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Have you considered putting Block Story on RIM's PlayBook platform? Since version 2.0 of the PlayBook OS, they've supported Android executables (although you do have to repackage them). It seems to help with downloads and sales.

It's a trivial "port" if your app doesn't require native code, so it's not a huge investment on your part. BlackBerry 10 is going to support Android apps too, so you won't be limited to just the PlayBook for long.

Disclosure: I work for RIM.

Well considering that last year IDC said Windows Phone would overtake iOS by 2015, I say someone isn't willing to admit they were wrong and keeps pushing the date.

You are partially wrong, it was iRex the ones who filed for bankrupcy . Nevertheless, I agree on the Plastic Logic vaporware thing. I even remember they took pre-orders. At that time i was deciding which eReader to get.

How do you reconcile your world view with the fact that Apple bought mobile ad companies, launched iAds, and collects your location for various reasons? How is that different from what you're grilling Google for?

Do explain what needs reconciliation? Apple has a small advertising component, which is clearly intended to make iOS better (by making ads less annoying), and is deliberately designed to minimize the amount of personal data collected on users, including oo.apple.com, which allows you to completely opt out of iAds data collection.

Google, on the other hand, almost solely makes their money from ads.

Sure, Apple also sells you the plastic, but ultimately they are in the same markets, just by different amounts.

"Just by different amounts", you might as well say filling your lungs with air and filling your lungs with water is "ultimately the same" because both contain water, "just by different amounts".

And, Apple doesn't "also sell you the plastic", they sell you the glass and aluminum, and *also* broker ads. First and foremost Apple makes their money from selling hardware to consumers. The consumer is the primary customer. With Google, the consumer is the primary product. Also, Google collects much more data than just from ad impressions. Everything you do on Google is mined. Again, very much unlike Apple and very much like comparing water vapor in the air with a large mass of liquid water.

How do you reconcile your world view with the fact that Apple bought mobile ad companies, launched iAds, and collects your location for various reasons? How is that different from what you're grilling Google for?

Sure, Apple also sells you the plastic, but ultimately they are in the same markets, just by different amounts.

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/itunes-now-70-digital-music-sales-amazon-growing/2010-05-27 I know this is kind of an old link but 70% of the market qualifies as monolopy. Plus the fact that they are about 30% of all music sold in the us every month. They are even under a DOJ invistigation. http://topnews.us/content/221070-apple-under-doj-investigation also kind of an old link. Then they are trying to dictate other stuff, like the whole thing with flash. IMHO if the DOJ is investigationg you for anti-trust laws, then your pretty much a monolopy or on the verge of becomeing one.

Don't want to play by those rules, then don't. That simple.

Agreed 100%. This is why I dumped my iPhone and bought an Android phone and now do all my development exclusively for Android. And I'm not alone. People need to stop criticizing an obstinate Apple and simply vote with their wallets. I am extremely glad I did.

If you've marketed a product, it needs to meet a release date. With Apple you cant control things like that, they have obscure rules, bad days and a myriad of other strange reasons why your application can be rejected, if you're going to put money into development, you at least want some assurance about release. But right now, money is starting to head towards Android because Android is selling 200,000 units a day and 75% of iphone4 owners had Iphone 3G/S's.

Android app store is 2% of Apple's:

http://larvalabs.com/blog/android/android-market-payouts-total-2-of-app-stores-1b/

Half of iPhone users buy at least one app per month. Only 21% of Android users

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/admob-half-iphone-users-buy-paid-apps-every-month/2010-02-25

Anyway, here in North America, Blackberry's market share is still more than double that of the iPhone, so I doubt RIM is particularly "galled".

From Forbes: "iPhone Could Overtake BlackBerry Market Share in 2011". iPhone, BlackBerry slip as Android market share surges tells a different story. Personally I don't care who leads in marketshare as long as there is competition in a relatively free market.

Falcon

Sure. Then you find a nifty app for your bank... Except It isn't actually made by or distributed by your bank and it's really a man-in-the-middle attack in disguise.

WinMo held less than 15% of the smartphone market last year. That's not "extremely popular". In tech-savvy Japan iPhone share has reached almost half. WiMo has negative growth. In fact one Gartner (we can trust Microsoft's friend Gartner not to skew the numbers away from Redmond, right?) analyst has WiMo share at a meek 7.9% in 3Q 2009, off 28% from a year before.

"From one side, the market is going open source," Cozza said. "We expect that, by 2012, around 62 percent of the whole smart phone market will be open source with Symbian, Android and other Linux flavours. On the other side, they have more closed environments like Apple and RIM. Microsoft is caught in the middle. They have to think hard what they can do."

"All their licensees - HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson - are developing on Android," Cozza said, adding that previous licensees Palm and Motorola have both abandoned Windows Mobile.

I'll agree about the ringtones thing, though - they're idiots. The thing is, there are a lot of idiots. Ringtones made up $500M in sales last year. It's shrinking fast, but to most people half a billion dollars is still a lot of money.

An important thing to note is that two or three year contracts are the norm in cell phones, so if you lose 28% of customers year over year, that's essentially everybody who could ditch your product for free. I'll say it again: that's not popular.

Now show me how I can't back my shit up.