The iPAQ 910 is going back tomorrow and then the other will be sent back soon too. It is almost a relief to box things back up and send them back since it reduces the phone clutter around my house and actually gives me a bit of a sense of freedom since so many can get overwhelming when trying to figure out what to pick up and take along.

That should be it for my mobile related trips this year as I have already burned half of my vacation time for CES and MWC.

I was up very early/late writing about all the latest Windows Mobile news coming out at MWC so check out my ZDNet blog for that coverage. Much more to come today.

While Drew touched on some of the global challenges in the mobile landscape, Stephen went into more detail in regards to the programming challenges faced by developers. Olive Tree currently supports 14 builds of BibleReader on 5 platforms (4 for the Palm OS, 2 for Windows Mobile, 6 for Symbian, 1 for BlackBerry, and 1 for J2ME). If you haven’t visited the Olive Tree Bible Software site in some time, then I highly recommend you check it out as they have completely redone it and made it MUCH easier for you to use and find resources for your particular device.

Stephen stated that he spends more time on cross platform development than on Bible software development. I personally appreciate this cross platform focus as it allows me to use BibleReader on S60 and Windows Mobile devices. BibleReader is actually one of the only options I have on S60 so I appreciate their work. I also learned that Olive Tree acknowledges and understands that many of their users switch platforms and devices regularly so nearly all of their Bible translations and texts have a common database shared across all platforms. I talked with Stephen after his talk and this means that you can buy a translation or text and then “own” that forever so if you switch devices or platforms your purchased content goes with you. This was a GREAT relief to know so I can now purchase content without any worries about which device I am using.

Stephen presented possible solutions to the issue of cross platform development and the large number of mobile devices. Some possible solutions were a common database layer, common text rendering engine, shared data structures, and the use good cross platform coding practices. A vendor could limit themselves to one or two platforms and avoid this cross platform issue, but it is good to hear that Olive Tree plans to continue their multi-platform support.

There are also many challenges when it comes to development tools since there is a wide range and quality of tools available. He mentioned that 3rd party software developers have less priority for wireless carriers than getting a new phone out the door. There are issues with tools (such as Metroworks and PRC Tools) and issues with emulators. I mentioned before that Windows Mobile offers good support for the developer with Visual Studio. Testing and debugging are issues to address since emulators don’t always emulate the actual device and it is quite costly to purchase all of the latest and greatest devices for thorough testing. Olive Tree does add debugging information into their software so they can try to address any issues that may arise on your particular platform.

The different programming languages and content delivery methods were mentioned in my coverage of Drew’s talk, but Stephen did go into a bit deeper detail. Often a problem is that users do not even know what device they have so they do not know what software to purchase or download. Stephen also mentioned that there are issues rendering complex scripts and fonts (like Hebrew).

Stephen had some thoughts on the future of mobility that included the merger of the desktop and mobile device. Hey, has Stephen been brainwashed by Nokia and their idea that their phones are really mobile multimedia computers? (Just kidding) Will social networks have an impact or serve as a mechanism for sharing in the Christian environment? The “in the cloud” strategy may be the future, but Stephen said it will most likely take a while since getting data over the air is not as fast, is expensive, and coverage is not universal. However, I have been using Laridian’s iPocketBible that works over the network and Laridian has optimized the functionality for the iPhone and the web to make it a very similar to a stand-alone experience that I am enjoying.

There are new UI paradigm’s such as touch (thanks to the iPhone and Microsoft Surface) and Nokia gestures. There are different display technologies to consider, like eInk and foldable displays.

I completely agree with Stephen that the mobile world will continue to explode and there will not be a clear winner that captures more than 50% of the market anytime soon. Olive Tree may have to create 3 to 4 more platform versions over the next couple of years. Collaboration between software vendors may help with some of these future challenges, but that too will be a challenge moving forward.

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Drew then spent some time talking about the history of Olive Tree, which he started as a student project back in 1984. In August 1998 the first version of BibleReader for Palm OS devices was released and they have since moved on to supporting the Pocket PC/Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian (both UIQ and S60), iPod (text only), and other cell phone formats. It is currently available on 12 platforms and they see something like 50,000 downloads a month of their texts.

The common theme in regards to programming language was that C or C++ was on many platforms (Palm, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and maybe the iPhone). I was a bit surprised to hear that development support and tools were the best for Windows Mobile and wonder if this fact has helped propel Windows Mobile past Palm these last few years.

Drew talked about some challenges that they face in development and selling mobile Bible texts. These challenges include:

1. Different programming languages
2. Data location (local, external memory, “in the cloud”)
3. Installation methods (over-the-air, SMS, desktop syncing)
4. UI systems (touch, stylus, non-touch)
5. Publishers and licensing content
6. Customer expectations (desire a desktop experience, users move to different devices often)

I enjoyed listening to Drew and learned quite a bit about the perspectives of the mobile market from a developer/vendor working in this space. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to keep up with the latest operating systems and the various programming languages used by so many different platforms. Unfortunately, I am afraid it will just continue to get even more complicated as Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Apple (with the iPhone) continue to evolve while Google’s Android joins in along with the possibility of a new Palm OS based on Linux. I doubt there will be any consolidation of mobile operating systems and platforms anytime soon as there are too many dynamics in the market with wireless carriers, hardware vendors, software developers, and much more that are not going to go away or combine.

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Check out the full list of speakers for a summary of the topics that are planned for discussion over the next two days.

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BlackBerry device in the house:  Yes, it is true. I was sent a review T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve and this was really the first BlackBerry I spent any significant amount of time with. I really enjoy using it and plan to pick one up for myself soon, maybe even with the excellent @Home UMA/WiFi service that can reduce my monthly minute usage. I am amazed by how many 3rd party applications work with the device and find it to be very consumer focused now with the camera and media player. I posted a review on ZDNet and have very little to say about any dislikes with the device. I even found that Laridian has a Bible for the BlackBerry so I am very satisfied with the device!
iPhone still here too: I do still have my iPhone and AT&T account, but am probably going to be ending my AT&T contract soon by paying the early termination fee. I don’t need to be shelling out $70/month for a bit faster data than I see on T-Mobile, especially given the fact that I probably won’t be traveling as much in the future with much of our salvage work stopping soon (a change in our strategic plan at work). I still have my iPhone with the 1.0.2 firmware and find it to be a very nice device, but do miss all the 3rd party stuff available for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry.

HTC Advantage being used on the Sounder: HTC is still letting me evaluate the HTC Advantage as I conduct some software reviews (SoftMaker Office Suite, etc) and I have been using it primarily via WiFi on the Sounder commuter trains to and from work. I still may pick one of these up for myself for Christmas, but we’ll see what comes down the pipe soon.

New T-Mobile Shadow: T-Mobile just announced the HTC Shadow last night and it looks like a wonderful Windows Mobile Smartphone. My wife took my Dash and really likes the Smartphone platform, but she may like the Shadow even better with its larger display and cool slide-up display that reveals the phone keypad. She hates the volume JOGR on the Dash and at only $150, the Shadow looks like a great deal.

What about Nokia and S60?: I keep falling back to the excellent Nokia N95 for high quality phone functionality and 3rd party apps, but have no plans for upgrading any time soon. I thought of the N95-8GB, but with the new SanDisk 8GB microSD cards I think that is a better option. The N95-3G version looks good, but only works with AT&T in the U.S. The N81 looked good, until I read some reviews that weren’t that positive. It will be tough to top the N95, but I do really look forward to what Nokia will bring in 2008 with the new touch UI.

Thoughts on the Palm Centro: I am just about done with my review of the Palm Centro and have to say I think this is the BEST Palm OS device I have seen in a few years. When a GSM version is released I will most likely be picking one up for my Palm OS device (currently I only have older Palm devices in house). It is sleak, full featured, and priced right at $99.

MacBook Pro now running Leopard: My 160GB MBP drive crashed on me a couple weeks ago and I lost about 2 months of photos. It was still under warranty and a new drive arrived on Friday, along with my copy of Leopard. I made a clean install of Leopard on the replacement drive and now will be regularly backing up my data using the new Time Machine feature. I have no plans to upgrade my laptop any time soon and with my mobile device collection I don’t plan to get a UMPC either right now (as much as I would love to have an OQO Model 02 or something like that).

Upcoming travel plans: I will be flying into Amsterdam in November for a few days and then will be hitting the streets of Vegas for CES in January for 3 days. I am almost to MVP Gold status and may even have a trip or two to Alaska and one to Miami before the end of the year.

I now have OliveTree’s BibleReader program and Our Daily Bread loaded on the Nokia N95. Do you have any other S60 Christian references or books on your device?

I arrived home at 1:30 am this morning and opened my new E61i to charge it while I got some sleep. I am setting it up now with my custom ringtones and applications and am pleased with the purchase. PhoneSource USA sent it out to me in lightning speed and I will definitely keep these guys in mind for my next purchase.

I had the chance to use the Nokia E61i for a day in Spain and LOVED it so after looking at what was out there I decided it was worth the upgrade from the E61. As cool as the E90 is, I think the E61i fits my needs better and will stick with that for now.