats you can visit Oreilly Radar for a breakdown of prices that indicates in the US App Store the average price of a top 100 application was now $2.60.

Finally MobileCrunch lists out the top apps in various categories broken down by paid and non-paid. There is not much to be learnt from this – apart from how healthy the market place is and how diverse some of the entries in the Top ten apps are.

Tags: apps, education, handy education, iphone, mLearning

03.Dec.08 devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning, mobile development, mobile phones Comments (0)

The Nokia N97 and education?

Nokia yesterday unveiled the N97 their latest smartphone which is being dubbed (not by Nokia) as their iPhone Killer.

[UPDATE: Post now available in the much simpler Simon Cowell style of delivery]

The talk of an iPhone killer is premature and Nokia know this – they have a long way to go yet to catch up with Apple – and a lot of it is not about creating the right device. Nokia have no App Store, lack a single platform and have a brand that is more about utility and reliability than it about innovation, cool and media as Apple’s is. The price for an unbundled device will be €550 which means it is aimed at high end users and not even being put to compete with the iPhone.

I have yet to get my hands on a N97 – so my thoughts are based solely on the images I have seen on the Nokia website, engadget and from the always enthusiastic Robert Scoble.

The device could be thought of as a N810
phone, but it’s O/S is S60 not Maemo and this makes a difference in
terms of how this device will be useful. In terms of the physical
device it seems to be slightly smaller than a N810 and similar in width
and height to an iPhone – but almost half as deep again.

As you would expect from Nokia the camera is 5 Megapixels and can do
DVD quality video, which is a great improvement over the iPhone.

There are three very striking things about the device:

• Slide out QWERTY Keyboard
• Touch screen
• Simple button design – as I understand it when the keyboard is not shown – there is really only one button and the touch screen (sound familiar?)

Reports say that the touch screen interface is good – but not as reactive as the iPhone screen. The reason for this is the technology used for the touch screen. Nokia use a ‘resistive’ touch screen to support pen based input (important for inputting Chinese and Japanese characters) which is something the iPhone apparently doesn’t do well. More importantly the S60 user interface has been greatly improved – but I am not sure yet if it still matches the simplicity of the iPhone. A user interface is ‘only’ software and can be improved upon. There is a problem with the ‘only’ software issue though – are software updates as easy for the N97 as they are for iPhone users?

The obvious differentiator between the devices though is the keyboard – and as I have often argued this is key for educational purposes. Nokia seem to have chosen to keep things simple with the keyboard – it looks easier to use than the N810 which is even better. The N97 continues to show that Nokia devices are great at capturing input (pictures, videos and typing). Improvements to S60 may make using Nokia phones simpler and easier, but the iPhone platform is simple and better for consuming media – from music and video through to applications.

At the moment I still think the iPhone / iPod Touch are the better platform for education even though this device is starting to show Nokia is moving in the right direction. Educational applications will probably always make up about 10% of all applications available for a platform. Until Nokia boasts as many applications as the App Store there will never be as much educational content for a Nokia phone. The number of applications in the App Store (10,000 last week) is an indication of how successful Apple have been in lowering the costs of development for 3rd parties, by providing a single (non-fragmented) platform, handling distribution and billing and guaranteeing the 70% revenue share. Nokia need to address these problems if they want to have a large set of applications and as a result of that educational content.

I think that Nokia need to do the following if they want to generate as successful application platform as Apple:

• Provide a single platform for application developers to work with phone and non-phone devices (Maemo would fit the bill well and there are indications Nokia think this also).
• Provide a simple integrated application delivery mechanism – just like they have done on the N810 with Maemo – the Over the Air updates are really simple
• Provide a simple developer payment mechanism like Apple’s 70%
• Find a brand that means something to consumers that shows Nokia is a media company  (N97 ! come on what does that mean to a consumer?)
• Make sure this device always ‘Comes with Internet’ and consumers understand this is an internet and application phone

The N97 shows that Nokia have moved in the right direction and have been able to change themselves and rise to the threat from Apple (which is more than can be said of RIM and Microsoft). This also shows what a competitive market does for innovation in mobile technology which can only be good.

For mobile phones in education – it is still clear that if you want to use the phones in people’s pockets you need to have a cross platform solution (such as uHavePassed) and for anything complex you can only aim at a small percentage of phones. The iPhone platform will have 40 million users by the end of the year and is very attractive as a single device. The N97 will not impact on the position of the iPhone – but it shows that a future device from Nokia way well do just that.

Tags: devices, education, iphone, n97

03.Dec.08 devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning, mobile phones, tools Comments (17)

School that hands out iPods wins award…

According to an article in the Independent a school in Glasgow has won an award for an initiative that results in children winning iPods.

On seeing the headline I thought this would be an education related story but the iPod prizes are used as an incentive for the students to eat more healthily.

The overall story is one that we already know – iPods are extremely attractive to students.

I am left with the thought – wouldn’t it be great if they were being used not just to encourage healthy eating but to encourage and increase engagement in education.

I’m preaching to the converted here though!

Tags: education, iphone, iPod

03.Dec.08 devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning Comments (0)

Ollie Bray – iPhone / iPod Touch education use cases

Ollie Bray has a series of continuing posts about ways the iPod Touch / iPhone can be used in education – well worth reading and subscribing too:

http://olliebray.typepad.com/olliebraycom/iphoneipod_touch/

Tags: education, iphone, mLearning

03.Dec.08 devices, education, m-learning, mLearning, mobile phones, tools Comments (0)

The next generation are the mobile internet generation….

The BBC have an article about internet usage in the UK and that 2008 is seeing rapid growth in usage (25%) from Q2 to Q3. This growth seems very high between quarters (perhaps there is some seasonal adjustment needed) but taken on face value this is amazing especially when compared with the 3% growth of PC internet usage. This means that mobile internet users are now 20% of the size of PC based internet users – although there is no direct correlation between groups lets say this means that 1 in 5 internet users are now also using their mobile phones to access the internet – impressive! The actual report from Nielsen Online can be found here (a PDF).

The mobile internet is also shown to have a bias towards younger audiences (15-24) as this graphic from the report shows:

It would be interesting to see if the percentage of PC-based internet usage by 15-24 years is also changing (ie reducing) – but there is no indication in the report.

The article mentions the sites most visited by mobile users (Google, BBC, facebook and email)  – no surprises there.

It is a shame there are no details of devices within the report – so we don’t know how much the increase of 25% can be attributed to the iPhone.

Ofcom report

I recently looked through the details of the 2008 annual Ofcom report about the changes that they have seen in user consumption of media.

The Communications Market Report is huge and it can take a while to find the interesting bits (hint the most interesting bits are in the second PDF).

On page 345 there is a break down of children’s access and usage of both internet and mobile phones:

The graph has a few too many colours for my liking but in the 12-15 age range you can see that access and ownership is highly skewed towards mobile phones.

In the right hand part of the graph we can see that there is a significant difference between boys and girls (again only looking at 12-15) in their daily usage of internet and mobile phones. Girls use their mobile phones more than the internet (+13%) but boys use the internet more but the difference is not as big (+5%).

The report states that across the UK population only 5% use their phones to access the internet (the studies were carried out in April before the 25% increase reported by Nielson ;-D) but this is 8% for 12-15 year olds:

Tags: iphone, mobile internet, uk

03.Dec.08 education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning, mobile phones Comment (1)

Few things to post today – mostly to do with the iPhone

I shall post a few things today – sorry for the sudden burst have a few articles that I’ve been meaning to mention for a while and my opinions are still forming on the iPhone and of course yesterday we got to see the Nokia response to the iPhone – the N97.

Tags: iphone, mLearning, off-topic

03.Dec.08 off-topic Comments (0)

Nintendo – start addressing the challenge from Apple

Nintendo have launched a new version of their handheld console (DS) called the DSi.

The two main features of the device are 2 built in 0.3 megapixel cameras and an SD card slot. There will be software for playing MP3 software included as default as well as camera software. The Gameboy cartridge interface has now been removed so it is no longer backward compatible with the Gameboy. There is a Nov 1st launch in Japan and Spring 2009 for Europe.

This is an interesting move – especially if this is part of an evolution for the DS. I hope Apple are paying attention to this – and not just because Nintendo have put an i in their product name. As I wrote a few weeks back – Apple have started to position the iPod Touch and iPhone in the gaming marketplace in addition to the MP3 market and phone market. The DS has always had Wifi – but in most cases this is under used by games and software – but it is slowly getting there. I think the DSi as a gaming and MP3 platform will be very attractive to younger children and it is a real pity that the DS doesn’t have an open way for 3rd parties to write and distribute software to compete with the iTouch/iPhone/iTunes model.

The addition of the SD card though removes a fundamental problem that the DS has and that was that games could not be downloaded because there was not enough writable storage to put them on – not any more.

I hope that this is the first step in the evolution of a great and innovative platform – and that it will be opened up in the same way that the Wii has – and gets a good delivery platform also. It will be interesting to see if they start making the OS updatable too.

Tags: ds-lite, handy education, iphone, iPod, iPod Touch, learning, mLearning, mobile-learning, nintendo

02.Oct.08 devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mLearning Comment (1)

What about Android in education?

The T-mobile launch of the first Android phone (The G1) begs the question – does this already fragmented world need another mobile operating system? For me specifically how will this new OS affect those of us trying to build useful educational software?

I’ve been following Android since the first announcement last November with interest and excitement at the potential disruption that it could bring to the mobile eco-system and our niche of that eco-system. From my early assessment of Android it was clear that had the typical Computer Science led over engineering of a Google project which mean it was doing some really radical things from technical perspective. I really like how the system has been built and how they have got over the low resource problems in a much more creative way than the iPhone OS with it’s lack of background processes.

I was luckily enough to interview Rich Miner in January of this year and he gave me a picture of how seriously Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) were taking the openess of Android. Not only will the OS become Open Source when it hits version 1.0, but it is open to 3rd party apps. The architecture is so open that you can supply alternate programs to manage any task on the phone. The system is so open you can  override the core software that comes with the phone if you choose and replace the default dialer with another. Rich made it clear to me that all OHA members are required to keep the platform open – and to implement the core of the OS.

A core part of the power of the iPhone solution is the powerful, simple and well used distribution and payment mechanism that is iTunes. Google have tried to address the lack of an iTunes App Store with the Android marketplace – but missed the point and made it complex by involving operators in the billing – we can only hope this soon gets simplified. The G1 also comes with an unlimited internet connection so that is a match for the iPhone – we can only assume all other Android phones will also. The T-mobile G1 will also launch with an MP3 store from Amazon – one of the few competitors for iTunes – now if Amazon, OHA and operators could come up with a simplified App Marketplace – that would be interesting!

The big worry with Android is that it will quickly fragment as device manufacturers and operators fall into their old habits but Rich gave many convincing arguments as to why this would not happen. The least of which is that members of OHA have all pledged not to.

What worries me most about all the devices is that there is no easy way for consumers to understand that this phone and that phone are similar. If you get a Windows phone you know that it is windows – there will be at least a sticker or logo. Most consumers also know about the Java brand even if they don’t understand it. The iPhone brand is strong even if it is only a single phone. How will consumers know that a T-mobile G1 can run the same software as a Motorola G345 (say). The only brand on the G1 is Google not Android or OHA – will this remain on all Android phones?

Until it is clear what consumer reaction to the G1 is and we can also see how other operators take up Android a lot of these questions won’t matter. This creates a chicken and egg situation: the hope for Android phones is that they will be seen by consumers as internet and application phones in the same way that the iPhone is perceived. for this perception to be true there needs to be lots of apps that consumers talk about and use a lot that will persuade others to get a similar phone. This in turn relies on developers writing for Android which means there will have to be enough users to justify the investment in developing for a quite different platform.

What does all of this mean for education? In my opinion Android is a slow burner – it will take time until there are enough devices out there. For 15-21 year olds it might grab a big marketshare if it is cheap and or  cool but so far there is little indication of either. It also lacks a non-phone companion like the iPhone which makes it a lot less appealing for schools to recommend. I cannot see Android worrying Sony or Nintendo in the same way the iPhone must currently be doing.

Standby though there are rumours that Android is really targetted at more than phones and it may become the defacto low power OS on phones, set top boxes, netbooks and many other smaller devices. If it does you can bet that Android will have a big impact on education in developed and developing economies.

Tags: android, devices, handy education, iphone, mobile-learning

01.Oct.08 devices, education, handy education Comments (0)

Why is the iPod Touch important for education?

I was asked last week why it is that I am fixated on the iPod Touch and its use as an educatonal tool. Once I had answered this adequately it was pointed out to me that I have not explained the point well enough on this blog. So here it is…

iPod Touch as a mobile computing platform

The introduction of the second version of the iPod Touch OS brought with it the ability to run third party applications. The opening of the OS in this way meant that the iPod had graduated from being a media player into a mobile computer platform.

The route that the iPod has taken to become a mobile computer platform is as important as the technology that has been used. The brand of Apple was not well known outside of computer users 10 years ago – but with the the iPod it is now a household name. That the iPod is now well known is great – that it dominates the MP3 player market with 75% market share is part and parcel of this. To become a mobile computing platform with this heritage and the buzz of the Apple marketing machine means that the iPod Touch is a much more acceptable and ‘cool’ device for learning than a Windows based PDA.

The ‘cool’ competition

There are other brands that can also move into this space with more teenage credibility than Microsoft – Sony with it’s playstation brand and Nintendo with the DS. It seems that the heritage of both these companies as gaming companies does not allow them to open up their platforms to a plethora of 3rd party developers as Apple has done with the iPod Touch and Microsoft to a much greater extent with Windows Mobile. The gaming device companies have had a business model for years that involves selling devices at a loss and then making money back with licensing fees from the developers. Apple has always made a profit on every device it sells and therefore opening their platform provides an opportunity for extra income and does not risk existing income.

Sony and Nintendo have also created very targeted gaming devices with inputs and controls that are only found on gaming devices. Nintendo embraced touch and audio input prior to Apple – but the touch area is quite small. The issues for Sony and Nintendo to overcome with the physical aspects of their devices can be resolved in future models and they both still offer the best competition to Apple in terms of ‘cool’ devices.

A final characteristic of both gaming devices is that they rely on physical media to primarily distribute content. This again reflects the heritage of selling games via retail channels. Apple has been extremely lucky with the dominance of the iPod because this has also allowed Apple to become one of the largest digital content retailers with the iTunes Store.

So the iPod Touch is cool and as a mobile computing platform and it faces little ‘cool’ competition as such. Apple is getting aggressive and has inspirations for the iPod Touch to move into gaming and compete with the gaming devices rather than waiting for them to move into the mobile computing market.

The death of the PDA

There are two other types of devices that can be used for mobile computing in education – Windows based PDA devices and smartphones. The PDAs have a long heritage in mobile computing and provide a very open platform with digital delivery (however lacking a single easy retail channel to compete with the iTunes Store). The problem for PDA devices is that their market is shrinking thanks to competition from smartphones and gaming devices. For business and personal use a PDA makes little sense when a user can get a smartphone that can provide them with the same functionality and the functions of a phone.

This shrinking market means that one of the markets where non-phone devices make sense is when schools or other education institutions sponsor the use of a particular device. Non-phone devices are preferable in schools because they create no problems related to the payment of phone bills and connectivity can be more easily controlled through school WiFi connections. It is not clear if this market is big enough for it to be viable for device manufacturers to continue creating PDA devices.

The device already in the pocket

The final type of devices that offer competition to the iPod Touch as a mobile computing platform for education are the smartphones. Statistics only show the smartphone market to be increasing every year and this had led to a very competitive marketplace that is driving down costs. Smartphones are very fragmented though with many different platforms:
*Windows Mobile
*Blackberry
*Symbian (Nokia, SonyEricsson and Motorola)
*Linux
*Android (from Google autumn 2008)

All of these platforms are open (more open than the iPod Touch) and on many of the platforms are Java compatible. However there are lots of different screen sizes and input mechanisms that vary across the devices. The variations in device specifications mean that there are phones for every type of user but make it much harder to write software and some phones are just not powerful or large enough for educational content to work.

Phones are ‘cool’/desirable and already in the pockets of students – but the lack of standard configurations means that there is very little software for these devices. The lack of an ‘education standard’ makes it hard for consumers to choose devices, schools to put their weight behind particular configurations and developers to focus their support.

I am writing this article on a plane with my Nokia N810 so I feel I should also quickly mention the ‘Internet Tablet’ devices. These devices are the successors to the PDAs and are very powerful – with great off-line capabilities, a keyboard and great application distribution features. They lack however any media player credibility (they do it – but not as effortlessly as an iPod). The power & flexibility of these devices is also a flaw when compared with the simplicity & usability of the iPod for “non-geek” users.

Other ‘netbook’ computers like the Asus EEE are not pocket devices and not up for consideration.

Conclusions:The iPod Touch has the least flaws and the most advantages at the moment

The iPod Touch / iPhone platform is a single configuration of screen size and input mechanism which helps in the creation of content. The brand is also well known and understood by consumers as desirable and ‘cool’. It is easier for school to encourage the use of iPods with students and parents.

The heritage of the iPod as a media player provides compelling reasons for students to use one with or without educational content. The addition of gaming to the iPod Touch only makes the devices more compelling to students.

The iPhone is a great device for consumers who want the functionality of a smartphone but can run all the same software as an iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is great for schools who do not want to be involved in billing issues. (The media player market is more secure than that for PDA devices and a better investment for schools.)

The digital delivery platform greatly reduces the barriers for developers of niche software (such as education) to compete globally and find viable markets. This distribution method also means that operating system upgrades are applied more easily and more widely than any other mobile platform.

The iPod platform has flaws:
*Lack of keyboard input
*little competition to drive down price
*no compatibility with existing software
*A psuedo-open platform that is tightly controlled by Apple

In my opinion at the moment the advantages mean these flaws are acceptable and in some ways these flaws are a consequence of the advantages.

It has become clear to me in writing this article that to seriously compete with the iPod Touch platform would take a combination of something like Nokia, Nintendo and Amazon.

I hope this has laid out in a bit more detail why I see the iPod Touch and iPhone as being highly important as a mobile platform for education. I welcome comments and opinion to help sharpen my understanding and thoughts on the issues facing students, educators and parents in choosing and using mobile devices in education.

Tags: devices, handy education, iphone, iPod Touch

16.Sep.08 devices, education, handy education, m-learning, mobile development, mobile phones, tools, uHavePassed Comments (5)