Motorola's Plan To Woo iPhone Coders: Bribery, Widgets
Motorola's new "Widget Developer Challenge" will award lucky winners prizes up to $25,000 -- $200,000 in total prizes -- and "global exposure." All you have to do is join Motorola's developer program, learn their widget system, make something cool, and if you're lucky, profit.
And then plan to forget everything you've learned -- because Motorola will be throwing it away anyway.
What?
This contest is for building "WebUI" widgets -- a platform that Motorola's Web site says is for "Motorola's open mobile Linux platform," based on the WebKit Web browser guts -- also used by the iPhone and Android.
The problem: While Motorola is releasing phones based on that operating system now -- like the new VE66 -- they're ditching it next year. Meanwhile, we see no sign of "Google Android" or "Microsoft Windows Mobile" on here -- the platforms Motorola will be using for all of its mid- to high-end phones by the end of next year.
So while we're sure some people will enter the contest -- hey, free money, right? -- there seems to be little long-term value here for Motorola or for developers. We'd spend our time figuring out the iPhone SDK or Android first.
Update: It's possible Motorola will add a WebUI hook into their Android or Windows Mobile phones. We're still trying to figure this out, with the help of Motorola's PR team.
See Also:
Motorola: No Google Android 'GPhones' Til Next Christmas
Motorola Betting Big On Google's Android To Take On Apple, Rivals
Recession Delays Motorola Cellphone Spinoff, More Cuts Coming
http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/37900
What about users?
What about users?
Heck, what about a plan that makes any sense to anybody?
Sounds like a business plan from Dilbert to me.
KenC: I'm pretty sure LiMo is out. Their third OS is some really low-end platform for emerging market phones.
What I had heard is that the third OS would be P2K, the OS they use on lower-functionality phones (like the RAZR).
LJ and LiMo probably aren't enough different from Android to be worth keeping them alive, especially if they can use a WebKit base to allow relatively easy porting from LJ to Android.
These guys bought a UK based company called Sendo, which arguably was the best Symbian implementation, bar none!
Don't believe any of the niceties or technology from the purchase made it into their products.
Still wonder (everytime I look at my RAZR2 V8) why these idiots are fiddling with Linux when they had a mature platform that could have helped transform their company.
It is a shame, as I liked Sendo products and they could have really helped Moto change.
Not clear whether you're saying you like the V8 or hate it (it's Linux-based) - I thought it was a pretty good phone.