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Function over form: RAZR still a cash cow for software developers
Beneath the glittery glow of smartphone superstardom -- you know, the stage occupied by the BlackBerry Storm, the G1, the iPhone, and the like -- lies an ever-present hotbed of workhorses, unglamorous handsets that get the job done and bring home the bacon for their carriers. Phone emulation service DeviceAnywhere reports that the original Motorola RAZR V3 is its most popular device used for software testing, suggesting that developers are still looking to these mass-market phones to sell apps -- despite the high-profile SDK draw from more expensive gear. With 10,000 apps now sitting in Apple's App Store, we're not feeling too bad for iPhone owners, but it's good to know that the free-on-contract cats aren't about to get left behind in the fray.
RIM teams with DeviceAnywhere for testing of BlackBerry applications
Palm already did the deed by partnering with DeviceAnywhere in opening its Virtual Developer Lab, and now it looks as if RIM's doing the same for its BlackBerry lineup. The Waterloo-based handset maker has joined hands with the aforementioned testing outfit in order to let "outside developers test their applications on a single system that represents 100 BlackBerry models running on 16 networks." We're also told that RIM is currently working with 100,000 developers to "create applications for such uses as gaming and navigation that link customers more tightly to their devices," which shouldn't come as any surprise given the pressure from Apple and Google. There's no word on when the virtual dev facility will open its doors, but we'd bank on it being sometime between "now" and "real soon."
Palm throws Virtual Developer Lab doors wide open
For the legions of developers anxious to use their talents to build for Palm (yes, all four of you), listen up. By partnering with DeviceAnywhere, Palm has opened up its Virtual Developer Lab, which enables devs to remotely access actual Treo / Centro handsets in order to test out software, capture screen shots / video of processes, create an audit trail through the capturing of keystrokes and share data / collaborate with colleagues online. If you're swearing up and down that this stuff isn't new, you're not (entirely) crazy -- DeviceAnywhere has been offering up this remote demo access on a variety of handsets for quite some time. Palm's just making the extra effort to ensure you and your three pals know about it.[Via CNET]
DeviceAnywhere lets devs play with 500 phones over the net
In one of the more impressive Frankenphone installations we've ever seen, a company called Mobile Complete has been operating a remote phone-testing service called DeviceAnywhere that allows mobile phone developers to test out their apps on any of their choice of over 500 different phone models. The phones are opened up and have their circuits wired directly into a server, so devs have access to every part of the device, just as if they were physically present. CEO Faraz Syed says that the networked handsets are "surprisingly reliable and robust, even though they look like we've cut them open and killed them." According to the company, all the major carriers and several large content providers are customers, and only Nokia offers a similar testing suite -- and it's not as robust. Too bad the service starts at $200 and runs from $17 an hour up -- we'd love to spend a couple hours fooling around.
