Technology news and Jobs 
VIRTUALISATION Kogan Agora Android goes AWOL amid clandestine claims
VIRTUALISATION Kogan Agora Android goes AWOL amid clandestine claims | Kogan Agora Android goes AWOL amid clandestine claims |
|
| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 16 January 2009 | |
|
Page 1 of 2   
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
We reported on the delay earlier today, but an article in the SmartHouse site quotes an unnamed senior HTC executive bristling at the suggestion that it too might be suffering from the same “interoperability issues” that caused Kogan to quash its Agora launch. Those issues ultimately came down to the screen resolution of the Agora being too small (320x240 for Agora vs. 480x320 on the T-Mobile G1 gPhone), with some developers saying they wouldn’t bother to re-issue their applications for a smaller sized screen. SmartHouse quoted the anonymous “senior HTC executive” saying there was “absolutely no issues with the Google Android platform. If Kogan are having problems it is of their own making. More than likely they don't have the money to produce the phone and are using the interoperability issue as an excuse". There’s also a suggestion that a meeting between Kogan founder Ruslan Kogan and Google executives in the US was also a clincher in the decision to ditch the Agora, although this seems incredibly short sighted of Google and developers if this is the case. After all, there are plenty of phones out there with 2.5-inch screens, and mobile applications available for phones of all sizes. There was nothing wrong with the design of the Agora, looking similar to a Samsung BlackJack or Palm Treo device, and a smaller screen would simply have meant apps needing to be redesigned. Developers have managed to do this for the BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and other devices, so what was the big deal with the Kogan Agora? Unless there were other serious issues with the phone, or the claims of “money problems” are real, the Kogan Agora has been killed because a few selfish developers saw no market in a 2.5-inch screen size. After all, the entire episode must now be costing Kogan a fortune. Please read on to page 2. |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
