startupi

Besides making games and entertainment, and besides addressing the needs of end users and advertisers, developers of apps for cell phones can explore other business strategies.

One method is to sell applications to businesses and then provide them in a free version to end users. In some cases there is no interest in the number of downloads and installs, just a focus on the end user experience being the best possible one.

One example is the set of apps for iPhone and BlackBerry from MTM Tecnologia Mobile Solutions, a Brazilian startup that has an operational team in Salvador and business offices in São Paulo, the USA, Canada and France. Read more…

A few weeks ago there was a flurry of hype in Brazil over the launch of a new Orkut invitation-only interface (Orkut being Google’s social network, recently made available for mobile via Android). Argentine social network Sonico just launched a Brazilian interface (their biggest user base is in Brazil), and an iPhone app and announced the placement of a country manager in São Paulo to take care of operations for this expansion. And Facebook is about to announce the winners of the application challenge announced during founder Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Brazil. Read more…

The first event for professionals involved in building iPhone applications took place in August.

At the end of last week there was a second event, focused on technical and business issues revolving around the Apple iPhone OS 3.0 platform

While it only lasted two days, it was a great opportunity to see what can be done and how to do it.

The event was webcast. It took place at the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo. More information can be found here.

Recently there was yet another event in Brazil for iPhone application developers, and so I decided to interview a professional who is proficient in the subject, to understand how things stand in that sector. With us is Rafael Fischmann, editor of MacMagazine.

When did local developers start getting involved with the iPhone?

Even before Apple started the Developer Program and launched the App Store, a Brazilian developer already had plans to launch an app. A few days later, Apple made two things official: the iTunes Store and the Developer Program. Read more…

Hello, all! This weekend the iPhone Dev Camp was held in São Paulo, with an app developers course and various related lectures.

The photo is from the North American event, taken from the site.

It’s a good event. Tell me if you went, okay? And remember this coming week there will be a lecture on the web and a workshop in São Paulo with the founder of Facebook. Cheers!

Saturday I participated in Mobilecamp, an event promoted by Juliano Spyer, for discussing mobility in all its myriad forms. Among the presentations were various interesting ones, such as mobile art, video creation and others relevant to cell phones or the use of mobile apps by professionals such as dentists and lawyers. They were represented by Bia Kunze and Josluza Fiorane, respectively.

Unlocking the iPhone

The most interesting presentation of all was that of Breno Masi, who has been declared the first Brazilian to unlock and iPhone. The story begins with him receiving a call from his doctor asking if he could unlock an iPhone, just days after the launch. Breno had worked on unlocking cell-phones before, and accepted the challenge. He bought a Mac on credit and after killing a few devices finally managed to unlock one.

His fame increased to the point where, according to the tale, important people began to call upon his services, among them big business guys, government figures, etc… Just to give you an idea, Michael Schumacher got him to unlock his iPhone. At a certain point he was invited to participate in the GSM World Fair and did a live demonstration in the middle of the event.

A year and a half into the iPhone, he continued to have a foot firmly in the middle of the unlocking business, but resolved to give up - eventually - the life of an iPhone hacker. Today he has a business developing software solutions for the Apple smartphone.

Band does live mobile broadcast

The other interesting story was from Eduardo Brandini, Coordinator of Technology of journalism at Band. Above and beyond his story of being an established businessman, it is worth getting to know the creative pursuits he is involved in.

They developed out of necessity following the two biggest airline accidents in Brazil. There was no simple technology at the time for transmitting live reporting to television. R&D lead to a model for using N95 with special software and the 3G cellular network to stream live to television.

Today the technology is tested in the morning news. A reporter goes out each day without a specific assignment and finds a hot lead, sends it live from location with the help of a cell phone. Interesting, isn it?