Developers get ready, 2011 seems to be ramping up as the year of mobile cloud applications. Just last week, Amazon realeased SDKs for Google's Android and Apple's iOS, giving developers beyond easy access to Amazon's Web Services platform. Before the SDKs became available, developers would have to create their own ways of accessing the platform.

Aside from making things significantly cheaper, having such easy mobile access to cloud-based services really opens up a whole new door on the mobile application development front. Developers now, essentially, have access to an endless vault of computing power and storage, potentially changing the functionality and capabilities that some mobile applications have. I'm excited to see what you developers can and will come up with!

The 12 bugs of Christmas

By Alam Saeed

For the first bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

See if they can do it again.

For the second bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the third bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the fourth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the fifth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the sixth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the seventh bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the eighth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Find a way around it

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the ninth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Blame it on the hardware

Find a way around it

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the tenth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Change the documentation

Blame it on the hardware

Find a way around it

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the eleventh bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Say it's not supported

Change the documentation

Blame it on the hardware

Find a way around it

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

For the twelfth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me

Tell them it's a feature

Say it's not supported

Change the documentation

Blame it on the hardware

Find a way around it

Say they need an upgrade

Reinstall the software

Ask for a dump

Run with the debugger

Try to reproduce it

Ask them how they did it and

See if they can do it again.

Apple is allegedly readying its Mac App Store for a Dec. 13 launch, wrote a blogger on Appletell Sunday. And despite Apple's CEO Steve Jobs promising a launch within the next 90 days back in October, this is still considered pretty ahead of schedule.

Perhaps for expediting the process of application submission as the date drawers near, there are two things interested developers should know. According to Apple's developer site, developers are asked to not submit demos, trials or betas for review, citing, "Your website is the best place to provide demos, trial versions, or betas of your software for customers to explore. The apps you submit to be reviewed for the Mac App Store should be fully functional, retail versions of your apps."

In addition, Apple discussed file system usage requirements for Mac apps. Apple said: "To promote a more consistent user experience, Mac apps submitted to the App Store must write files in the appropriate location. This avoids users being confused when applications store data in unexpected areas of the file system (e.g., storing databases in the user's Documents folder or storing files in the user's Library folder that are not recognizably associated with your application."

However ambitious a release date of Dec. 13 may be, most responses on the Appletell blog were of excitement, while one remained skeptical.

"I’m curious to see how much time will be required for all those applications to go through the approval process at apple… Either they will go with just a few developers (I doubt that will happen) or they will put everything on there without approval…I doubt the store will be available before january… too much to do still," wrote one respondent.

For Mac developers looking to get some exposure for their applications, but perhaps don't have the funds, consider getting into the software bundling game. This could get your apps out there with other related applications and is a win-win for both you and the consumer that will purchase the bundles of apps at a bargain price.

One company looking to do just this is BundlesForMac, which is currently calling for interested developers to submit their apps for its first bundle, BundlesForMac Home & Family. Submissions will be accepted from Nov. 29 to Dec. 13 and the bundle will be ready before the holiday, the company said.

According to BundlesForMac, they teamed with Web companies ShakeOnIt and NothingButMac to provide targeted software bundles for developers and Web designers, as well as bargain deals for consumers. Click here if you're interested in submitting an application for the Home & Family bundle or would like to learn more about upcoming bundles.

Happy Thanksgiving! :o)

I recently attended an agile seminar and one of the presenters said something that really peaked my interest. According to him, "The future of agile is lean." I felt compelled to follow up with him in a private conversation to see what he meant, and what it really boils down to is this: Agile has its limitations, but lean can help expand it.

I've asked others their opinions on this and now I'm looking for yours. Is agile good enough to stand-alone and ensure successful software development, or does it need something more? I'm looking to delve into this further in an upcoming piece. So, please, share your thoughts.

Watts Humphrey, often called the "Father of Software Quality," died at the age of 83 on Thursday. SD Times was fortunate enough to speak exclusively with this remarkable man in a recent interview. Also an established author, Humphrey talked about his latest book "Reflections on Management." See here as discusses his experiences and lessons learned on how software projects should be handled.

There seems to be application marketplace options popping up all over the place, mostly looking to deviate (or at least try to) from the mainstream app stores of Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market. Aside from trying to be the next cool app store model or design, I think it's a great way for new, small-time developers to get a start. One place that may be worth looking is appbackr. Launched this week in beta, appbackr is a wholesale marketplace for iPhone and iPad applications.

Since a lot of new developers usually don't have the funds to promote or market their apps (or could be having a tough time getting into the sea of 300,000 apps in the App Store) this may be worth a look-see.

Following a traditional wholesale model, "developers agree to sell a certain number of units to wholesale buyers at a discount. Wholesale buyers purchase those units in bulk and profit when the app sells through iTunes. Developers get the cash to support their app, and a 'backr' with a vested interest in promoting their iPhone or iPad application. Wholesalers get involved in the promotion of emerging apps, and earn 27 to 54 percent return once the app sells at the retail value," wrote Sarah Cornwell of appbackr in a blog.

As this may be one way to get into the iOS application ecosystem, there are other avenues to check out. One mentioned in my previous blog is Mozilla's proposed system for open Web apps. This design could lead to some real interoperability across a number of different app stores, although you can more than likely count Apple and Google out of this one.

Mozilla introduced a prototype yesterday, calling it a system for open Web apps, which would allow developers to install, manage and launch Web apps in any modern desktop or mobile browser (Firefox 3.6 and later, Firefox for mobile, Internet Explorer 8, Chrome 6, Safari 5, Opera 10 and WebKit mobile), wrote Mozilla Labs in "The Mozilla Blog." Alongside the developer preview prototype is the technical documentation of the proposed system.

The proposed design would create a new category for what Mozilla calls "'Open Web Apps' - apps that are truly of the Web."

According to Mozilla, Open Web Apps:

• Are built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Can be “installed” to a dashboard within your mobile or desktop Web browser, or to your native OS desktop or mobile home screen.
• Work in all modern Web browsers, while enabling each browser to compete on app presentation, organization and management user interfaces.
• Support paid apps by means of an authorization model that uses existing identity systems like OpenID.
• Support portable purchases: An app purchased for one browser works in other browsers, and across multiple desktop and mobile platforms without repurchase.
• Can request access to one or more advanced and/or privacy-sensitive capabilities that they would like access to (like geolocation) which the system will mediate, giving the user the ability to opt-in to them if desired.
• Can be distributed by developers directly to users without any gatekeeper, and distributed through multiple stores, allowing stores to compete on customer service, price, policies, app discoverability, ratings, reviews and other attributes.
• Can receive notifications from the cloud.
• Support deep search across apps: Apps can implement an interface that enables the app container (generally the Web browser) to provide the user with a cross-app search experience that links deeply into any app that can satisfy the search.

Marshall Kirkpartick of the technology blog RedWriteWeb wrote that this is a "decentralized challenge to both Apple's closed app store and Google's centralized strategy...The Store Framework will enable an unlimited number of interoperable App Stores to be hosted by anyone, and compete based on quality of user experience...Decentralization of the App Store experience across many different stores is very promising, however, if you believe that interoperability yields competition and competition yields better software."

President and CEO of Adobe Shantanu Narayen. At right, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO. Source: Bloomberg

If there really are talks about Microsoft possibly acquiring Adobe, mum is the word.

When asked at a business conference today in Madrid if the software giant was interested in buying Adobe, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive, said, “No comment…We have got a bunch of CEOs in the audience. Does anybody ever comment?

“If you are going to do something, you say nothing. So I will be entirely consistent with standard CEO operating procedures,” he added.  

A recent New York Times article sparked the question when it reported a meeting between Ballmer and Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen.

The meeting covered several topics, but mainly focused on “Apple and its control of the mobile phone market and how the two companies could team up in the battle against Apple. A possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft were among the options,” the article said.

This is not the first time, however, talks about an acquisition have transpired between the two companies. Microsoft had courted Adobe several years ago about a possible acquisition, but backed away amid antitrust concerns, the New York Times reported.  

Although an acquisition could make sense for Microsoft and software maker Adobe to contend against Apple, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Brad Reback said, “the two companies are more likely to collaborate than do a deal.”

In October and November, 15 million Verizon customers will be notified of applied credits to their accounts due to mistaken past data charges. In most cases, these credits are in the US$2 to $6 range; some will receive larger credits or refunds, Verizon Wireless said in a statement yesterday. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, refunds for these "mystery fees" could amount to $50 million, said a CNN article.

The culprit of the $1.99 charge per megabyte of any data accessed from the phones? Software built into their phones, the company said. "The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into the phones; others included accessing certain Web links, which should not have incurred charges. We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future," the statement said. E-mailed inquiries into what caused the problem in the first place and what has been done to rectify the situation were answered by Verizon media contact Thomas Pica as, "We will stand by our official statement for now."  

"The FCC, meanwhile, has been investigating the issue since January when it first got word of the erroneous fees from consumers, according to a statement released Sunday by Michele Ellison, the FCC's enforcement bureau chief," the CNN article said.

It's refreshing to see Verizon's transparency, especially as a victim of these erroneous charges that I have refused to pay over the past several months.