Category Archives: App stores
Bullguard gives Chinese app site app all clear
Rating: illustrates need for good security software
Having written several reports that Chinese app stores held particular dangers for Android users – see ‘Security warning as Android virus hits China‘ and ‘Piracy & Malware go hand-in-hand‘ , GoMo News was very suspicious when we started to download an app for a Chinese Android app store. The store in question is 1mobile.com. What caused us concern is that the description for the app was still in Chinese and if you do a lookup onWhois.com for 1mobile.com, there’s not much information. So we did the sensible thing and contacted a reputable supplier of mobile anti-malware Bullguard. Luckily, the company has given this particular app the all clear but it can’t vouch for the hundreds of other apps on this store. The moral here is get yourself some decent security software installed before you start downloading other apps. Continue reading
Appitalism gives apps producers Wings
Rating: Single sign up to multiple outlets for apps
Strange how everyone these days is the world’s largest something or other. Anyway, Appitalism.com – which is operated by Mobile Streams and claims to be the world’s largest app store – has just introduced a new global app distribution program which it calls Appitalism Wings. This new service is aimed at app developers who want to maximise their return on investment (RoI). It provides apps producers with additional distribution channels which specifically apply to their content. All this without the need to sign or spend time on multiple integrations and agreements. Continue reading
Survey finds in-app purchasing ousting app stores
Rating: Survey of app developers using Appcelerator
A survey of 2,012 Appcelerator developers carried out in conjunction with IDC has come up with some gripping conclusions. Others are more blatantly obvious – such as the significance given to Google +’s challenge to Facebook and the rise of cloud computing. We were most fascinated by the overall [...]
Apple will continue to trounce Android over paid-for apps
Rating: Apple ain’t got where it is today my misjudging the public
It’s going to take a lot more than merely outselling Apple in the physical sales of handsets stakes for Android to topple Apple from its dominance of the paid-for apps sector. That’s the conclusion reached by UK based mobile design specialist, the Nice Agency. The company was commenting on Apple’s recent decision to raise the cost of some UK apps by ten pence. (See our previous story here). “While the Android market is set to overtake Apple in overall number of apps, the iTunes App Store has over three times as many paid apps as Android,” observed Ryan Hall, co-md of the Nice Agency. “Consumers are willing to pay for Apple apps because they believe they¹re good value for money,” he said. Knocking Apple off its perch is going to prove very difficult. Continue reading
GetJar continues as world’s largest free mobile app store
Rating: Comes over all social with Facebook, too
The world’s biggest provider of free mobile apps, GetJar, has just reached another milestone in its history with over tow billion downloads. This figure is greater than any other cross-platform app store. With a truly global customerbase, GetJar has reach this number thanks to its database of over 150,000 applications. It’s not just a one trick pony, either because GetJar offers apps for BlackBerry, Java, Symbian and the mobile web as well as Android. What’s more, GetJar is getting all social as Facebook’s app has become its top most downloaded app with over 100 million downloads. Continue reading
Socialize helps Android & iOS apps get social
Rating: Comes from same stable as leading free app generator
Socialize has launched its first version of the company’s Socialize SDK for iOS (Apple) and Android developers. For developers, more downloads and more impressions obviously means more dosh in their pockets. So Socialize (as the name implies) is designed to add a social element into regular apps. The company claims the Socialize SDK is a turnkey solution for mobile apps that enables app users to see and communicate with each other. As Socialize says, “Every app contains a hidden community of users, and which promotes user engagement and increases app activity. ” All this from an off-shoot of AppMakr which claims to be on of the most successful suppliers of free app generating software. Continue reading
Open Source supplier, WANdisco, copies mobile app stores
Rating: uberApps offers one click install – how familiar!
When GoMo News met up recently with David Richards, President and CEO of WANdisco, we had a very definite sense of déjà vue. Not because we have previously met with David (see our story here) but because there was something very familiar about his company’s latest announcement. Basically the company has launched an apps store (uberApps) – but not for mobile! No, this is an app store aimed at the Open Source community and in particular at those who need software configuration management tools. However, Richards is cleverly applying a facility which has become an everyday occurrence – purchasing apps – to his own business. Continue reading
appMobi offers cloudKey mobile payments
Rating: Nothing in the cloud for crooks to steal
As Amazon and Apple have shown (No: 1 and No: 4 online retailers, respectively), a single touch payment system is what consumers like. Now appMobi has improved its own 1Touch system for mobile payments through the integration of its new cloudKey authentication technology. The company claims cloudkey is the most secure way of authenticating payments because consumers’ private data is stored only on their device, never in an online database. With 1Touch developers can offer their users the ability to purchase app content; subscriptions; and merchandise from your mobile app or web site. This mobile wallet technology integrates with most payments backends – including direct operator billing; PayPal; Authorize.Net; and Amazon Payments. Continue reading
Top 10 App Promotion Tips
Rating: GoMo News reviews this hot guide from PepperMobi
And so to the LVPO Bar in Dean Street (London) last night where GoMo News ran into the team that’s running digital/mobile PR specialist outfit, PepperMobi. Like many other companies in the mobile space, PepperMobi has noticed that the key thing driving this industry at present is apps. Unlike the majority of their rivals, though, this company has actually done something about it and produced a small brochure entitled, ‘PepperMobi’s Top 10 App Promotion Tips’. We’ve managed to blag a copy and it’s got some really dynamite tips in it. Must get them to make it available as an Adobe PDF file. Obviously the intention is to encourage app developers to sign up for PepperMobi’s writing services but there are plenty of great tips in this publication. Continue reading
Apple’s latest iPhone stats hot off the Press
Rating: GoMo News listens into analyst briefing
We’re not sure when Apple will actually release its latest figures in digital format but here are some of the numbers we could hear on Apple’s analyst call. Peter Oppenheimer, COO with Apple Computer told the listening industry observers that it has just enjoyed the highest ever quarter for iPhone and iPad sales which equated to sales of $28.6 billion. The whole of Apple’s earnings have increased thanks to dramatic growth in iPhone and iPad sales Continue reading
Why Americans ride Harleys; drink Budweiser and buy old iPhones
Rating: They want to be part of that cosy ‘family’
Here’s a really intriguing out-take from an article which aims to rationalise the irrational in the smartphone sector. Namely, why anyone would bother to pay for a handset with a blatantly inferior technical specification – like the iPhone 3G – yet be totally happy with such a choice? The article which GoMo News came across features on the International Business Times (IBT) web site here. Curiously, the article misses some of the very obvious parallels with US citizens’ other proud displays of brand loyalty in the face of overwhelming odds. We’re talking Harley Davidson, of course. Or Budweiser? Now we have the iPhone. Continue reading
Apple hikes iOS apps in UK
Rating: Anyone tied pretending to be Swiss?
It seems that Apple decided to mess around with the price levels at which it sells apps in the iTunes App Store last week [July 2011]. The UK, Mexico and Norway have seen price increases whereas Australia, Japan and Switzerland have seen minor reductions. Anyone tried pretending to be Swiss to beat the price changes? Anyway, an Apple spokeswoman appears to have told CNET here that “the ‘minor’ price adjustments are due to changes in foreign exchange rates and local tax laws in those countries.” Continue reading
Mobile Streams partners with Huawei over apps
Rating: App catalogue available in China & Middle East
Leading content aggregator, Mobile Streams, has struck a deal with China’s top telecom solution provider, Huawei, for distribution of its Appitalism.com app catalogue. This will now be offered into selected regions within the Huawei’s extensive network in Asia and the Middle East. CEO of Mobile Streams, Simon Buckingham, commented, “Our partnership with Huawei will ensure that our app catalogue is placed with Asia’s most prominent mobile operators in a market that is enthusiastic about smartphones, apps and portable devices.” Continue reading
UK national newspaper launches Kindle edition
Rating: Read it on your mobile phone or tablet
Leading UK national newspaper, The Guardian – and its Sunday version, the Observer is now available for download seven days a week in Amazon’s Kindle format. It will be available in the UK, USA and more than 100 other countries. GoMo News, however, has discovered that you don’t actually need to possess one of Amazon’s iconic Kindle tablets to be able to read any Kindle ‘book’. You can easily read it on a range of portable devices including smartphones and tablets. There are Kindle compatible reader apps available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone (WP7) devices. Indeed there’s a special version of the Android app for Android tablets. Or you could use your PC or Mac, of course. Continue reading
Quipper turns quizzes into apps
Rating: Currently works for iOS, Android and Facebook
If you currently own content that could be turned into a quiz format, then you can create a mobile app from it – for free. This facility is being offered by new start-up Quipper and its system enables its users to publish their own apps on the iTunes App Store; the Android Market and Facebook without the need for coding. Ands there’s no charge. The only catch is that free apps carry ads generated by Quipper. The word ‘quiz’ normally generates images of pub quizzes but there are other for reasons for generating a quiz. Quipper says that quizzes can be used as recruitment tools. GoMo News can see the quiz format being hi-jacked for the retail industry. Continue reading
