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Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

blog.nyaruka.com

1–10 of 18 posts

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#2
It is a shame none of the modern smartphones support SIM Toolkit applications. They're used for example in the M-Pesa mobile payments system that is popular in Africa and elsewhere.

I wrote something about M-Pesa when I was in Kenya over the new year: http://www.qaiku.com/home/bergie/show/5035411811ce11e088577f...

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#3
There was a report recently about one set of android handsets accepting a SIM styled based facebook set of apps which I believed enabled by SIM toolkit and so someone somewhere has done some new sim toolkit support in android. Anybody remember the article well enough to remember the firm name?

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#5
If you want Android to be relevant anywhere apart from the West, then start thinking about how we live day to day.

The point of Android is to sell search ads. So I don't think they want Android to be relevant anywhere but "the West". If you want to use Android and have it support your obscure legacy technology, bust out your IDE and start programming. If there is as much demand as you say, the money will flow right in.

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#8
post #5

If you want Android to be relevant anywhere apart from the West, then start thinking about how we live day to day. The point of Android is to sell search ads. So I don't think they want Android to be relevant anywhere but "the West". If you want to use Android and have it support your obscure legacy technology, bust out your IDE and start programming. If there is as much demand as you say, the money will flow right i…

Well, the handset makers seem to like world dominance. Also, I'm not sure userland access is enough for this kind of thing.

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#9

Does the Android SDK support everything you need to write the required application? Just write it!

No.. you'd have to patch the OS itself.. you don't have access to the low level stuff needed unless you patch the OS directly.

Re: Android's Achilles' Heel (for the rest of the world) - The Sim Toolkit

#10
post #5

If you want Android to be relevant anywhere apart from the West, then start thinking about how we live day to day. The point of Android is to sell search ads. So I don't think they want Android to be relevant anywhere but "the West". If you want to use Android and have it support your obscure legacy technology, bust out your IDE and start programming. If there is as much demand as you say, the money will flow right i…

This is an incredibly narrow view of the world. There are billions in China and India alone without even counting Africa. If you don't believe Google wants those eyes then you haven't been paying attention to how much effort they have been putting into Africa.

And no, you can't build this stuff in userland. Everybody could go install Cyanogen on their handset, but that's obviously not tenable for the general consumer.

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