Hardware

Three. That’s the number of times my lady partner has dropped her phone into the toilet in the last two years. With smartphones steadily packing more advanced tech, its good to see Toshiba go some way to improve their durability. The Froyo (Android 2.2) toting Regza Phone T-01C, features a 4-inch 480x854 resolution screen, a 12.2 megapixel camera with 720p video recording and a MicroSD slot while weighing in at 149g . As well as offering most of the functionality of rival Android smartphones the T-01C also has another trick up its sleeve. It’s entirely waterproof to 1m, so should be fine for a brief trip to the U-Bend and back. Speaking to Docomo, the Japanese network showcasing the phone at MWC11, they say that the waterproofing is achieved through the use of a layer of fibre that allows air, and thus sound, to move through it, while blocking and repelling water. A UK release is currently unconfirmed, perhaps someone should tell Toshiba about our weather.

Mobithinking

Just a quick follow up on what I wrote about the disposable nature of apps earlier in the week.

An interesting report over at mobithinking states that 1 in 4 purchased apps is never used again. This raises some interesting questions about why that is, and if its more related to the quality of the apps or the way in which we think about them.

Disposable Teens

First up, let me direct you over to Hexus:

Now lets begin.

Something with that story struck a chord with me, linking in from what I wrote last week about having to repeat buy apps for different devices/OS's (by the way, I am very excited about Googles launch of a browser interface for your account in the next few weeks this will will make it much easier to manage the apps you have bought). Whether or not Reggie Fils-Aime has a legitimate case for concern regarding the price people expect to pay for games, I couldn't say. Personally Angry Birds is, to me, not worth more than a couple of pounds. I can't imagine it had the budget of a legitimate console release so I find charging more than a menial amount a tough pill to swallow. When someone get Call of Duty up and running, I'll pay the asking price (not that far away if the launch of Tegra 3 lives up to the hype). So, before the time of night I'm writing at gets me more sidetracked than I already am, my question is this: how much money is throwaway money?

By this I mean, 'disposable'.

Obviously, an items intrinsic 'disposableness' is relative to what it is. A set of 6 plastic cups at £2 is to me, throwaway, but at the same time, I'd definitely pick up a £2 coin if I saw it lying on the street.

So do Apps fall into this category? Should I be thinking about apps as disposable? Part of the attractive nature of buying apps for my Android account is that I will always have them at my disposal, should I need them later, and its all ultimately tied into the customisation and personalisation aspects of smartphones that people find so appealing. But does everybody think like this? £2 might be a disposable amount to many people, money that they don't mind not recovering should 'gypsy wedding simulator 4' turn out to be the software equivalent of infidelity (appearing good at first but quickly turning out to be a terrible mistake).

If that is the case, and people do see apps as disposable then, a) how much can they raise the price before they move into the category of 'non disposable' (£2 is already in that category for me it appears) and b)how are they going to convince people to pay more, or monetise in other ways, the software they are releasing? Perhaps another reason why Advertising and Applications go hand in hand. For the first time we have an advertising medium that truly has the potential to give something back to the audience. We just need better integration.