Category Archives: App stores
Lloyds TSB banking app goes viral
Rating: Works on all 4 mobile OS & the ATM finder is hot
In the UK, Lloyds TSB reckons that it’s the first financial institution to launch a mobile banking app on all four major mobile OS (Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia) simultaneously. “Purely through word of mouth we have had more than 360,000 downloads already being made and expect to double that by the end of the month [November 2011],” commented Ashley Machin, director of digital banking at Lloyds TSB. GoMo News reckons the apps were put together with more than a little help from Grapple Mobile because our mole there says the actual figure has already reached 400,000. The good news is that you don’t need to be a Lloyds customer to use the app. You can use it to locate the nearest ATM machine near to you. Boy does it work well. Continue reading
ZTE gets into embedded Android apps via Vringo
Rating: World’s fourth largest handset manufacturer differentiates itself
Here’s a really intriguing development. An alliance between ambitious mobile phone manufacturer, ZTE, and hot Android app creator, Vringo. The pair have just announced a deal whereby a Vringo app called Facetones will be preloaded onto ZTE Android handsets sold around the world. Facetones is mega-trendy app because it combines two major trends – social networking and video mobile apps. It almost doesn’t matter what the Facetones app does because it enables Vringo to participate in the estimated $7.7 billion preload software market. It helps ZTE because the Android handset market is getting so competitive. It’s also another feather in Vringo’s cap because the company only recently announced a major tie-up with the USA’s leading mobile network operator, Verizon Wireless. Continue reading
AppsOTips offers iPhone app search database
Rating: Pre-launch it needs some community members
We all know how easy it is for an app – especially one for the iPhone or iPad – to get lost in all the hullabaloo. So it’s interesting to see that one company – Logical Infosystem – has decided to attack the problem by introducing a new search engine designed to help people find the apps they are looking for. The service is known as AppsOTips and can be found here. The site is currently indexing 54,512 apps. However, there’s something of a chicken and egg situation here. The idea is to build a global community of those looking for decent apps. You can’t do that without any members. So we’ve decided to give Raman Basu, co-founder of Logical Infosystem a bit of a hand and publicise its existence. Even though AppsOTips hasn’t actually formally launched yet. Continue reading
RIM sort of takes on iOS5 Siri with Vlingo Plus
Rating: Another free app – if you can find it
One of the key ingredients of Apple’s iOS5 upgrade was the introduction of Siri – described as a personal assistant. Well, RIM may just be tackling Siri head on with the introduction of the Vlingo app as one of its set of complimentary apps. This ‘virtual assistant’ app isn’t new. However, it’s been described as worth $19.99 but now represents the fifth of RIM’s free Thank You Gift set of apps. That’s if you can actually find it. GoMo News had trouble locating this app but got there eventually. Continue reading
Get rich quick with Snappii iPhone app creator
Rating: promises to add Android & HTML5 support soon
At the risk of contradicting ourselves, if you want to get into creating your own mobile apps then starting off with an Apple iOS app seems like a good idea. Hence GoMo News decided to take a look at a service called Snappii which claims to enable the non-technical to create their own iPhone/iPad apps via templates. Being a North American business, the emphasis is very heavily on using the service to make money – so if you’re only in the market to create one app then it’s probably not for you. The good news, however, is that although Snappii currently only creates iOS apps, the company is promising to introduce support for Android and HTML5 (which means Windows Phone) in the near future. The clincher is that Snappii lists a number of apps created using its service which can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store. Continue reading
AppCarousel claims answer to app discovery
Rating: Questionmarks over OS support and billing
Ahead of its official launch at the Appsworld conference next week [November 2011], Wmode has released details of its AppCarousel offering. The idea is to draw attention away from apps themselves and put the focus firmly back on brands and content. Just to be trendy, too, the company says that social networking will also play a part in the discovery process. The only thing which worries GoMo News is the phrase – [apps] can be viewed on any smartphone, tablet, or desktop. It would be nice to have a list of mobile OS supported because AppCarousel uses “visually engaging 3D” to show off apps. We can think of plenty of ‘smartphones’ that will struggle to display a 3D carousel. Continue reading
24MAS launches fully managed games store for Vodafone Czech Republic
24MAS, a Stockholm based mobile advertising and marketing solutions company, has launched a new games store with Vodafone Czech Republic, expanding its operator footprint in Europe.
The games store has unique features including tab functionality and a loyalty system. The new Vodafone Gallery will replace Vodafone live! with a strong focus on premium content. Continue reading
Germany’s ZDF app achieves over 500,000 downloads
German TV channel ZDF, one of Europe’s largest broadcaster has achieved more than 500,000 downloads of its new smart application in the first weeks after its launch.
The app was created by YOC, a mobile technology group based in Berlin, and was launched in conjunction with a browser based HTML5
The app enables iOS and Android users to watch numerous videos of the “ZDF Mediathek” media library on their smartphones and tablet PCs when they are on the go. Continue reading
ChartBoost offers in-app ads for iOS games
Rating: Using the technology is basically free
A new advertising marketplace – ChartBoost – has just appeared. It aims to help iPhone game developers enjoy more success with their apps and help boost revenues, too. The marketplace can be used in a number of different ways: – internal cross-promotion; direct cross-promotion with other apps; or promoting across a wide network. The company claims that those with games that are already in the Top 100 Apple app charts, can also use ChartBoost to monetise their success by promoting other apps. ChartBoost’s proprietary technology is basically free. Continue reading
How many apps are too many? Great article from eMarketer
We don’t link to whole articles too much here at GoMo News – unless we learn something new. Guess what! We learned a lot from the article below from emarketer and some great graphics too.
Continue reading
Toyota launches smart social app
Rating: Innovative use of HTML5 in marketing campaign
Social Snap Shot – a new application designed to target young, time-poor people with busy social lives by delivering a snapshot of their friends’ Facebook activity – has been launched by Toyota and Glue Isobar, a creative agency. The web-based app opens with a shot of the all-new Yaris, followed by a screen that personalises the app for each user. Continue reading
GetJar offers prime Android apps for free with GetJar Gold
Rating: World’s largest app store decides to give away premium apps
Given that (to date) all of its apps have been available for free, GetJar naturally became the world’s largest free mobile app store. Now, in a complete revolution, consumers are offered GetJar Gold – a programme that gives consumers free ongoing access to premium applications that they would otherwise have had to pay for on other app stores. Those same premium Android apps which cost up to $10 on the Android Market or in the Amazon App Store are now offered free as part of GetJar Gold. With 30 million active monthly users, GetJar is set to give away millions of dollars worth of apps. GoMo News is impressed by this bold move. Continue reading
iTunes Store and Android Market ain’t necessarily best
Rating: research2guidance says Ovi and BlackBerry AppWorld still cut it
The latest Smartphone App Market Monitor report from research2guidance – available here, finds that – despite all the hype surrounding the major platforms of Android and iOS, publishers are still overlooking the hidden potentials of the niche mobile OS players. Niche players like Microsoft’s WP7 [...]
Bango provides payments for Opera Mobile Store
Rating: Joins RIM’s store in using Bango payment system
Bango has secured an agreement with Opera Software to provide mobile payments for the Opera Mobile Store. Opera joins BlackBerry maker, RIM, as one of the leading app stores using Bango for mobile payments. Users of the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browser will be able to purchase apps and pay for content within apps. They can place the charges on their carrier bill or through credit card using Bango’s browser-based payments directly from the mobile handset. The Opera Mobile Store is accessible through a single-click from the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers. This makes it immediately accessible to more than 100 million customers with no downloading or special provisioning required. Continue reading
Vodafone claims 1st in Europe with Android operator billing
Rating: The Google Checkout bottleneck loosens
Well, Vodafone has decided to claim via a developers’ blog here that it has become the first (ever) operator in Europe to be able to implement the purchasing of apps via ‘carrier billing’ from the Android Market. In other words, the European unbanked and the un-creditworthy might finally be able to pay for their Android apps without having to try to jump through hoops. This is a tremendous achievement given that to date the only option was to go through Google’s Checkout payment process to make any purchases. GoMo News has always maintained that this bottleneck was one reason why Android app developers earn so little compared to iOS developers for example. [In theory, developers who sell via Nokia's Ovi are the best served.] The catch is that GoMo News can’t see any concrete evidence that payment in this manner have actually happened yet – even though the announcement came three days ago (August 19th 2011). Continue reading
