About: Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in over 600 ventures, including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Verisign and Xilinx. KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 250,000 people. More than 150 of the firm’s portfolio companies have gone public. Many other ventures have achieved success through mergers and acquisitions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, California; Beijing, China; and Shanghai, China.

The firm was named after its four founding partners: Eugene Kleiner (emeritus), Tom Perkins (emeritus), Frank J. Caufield (emeritus), and Brook Byers. When the firm was formed in 1972, the founders of most venture capital firms came from financial backgrounds, however Kleiner Perkins’s founders distinguished themselves through their industry experience – Kleiner as a founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Perkins as one of the leaders of Hewlett-Packard’s early computer hardware division. See Kleiner’s Laws here and his obituary here and here.

www.kpcb.com

Key Personnel:
The Partners are:
Brook Byers, Chi-Hua Chien, John Denniston, Amol Deshpande, John Doerr, Juliet Flint, John Gage, Bing Gordon, Al Gore, Wen Hsieh, Bill Joy, Randy Komisar, Ben Kortlang, Joseph Lacob, Ray Lane, Aileen Lee, James Li, M.D., Michael Linse, Dana Mead, Thomas Monath, M.D., David Mount, Matt Murphy, Ajit Nazre, Jordan Ormont, Daniel Oros, Jessica Owens, Ellen Pao, Ted Schlein, Beth Seidenberg, M.D., Risa Stack, Trae Vassallo.

Note: Democrat Al Gore joined as Partner in Nov 2007 while Republican Colin Powell joined as Strategic Limited Partner in July 2005.

Portfolio:
We look at specific companies related to cleantech only:
Greentech – Altarock Energy, Altra Biofuels, Amyris Biotechnologies, Ausra, Bloom Energy, Fisker Automotive, GreatPoint Energy, Hara Software, Lehigh Technologies, Lilliputian Systems, Mascoma Corporation, Miasole, RecycleBank, RPX Corporation, Silver Spring Networks, Verdiem.

News: In March 2008, KPCB announced the iFund, a $100 million venture capital investment initiative that will fund innovators developing applications, services, and components for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform.

In May 2008, KPCB was raising funds for a $500 million growth-stage clean-technology fund called the Green Growth Fund. Another $700 million fund called KPCB XIII Fund will invest in greentech, IT and life sciences ventures. By October 2008, KPCB’s Green Growth Fund led a $75 million investment round into Silver Spring Networks, a leading provider of Smart Grid technology solutions. The new funding, a portion of which has been reserved for strategic partners, included returning investors Foundation Capital, JVB Properties and Northgate Capital.

Here is an interview with Ajit Nazre, a partner who also leads the firm’s India investment initiative.

See a video posted on Vodpod or here for John Doerr’s speech on greentech.

It was standing room only last night as hundreds huddled in Stanford’s Bishop Auditorium to get the lowdown on the exploding mobile ecosystem, learn best practices for charting the iPhone apps store, find out about write once, run anywhere platforms, and secure an invite to the Palm Pre SDK private beta. Gracing the MIT/Stanford VLAB stage were: Tom Krazit, CNET, Matt Murphy, iFund Manager, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Pam Deziel, VP Developer Marketing, Palm, Tyler Lessard, Director, Developer Relations, RIM, Adam Blum, CEO, Rhomobile, Steve Demeter, Trism iPhone app developer.  Del Daix of the Examiner has a great review here:  http://www.examiner.com/x-10741-San-Jose-Media-Industry-Examiner~y2009m6d19-Mobile-application-development-platform-who-will-the-developers-crown.  Below are some of the gems we picked up:

Tom Krazit, CNET
- Go Mobile, Young Developer
- iPhone the game changer, now everything is all new
- We’ve only just begun, there’s never been a better time to jump in
- Consumers are just starting to get it
- Personalization is key, niches galore
- Billions are being spent on device and OS innovation
- WW leading OS (1Q09):  Symbian, RIM, Windows Mobile, Apple, Palm, Android
- NA leading OS (1Q09):  RIM, Apple, Windows Mobile, Android, Palm, Symbian
- Choices abound for developers:  One OS, One Phone, One OS, Many Phones, Many OS, Many Phones
- Apple’s pros – hit device, sleek UI, iTunes distribution model, cons – control, crowded marketplace,
wild card, noone knows yet how 3G will handle 3G S apps
- 6 Mobile OS – might fragment more before consolidation, incumbents way too invested in OS, pie is still getting bigger, expect new entrants
- Role of the operators (ATT, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile) – provide end user support, own customer data and billing relationship, they feature and promote what they want, they have great power but must pass frictionless test, stores (e.g. V Cast, SprintPCS) sold on average 2.5 apps per over the life of the customer vs. 30 on the iPhone, likely see a hybrid model of platform/carrier app stores, unlikely off deck stores will do as well as users migrate to store on device, carriers are experimenting and learning, still early days, they recognize its a shared customer but also need to keep in mind that developers need to earn a living, why would developers go with the carriers for 50% when they can earn 70% (Apple, Android, MS, Ovi) or 80% (BB)
- Nokia Ovi is going after music in a big way 
- right now smart phones are 20-30% of US market but there is definitely a conversion of feature phones to smartphones, its where the monetization is, the plans might be slightly more expensive ($70 v $50) but the extra $20 delivers a lot of extra value, the data plan on app centric devices is key 
- Japan has flash in the browser and is a browser market, US is going to be a download market for awhile even as Flash ubiquity takes hold 

Adam Blum, CEO, Rhomobile
 - Rhomobile’s open source mobile framework Rhodes allows developers to quickly build native mobile applications for all smartphone OS:  iPhone, BB, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android (and soon Pre)
- Write once, run anywhere
- Approach device diversity by integrating common features – camera, SMS, LBS, contacts
- Laughs that Objective C, basis of iPhone games, is 20 years old.  
- To work with Apple, app must do what it said it would do and nothing more, see www.rhomobile.com/blog 
- Here’s a list of apps that have already ported cross-platform with Rhodes:  http://rhomobile.com/customers

Matt Murphy, iFund Manager, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- $100mm+ iFund launched with Apple 14 months ago soon after the SDK was released
- Now 1B apps have been downloaded, 50,ooo apps in the apps store
- VCs invest in ideas that companies can be built upon, not just products
- You can get VC returns in mobile, look at the $800mm outcome from JAMDAT, Zynga is rumored to be doing $100mm in virtual goods, who knows what returns we’ll see with in-app transactions from iPhone 3.0
- currently there are 40mm iPhones, at the end of another year maybe 80mm, 100mm is a massive market
- don’t look at the $250,000 fart app, look at the new behavior, new models (virtual goods, content..)
- KPCB iFund companies do not compete against each other:  ngmoco, GOGII, booyah, iControl, Pelago (2 more soon to be announced), $100mm not a hard cap, mobile ecosystem moving at faster pace than expected
- GOGII launched 2 weeks ago, now at #3, that’s 60,000 downloads/day with no Apple features and 5-10 pickups by the press, 3 iFund companies are in the top 20
- Develop what you know, what you’re passionate about, apps that Apple will like, look at Apple Design Awards, what would Apple love to show off this is what makes Apple shine, new user experience, new user design, new things you can do with iPhone, analyze audience, with 50,000 apps see what’s working
- Write small first, get core value proposition out, seek audience feedback, 80/20 features/effort rule
- How to chart – make name/icon understandable, short, descriptive like TextPlus, when you get the RSS feed seek good reviews for initial pop, to get charted in the first 100 need 4500 downloads/day.  Need to be visible in first 100 stack to climb the charts.  Apple feature can give it a 10x pop, fantastic developer relations group, features decided by a democratic committee
- Keep it simple, lightweight, immediately engaging utility, not too complex out of the gate, enough to get going to get an audience, ok to have a massive ambition behind that.  
- Free/paid models:  giveaway 10 Lite for every 1 Pro sold, free offers a free ad network to promote the paid game instead of paying AdMob $.50 – $1 per user, $0.99 is the disposable price point, big drop off and virtually no price sensitivity $1.99-$5.99, start at $5.99 then gradually drop to free to promote next game 
- FYI, Here is the deck to Matt’s Web 2.0 Summit presentation, 11/08:   http://www.kpcb.com/team/index.php?Matt Murphy 

Pam Deziel, VP Developer Marketing, Palm
- Palm Pre shipped 6/6, fabulous reception considering just out of stealth mode 
- CES spurred fantastic user/developer reaction
- Reinvigorating developer community, reaching out to the 100mm web-centric developer community
- currently scaling infrastructure for distribution; merchandising, discoverability will evolve
- SDK not out yet, in private beta 
- will be looking for compelling user experience, integration, device navigation, instant gratification, nature of app is driver of the value equation, high levels of regular engagement, sub-content refreshed regularly
- Synergy WebOS platform, deep integration across core apps, offers greater degree of control, universal search, a real keyboard
 
Tyler Lessard, Director, Developer Relations, RIM
- Eventhough BB has been around 8 years, the mobile space is still in its infancy
- 3 years ago BB was pure enterprise
- seeking high frequency (daily) apps that showcase the platform, nail the user experience, apps must feel native to the user like it shipped out of the box, makes platform shine, integrate LBS, camera
- user base relies heavily upon BB, RIM focusing on long battery life, data traffic, security requirements
- differentiated by removable memory (SD card) and removable batteries (big oohs aahs from audience), apps can run all the time, are multithreaded, running at startup, push allows weather to change, seamless experience, user gets information without proactively seeking it, baking in APIs, apps feel native, integrated
- BB monthly developer challenge, win one week feature in BB App World
- looking for consistency across devices, great experience/high quality, good reviews and brand behind it
- looking for a mix of utility like expense tracker, media/music apps, games, news and content that appeal to an enterprise base, localizing US, Canada, UK (small market, brand not as mature)
- BB app models include freemium, or free/premium for value-add features, free trial/$0.99 subscription or in-app microtransactions

Steve Demeter, Trism iPhone app developer
- developed a game he knew he could write in 4 months in time for the launch of the apps store, priced at $5, earned $250,000 first 2 months and quit his day job, dropped to $3 but CNN coverage kept price in bubble 
- Never bought an ad for it, shopped demo at GDC, iPhone was too new, then uploaded a YouTube video, got 100,000 hits first 4 days, it went viral and after 3 weeks Apple featured it
- Developed for iPhone because it felts like a gaming device, snappy enough, the others felt like a cell phone 
- Trism is a lifestyle business, can pursue passion and no longer work 9-5, not an empire guy with a magnify construct, an artist who needs to get head in the space
- Android version out soon, considering BB Storm  

MIT/Stanford VLAB
The Stanford campus is a myriad of twists and turns with parking intrigue, so when you arrive, you really have.  Its great to be greeted with a drink, some sushi, and smiles from a swath of dedicated volunteers.  In the crowd were Dr. Jaeyong  Lee & Peter Simpson of Vidiator who followed up with me after my question to the panel as to whether Qik would finally be available for 3G and whether there would be an issue of 3G S apps running on 3G.  I dined with Todd Parker, Managing Director, Hidden River, mobile app vc firm.  He was thrilled to hear about Content NOW’s coverage of mobile advertising CTR at EconSM and CONNECTIONS. And I sat with my press colleagues Del Daix of the Examiner and Alain Baritault of Volnay Publication France.  Looking forward to the next one:  September 2009 – Artificial Intelligence.  See ya there!

Now there is a place to go to see how the big bucks are developing iPhone companies, apps and games.

http://ifundvc.com/

Is the blog for iFund, brand new today. It’s the (as blogs tend to be) informal meeting place for people to come and discuss many of the important technical and commercial developments that surround the iPhone.

For those who don’t know, iFund is a $100m USD capital fund by venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and managed by KPCB Partner Matt Murphy among others.

Already iFund has 4 companies up and running, and they are (as you would imagine) in talks with others as to future developments.

iFund companies include:
GOGII – A new social interaction and marketing platform.
iControl – Stay connected in real-time to what matters most—family, property, home, and business—from anywhere in the world, anytime, day or night.
ng:moco – The first iPhone-only games publisher.
Pelago – Discover the world through the eyes of your friends and other people you trust.

As Matt Murphy states in his first post

“While these changes have been dramatic, we have only seen the first few pitches of a 9 inning game. The iPhone has changed users’ expectations of what is possible in a mobile device and UI and the AppStore finally showed the promise of mobile data applications”

Never a truer word spoken. The iPhone will radically change the very way people interact with each other, their environment and of course do business, I have no doubt about this. The simple reason for such a grandiose statement is the SDK and the ability developers have to create their apps to meet their and their customers needs. Apple gave us a great tool (like the hammer and wheel) we need to figure out how we are going to use it.

Should be an interesting read.

WIRELESS

Crunchgear confirmed the September 23rd announcement, cemented the rumors that there will be 3 different colors (all signs point to black, white, and brown), and then mentioned one little special tid-bit: the release date (October 20th). (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/09/16/htc-dreams-late-october-release-date-is 9/16)

Apple says it removed some submissions to the iPhone App Store because of its policy banning items seen as “duplicating the functionality” of other store products. But developers contend that Apple recently rejected two applications, NetShare and Podcaster, because of the competition they represented to iTunes and other Apple products. vnunet.com (9/16)

A group of venture capitalists led by Kleiner Perkins unveiled a new $100 million iFund to back new ideas for the iPhone platform. Almost a third of the money is already spent, according to fund manager Matt Murphy. Recipients include: Pelago, developers of a social discovery and location sharing app called Whrr; iControl, a home automation and monitoring solution slated for release during Q1; and ng:moco, a game company launching its first titles later this month. (Cynopsis 9/16)

Kleiner Perkins iFund and the App Store 

See video > HERE

iFund … so far 5 investments and 2,500 applications

App Store a huge hit! 1,700 apps thus far … currently running at a rate of 2,000,000 app downloads per day!

Matt Murphy, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers partner talks about iFund with CNBC’s Erin Burnett.

I am hanging out at the MobileBeat conference in Sunnyvale, Calif., today, watching Erick Schonfeld grill panelists on the “Bang or Bust” panel. One of the panelists is Matt Murphy, head of the $100 million iFund at Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers. “We have invested in five companies so far,” he told the room.

He named iControl, which brings home automation to the iPhone, as one of the fund’s investments, and said the names of three more would be revealed sometime between September and November. Given that the iFund was only announced back in March, I am surprised by the number of startups they’re investing in already. I have heard that VCs are currently sifting through business plans for iPhone-related startups. Tapulous is one of the hot iPhone startups out there and has already raised venture capital from well-known angels in Silicon Valley.

More information later after I wrap up my panel, which kicks off in a few minutes.

KPCB’s iFund made a huge splash when it was introduced. Am curious to know if any of the groups they’ve funded have launched apps in the AppStore and which ones are “around the corner”. Please drop me a line if you have any skinny along these lines. Email geraldb28@me.com or geraldb28@mac.com

Thanks!

The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics has announced that, as part of its “strategic marketing plan”, new IFUND level names have been adopted (read: more elimination of references or anything remotely related to Chief Illiniwek).  So we now have:

past / present
Tribal Council / Olympian Club
Chief Club / Oskee Club
Warrior Club / Champion Club
Brave Club / All-American Club
Tomahawk Club / Captains Club

From the late, great George Carlin, “The words are innocent, man.”  And who was on the committee that thought these up!?  That’s the best we could do folks?  Maybe there should have been a better ‘pow-wow’ for some more ideas.

Go Illini!

palm

How Symbian’s move to go open source just after Adroid delays were reported will affect developer community is to be seen.  From the hype at least it seems that iPhone has the dev program of the du jour with VCs feeding the frenzy.

Hopefully this makes Symbian bit more flexible and easier for developers.  Currently dev-test cycle in Symbian can be very painful with with rigorous signing requirements and other rules slowing the process down.

Hi world,

Let’s begin with a little care for each of us. Let’s try not to grab the fruit but to share our knowledge. I’m sure we’ll finally be benefited by being benefiting.

I want to give the best of my talent to the world and to optimize the future matrix. We’ll save energy, habitat, green as well as our time.

Manuj

Tags: world, matrix, architect, planning, earth

Related articles

• Flock Releases 2.0 Beta [via Zemanta]
• How Culture Evolves [via Zemanta]
• Diving in Hawaii [via Zemanta]
• More WhoHas Awards! [via Zemanta]
• Albert Einstein [via Zemanta]
• Download of the Day: FotoFox [via Zemanta]
• The 2008 WhoHas Awards [via Zemanta]
• 2:30 Video: PC World’s Editor in Chief Harry McCracken loves Flock [via Zemanta]
• Cool Download: Piclens [via Zemanta]
• iPhone application startups to trigger tsunami of free booze at launch parties [Startups] [via Zemanta]
• Of networks, grids, and infrastructures, or: How to make a planet (bldgblog.blogspot.com)
• PeopleBrowsr Centralizes Conversations & Relationships: Introduces A Dashboard for Social Networks (briansolis.com)
• ‘cultural center’ in guadalajara jalisco, mexico by tatiana bilbao architects (designboom.com)
• Mass Customization: Mix Your Own Breakfast at [me] (treehugger.com)
• World’s Most Efficient Supercomputer Used for World’s Largest Simulation to Rebuild Prairies (treehugger.com)
• 5 Green Products That Aren’t Entirely Really Green (webecoist.com)
• Carbon Continues Surge, Carbon Tax Last Best Option (climateark.org)
• No Energetic Cost Of Anthropogenic Disturbance In A Songbird (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Now blogging about personal informatics on the PopTech blog (bokardo.com)
• Beacon Power to Raise up to $18M (xconomy.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Of networks, grids, and infrastructures, or: How to make a planet (bldgblog.blogspot.com)
• PeopleBrowsr Centralizes Conversations & Relationships: Introduces A Dashboard for Social Networks (briansolis.com)
• ‘cultural center’ in guadalajara jalisco, mexico by tatiana bilbao architects (designboom.com)
• Mass Customization: Mix Your Own Breakfast at [me] (treehugger.com)
• World’s Most Efficient Supercomputer Used for World’s Largest Simulation to Rebuild Prairies (treehugger.com)
• 5 Green Products That Aren’t Entirely Really Green (webecoist.com)
• Carbon Continues Surge, Carbon Tax Last Best Option (climateark.org)
• No Energetic Cost Of Anthropogenic Disturbance In A Songbird (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Now blogging about personal informatics on the PopTech blog (bokardo.com)
• Beacon Power to Raise up to $18M (xconomy.com)

Wow.. had lot of fun at Kiawah Island Beach resort, 6 hour drive from Atlanta notwithstanding, the day at the Kiawah beach and resort pool was a blast. Family and friends loved every bit of it and was totally relaxed by the end of beach day. Then…had to drive back to Atlanta on Monday and the excitement turned back to a work day morale.. Not that we don’t have fun writing to our loyal audience (you) and talking to you. Your comments and notes are the things which keep us excited and get us out of bed each morning.

well,..back to the grind. Stay tuned for some cutting edge mobile and tech posts. There is plenty of interesting activity in the world of iPhone startups and mobile revolution around the world to watch and comment on.,,,

In CellStrat, we are picking up good consulting work. Soon we will be working on our breakthrough product which will change the world of mobile media. In the meantime, feel free to let us know if we can help with mobile, technology, software, startups or related ideas.

Kleiner Perkins iFund (iPhone fund) just funded the first iPhone startup – I think it is called Pelago. Would be looking at this one more soon. iFund is the world’s first VC fund dedicated to iPhone startups. It is a $100 million fund which is a good sized VC fund. This itself indicates the potential which a new smartphone like the iPhone holds in the times to come. Even the powerful RIM has been forced to copy iPhone on many features. We hear that RIM is working on a touch sensitive screen phone similar to iPhone. RIM’s latest offering the Bold smartphone is a beautiful new device and has many of the new features which iPhone had.

On smartphones, RIM war with Apple smartphones is on. But we feel there is plenty of market in smartphone space for multiple players to thrive. Smartphones are just beginning to take over the world…

MT

Folks, I am traveling today to the D Conference down in Carlsbad, Calif., and won’t have much time to blog. Nevertheless, these are some of the stories that are worth your time today.

• Vodafone is changing CEOs. Arun Sarin, after handling the company for five tough years, is leaving Vodafone. The company has turned profitable again and has expanded quickly into fast growing wireless markets including India and Eastern Europe. Now, Vittorio Colao is going to take over. Sarin should move to Bharti Telecom and help that company become a global telecom.
• Deutsche Telekom has admitted it tracked phone calls to find out who was leaking company information to the media. Sort of like HP, except more sophisticated. What a bunch of morons and betrayers of their customers’ faith in the company.
• Pealgo, a location-based social look-up service has raised about $15 million from Kleiner Perkins’ iFund, T-Mobile’s venture arm and Reliance Communications, reports Business Week.
• Apple has gone green and filed a patent that could someday give iPods and iPhones the ability charge themselves using solar energy, reports Earth2Tech.
• The Canadian auction for 2Ghz spectrum for Advanced Wireless Services has run into problems. Today a consortium of U.S. equity houses, M/C Venture Partners and Columbia Capital dropped out, joining Primus Canada. Manitoba Telecom scaled back its plans. Rogers Telecom and cable company Shaw Communications are still in the running and looking to spend.

In one of my previous posts, I had spoken about how the LG Prada and Samsung smartphones are giving iPhone, a run for its money. But, this looks as a totally new WAR.

The Canadian company behind the BlackBerry smartphone has struck back at Apple’s iPhone by launching a new device with a high-resolution screen, fake leather casing and enhanced access to music and videos. The BlackBerry Bold got an enthusiastic reception from technology experts on its debut at a conference in Florida, sending shares in the manufacturer, Research in Motion, up by 4.7% to an all-time high of $137.10 (£70) in early trading on Wall Street. RIM described its new model, also known as the BlackBerry 9000, as “incredible speed and functionality, all wrapped up in a beautiful and confident design”. The Bold has retained BlackBerry’s one-letter-per-button keyboard, eschewing the iPhone’s touch-screen technology.

RIM’s president, Mike Lazaridis, says business customers preferred a physical keyboard. “People tell us, don’t futz around with your keyboard,” he told PC Magazine in Orlando. “They say, whatever you do, don’t get rid of that keyboard.”

The BlackBerry held a 41% market share for smartphones in the US last year, but iPhone went from zero to hold 28%, according to research firm Canalys. The BlackBerry Bold, which goes on sale this summer, has a 624MHz processor, which can download email attachments more quickly. In an apparent nod to Apple’s success, it has a new synchronizing device for downloading music from iTunes. Jim Suva, an analyst at Citigroup, described the model as “really, really appealing”. He expects RIM, which is based in Ontario, to ship 200,000 to 400,000 of the devices each quarter. In March, Apple set up a $100m “iFund” to support entrepreneurs who are developing applications for the iPhone.

RIM teamed up with Thomson Reuters today to launch a $150m fund to help people building technology based on the BlackBerry platform.

Después del enorme éxito que alcanzo el IPHONE de apple durante el año 2007, miles de usuarios de todo el mundo esperamos la aparición de nuevos modelos de smartphones con nuevas capacidades, como el nuevo IPHONE con tecnología 3G, o los nuevos productos  de sus competidores, que tratán de convertirse en el IPHONE-KILLER, como el nuevo Blackberry Bold o el HTC Diamond. La lucha por adueñarse del  mercado de los teléfonos inteligentes, con conexion a internet, wifi, 3G,… está siendo muy intensa, pero no es mucho menos intensa la lucha por adueñarse de la plataforma de aplicaciones para estos dispositivos.

Leo en TechCrunch , este artículo publicado por Erick Schonfeld y titulado The iFund Has Competition: 150 Million Blackberry Fund to Be Announced Soon , el lanzamiento por parte de Blackberry de un nueva iniciativa para atraer a los desarrolladores que creen aplicaciones para su plataforma de software. La guerra entre las diferentes tecnologías: Google Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry o iphone, para establecerse como estandar de la plataforma de software necesaria para estos nuevos dispositivos moviles está siendo feroz desde hace meses. Cada compañía tratá de contar con el mayor número de aplicaciones de gran calidad para lograr atraer y retener a la mayoría de usuarios de esta nueva internet móvil. Para conseguirlo las diferentes compañías no han dudado en lanzar campañas, eventos e incluso premios que puedan motivar el interés de los desarrolladores de aplicaciones.

Google fue el primero en actuar como siempre. En noviembre del 2007 publicó su plataforma de desarrollo para móviles Android y acto seguido estableció una campaña de premios a los mejores proyectos para dicha plataforma llamada Android Developer Challenge, en la que ofrecía  a los desarrolladores 10 millones de dólares en premios para las mejores aplicaciones que se creasen con el kit SDK de Android y fueran presentados antes del 14 de abril. Los 50 mejores proyectos recibirán un premio de $25.000 para poder seguir desarrollando estos proyectos y lograr nuevos premios en otra ronda de selección hasta final de 2008.

Apple no tardó en mover ficha y en marzo vimos aparecer el kit SDK para el IPHONE y el IPOD TOUCH junto a una iniciativa muy similar,el iFund, un fondo de inversión de la firma de capital-riesgo Kleiner Perkins, en la cual se ofrecian 100 millones de dólares para la financiación de las starts-up que se comprometiesen a desarrollar aplicaciones en exclusiva para esta plataforma.

Ahora asistimos al anuncio por parte de RIM junto al Royal Bank of Canada y a Thomson Reuters, del Blackberry Partners Fund, un fondo de inversión de 150 millones de dólares para las empresas que desarrollen proyectos de software que funcionen principalmente para la plataforma Blackberry. Aunque la principal diferencia con el ifund es que no exige la exclusividad de las aplicaciones lo cual permite a los desarrolladores no limitar el alcance de sus proyectos de software por la plataforma.

Todas estas iniciativas tienen una más que noble finalidad, al premiar el esfuerzo del duro trabajo de programación que requieren esos proyectos, pero parecen creer que la principal motivación de los desarrolladores de software es sólo el vil metal, el puro dinero más que otros factores como la posibilidad de realización personal para el creador de una aplicación que finalmente usen miles o millones de personas. No soy un programador, pero probablemente pienso que todas estas compañías lograrían sus metas mejor si se dedicasen a escuchar más las opiniones de los desarrolladores sobre los SDK, Kits de desarrollo, y los entornos de programación y a permitirles una mayor libertad en sus creaciones más que a ponerles una zanahoria delante en forma de billetes de dolar.

Artículos relacionados:

• The iFund Has Competition: 150 Million Blackberry Fund to Be Announced Soon

Para empreendedores que tenham projectos comercializáveis para aplicações para o iPhone e o iPod, há agora o iFund.

Como se pode ler nas FAQs, financiam qualquer valor em qualquer parte do mundo.

Já agora para quem pretenda investir neste fundo, não vale a pena pensar nisso, pois o fundo é fechado. (Infelizmente, pois dado o fanatismo Apple acredito que o fundo seja lucrativo).

THANK YOU APPLE: SDK AND ENTERPRISE SOLUTION RELEASE

On Thursday, Apple released two major developments for the iPhone.  Click on any of the images below to watch the full presentation.

iPhone as Enterprise Solution

and  

The Open SDK (Software Developer’s Kit)

I took a little time with this most recent announcement.  John Doerr from KPCB had this to say about the iPhone during the presentation, “It’s bigger than the personal computer.” I couldn’t agree more.  I think this recent development is one of the largest developments in technology in several decades.

At the beginning of the presentation, Jobs runs down the Q4 smartphone market share currently at 28% for the iPhone second only to RIM at 41%.  Here’s the real kicker though:

U.S. Mobile Browser Usage

71% of all mobile users who browse on a mobile phone use the iPhone to do it.  Holy iPhone batman!  More on these stats in a second.

The Enterprise Solution

i.e. I can ditch the BlackBerry and use the iPhone instead.  The iPhone has decided to play nice in the corporate sandbox.  As someone who lives in a multiple device world, I couldn’t be happier about this development.

Here’s what’s been keeping the iPhone from being the go-to enterprise solution:

The List of Corporate Requests to Make the iPhone an Accessible Solution

The iPhone currently can’t do any of the above.  I would add one another annoyance in using this device as my solution in the workplace.  The keyboard still gives me problems and I’ve been using mine since August.  Granted, I have the shakiest hands around and a lack of focus but the keyboard still gives me problems.  Apart from this, Apple has solved all of the above in their latest release.

Push services including email, calendar and contacts is the coolest to a regular user like me.  I want to have access to e-mail instantly without either requesting it or waiting the time limit to receive. 

Now, remember that the smartphone market share is second only to RIM?  Well, it seems as though Apple and Microsoft are gunning for RIM in the following diagram.

RIM vs. iPhone Access to the Microsoft Exchange Server

On the top is RIM’s current process of accessing data from the Microsoft Exchange Server: complicated, unsecure, and costly.  Observe the lower graphic explaining the iPhone’s process of accessing the Microsoft Exchange server.  Hmmm. . . .seems oddly less complicated and more secure.  RIM, Apple’s got your number.

The SDK Release

This release allows developers access to the SAME API available to Apple’s internal development team.  Previous to this, developers could only develop web apps for the iPhone using Safari to access (i.e. not native to the iPhone itself).  Now while the iPhone web apps that were created were pretty hot:

Facebook Web App

Bank of America Web App

the level of creativity was limited to the restrictions of the web browser environment.  Now, Apple has solved the problem in response to a host of developers insisting as much.  

MacOS X platform

The only difference between this and the platform for development on the iPhone?  Cocoa which revolves around usage of a keyboard and mouse (obvi) has been replaced with Cocoa Touch which revolves around usage of the iPhone touch screen instead.  Cool beans.

In addition, Apple has released an Apple Simulator for a Mac laptop or desktop.  In essence, create an app and then simulate what it will look like either on the phone itself or on a computer screen.  Hot.

Here are some examples of the new apps.

Apple-Developed Application Developed in 2 Days

Looks like a guy I dated once.  Users can manipulate photos in fun ways directly on the iPhone.

Apple-Developed Application Developed in 2 Weeks

This game is called Touch Fighter.  Using the touch screen, users can tap and shoot anywhere on the screen.  Using the accelerometer, users can move the iPhone to control the direction of flight.  I can’t WAIT to check out people playing around with crazy games on the subway platform.  Talk about throwing your Wii controller through your TV screen.  What about accidentally punching someone in the face as your trying to play a game on your iPhone?!  [sigh] iPhone violence.

Apple also invited outside engineers to create some apps of their own giving them 2 weeks to develop.

Electronic Arts-Developed Application Developed in 2 Weeks

It’s Spore on the iPhone.  The green blob on the screen is your spore.  Your mission is to eat organisms smaller than you.  Move the spore by moving around the phone (utilizing the accelerometer).

AOL-Developed Application Developed in 2 Weeks

AIM on the iPhone. . .finally.

Steve Jobs comes back to the stage to chat about how the business model for app sales is gonna go.

The App Store

Here’s what the store looks like on the phone.  Very iTunes like.  Here’s the cool part.  Users can download these apps directly from the phone either via cell network or using a Wi-Fi connection.

Here’s how the store works. 

Price of App: Determined by Developer

Share of Profits: 70% to developer, 30% to Apple (like the iTunes model)

Here’s the price for developers to start developing apps for the iPhone.

Security:  Apple can say no to malicious apps.

Timeline: Late June for iPhone software upgrade.  Similar upgrade will be available for the iPod touch.  While the upgrade is free to iPhone users (Woot!), not the case for iPod Touch users.  Some nominal fee will be applied.

iFund

In partnership with KPCB, a 100 million dollar fund has been established to fund entrepreneurs interested in developing for the iPhone platform.

Marauder’s Last Word

I couldn’t be MORE EXCITED about this.  Apple responds to consumers’ wishes quickly and effectively to provide features that users want.  I can’t think of any other company able to respond this nimbly to the marketplace. 

My only question on the enterprise side: I wonder how easy it will be to keep my enterprise solution separated from my personal life solution.  I don’t know about many of you but trying to keep the work life balance is a constant process for me.  At times, I’ll turn my BlackBerry off for a weekend to quiet down the madness.  I know that the mail account on an iPhone can be shut off just as easily but I wonder how easy it will be to separate my work contacts from my personal contacts especially in cases where they overlap.  Oi! 

On the SDK side, I am excited that the release is finally here but wish we could have it a bit sooner than June (otherwise known as the 1 year anniversary of the iPhone).  What comes next?  3G fo’ sho’. . .at least that’ what I’m hoping for.

THANK YOU APPLE.  It’s exciting to see a company able to provide quality features quickly.  An inspiration to all of us.

-Steve Jobs is out, welcoming us

-In the first 8 months, iPhone has garnered 28 percent market share -”Been working really hard on this, really cool stuff to announce”

-Really do have the Internet in your pocket!

-71 percent of US mobile browser statistics

-First thing we’re going to talk about is iPhone Enterprise, hand it over to Phil Schiller

-Genentech – “The iPhone is a watershed event in mobile computing for corporations”

-At Stanford, they have hundreds of iPhones deployed across faculty & staff, user acceptance has been great, inundated with orders

-Customers want Push e-mail (huge request) as well as push calendars

-They also want Push contacts, Global address list, Cisco IPsec VPN, Certificates and identities, WPA2/802.1x, Enforced security policies, Device configuration

-They also want remote wipe in case it’s lost or stolen

-All of these things coming in the next iPhone software update

-Microsoft exchange support built right into iPhone

-Schiller is talking about the “old way” to do Exchange support and how the iPhone will do it with ActiveSync directly with Exchange server

-Build it right into the same e-mail app on the iPhone, same iPhone calendar, same contact list, etc.

-Built into EVERY iPhone

-Now demoing

-Exchange is listed at the top of the mail config screen on the iPhone, above .Mac

-On/off sliders for push contacts, mail, calendars, etc. just like other iPhone settings

-Demoing adding contacts (Phil says “typing on the iPhone is awesome”)

-Demoing live calendar events on Exchange server, now demoing remote wipe

-Enterprise customers will be pretty excited, says Phil

-Been testing these enterprise features on-site at Nike, Disney

-That’s our news today on the Enterprise, now inviting up Scott Forestall to talk about SDK

-”I’m here to tell you how devs can build great apps for the iPhone”

-Web apps on the iPhone have been “incredibly successful” over 1000 applications

-Just a couple months ago, we added the ability to put icons on the home screen of an iPhone

-Today we’re here to talk about the native iPhone SDK-Going over a bunch of companies that have made iPhone-specific web pages that are cool

-Starting today we’re opening up the same APIs and tools that we use internally to build all iPhone apps

-Third-party devs can build third-party apps using the same SDK

-We have the most powerful platform in the world: Mac OS X

-Cocoa, Media, Core Services, CoreOS

-Used all of the above (except Cocoa) for iPhone OS

-Core OS has the OS X Kernel, Lib System, BSD TCP/IP, Sockets, Security, Power Mgmt, Keychain, Certificates, File System, Bonjour -Took everything we knew about creating stuff with Cocoa and everything about a touch API for iPhone to build Cocoa Touch -Cocoa is great, but based on mouse & keyboard input

-Also include SQLite, Core Location

-”The Media layer is everything you’d expect from Apple”

-Has all audio/video capabilities: Core Audio, OpenAL, Audio Mixing, Audio Recording, Video Playback, JPG/PNG/TIFF, PDF, Quartz (2D) Core Animation, OpenGL ES

-OpenGL ES is the embedded version of OpenGL, “absolute screamer” on the iPhone

-Everything is hardware accelerated for performance and long battery life

-Cocoa Touch: Multi-Touch events/controls, Accelerometer, View Hierarchy, Localization, Alerts, Web View, People Picker, Image Picker, Camera

-”This is the architecture of the iPhone OS. It is the most advanced platform out there for mobile devices. We are YEARS ahead of any other platform for mobile devices.”

-Xcode is our dev environment and what we use to build everything for Mac OS X

-Started there and enhanced it to work with the iPhone

-Have licensed from Microsoft to build exchange into servers

-Xcode will now code complete for the APIs in the SDK

-Project management, integrated source control

-Integrated documentation, “Shipping a lot of great documentation with the SDK, and you can access it within the software”

-Remote debugger–plug in your iPhone, run it on the iPhone live, but debug from the Mac

-Interface Builder: “Makes building your user interface as simple as drag-and-drop”

-All the controls from Cocoa Touch are built right into Interface Builder

-Do code connections within Interface Builder, connect it right to the code

-Instruments: “Comprehensive suite of performance analysis tools”

-Can connect to iPhone like the remote debugger and see live performance of your app on your Mac from the iPhone

-See peaks and valleys, realtime data, timeline view, multiple data tracks

-Introducing brand new iPhone dev tool: iPhone Simulator

-Run your iPhone app in the simulator on your Mac, works great side-by-side with Xcode

-Now demoing iPhone simulator

-When you click and swipe around, it sends the same events (like multitouch swipe events, double taps, etc.) as you would get on the iPhone

-Now demoing building a new application using all of these tools (creating a “Hello World” app)

-Just going through all the steps to create apps just like apps made by Apple

-Created a photo editing app that morphs a picture, but you shake the phone to undo the changes (cute)

-Wrote that one in two days!

-Wrote this other game in a week (or two weeks? lost track of what he said) using OpenGL

-Space shooter game, all you have to do is move the phone around to move the plane to shoot at stuff

-From the Mac with remote performance tools, you can record and measure all the performance

-Not only does it record it, it also saves all the data

-Done that in two weeks, less than 10,000 lines of code

-Don’t just take “my word” for it, we sent the word out to a bunch of companies to have engineers see what they could do in 2 weeks on the SDK

-Travis Boatman from Electronic Arts talking now about iPhone SDK-Most hadn’t even used a Mac for development before

-”Given that we only had 2 weeks, we wanted to take advantage of all the different features” -created Spore

-Spore for iPhone has “evolution editor” that lets user add all sorts of things to personalize a spore “takes advantage of touchscreen fun”

-We have all 18 levels up and running, a full editor

-”That was just two weeks of work!”

-Chuck Dietrich from Salesforce.com to talk about their experiences with SDK

-”We are so excited to take software as a service to the iPhone!”

-Sales reps would love to use the iPhone to get a graphical view of their monthly sales goals. “Wish we could use the accelerometer to shake them into the green on sales deals!”

-SDK allows us to repurpose data from Salesforce on the iPhone

-Salesforce can send new data down to the device wirelessly

-Just one developer did that one in less than two weeks

-”So happy to show you AIM for iPhone” -Next up is AOL, who runs AIM “the biggest instant messaging service in the US” — Rizwan Sattar speaking

-”I’ve never written on a Mac before, never written in Obj C, just had a spec sheet for how to connect to AIM!”

-You can have multiple conversations going on at the same time, switching between active chats by swiping

-Can update your status on the “Me” panel, but not only change your away msg, you can choose a new buddy icon from the photo picker, etc. through the AIM app

-”We’re really excited that we were able to do this in just 2 weeks on the SDK”

-Epocrates “provider of clinical handheld applications”, Glenn Keighley to talk about experiences

-”I can tell you that developing software for iPhone is like developing for no other mobile platform… almost desktop environment”

-Demoing Epocrates, prototyped new functionality for the iPhone to identify drugs

-Last but not least, Sega, Ethan Einhorn here to speak

-SuperMonkeyBall was a “natural choice” for iPhone, “I thought 2 weeks was impossible!”

-All you have to do to move the monkey around is tilt the device, “going to be really hard to go back to a traditional game controller”

-Scott is back. “Once you have all of these amazing applications, how do you get them on your phone?” Back to Steve Jobs.

-Jobs: “Your dream is to get your app in front of every iPhone user. You can’t do that today, but we’re going to solve that”

-AppStore, put it on every single iPhone that everyone will have access to with the next release of the software

-Categories for games, business, finance, health, lifestyle, music, etc.

-Top 50, top downloads

-Just tap on it and it’s wirelessly downloaded to the iPhone using a cell network or WiFi

-Also built into iPhones, you can download it on your computer and transfer it too if you want, but we think most people will do it from the iPhone

-If an app gets updated, the AppStore will “automatically” tell you it has been updated

-Your app will be updated over the air automatically

-The AppStore is going to be the exclusive way to distribute iPhone applications

-Devs will say “This is great, but what’s the deal? What’s the business deal?”

-Dev picks the price, whatever price you want, dev gets 70% of revenues

-No credit card fees for developer, Apple takes care of it

-No hosting fees, no marketing fees

-70% of revenues, paid monthly

-Most developers are going to pick “free”

-Will there be limitations? Of course! -No charge for free apps at all–no charge to user, no charge to developer

-There will be some apps we won’t distribute: Porn, malicious apps, ones that invade privacy

-iPhone 2.0 software update will have the enterprise stuff and SDK stuff

-Beta release going out TODAY to devs and companies of SDK

-Ship to every iPhone customer in June as free software update

-Not just the iPhone, it’s also the iPod touch. Same software release will run on iTouch, including enterprise features

-We account for iPod touch differently than we account for iPhone, so there will be “nominal charge” for that update

-How do you become an iPhone developer?

-Go to our website “probably starting in about an hour” and download the SDK for free

-To join the dev program costs “just $99″

-”One more thing…“

-Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, John Doerr here to speak (um…?)

-”We’re all here today because we LOVE Apple product, and I’m here because I love Apple entrepreneurs”

-Talking up Steve Jobs, about how Steve left and Apple tanked, then Steve came back and brought back Apple

-Salute the world’s greatest entrepreneur, Steve Jobs!

-At KPCD, we think the second-best way to invent is to fund it

-Today we introduce the iFund

-Gave a lot of thought to decide what the size should be to start iFund

-We decided iFund should be $100,000,000 ($100 million)

-”That should be enough to start about a dozen Amazons, or even four Googles!”

-”Is there an international rollout or US only? What about open source applications?” Jobs: It will be International, this is not an open source project -”What is the nominal fee for the iPod touch update?” Jobs: We will set that in June

-Event is over, refreshments outside, Jobs asked the press to stay “a few more minutes”

-Jobs and Schiller are sitting on stage for Q&A

-Someone asked: What does the $100 million do for the iPhone community?

-Jobs says Kleiner Perkins believes in the opportunity to invest in iPhone development

-”A lot of applications will be written for business world. Should RIM be worried?” Jobs: “You should go ask them. We’re not sending them a message, we’re sending customers a message”

-”What kinds of safeguards are there to make sure apps are secure on the iPhone?” Jobs: It’s a dangerous world out there! … We want to take reliability of the iPod but the ability to run 3rd party apps from the PC world without malicious applications

-”I think the fact that Apple is going to be the exclusive distributor for these apps raises questions about monopolies. What if a dev doesn’t want to distribute through the AppStore?” Jobs: Well, they won’t be able to. But we think it’ll be fine. -”How likely will there be a VoIP application?” Jobs: “We’ll limit them over the cellular network but WiFi will be fine” -Jobs continuing on: Developers have to register with us. For that $99, we give them an electronic certificate that tells us who they are

-”Will a SIM unlock be considered software that won’t be allowed on the AppStore?” Jobs: Yyyyyyes…

-“ How will private organizations distribute apps to their employees internally?” Schiller: We are working on a version of the AppStore for enterprise that will allow corporations to distribute apps to their end-users securely

-”Why did you change your mind from last year [about web applications to SDK]” Jobs: We thought web apps worked really well, but developers gave us the feedback saying they wanted to do more

-”What is your relationship with the carrier? Billing relationship? Any sort of distribution going forward?” Jobs: We have a great relationship with our carriers. We struck a new kind of relationship with our carriers where Apple is responsible for the software on the phone. Really, this is our program and we’re running it. “So they won’t be getting a revenue share at all?” Jobs: We don’t go into our financial arrangements.

-There will be no other way to write apps for the dock connector other than what’s already available (the “Made for iPod program”)

-Everything is over, heading out!

[Coverage from Ars Technica]

[Fotos From Engadget]