Nowadays it’s almost impossible to write an article about mobile phones without mentioning the very successful iPhone. Apple had practically turned the mobile  industry upside down with its touch screen device. Some people will argue to the death about how the iPhone, or the “Jesus Phone” as some call it, is the best thing since sliced bread – and nobody can argue against how successful this device has become. But I am predicting a total onslaught of Android devices within 2 years. The Android army of phones will be everywhere you look and you will not be able to visit any cellphone store without running into at least 50 different phones running this OS. OK – maybe that is going a bit far but I think you get the message and already we are seeing signs of it. At the time of writing this article there are 16 official Android devices. How will this army of Android devices be created you ask ? Enter the Open Handset Alliance.

The Open Handset Alliance was formed in 2007 and currently has 47 members. It is a consortium of technology and mobile companies all dedicated to bringing us better mobile experiences, with Android being their first project . There are some big names amongst the 47 members, including Google, Intel, Nvidia, HTC, Asus, SonyEriccson, LG, Ebay. With so many big names dedicated to Android development, it is bound to be amongst the top mobile device OS’s. You can read more about this argument here, let me get to the Android architecture.

Android is a Linux based software stack. On top of the Linux kernel layer lies a layer for the system libraries such as SQLite, SSL, OpenGL, etc. This layer also houses the Android runtime, which runs the Dalvik Virtual Machine. On top of this there’s the Application Framework, housing the managers like the Activity Manager, Window Manager, etc. Then finally there is the application layer, which is the layer we are most interested in.

Android applications can consist of different sections, namely Activities, Services, Broadcast Recievers and Content Providers. Activities form the User Interface(UI) part of the application, Services run in the background similar to RSS feed readers checking for updates. Broadcast Receivers just listen for particular system broadcasts, for example , when the battery is low. Content Providers just provide content to any asking application , for example your application asking the contact book to provide the users contacts for use within your application. We will mostly be concerned with Activities.

Activities were designed to be totally integrated with one another. What I mean is that Activities can call one another and pass data to one another, basically  like an event driven system, but on a system wide level. An application is thus a group of Activities passing Intents to one another. It is then possible to include , lets say, a Google Maps Activity into your application by passing a Google Maps Intent to it and waiting for a result from it. It would seem to the end user that you created a Google Maps section to your app. I think this is pretty powerful.

To get started with creating these applications you need the free Android SDK, Apple iPhone developers need to register first($99!). Then you going to need an IDE, there is an Eclipse plugin, the Android Development Tools(ADT) plugin that has everything including the latest stable SDK. You don’t immediately need a phone to test on as ADT comes with an Android emulator that you can debug and test with but you will eventually need a phone to properly test with. ADT is pretty awesome as it comes with many tools to tell you exactly whats happening on the phone, which threads are running,it has code completion, wizards to quickly create sub classes and much more. It took me less than 30 minutes to get a “Hello World” application running on the Android emulator from the time I installed the ADT!

Since ActionScript 3 is a lot like Java I could easily jump in even though there were a few syntax differences – but after about 2 days and the help of ADT I had a basic application drawing a ball bouncing round the screen. But that was only the beginning and have rewritten sections of the game many times. Now after two weeks of lots of learning I have created the game and have it running on my phone. It is still a prototype and even though it needs weeks more spit and polish, after demonstrating the game I have gotten the thumbs up to turn it into a real game which we will be registering in the Android market.  There is still a lot to learn from this wonderful framework but the Android groups have been great help, as well as all the Android forums and of course, the Reference guide which ships with the SDK. It has been a challenge to get to grips with this entirely new development area but it was far easier than imagined it would be. I spent about 10 times longer getting to know Flash, and that was with people available to help me.

What about my experience using the phone? I can honestly say I am now more connected than ever before. My email, both gmail and exchange, is pushed to the phone. My Twitter application runs in the background constantly fetching  tweets, while my Facebook application gets all my buddies’ status updates to me as often as I want to see them. News and weather is updated all the time. My calendar and contacs are synchronised between my phone and my mobile. I never get lost anymore, maps are always available and my Gtalk status is always “available” and running in the background, unlike on some other phones Oh, and it makes phone calls as well.

I will follow up with another article of my findings, good and bad, this time focusing on the actual Android game development.

What is it I’m getting at here, you ask? The fact of the matter is that cell phones have overtaken wallets as the one item people simply can’t do without. And the research backs it up: according to an IDC report earlier this year, 38% of workers would choose their cell phone over their wallet, keys, laptop or digital music player if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only one item with them (only 30% chose their wallets). Cell phones are our communication devices, cameras, watches, music players, browsers, notepads, alarm clocks and gaming devices. Apple saw this coming and knew they had to get in the game, with the iPhone the grand result. So, doesn’t it make sense to use your cell phone for making payments as well?

This idea has occurred to several entrepreneurs and companies all over the world (Obopay in the US and M-PESA in Kenya being notable examples). In South Africa, Wizzit has been on the scene for a while, although their target market has been the ‘unbanked’ demographic, which is why you probably haven’t heard of it. Most of the big banks have WAP sites you can point your cell phone browser to, WIG applications that can be installed directly on your cell phone menu, or on-deck options for accessing your bank accounts via one of the cell phone operator gateways. In addition, collaborative agreements between operators and banks, like MTN and Standard Bank with its MTN Banking product, are also available. But these are all clunky, unintuitive affairs with lots of information needing to be entered before anything can be done.

Enter new players similar to wiWallet, promising ease of use and convenience – mobile payment nirvana. wiWallet offers a Java application that enables your cell phone to become a ‘mobile wallet’. You can link credit cards and bank accounts on the service – information which is encrypted and not stored on the cell phone. To make and receive payments, a PIN is entered, ensuring that cell phone thieves are limited to using your cell phone for overseas calls. The service promises to work on any operator and with any of the major banks. wiWallet primarily targets customer-retailer transactions.  A service such as wiWallet differs from bank and operator offerings in that it aims to simplify the process of making and receiving payments.

But will these mobile payment services work? Is this a sign of disruptive technology ready to break banks’ stranglehold over consumers’ money (and on bad service!), or just placeholder services waiting for the banks and operators to wake up and smell the mobile money? As Roberto reported earlier on the SWAT Blog, USSD is another great potential enabling technology for mobile banking and payments, especially when it comes to the unbanked. The text-based simplicity makes it relatively easy to use and understand, especially in the emerging markets where the majority of phones are unsophisticated and people are accustomed to SMS. But an iPhone user is unlikely to embrace this ‘sooo 90’s’ UI, as is most tech-savvy teenagers and early adopters. A mobile payment system therefore needs to adapt to its specific target demographic, and not the other way around. The potential for mobile payments, especially in emerging markets where many people are unbanked and few other payment options exist, is obvious. In developed countries, on the other hand, these types of services will likely appeal more as a matter of convenience and extension of the other payment options available, rather than as a replacement bank.

According to Gartner research director Sandy Shen, SMS text messages will continue to be the dominant channel for mobile payments, although take-up of WAP, USSD and near field communications (NFC) contactless services will also grow. NFC technology, as well as the rival FeliCa technology developed by Sony and DoCoMo, is proving popular as a means of making small payments (usually less than $10) and accessing transport networks by simply waving the chip-enabled cell phone within a few centimetres of a reader. The obvious limitation is that this is not a software implementation and therefore hardware, in the form of a NFC/FeliCa-capable cell phone, is needed.

A recent study by Unisys reveals that the different mobile payment system providers will have their work cut out to convert consumers and convince them that the cell phone is a safe and secure payment channel. The findings reveal that:
• 71% of all consumers surveyed in 14 countries will not consider using a mobile device to bank or shop online
• 59% do not trust their mobile devices to provide a secure transaction
• Only 9% currently use these devices to conduct transactions involving credit-card payments, money transfers and deposits
• Most consumers generally perceive banks as having the best security for mobile transactions when compared to operators and online retailers

Which technology will win out? The one that makes it the easiest, cheapest and most secure to make and receive payments on your cell phone? Probably. You will decide, in the end. Rest assured, though: forgetting your cell phone at home will only lead to worse heart palpitations in future…