OStatic

Two new market research reports are predicting strong smartphone sales growth going forward, and some researchers are predicting that open source-based smartphones will soon start to trump Apple's iPhone. In-Stat is predicting that the number of mobile application users will quadruple in five years, and that sales of open source-based smartphones will double iPhone sales over the same time period. In-Stat's latest report on the trend, foresees applications moving briskly from mobile application stores such as Apple's and the Android Marketplace.?

The skyrocketing success of Apple's App Store and the recent launch for Research In Motion's (RIM) App World for BlackBerry is clear proof that people want third-party apps for their mobile phones. Unfortunately, developers with a brilliant idea for the next blockbuster app typically have to decide which platform to choose before they write their first bit of code -- iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, etc.

The creators of PhoneGap think it's nonsense that developers have to write the same app in several different programming languages to reach the widest swath of mobile phone customers, so they developed an open source, cross-platorm framework that bridges the gaps among them.

If you've seen our coverage of the Boxee open source media center application and tried it, you know that one of the big benefits it offers is that you can break away from your computer when you want to watch online video content, and even enjoy it on a big screen. Now, Boxee is out with a remote control application for the iPhone, which is an available in the iPhone app store. For Boxee couch potatoes who have iPhones, this is a great convenience.