Today is an exciting day in our lives. We launched our first Android game, SmarToucans. This game is targeted for preschoolers and kindergartners. You can see some screenshots below:

It runs on Android version 1.5 (Cupcake) and above and has been extensively tested on the Droid Eris. It is available right now, absolutely free in the Android Market. So, go ahead, download and make a preschooler or kindergartner in your life a SmarToucan.

Note: If you do download, drop me a comment here letting me know which phone you are using and also I would appreciate any feedback.

Happy New Year! Here is the first review of the Google Nexus One which will be announced tomorrow at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The reviewer certainly likes the Nexus One with the only downside to it being the camera which does not take as good photos as the iPhone. Also, in their benchmark test against the Motorola Droid, it seems Nexus One is faster. Originally there were rumors that Google might come out with earth-shattering pricing model. But, over the weekend, leaks suggest that Google will follow conventional pricing of $179 with T-Mobile contract or $530 unlocked. This is not a way to take on iPhone, especially launching on T-Mobile, given that the Android Marketplace is still in its infancy.

Over this past weekend the story broke that Google has developed a new phone that it is giving its employees to play. The Nexus One, as it is called, is being positioned as a “innovations lab”, according to Google.

Today, we hear that Google is in serious talks with T-Mobile to introduce Nexus One. This G-Phone is built by HTC and looks strikingly like the HTC Passion without, of course, the HTC logo. All this makes me wonder what Google is thinking?

First off, why does Google see the need to branch out into hardware. Imitating Apple in trying to control the complete user experience is not good enough reason as they are already late to that party having already open-sourced their operating system. If they have some legitimate reason for getting into hardware, starting out with a look-alike phone of a publicly available (or soon to be) phone is not the best strategy to launch a new product that is going to bear your name in such a competitive market.

Also, if Google is going to compete with its Android partners, I wonder how long they will tolerate that. Now, I truly believe that 2010 will be the year of Android, however, this is a fast moving market and both consumers and the hardware makers are fickle. Google will have to tread carefully so as not to antagonize its partners.

Finally, is Google ready to be a hardware company? So far they have been outsourcing the actual manufacturing of the phones. And it will work if they have a handful of devices. But, then they need to think of all the other things that goes with standing behind the hardware from support to logistics to marketing.

Motorola is certainly trying to prove that there is some life in it still. And if these photos are true, it seems like it is doing a mighty fine job of coming back from the dead. Let’s see how long that vitality lasts.

As 2009 comes to close, everyone is playing the predictions game, including me. So, here are my predictions for the new year.

1. 2010 is going to be the year that Android comes into its own.  There is a lot of device movement behind it and we shall see a true iPhone challenger coming from the Android camp. Every major device manufacturer that is part of the Open Handset Alliance is going to come out with dozens of Android handsets. Also, we will see Android being deployed on devices other than Smartphones. Though it remains to be seen how Google positions Android versus its Chrome OS.

2. Android Marketplace is going to be next big goldrush for the app developers. The legions of Java developers are salivating at and furiously developing apps for the Android marketplace. Given Google’s free-for-all approach to the marketplace, I think that apps for Android are going to explode in 2010 and probably surpass the iPhone app store by 2011 unless Apple makes a drastic change to its App approval policy.

3. 2010 will see the introduction of data bandwidth caps and tiered pricing. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, AT&T is already making noise about how 3% of its data users are hogging 40% of the bandwidth. I believe that AT&T is getting ready to introduce data bandwidth caps and tiered pricing as early as Q1 of 2010.

4. Microsoft will make a major push to regain marketshare in 2010. Microsoft is at crossroads here, should it pursue a closed-wall approach like Apple or should it follow Google’s path. This is a long-shot prediction but I think Microsoft might end up acquiring a major player to disrupt the iPhone and Android hegemony. Though RIM, Palm and to a small degree, Motorola are likely targets, but I would not be surprised if Nokia and Microsoft partner up to develop or extend Windows Mobile.

So, there you go. These are my predictions. Stop by and let me know what you think or what your predictions are.

Cool, if this rumor is true, this would be a new and interesting form factor for Blackberry.

Qualcomm has an interesting take on the mobile content discovery market based on a survey it conducted recently in UK and US. The survey indicated that consumers were willing to make purchases on their mobile phones if the content was easy to find. The operators could provide more relevant content to mobile users using their location and other personal information but they have to tread lightly because too much use of personal content could be viewed as invasion of privacy and turn users off the service.

InStat today put out a report on the worldwide smartphones trends. According to this report, smartphones of future will have a different user experience than today’s smartphones. InStat expects that this new user experience driven smartphones will increase competition and shipments will increase to 412 million in 2014.

One key feature that InStat survey respondents would like in their future smartphones is accelerometer. According to InStat, of the 412 million shipped in 2014, 340 million smartphones will have accelerometer in them.

Another observation in the report is that 52% of the cost of building a smartphone goes towards the display, baseband and app processors, and software & licensing. Though one pecularity about this observation is that InStat feels it is unjustified. However, to me, that is the cost of developing a smartphone, in other words, that is the cost of putting “smart” in the smartphone.

This report is available for sale at InStat for $3,495.