Android is on a roll! That’s what we hear every day in the press and it seems to be true. My personal experience seem to validate this. I must, however, take all this anecdotal “evidence” with a pinch of salt because I work in telecommunications sector and it’s not the best sample.

Every time you speak with an Android user they always tell you about the openness. The platform is open source, you can buy it from any manufacturer and carrier you like, Google doesn’t rule the Android Market with an iron fist. The fact that the platform is sponsored by the bastion of openness Google, only reinforces this myth further. On the surface of it, it would seem that Android is indeed the holy grail of a completely open mobile OS platform. The only problem is that it isn’t. So, what is wrong with this picture? Let’s tackle the issues one by one:

The Open Handset Alliance
We have seen a lot of alliances and foundations come and go. OHA is not much different from a lot of committees in most respects. From what we have seen, it’s still heavily dominated by Google engineers and Google sets most of the agenda. At the heart of Android idea and implementation is ability for Google to push more and more adverts. That’s what the whole thing is about. Google needs be where the eyeballs are and it’s clear that they are shifting to mobile devices. OHA is just a front for Google to push it’s agenda.

Open Source
Android is open source and therefore you can take it and do anything you want with it. But can you really? As Robert Werlinger blogged recently, the only truly open components are camera, GPS, WIFI, Sensors, 3D , Bluetooth, and Market. Needless to say those things alone can’t make a smartphone.

Manufacturers
Openness is about choice. Android must be open because you can get it from Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Lenovo and even Dell.
That must be great for consumers, all that competition will drive down the prices. By that token Windows Mobile (or whatever they call it these days) is open too. The problem, though, is that it’s the wrong indicator. How many manufacturers can sell a platform doesn’t make it open. It only means that there will be a price war, lower margins, weird customizations in an effort to differentiate and overall a fragmented user experience and developer platform.

Carriers
They seem be the weakest link in this chain. They would love to monetize the pipe and get a toll on anything that goes through it. Google seem to be their best hope of doing it. They love rev-share, it does sound good on paper that Google will share the ad and app revenue with them. Apple doesn’t let them come even miles near the App Store, so this is their chance to finally get some piece of the action. Only time will tell. But most likely Google will avoid them like plague as soon as Google would not need them. They should be focussed on bringing true value-add and not just try to behave like toll collectors.

Android Market
I must say, I don’t have much experience with Android Market. I have used it a couple of times and in the Czech Republic you still cannot buy paid apps and developers can’t sell the apps. Only free apps are allowed. Android market is indeed open in the sense that it doesn’t require every app to go through a central approval process. I think Google would love to have the kind of control Apple has over the app store, but this doesn’t work for Google right now. They need to attract the devs to their fledgling platform and an approval process will only slow it down. They are losing both on quantity and quality at the moment, and honestly, this is not going to change any time soon. Anyway, on the topic of openness, the remote kill switch for the apps and homing to Google to verify the authenticity of an app doesn’t seem too open. Where is the outrage?

This is not an Android bashing post and don’t get me wrong, I believe eventually Android will have bigger market share than the iPhone (or Blackberry for that matter). I actually use an HTC Desire from time to time (mostly when I need a MiFi network for my iPad). Luckily I was able to update to FroYo as soon as HTC made it available and my carrier allowed it immediately. Most of my friends were not so lucky though, they are still waiting for Samsung or HTC or their carrier to “allow” the upgrade. That too doesn’t sound too open to me.

It’s been hard to keep up with blogging. There is so much going on at ZENTITY, that we can hardly breath. It’s been a little over a week since iPrší was launched. Our primary markets for this game are Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The App has some tough competition from other great game launches like DOOM, Dark Nebula and Crazy Machines, but iPrší did made it to #1 App in Top Charts of the iTunes for both the Czech and the Slovak markets. The team has shown once again that they can pretty much win at will at this point

Obviously we are not done yet, the game needs improvement and we hope to launch an update with a complete graphics overhaul very soon. STAY TUNED!

Apple just approved Prifacy, an iPhone app that helps users make complete sense of their Facebook privacy settings.

While testing the app with real users we discovered how poorly understood the Facebook privacy settings are. Users were extremely surprised to find out everything they had been sharing without having any clue if they actually agreed to any of it.

Prifacy swings the pendulum back to users, who in our view should have a complete control over their privacy online.

Prifacy uses simple and easy to understand color codes to denote the level of potential threat depending on the current privacy settings. Users can drill down and on the most detailed level, the user can decide to change the settings by pressing lockdown button.

Prifacy is a first step toward giving users the tools to understand and fill the gaps in all things privacy online.

Grab it from the app store at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prifacy/id377970403?mt=8.

Here is a sneak peek -

ZENTITY announced the availability of Teen Patti for iPhone on 2nd April 2010. The game debuted at #1 top selling card game.

Teen Patti (also known as Flash or 3-cards) is a card game similar to poker. The game is played worldwide and particularly popular in India and south-east Asia. Teen Patti recently featured in a movie of the same name.

Teen Patti can be played with a minimum of 2 players but it’s more fun with 4 or more players. Touch Teen Patti offers games of 4 or 6 players at the table. Touch Teen Patti brings the fun game with a great AI implementation and the best card game simulation.


This is the second in the series of Indian traditional games for ZENTITY having released the classic board game Touch Carrom. Touch Carrom became the number #1 selling game in it’s home market India and made it to top 10 and top 100 in many world markets.

Grab it in the App Store at itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/touch-teen-patti/id353709014?mt=8

Teen Patti for iPhone

Touch Carrom and ZENTITY covered in LiveMint a Hindustan Times and Wall Street Journal publication in India. Here is the article as it appears in print:

Touch Carrom became the first ever official iPhone game of a Bollywood film (Striker).

This is an exciting partnership, which helps us to bring a world class gaming experience to traditional Indian games. This is the first integrated movie and gaming experience and we believe that it will be an important trend. Studio 18 are truly an innovative partner to work with.

Thank you all who helped us get Touch Carrom this far and you know there is a lot more to come.

Touch Carrom: Striker Edition is available at: http://itunes.apple.com/app/touchcarrom/id337993724?mt=8

While the world debates whether iPad is revolutionary or just a big dumbed down iPhone. We have made sure that Touch Carrom will look and play great on the iPad.

Generally, our take on the iPad is that it’s a decent first gen device. A great applications and content consumption platform. As it matures with software upgrades, new applications and even hardware, it will be the platform to beat in the tablet segment. In all the hype and hoopla leading up to the launch and then the “disappointment” people often forget it’s still the best device in the tablet form factor till date.

For your viewing pleasure checkout Touch Carrom in the iPad simulator:

Touch Carrom just got reviewed on the Daily App Show. Having no background in the game, the presenter compares the game with pool/billiard and table shuffle. Which is actually a very good way to look at it

The presenter likes the game and gets addicted while playing even without having prior knowledge about the game. Check it out at http://dailyappshow.com/touch-carrom.

As always any comments/feedback welcome.

Checkout Touch Carrom 1.1.2. The best version yet featuring the new faster controller.

Other changes include:
- Improved board visual
- New font across all screens
- New instructions video

Download at: http://itunes.apple.com/app/touchcarrom/id337993724?mt=8

Please provide your feedback in the App Store or comments below.

Isn’t the new game screen gorgeous?

Touch Carrom gets its own home page at http://touchcarrom.com. Please let us know what do you think at http://www.zentity.com/contact.html.

We at ZENTITY thank all Touch Carrom players and fans for their continued support! There is a lot more to come.