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At the AT&T Developer Summit earlier last month, one of the free development tools they announced was the Application Resource Optimizer. While Diagostic Tools usually don't ooze of excitement, AT&T did a good job of at least creating intrigue with Zynga and Pandora both vouching that it improved their apps in power consumption and radio communications. When we spoke with AT&T, they called it "Wireshark on steroids". It works across all platforms and carriers and is broken into two main compenents, the Data Analyzer and the Data Collector and the Data Analyzer. Here is what AT&T had to say about it: 

AT&T Application Resource Optimizer (ARO) Developer Tool from WIP Connector on Vimeo.

At the very least, we think ARO is worth giving a shot - any chance you can take to save your users' battery life, you take it! Are you already using ARO or Wireshark or some other optimization tool? We'd love to hear your experience.

As it’s time for predications and reflections I always go back to my previous predictions to see how I made out.  And contrary to the belief of Strand Consulting, they are not the only ones to publish their previous years, so you can see how I made out too! 

Here are the highlights and  links to those predictions:
2011 – Year of APIs, Growth of Discovery, Less BlackBerry, Less Android, More iPhone
2010– a Thibaut/Caroline combo here.  I declared:  More Android, More BlackBerry, Less iPhone, More Innovation/More funding
2009 Tough economic times, Access the new open, Less US centric, yet more fragmentation...
2008  The Rise of Tools, M&A, and ‘Open’
2007  More fragmentation, newbie developers, Usability; and Location, Location, Location.

It was pretty right on for last year, especially the bit about API growth and where I predicated More iPhone, iPhone being the easy choice for developers as  I saw “ developers abandoning BlackBerry and Android and heading back to...

Have you also noticed that 2011 has seen a drastic reduction in the numbers of predictions?

When this time of year is usually full of "Top 10 things that will happen next year in mobile" ... In 2011 pre-dictators (those doing predictions) seem to have disappeared or seem to be more quiet than usual!

What should we read in this?

Optimistic view
2011 has seen mobile finally booming (despite a slow economy) and people usually predicting at this time of the year are too  busy doing! (or resting from a long hard year)

Pessimistic view
2012 looks so muddy that most people do not want to venture in what could be a very very dangerous territory

Even more pessimistic view
The major mobile devices and mobile platforms (Android and Apple) have reached a stage of maturity where the rhythm of innovation inside and outside the platform is slowing down. There is no exciting future for 2012 just consolidation over existing technologies.

Realistic view
This is the end of...

I'm doing some research on all the components that go into making a successful app.  Is it a good idea?  Good planning.  Good market research?  Good marketing?  Practice?  Having investment?  Living in 'the valley'? or having a good luck charm?  My sense is a combination of the above, and a lot of hard work.

Help me out by completing this brief survey. Also - if you are interested in being a case study, please contact me directly (caroline at wipconnector dot com). Thanks!

We’ve know for a while that that apps are the key driver in the mobile industry today, driving the demand for devices and network time.  The big players in the industry recognize that too, so are constantly on the lookout for new mobile applications that meet the requirements and imagination of their customers.

There are a variety of entry points to get you and your app noticed, including the AT&T Open Call Contest whose deadline for entry is Tuesday, March 8, 2011.  Get your app in now so you don’t miss out on this opportunity.  

Here’s why we like this contest. Not only is it a great way to get noticed in front of the right decision makers at AT&T, they and some of their partners who participate in the judging (I was a judge last year and will be  again this year), offer alot of advice and connections.  So even just getting a judging/pitch time is a big win!  There are over 100 spots open – so lots of opportunity!

We had an opportunity to speak with Andrea Morton the...

Happy New year from all of us at WIP - Carlo, Harper, Teresa, Thibaut and me - all the best for a stellar 2011! 

We look forward to working with you and meeting you online or around the world at the many events we all attend. 

First up is CES in Las Vegas, starting with the AT&T Developer Summit on Wednesday, January 5.  We are hosting the very cool WIP Connector Lego Challenge - guaranteed fun, good networking and of course prizes!!   Carlo, Teresa and I will be there.   You'll find Thibaut at MIDEM, January 22 - 26th in Cannes for this big industry music show.  There seems to be alot of Contest Deadlines up in January, so be sure to check them out in our Mobile Community Calendar.

If you haven't yet, check out our Predictions - all of them.  Our team of five, plus one from my interview with Ed Schmidt from ATT give you six pieces of sage advice to help you plan for 2011!

- Caroline's:  Growth, Expectations and Upsets
- Harper's: A Look Ahead at 2011
- Teresa's:  App...

As I peer into my crystal ball I see a year of more growth coupled with higher expectations for mobile along with a few upsets along the way.

The Growth

If you didn’t rest over the holidays, don’t expect to relax anytime soon no matter where you fit in the industry.  We will continue to see more devices, more demand for apps, and more demand for developers. 

It was March when we declared 2010 The Year of the Mobile Developer.  Developers were in hot demand and were finally being embraced publically and vocally as a key piece of the mobile ecosystem.   

With that, we will continue to see huge growth in the number of mobile developers entering the scene.  I do think we will see a combination of really newbie/webby developers, given the rise in toolssuch as AppMobi.   As mobile has now become ‘mainstream’ we will also see more traditional software folks entering mobile.  Expect more development tools and enablers (analytics, advertising etc) on the scene too.  Choice...

* Note:  This is a first in our series of 2011 Predictions.  Check back every day next week for others, and on January 1 for a collection of all of them, and to vote for your favorite.

One of my favourite people in the mobile developer ecosystem is Ed Schmidt from AT&T.  Ed is a Director in their Developer Program which is a nice title and all, but doesn’t really speak to the volume of his knowledge of mobile development nor his passion for developers.  I thought it would be fun to interview him and get his predictions for 2011. 

Deeper Apps vs Lighter Apps

As other technologies are evolving around mobile development, Ed sees a trend toward deeper and more capable applications coming in 2011.  Ed’s definition of Deeper Apps is similar to what we at WIP have been calling Mobile Apps 2.0 – a confluence of stronger technology, better tools, and better product/life cycle development.

Ed noted that some of this will come because of ‘the cloud; and the networking based...

 What do you get when you put mobilists in a bar from Australia, Belize, Cambodia, Canada, China, Finland, France,  Germany, Hong Kong, India,  Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Japan, jordon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan,Thailand,  UK , USA, Vietnam and a Bull Dog??

A WIP Connector party of course!

We hosted 'THE' Developer party @ MAC (Mobile Asia Congress), last week, on Tuesday, November 16th at Bull Dog's pub in Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong.  We had a great turnout of over 175 people that kept the room buzzing and the beer flowing. 

Thanks so much to all of you who came out and enjoyed yourself.  A big shout out to Bull Dog's who were so great to work with, especially helping to retrieve my phone that was left behind in a taxi.  Thankfully it was returned   Thanks also to our marketing partners:  Mobile Alliance of Singapore, Mobile Monday Hong Kong, The Code Project, HKWDC, Mobile Future in Stockholm, StartUps Hong Kong, HKWTIA, and...

I’ve spent a lot of time supporting; watching and monitoring operators roll out a variety of programs and services lately – new app stores, new networks, APIs, new and improved developer programs.  It got me thinking:  Is 99.999% (.99999) or ‘five-nines’ an outdated goal for operators?  I think it might be.

Five-nines is the standard for measuring the network availability, which is pretty close to always on, never down.  It equates to about 5 minutes and 15 seconds of downtime per year.  According to Tomi Ahonenand some banter we had on twitter this week:  “mobile phone network serving millions cannot go down for half a minute per year, unacceptable.. hence five nines needed”.

The fact is a network down or a dropped call is already a reality.  Rogers was down for an afternoon in Vancouver last week; and if you travel to London, New York, San Francisco you expect to have a few calls that won’t connect; and SMSs that go nowhere.   Interestingly, consumers have already accepted...