PAAS: Salesforce opens up to Google App Engine
Saw this interesting news on Salesforce allowing applications built on the Google App Engine to access Force.com applications and data. This is a good way for Salesforce to support the more open Java development platform supported by Google. I believe that people are very concerned about moving to a properietary development platform. We have been burned in the past by proprietary tools like Notes.

LinkedIn - finally of some value
Over the past years, I have continued to build my network on LinkedIn. I rarely visit the site and, on the back of my mind, wonder if it is just a waste of time. However, last week, I urgently needed to connect with someone. I searched on LinkedIn and found that we had a common connection. I requested for an intro and made a new connection. Finally, I see why it is worth maintaining a network on the site.

Smart Phone Hell for Developers
If you are a small company planning to develop applications for smart phones, you are trying to decide which platforms to support and in what order:

• iPhone: Cool but the AppStore is crowded and you better have a way to get your application on to the first page of your category.
• Windows Mobile: They claim to have the largest installed-base for smart phones. However, delivering apps on the platform is not easy. I do not know any Windows Mobile phone user who has downloaded more than a couple of apps.
• Google Android: It has a lot of buzz in the marketplace. Many of the mobile phone manufacturers (except Apple and Nokia) seem to be planning to launch devices with this OS. Should you bet your company on the success of this platform? Google has not demonstrated a lot of success beyond search.
  
• Blackberry: They continue to thrive and control the thumbs of a the large enterprise customers with deepest pockets. The new devices are really cool!
• Symbian (owned by Nokia): Outside of the US, Nokia has the largest market share of mobile devices and if you have any hope of gaining a global customer base, you just cannot afford to ignore Symbian.

I recently spoke with the founders of a small mobile-app company and they are having a hard time deciding where to put their $$$. Any suggestions? As usual, when the OS platforms fragment, someone comes up with an idea of a portable development environment using Java - read this article on MobileMentalism: Erricson to the rescue!

On top of all that - customers are gravitating towards "free" apps and there is no mobile Google AdWords in sight. Also, customers hate Mobile ads and ad revenues for any mobile site are expected to be extremely low for a very long time.

Coghead - Visual Development tool
Came across this Infoworld Article about this Web Application Development Tool in the cloud. Here is the link to the review.

Google - Android Developer Challenge
Winners and finalists in this competition for cool mobile apps developed for the Android platform.

Delivering Mobile Apps
Apple iPhone has unleashed a huge amount of developer activity for mobile apps. However, Apple's key to success is the AppStore on iTunes. AppStore makes mobile apps accessible. My top pick from innovations at Apple is iTunes.

Let us see what Google does in this space. I don't know what Microsoft has done for app delivery on the Windows Mobile platform or Nokia on Symbian (need to do some research here!). Post a comment if you know.

UPDATE (9/2/08: 2 PM EST): I just read this article on Infoworld suggesting that Microsoft is planning to build an iTunes-like Apps store! Their current solution is the Windows Mobile Catalog.

The other digital delivery solution I am very impressed with is from Amazon for the Kindle!

Social Network Features on your Website
Google, Facebook and MySpace are all vying for an opportunity to add social features to your website.

• Google Friend Connect announcement: Add a bit of code to your website and give it some social features
• Myspace Data Availability: MySpace joined Data Portability. Interesting TechCrunch article on what this enables.
• Facebook announced Facebook Connect: It will allow users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any website. TechCrunch on the topic.
  

Will look for an opportunity to give these features a spin.

Software Marketplaces
Saw two announcements today from IBM and Intel about establishing software marketplaces. Links to Infoworld articles on the Intel's Business Exchange and IBM's Global Application Marketplace.

I am very bullish on these ideas. About a year ago, I had floated an idea of creating an ERP Customizations Exchange to Oracle and to some of my peers. The fact is that, all of us have created some very sophisticated non-strategic bolt-ons to ERPs that we would be happy to license to others at about 10 -15% of the development cost. Here is an overview of how I thought it would work for PeopleSoft:

The ERP Exchange is a subscription-based website that provides the ability for PeopleSoft clients and customers to trade code or other client-paid customizations that may be of interest to other PeopleSoft customers. ERP Exchange doesn’t own any of the code being sold on the site but simply acts as a broker between two entities that wish to exchange custom PeopleSoft functionality.

The ERP Exchange website allows subscribers to search for specific PeopleSoft customizations that they may be interested in acquiring. A brief one- paragraph description of the customization gives the buyer an overview of its features and functionality. Should the subscriber be interested in obtaining more information on a customization package (pricing, documentation available, etc.), she can click on the link. It is also possible to send subscribers email requesting additional information about a package.

I am happy to see that a couple of vendors are picking up on this idea, albeit for SMBs. This could significantly reduce the TCO for ERPs.

Enterprise Mashups?
It seems all the Enterprise Software vendors are touting Mashup features (Infoworld Article). I fell (and agree with Bill Snyder) that the market is still immature. Here is where I am on this:

• B2C Mashups: (Enterprise App to well known Consumer App (Google, etc.) makes a lot of sense and will show-up in Enterprise products
• B2B Mashups: (Enterprise to Enterprise App) Mashup may make sense for some well know and large Enterprise Service providers
• Enterprise Internal Mashups: Don't make much sense to me

IBM is jumping into the fray with IBM Mashup Center. It is an interesting tool targeted at sophisticated end users.

We will wait and see if this is another tool in the IT Toolbox or do users actually embrace it.

Notes on Google Android
It seems that T-Mobile will be the first telco to ship the first device based on Google Android (news item). The current projection is to get a couple of devices out by the end of the year. This article explains why success is not guaranteed! There are some significant hurdles to cross. However, I do agree that the advent of Android, iPhone SDK, etc will force all mobile platforms to become more open and encourage development of new and innovative mobile apps.

Google's Android Developers Blog

Kapow Mashup Server
Came across another (noted JackBe earlier) Mashup Server. I hope a business requirement comes along to allow us to play with this technology!

OpenSource OpenX Ad Server
I had not heard of this before. Seems like they have a lot of traction. I could not find a customer / user list. Noticed in a comment that Federated Media uses it!

Use doubleTwist to free your media
Came across an article describing doubleTwist. It is a Windows desktop that allows you to move your media between devices and share it with friends. I will surely be trying this!

The most interesting part is that this is developed by a Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen (DVD Jon), who at the age of 15 in 1999, helped crack the encryption codes that prevent the viewing of DVDs on computers. He was charged but eventually acquitted.

C-Net article

"White Label" Social Networking Sites
A few days ago, I had listed 3 platforms (Flix, Ning and KickApps) that allow you to build your own social networks. Well, the market is very crowded. Here is blog post from Jeremiah Owyang that has a much more comprehensive list.

Low startup costs have filled every corner of the social web software with hundreds of players. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. I guess a large volume of small amounts will be lost!

Getjar: Cool site for mobile applications
Just saw this article on GigaOm. It is a destination site for mobile application developers. Here is how it works:

• You develop an app at post it at Getjar
• The community downloads and tests - gives feedback
• You enhance your software and post it on Getjar for free downloads

Accel just invested 6Mil in this company!

Build a private Social Network
Saw a nice article on TechCrunch describing the rise of Flux (I like their logo) as a Ning and KickApps competitor. Plan to try and use one of the three to build a network for the Washington Area CTO Roundtable. Another tool I am hoping to try is Freewebs.

MySpace to open up the platform to developers
The blogosphere (here are a couple of links: Gigaom, Infoworld) is abuzz with the news that, finally, MySpace is following Facebook, Google (Open Social), LinkedIn, Plaxo and others to allow users to create applications on the platform.

It seems that developers have developed 14,000+ apps on facebook (link to the list). However, not a lot of money is being made. I will closely watch as this space develops. Thinking about how an Enterprise can use this new platform?

Trolltech - Cross-platform Development Tools
Just read the news on Slashdot that Nokia bought Trolltech, a developer of open source cross-platform development solutions. They claim to have supported the development of some cool applications including the skype client.
Update (1/30/08): An interesting Business Week article that explains the strategic importance of Trolltech.