Category Archives: App stores
Where are the stalker apps when you need them
Rating: GoMo News fails to track down Abba’s Agnetha Fältskog
About three years ago there was a big scare that the typical smartphone had mutated into a celebrity stalker’s weapon of choice. A typical headlines was ‘iPhone apps could encourage celebrity stalkers’ written by our old chum Jack Schofield in The Guardian here back in 2010. So when a young reader begged us to tell her what app she needed to try to track down ex-Abba singer, Agnetha Fältskog in London. We thought there’d be no problem helping her out. Wrong. Most of the apps have disappeared. So have some of the web sites, too. It might work for Justin Bieber fans but anyone less famous – forget it. Continue reading
Guest Post: Top 5 Android apps to check out
by Courtney Lee, a blogger who sometimes works with newegg.com
Did you know that Google Play currently offers over 450,000 apps? Out of all these many are useful and top-rated, but there are also many that will only waste your time if you download them. Anyhow, if you want to improve the functionality of your device here are the Top 5 android apps that you must check out: – Continue reading
Apple lures app developers with bigger cash pot
Apple is continuing to increase how much it pays to developers as it battles for supremacy in the app market with Google’s Android.
At a conference in Sans Francisco, CEO Tim Cook revealed that a colossal $8 billion had been paid to developers in the last quarter, up $500 million on the $6.5 billion handed out this time in 2011. Continue reading
iPhone app users – do you feel anxious about your investments’ safety – Apple doesn’t
Apple’s iTunesConnect system; the restrictive API; and the company’s definition of ‘spam’ prevent users from a better experience
Press release
February 11th 2013. Purchased software in the App Store often has to be updated with every new OS release – something which is normally done automatically by the developer for users. However, according to App Store policy, apps that are no longer being actively sold have to be removed entirely from the App Store, potentially leaving thousands of users without the proper ongoing support. At the same time, Apple’s iTunesConnect system does not permit developers to update software which is no longer available for sale and, as a result of this policy, these users can be left with incompatible software, out of step with the OS currently running on their phones, and frustrated. Continue reading
Paragon takes a massive pop @ Apple over iTunes Connect
Rating: All is not well in the iOS app ecosystem
Not actually being iOS app developers ourselves, we were more than slightly puzzled by a Press release that Paragon Software has just put out. Reading between the lines, this particular app developer appears to have got itself into a classic ‘Catch 22′ situation where – whatever it does, it cannot win. The crux of the problem seems to be Apple’s iTunesConnect system which does not permit developers to update software which is no longer available for sale. As a result of this policy, existing users can be left with incompatible software. Continue reading
11% of iOS fans search for apps on loo
Rating: Shocking stats on how users behave on App Store
Research from Surikate/GfK, has just revealed that 11 per cent of iPhone users have confessed to browsing for apps whilst on the loo. This finding doesn’t shock GoMobile News since we have already revealed that smartphone users watch videos in the bathroom, too. The survey was intended to demonstrate just how difficult it is to get an app noticed on Apple’s key iTunes App Store. Continue reading
Bango & Telefónica offer app stores mobile billing
Rating: Crucially supports billing to handset over Wi-fi
An important alliance has been forged by Bango and Telefónica Digital over a direct-to-bill payment capability mostly aimed at mobile app stores. What Telefónica brings to the party is some 314 million chargeable customers worldwide. Importantly, trials of direct-to-bill on Telefónica’s mobile networks have proven its ability to drive sales. The prime advantage to Bango’s platform is that it supports billing to handsets even over Wi-fi. The pair are also hoping to entice others to utilise Telefónica’s BlueVia payment APIs. Continue reading
Get into MWC 2013 Barcelona for free
Rating: AppsFuel is giving away 5 free entrance passes
The awfully nice people at AppsFuel contacted us to say that GoMo News readers might be interested in the news that they’re running a competition to win a free entrance pass to the Mobile World Congress 2013 being held in Barcelona. The contest ends on February 5th [2013] and the company is giving away a total of five such passes. That’s worth €699 in value. All contestants have to do is to enter a simple contest here using their email or Facebook Connect. Continue reading
Top 5 ASO Tips to increasing your app downloads
by Sean Casto, CEO with PreApps.com
Creating a great app is only half the battle. In the USA alone, over 28,000 apps are submitted to Apple a month, according to app metrics firm 148apps.biz. While this is good news for Apple, it means heavy competition for developers. With App Store Optimisation (ASO), developers can create an app that not only works well but stands out in the overcrowded app store. Here are five great tips to increasing your apps visibility on the app store. Continue reading
Apple’s tills ring to the sound of app downloads
More than $10 billion (£6.2 billion) has now been spent on iPhone and iPad apps since Apple launched its App Store back in July 2008, the Californian giant has revealed. Continue reading
GoMo’s protect your smartphone advice for Xmas
Rating: Inspired by Stonesoft’s Top ten tips
.We all know that significant numbers of handsets – especially smartphones, will be given as Xmas presents this year. However, consumers don’t naturally associate mobile phones with threats from hackers, viruses and malware. As Ash Patel, regional director with Stonesoft, says, “To a consumer, cybercrime may seem a distant threat that is mostly related to espionage between nation-states or hacking against big enterprises.” However, mobile devices are very easy to steal as we’ve reported before but they can contain seriously damaging personal data – such as credit card information and even login details for social networks. So Stonesoft has put together its own Top Ten tips on mobile security for Xmas time. Sound advice but not always entirely practical. Continue reading
Opera -world’s fifth biggest store, honours apps
Rating: Top Android, Java, BlackBerry & Symbian apps
Claiming to be the world’s fifth-largest mobile app store, the Opera Mobile Store has just announced the winners of its 2012 Top Apps awards. Given that the store is multi-platform, winners were announced for Android, Java, BlackBerry & Symbian OS. So the overall Symbian winner was Nimbuzz’ Messenger Chat and Call; BlackBerry winner was eBuddy’s XMS; Friends, Fun, Free – Queep 2.6 by Blue Lion Mobile; whilst SPB’s Shell 3D – Enjoy Your Phone took the top slot in the Android section. The Store can claim its fifth place because it offers around 80,000 free and paid apps but more importantly it boasts some 50 million monthly users. Continue reading
Hunt offers Click to App tech for iOS
Rating: App awareness campaigns won’t loose any clicks, it says
Probably because GoMobile News isn’t totally fluent in Spanish, we’ve only just learnt of a new technology that Hunt Mobile Ads has recently [October 2012] released called ‘Click to App’. Hunt, of course, claims to be the leading independent mobile advertising company which is targeted on the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets. The company maintains that Click to App offers something that advertisers were looking for and wasn’t possible until now. With this new technology no clicks are lost and advertisers can generate not only new downloads but also app awareness. It even causes old installs to reopen their apps. Naturally, Click to App is available on the Hunt mobile ads network but the company says it can also be used in third party networks. Continue reading
Fake Japanese app steals 10m pieces of personal info
A group of Japanese app developers could face up to three years imprisonment after being arrested over a smartphone virus scam.
Initial reports said that about 90,000 smartphones were infected by the virus which extracted personal information stored on users’ handsets.
The apps, marketed to unsuspecting customers as a download called “The Movie”, ostensibly offered a free video facility for Android smartphones and were advertised via popular games titles. Continue reading
Microsoft fights back with Windows Phone 8
Rating: Kid’s Corner could be the dark horse here
Microsoft finally introduced the much-heralded Windows Phone 8 (WP8) yesterday [October 29th 2012] – waiting three days after the official launch of Windows 8 itself. We’re not quite sure why. After all, the new versions of Windows all boast a similar look and feel, the same technology core, plus the same built-in SkyDrive cloud service. Microsoft says Windows Phone 8 is built to work seamlessly with Windows 8 PCs, Microsoft Surface devices and the Xbox 360 console. It didn’t say which version of the Surface, though. At the Press conference in San Francisco (a place usually more associated with Apple), Microsoft showcased WP8 handsets from Nokia, Samsung and HTC. In terms of what WP8 offers, we’d say the latest version of this mobile OS seems to have three main new features: – Live Apps; Rooms; and Kid’s Corner. It also pumped up the Windows Phone Store. Continue reading
