Mobile Innovation

AdMonitor, a Google Maps mashup from mobile ad serving company AdMob, provides real time data on who is viewing mobile ads worldwide, including the network they are on and the phone they are using.

San Mateo based AdMob has seemingly slipped under the radar in terms of attention whilst competitors have been acquired; Third Screen Media was acquired bought by AOL and Screentonic was acquired by Microsoft. And yet this is a company with some great stats and backing. AdMob is now serving 1 billion mobile ads a month and has amongst its investors Sequoia and Accel Partners. Director Maynard Web was COO for eBay between 2002 and 2006 and staff include Tony Nethercutt, the former VP of Sales for YouTube and Kevin Scott, a former senior engineering manager for Google.

The AdMonitor mashup provides an accessible way of seeing just how many ads AdMob is serving. Notably, Nokia would still appear to remain the world most popular provider of mobile phones.

AdMob clients include ESPN and CBS.

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The Android Blog is reporting that Google has officially announced the Android Market, an App Store like solution that allows publishers to upload programs and sell them online.

"Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube. We chose the term “market” rather than “store” because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available. Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings."

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In China new methods of advertising have been turning up everywhere, and Bluetooth media company Pioco has made mobile devices the newest outlet. The Shanghai based company has set up “hotspots” in hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial areas around the city where people can receive advertisements through their mobile device’s Bluetooth connection. About a week ago news broke that Pioco would be partnering with Coca Cola to serve mobile ads for the Olympics, so we spoke with CEO Steve Chao about the details and potential of the service.

Whenever someone with a Bluetooth enabled device enters a hotspot they receive a message asking if they would like to download Pioco content. If they accept, they are shown a video from Coca Cola, or some other partner company, and then given access to things like free movie trailers, music, wallpaper, e-coupons, and premium content from companies like Disney or MTV. The incentive program is only run in these hotspots, so the conversion rates have been much higher than in regular Bluetooth ad campaigns.

Chao explained that Bluetooth is the best execution angle in China because 3G functionality has yet to penetrate the market. He stated that Pioco is prepared for market change, and will adjust their strategies to accommodate other wireless technologies when the timing is right. In the near future he sees Pioco offering location-based browsing, and creating a centralized network to manage content and track usage.

Pioco sees its primary competition from E-Xing and many other, but differentiates itself by bundling advertisements with desirable content. The company was founded in 2006, has about 50 employes, and has received very little funding. Advertising partners include Coca Cola, Best Buy, Sony, and Chevrolet.

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A software development kit (SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.

It may be something as simple as an application programming interface in the form of some files to interface to a particular programming language or include sophisticated hardware to communicate with a certain embedded system. Common tools include debugging aids and other utilities often presented in an IDE. SDKs also frequently include sample code and supporting technical notes or other supporting documentation to help clarify points from the primary reference material.

A software engineer typically receives the SDK from the target system developer. Often the SDK can be downloaded directly via the Internet. Many SDKs are provided for free to encourage developers to use the system or language. Sometimes this is used as a marketing tool. For example, Foo Products might provide the Widget SDK for free to encourage people to use it. In turn, more people will be encouraged to buy more of their widgets since they can program them for free.

SDKs may have attached licenses that make them unsuitable for building software intended to be developed under an incompatible license. For example, a proprietary SDK will likely be incompatible with free software development, while a GPL licensed SDK will likely be incompatible with proprietary software development. LGPL SDKs are typically safe for proprietary development.

An SDK for an operating system add-on (for instance, QuickTime for Mac OS) may include the add-on software itself, to be used for development purposes, if not necessarily for redistribution. An interesting situation arises here between platforms where it is possible to develop applications that can at least start up on a system configuration without the add-on installed, and use a Gestalt-style run-time environment query to determine if the add-on is present, and ones where the application will simply fail to start. In other words, it is possible to build a single binary that will run on configurations with and without the add-on present, albeit operating with reduced functionality in the latter situation.

Providers of SDKs for specific systems or subsystems may sometimes substitute a more specific term instead of software. For instance, both Microsoft and Apple provide driver development kits (DDK) for developing device drivers.

Examples

The following are common software development kits:

* The Net Beans SDK from SUN Microsystems
* The Eclipse SDK from the Eclipse Foundation IBM
* The Flex SDK from Adobe
* The iPhone SDK from Apple
* The Java SDK from Sun Microsystems
* The Android SDK from Google
* The Microsoft Platform SDK from Microsoft
* The Qt SDK from Qt Software
* The Source SDK from Valve

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