Nokia: delusion, Android and China style

Uncategorized No Responses »
Jan 202012

An article from Forbes – inaccurately titled How China Ate Android – is currently making circles all over Nokia employee’s Twitter streams.

It contains the following passage, which is highlighted by the Nokia folks:

How is it possible the mid-tier Android vendors cannot eke out revenue growth with that kind of global Android unit explosion still going on?

The most likely explanation is the rapid expansion of the low-cost Android phone vendors, particularly ZTE and Huawei. I

Sadly, they fail to read on – as it contains the following passage, also:

… they are also eyeing other device segments. ZTE’s Windows model Tania is debuting in the UK at the monthly contract rate of 10 pounds – half of what the Nokia 710 will cost.

If you ask me, Nokia would have fared best with a proper version of Symbian – with Android being the second best. The reason for this has been outlined here before: while Windows Phone 7 is a nice platform, it is, by design, unsuitable for creating high end phones.

However, all the eeking and squeaking mainly takes place in the mid-range area. High-end Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note have little to fear from Chinese manufactutrers – they prefer the cushier mid- and low-range markets to the cold winds faced in the profitable, but challenging high-end market.

Let’s quote Winston Churchill: “I am not a person to be prodded. If anything, I am the prod”.

Sadly, Nokia has all but given up that position. So, better invest in impact dampers – and get aquainted to that prod…

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 10:28 pm

bada 2.0.4 – SDK out

Development No Responses »
Jan 192012

Samsung has shown an extraordinary amount of diligence when it comes to keeping its SDK up to date – version 2.0.4 has just been released.

In particular, the following has been changed and improved:

This release contains the following resolved issues.
IDE and SDK
IDE
The Stop JavaScript Debugging menu in the JavaScript Debugger does not work properly. When the user clicks this menu, the application exits.
SDK
If the Event Injector sends the ‘USB Remove’ event, the current debugging application is terminated.

C++ Framework
Osp::Ads::Controls
The Ad library (libOspAdsControls.so.2.0.3) has a packaging error, which means that the application packages with the Ad library cannot be run by the Test Kit or registered properly in the Samsung Apps Seller Office.
Osp::App
The launch condition registered with the RegisterAppLaunch() method does not fire correctly.
Osp::Locations
Location updates are generated even in the sleep mode.
Osp::Social
Editing a contact through the contact AppControl does not work properly when a contact ID and URL are used as parameters.
The SnsAuthenticator class does not work correctly for bada applications newly registered as Facebook Applications.
Osp::System
The application is automatically registered in the location menu, when it subscribes to setting events.
Osp::Ui
The text color and background color of the tab style footer does not change.
The SetTextAlignment() method of the TextBox, EditField, EditArea, and ExpandableEditArea classes does not work as expected.
If the user-specified color is partially or fully transparent, the color-related methods of all UI controls do not work as expected on WQVGA devices.
If the renderer size and the size of the OverlayRegion instance do not match, a pinkish outline is shown on WQVGA devices.
The translucent properties of the Form indicator, header, and footer do not work as expected on WQVGA UI Builder.

Web Framework
General
Auto-selection of the privileged API group in the config.xml file does not work properly on the bada developer site.

Not much to add here – except that, for me, the Auto-Update feature of the bada IDE did not work, requiring a manual update…

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 5:54 am

mHealth applications market reached $US 718 million in 2011

Metrics Maid No Responses »
Jan 182012

mHealth applications are proving to be a boon for patients and doctors alike. With smartphones coming to “everyman’s reach”, mHealth apps have seen a spurt in growth.

Research2Guidance, the ever number crunching firm, has released a report  which gives an insight into the mHealth app market.

2011 was the first year of substantial business in the market for mobile health services delivered via smartphone applications.

The smartphone application market for mobile healthcare increased by a factor of 7 to reach $US 718 million in 2011. Nevertheless, the mHealth market is still in an embryonic state. Theoretically the market potential is enormous given the overall worldwide healthcare market size of US$ 6 trillion (WHO estimate) and the potential use cases and benefits for mobile patient healthcare support.

Within the last year, the growth in the mobile healthcare market has greatly accelerated. The main drivers for this growth have been the increase in the smartphone user base on the demand side, and the doubling of the number of mHealth applications on the supply side. These findings are part of research2guidance’s new Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016.

A majority of the big healthcare companies have discovered mHealth applications as an innovative way to promote and deliver healthcare services and products. A testament to this is that a number of these large players published mHealth apps in 2011 that go far beyond a simple allergy tracker or pill reminder, e.g. Sanofi Aventis’ sensor-based iBGStar Diabetis monitoring app.

chart mHealth 1.2012 mHealth applications market reached $US 718 million in 2011

We are undoubtedly witnessing a transition phase, and mHealth apps will surely become a “must have” for doctors and patients alike.

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 6:40 pm Tagged with: ,

We’ve been hacked – but are alive

Internal No Responses »
Jan 172012

Dear Readers,
I am unhappy to inform you that we have had a minor break-in into our systems – an attacker of unknown provinience exploited the software used to host the Tamoggemon Content Network, as to insert content to “spam” the Google search engine with ads for his own products.

As this was a purely Google-targeted attack, no post data was damaged and no user data was stolen. We have been able to remove the hack fully from all sites already.

This disclosure is made only to satisfy our legal obligations. The following sites were affected:

  • TamsS60
  • TamsBlackBerry
  • TamsIJungle

Should you recognize any oddities, please let us know immediately!

With best regards
Tam Hanna / Jatinder Singh

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 11:03 pm

Meet /me at Mobile Developer Conference

Internal No Responses »
Jan 162012

This one goes out to all true Tam Hanna fans who happen to be in Germany in February – you can meet yours truly at the Mobile Developer Conference.
mdc europe Meet /me at Mobile Developer Conference

I will be speaking about data persistance on Windows Phone 7 – and most definitely, attendants can expect a few surprises!

Find out more via the URL below:
http://www.mobile-developer-conference.de/

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 9:07 pm

Research: Market for mobile app development services reached $US 20.5 billion in 2011

Development, Metrics Maid No Responses »
Jan 102012

Research2guidance, the ever number crunching company has produced it’s latest report concerning development for smartphones.

In 2011 publishers created $US 6.8 billion in application download revenues while app development revenues reached $US 20.5 billion. The development service became a mass market almost 3 times of the size of the application download market today.

chart 1.2012 Research: Market for mobile app development services reached $US 20.5 billion in 2011

The market for mobile application development services, including application creation, management, distribution and extension services, has reached $US 20.5 billion vs. $US 6.8 billion in app downloads in 2011. Thus the development market surpassed the content market by the factor of 3.

Today most app project revenue is generated from “classical” app creation services (concept creation, design and coding). New service types like app libraries, white label solutions and multi platform app development tools have become more and more popular, but do not yet take a major share of the market.

Prices for application development services vary significantly between regions. UK developers charge $US 626 per day whereas competitors from India charge, on average, $US 138 per working day.

App development partners using price as the main criteria for selection will not be lead to an optimal solution as most of the price differences are offset by the additional time needed by offshore app developers.

App developers can get a copy of the 98 page report from http://www.research2guidance.com/the-market-for-mobile-app-development-services-reached-us-20.5-billion-in-2011/

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 6:00 pm Tagged with: , ,

Broadcom debuts new 5G Wi-Fi chips, promises speeds up to 1.3Gbps

News No Responses »
Jan 052012

The best just got better. Broadcom, the maker behind come of the most needed chips in our smartphones and tablets (read as network chips) has introduced its first family of 802.11ac (5G WiFi) chips.

According to Broadcom, its new family of chips offers speeds up to three times faster than 802.11n Wi-Fi with up to six times the power efficiency over a broader range. The new chips use a 40nm process and deliver HD video content over longer distances nearly instantaneously. Broadcom says the chips deliver content so quickly, that the Wi-Fi radios on mobile devices can return to low-power mode faster, which results in significant power savings.

The full press release is as follows

Broadcom Launches First Gigabit Speed 802.11ac Chips – Opens 2012 CES with 5th Generation (5G) Wi-Fi Breakthrough

5G WiFi Offers Consumers the World’s Fastest, Most Reliable Wireless Coverage for HD-Quality Video and Near Instantaneous Data Synch
Innovation Attracts Support from Industry Leaders – Comcast, Lenovo, Motorola, NETGEAR and Others

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — CES —

News Highlights:

  • Broadcom introduces first family of IEEE 802.11ac chips based on the 5th generation of Wi-Fi (5G WiFi)
  • 5G WiFi improves wireless range in the home, allowing consumers to watch HD-quality video from more devices, in more places
  • The increased speed of 5G WiFi allows consumers to load web content on a mobile device faster, synch large video or music files quickly, all while extending battery life
  • 5G WiFi addresses the growing need for a more robust and efficient wireless network

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today introduced its first family of 802.11ac (5G WiFi) chips designed for a broad range of product segments. The new IEEE 802.11ac chips are three times faster and up to six times more power efficient than equivalent 802.11n solutions. Visit Experience Broadcom @ CES for more news, blogs and multi-media from CES and www.5GWiFi.org for more information on consumer advantages of 802.11ac.

5G WiFi is the next generation Wi-Fi standard required for today’s mobile and video era. Based on 802.11ac, 5G WiFi is a major evolutionary step from the existing 802.11a/b/g/n networks. Broadcom’s 5G WiFi dramatically improves the wireless range in the home, allowing consumers to watch HD-quality video from more devices, in more places, simultaneously. The increased speed enables consumers to download web content from a mobile device faster and quickly synch large files, such as videos, in a fraction of the time it would take on a similar 802.11n device. Since 5G WiFi transfers the same volume of data at a much faster rate, devices enter low-power mode faster, which results in significant power consumption advantages.

Digital-content consumption is on a steep incline, with video content expected to reach approximately 90 percent of global consumer traffic, according to Cisco’s 2011 Visual Networking Index Forecast. At the same time, Internet traffic is shifting rapidly from wired to wireless networks. The increased reliance on wireless networks, the explosion of video consumption and the growing number of wireless devices being used are all putting tremendous stress on legacy 802.11a/b/g/n networks. As a result, consumers are prone to experience deteriorated performance, choppy videos and slower load times. 

By creating more reliable whole-home coverage, Broadcom’s 5G WiFi technology overcomes the digital content and wireless device challenge. Broadcom’s family of 5G WiFi solutions includes the BCM4360, BCM4352, BCM43526 and BCM43516. 

Product Highlights:

  • All 5G WiFi solutions from Broadcom support the following features:
    • 80 MHz channel bandwidth that is 2 times wider than current 802.11n solutions
    • 256-QAM, a higher modulation scheme that increases data transfer efficiency
    • Transmit and receive beamforming
    • Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes
    • Space-Time Block Codes (STBC)
  • BCM4360 supports the PCIe interface and implements 3-stream 802.11ac specifications, and reaches speeds up to 1.3 Gbps.
  • BCM4352 and BCM43526 implement 2-stream 802.11ac specification to reach up to 867 Mbps. BCM4352 supports PCIe interface; BCM43526 supports the USB interface.
  • BCM43516 supports USB and reaches speeds of up to 433 Mbps with its single stream 802.11ac implementation.
  • Chips with the PCIe interface are ideal for access points, routers, DSL/cable gateways and PC products; chips that use USB are ideal for consumer electronics devices including televisions, set-top boxes and Blu-Ray players.
  • Broadcom’s new 5G WiFi chips deliver better coverage and longer battery life in a small form factor that is interoperable and compatible with existing technologies.
    • Beamforming helps steer content in the direction of the intended receiver, increasing reliability and extending range; this is well complemented by STBC and LDPC code support.
    • By transferring the same volume of data at a much faster rate, devices go into a low-power mode faster than existing 802.11n solutions.
    • Designed on 40nm manufacturing process, the new chips are smaller and more power efficient, giving customers more design freedom.
    • Broadcom’s 5G WiFi solutions work with all legacy 802.11 standards and complement other wireless technologies — like Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth and NFC.

Broadcom is sampling 5G WiFi solutions to its early access partners including retail and PC OEMs, service providers and carriers, and will be demonstrating 5G WiFi capabilities at CES.

802.11ac has generated broad support across the consumer-electronics industry. Companies and partners across the ecosystem recognize that 802.11ac is the future of Wi-Fi and are committed to its development, integration and distribution.

Nothing much to add here except there is a horde of quotes from industry experts which can be read at the following link – http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=s637241

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 5:13 pm Tagged with: ,

Krusell – The best-selling phones in 2011

Metrics Maid No Responses »
Jan 032012

December 2011 has gone. So it means that its high time for Krusell to release the top 10 phones for 2011. Here we go ladies and gentlemen.

1. Apple iPhone 4/4S

2. Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II

3. Nokia 3720 Classic

4. Samsung GT-B2710 / Xcover 271

5. Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

6. HTC Sensation

7. Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc

8. HTC Desire HD

9. Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray

10. Samsung B2100

Ulf Sandberg, the MD at Krusell quoted

I guess there is no surprise for anyone that iPhone 4/4S is 2011’s top selling device according to Krusell’s list for 2011. The iPhone is a sensitive smartphone with a very high attachment rate on cases,

In a way, it is more fascinating to see other models on our top seller list, such as Samsung’s Xcover which really is a device made for a rougher treatment. Still consumers prefer to buy a case, even if the phone doesn’t need protection as much as the user needs a convenient usage of the device in their daily life.

Apple, as we see, has retained the Number one spot, which is seriously challenged by Sammy. While Sony Ericsson is also not doing that bad, Nokia’s days of being the undisputed king are certainly over. With new devices lined up for new year, let us see what time has in store for us.

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 6:44 pm Tagged with:

Krusell – TOP-10 selling phones for December 2011

Metrics Maid No Responses »
Jan 032012

Another month, another analysis, and another winner. Krusell, the Swedish case manufacturer has released it’s top 10 phones list for the month of December 2011. And the winners are

1. (1) Apple iPhone 4/4S

2. (2) Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II

3. (3) Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc/Arc S

4. (4) Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

5. (-) Samsung Galaxy Nexus

6. (5) Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray

7. (6) Nokia 3720 Classic

8. (-) Samsung GT-B2710 / Xcover 271

9. (10) HTC Titan

10. (8) HTC Sensation

() = Last month’s position.

Ulf Sandberg, Managing Director at Krusell said

Samsung have thru the whole year, giving them a fight with a number of phones making its way up the list. Notable is that Sony Ericsson’s upgraded Arc S has made it to keep third place during the Christmas period, and that the new Galaxy Nexus made it to fifth place during its first month on the market.

As our esteemed readers know that the lists above is based on the number of pieces of custom made mobile-, smartphone cases ordered from Krusell during December 2011. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones on six continents and in more than 70 countries around the globe.

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 6:35 pm Tagged with:

Older Samsung Wave smartphones will not get bada 2.0 before Q1 2012

News 1 Response »
Jan 022012

When Sammy had  promised that all the Wave series of phones will be getting bada 2.0, the public went yayyyyyy. It was promised that the update will be rolled out by the end of the year that has just gone by (read as 2011).

But it seems that Sammy has taken a different stance on the whole thing.

Both Samsung of Spain and Samsung of Italy have announced that the bada 2.0 update is being delayed until the first quarter of 2012. The company’s Italian branch is being a bit more specific on the matter by stating that the software won’t be available prior to March of next year. Which will be the first devices to get it remains unclear.

This is  precisely the kind of news that makes the public go from yayyyy to being highly-pissed. Samsung has left no stone unturned to be the numero uno smartphone vendor. But to follow a course like this makes Sammy look sloppy….just like Nokia.

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 7:11 pm Tagged with: , ,

Happy New Year from Tamoggemon Team

Uncategorized No Responses »
Jan 012012

We at the Tamoggemon Team wish our readers a Very Happy New Year 2012.

We would like to thank all our readers who visited our website and participated in the discussions. Without you, we would have been nothing

You Rock People…!!!! Happy New Year 2012.

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Posted by Jatinder Singh at 6:42 pm

The Usurper – or – Why Samsung buys Sony’s LCD share

Editorials No Responses »
Dec 272011

samsung construction The Usurper or Why Samsung buys Sonys LCD shareWhen it comes to Samsung, most other mobile companies do not get the motives of this firm. Still today, I can hardly restrain my laughter when thinking about how Nokia accused Eldar Murtazin about “being sponsored by Samsung” – bollocks, the company just happens to be everywhere.

The BBC now reports the following:

Samsung Electronics has agreed to buy out Sony’s entire stake in their liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture.

The Korean electronics maker said it will pay Sony 1.08tn won ($939m; £600m) in cash for its stake.

The move comes as Sony has been restructuring its TV business, which has been making a loss for the past seven years.

…

This report nicely fits into the Samsung picture – it is a little-known fact that the company offers, among other things, building services. In fact, the picture to the left of this story shows the Petronas Towers…which were, incidentally, built by Samsung.

Samsung’s management takes an extreme long-term view on many industries. For them, an investment makes sense even if it takes 10 years to pay off – especially if it gives you control over the competition. Let’s take a look at that.

If we look at past reviews, Samsungs products consistently stand out due to the extraordinarily high display quality. Furthermore, the devices tend to be very affordable – the launch price of the first-generation Wave (bada phone) can almost be called dumping.

All of this is made possible by a very unorthodox trend: anti-outsourcing! If you make the stuff other manufacturers have to buy, it gives you more leeway – selling an LCD to yourself at production costs is an entirely sensible decision as long as the end product makes money.

Of all firms in Mobile, no one has perfected this approach to the extent Samsung has – what do you think?

Image: Wikimedia Commons / SomeFormOfHuman

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 3:51 am

On screen sizes and ad conversion rates

Metrics Maid No Responses »
Dec 182011

I have always thought that there is no correlation between screen diagonals and click through rates – what impact should the screen size have on user behavior?

InnerActive has now sent us the following diagram, which shows a clear correlation:
advertising screen dialogs On screen sizes and ad conversion rates

Any ideas?

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 8:46 pm

bada SDK 2.0.3 released

Development No Responses »
Dec 182011

bada 2.0 is a competitive operating system – its feature set is now more or less on level with Symbian and Android.

Version 2.0.3 of the SDK now implements the following new features:

● Support of the official WQVGA resolution
The WQVGA resolution was supported as a beta version in SDK 2.0.2, and it is now supported as an
official resolution in 2.0.3. The official resolutions supported in version 2.0.3 are WVGA, HVGA, and WQVGA.

● Additional language support for voice functions (TTS, STT)
Korean and Chinese are supported in addition to the previous 5 languages (English, French, Italian,
German, and Spanish).
– Korean: This language has been added to the SDK. Only the Wave 3 (for all countries) device is supported.
– Simplified Chinese: This language has been added to the SDK.
Simplified Chinese is only supported for devices for the Chinese market.

● Support for the Test Kit
The bada Test Kit application on the target device allows you to install multiple applications on the device.
Additionally, the Test Kit supports remote application installation, allowing other developers to test
your application. The Test Kit will be published on Samsung Apps.
For more information, see Test Kit.

● Addition of the bada RSS builder
The bada RSS builder template has been added for RSS applications.
It enables developers to develop RSS applications more easily.

● Debug library for target devices
The debug library for target devices is distributed with some updates. With this updated version,
you can use the step-into option while debugging applications on a target device, and the issue
where variables were not read properly has been resolved. For more information, see Debug Library.

● Function improvements and error corrections
– Some errors in the Potential Bug Checker have been corrected and the performance has been improved.
– The Ad library has been enhanced by removing limitations of the previous library.

● Some classes (regarding APIs and event listeners) have been deprecated:
Osp::Social::Services::BuddyService
Osp::Social::Services::PrivacyManager
Osp::Social::Services::ProfileService
Osp::Locations::RemoteLocationProvider
Osp::Locations::RemoteLandmarkStore

The full release notes can be found at the URL below:

http://static.bada.com/releasenotes/2.0.3.html

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 4:37 pm

MobiHand on financial issues and refunds

Development No Responses »
Dec 162011

Rumors about non-payment of developers my MobiHand’s have made circles in the BlackBerry market for some time – reminding veterans of the Palm ESD which also almost went belly-up and repaid the developers over a few years.

A recent CrackBerry forum post purpoted to be coming from MobiHand now reads as following – emphasis added by yours truly

To help you folks avoid further misunderstanding on a couple of issues, here is some information about recent topics we’ve seen discussed on these forums. First, MobiHand continues to provide customer service in the same manner as in past. In the few cases of activation code problems that have actually been referred to us, the cause has been the removal, by the applicable developer, of the linkage between our systems and the developer’s systems, which is needed to generate codes based on the application’s DRM model. We encourage developers to continue to provide service and enable us to provide service to our mutual customers. We are late on some payments, but we are working to resolve that and it is not appropriate or helpful to the situation for any of us to hurt or scare our customers.

Another issue recently raised has been “refunds” recorded on the system over the last few days. Almost all of these are not voluntary refunds to customers. These are “chargebacks” (forced refunds) imposed by the credit card companies when the original purchase was made by a user not authorized to use the credit card. Unfortunately, these fraud events are common in online commerce, especially for sales of items that don’t need to be shipped to a real physical address. We use several techniques to detect and reject many fraud orders, but some get through undetected. We historically experience fraud rates lower than industry averages and much less than 1% of sales. The experience rates for different products often vary as the fraudsters sometimes seem to target specific products. These chargebacks come from the credit card companies day by day, normally several weeks or months after the original sale (after the cardholders have examined their credit card statements) and we normally record them in big batches. The items recorded in the last few days represent an accumulation of chargebacks over about two months. We are simply completing the accounting after not recording them for some time.

We ask developers in this forum to understand that MobiHand continues to work hard to provide services, get all of you paid and generate growing revenues. If something is not perfect, please do not interpret it to mean that we have given up or do not intend to get it right. Most developers with questions and concerns have addressed them directly to us in a businesslike manner, using the help tool inside their MobiHand account, and most concerns are resolved to their satisfaction with the one exception being late payments. We appreciate that most developers are not using payment delays as a reason to create more problems by inconveniencing customers or encouraging panic by the developer community. You should also know that MobiHand is not some giant corporate monster — it is a small technology company with real people who have provided outstanding service to customers, developers and website stores for seven years. As usual, businesses go through easy times and difficult times and the only way we know to get through difficulties is to continue to work. MobiHand is continuing to provide services and intends to pay every single dollar owed to every single developer and we have several initiatives underway that we believe will enable that.

Finally, please understand that we don’t read these forums everyday, we don’t intend to become regular participants and, if we are silent about issues, it is not because we don’t care. We are simply focused on running our business. Instead of engaging in debates, we are trying to serve the developer community and our mutual customers.

Thanks.

As of this writing, not much more is known…

P.S. To clarify some accusations levied against Tamoggemon Limited by a hysteric developer who will remain unnamed: we have not made any revenue off MobiHand for ages. We stand in no commercial relationship to MobiHand whatsoever.

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Posted by Tam Hanna at 4:31 pm
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