May 29, 2008

Google CEO Eric Schmidt made headlines this week after he proclaimed that mobile advertising would make more money than advertising on the traditional web in a few years. Schmidt pointed to reports of staggering mobile internet usage by iPhone users as an indication of the platform's viability and noted that iPhone makes the mobile internet lucrative by equipping users with a good mobile web browser.

Of course, Apple isn't the only company with a good mobile web browser: A little start-up called Skyfire Labs captured the attention of most trade publications this past week as it disclosed a $13 million series A round of venture capital as well as plans to take on Mozilla, Apple, Opera and many others with its new mobile browser. The company came out of stealth mode at the DEMO 08 show earlier in the year and left an impression on attendees, which may have led to its suddenly augmented coffers.

The Android camp also managed to keep fanning of the flames of its mobile OS this past week as Google unleashed a demo of Android running on the long-rumored HTC Dream handset at the I/O conference in San Francisco. A short video of the demo showed off the Dream's accelerometers working in tandem with Google Maps on StreetView.

Google's Android may be the biggest name in mobile Linux development right now, but it's certainly not the only comer: Caroline Gabriel breaks down the mobile Linux landscape with a focus on Nokia's hot and cold relationship with open source.

Sincerely,
Mobile Internet Trends Editorial Team
editor@mobilenettrends.com
Ph: +1 617-259-2320