Category Archives: mobile developers
Mobile social gaming isn’t the future; it’s the now
After OpenFeint sale, here comes Sibblingz. Door’s open, boys!
Last week’s massive sale of cross-platform gaming platform OpenFeint has had an interesting knock-on effect – it proved to the world at large that social mobile gaming really is where it’s at. So this week, the same incubator that gave rise to OpenFeint is pushing it’s latest social gaming wunderkind, Sibblingz. How is it different to OpenFeint? Read on… Continue reading
Apple changes to mobile app ranking system are a great idea
Last week, we covered the launch of a new app marketing company called Fiksu here on GoMo News. The company is dedicated to ensuring that your app gets the greatest visibility possible on app stores, through acquiring users rather than downloads. As various sources noted that Apple seems to have changed the way it ranks applications, Fiksu has released a claim that the changes are based on what category the app is in – for example, Social Networking apps seem to now be more heavily weighted in the rankings than gaming apps. Continue reading
More on that in-store iPad shoe design app
Rating: The shoes are for men, of Italian design and made from leather
As we’ve already mentioned here Mobikats has created an iPad app for Custom shoe maker, Oliver Sweeney. The pair are claiming that for the first time at the point-of-sale there’s an app which enables customers to design their custom Italian [men's] shoes. In store, users can select shoe design; type of luxury skin; and then skin colour for each panel of the shoe. Continue reading
GetJar responds to IDGA rant vs Amazon
Rating: Apparently, all’s not fair …
The International Game Developers Association (IDGA) has recently written an open letter to online app store Amazon about unfair pricing practices on Amazon App store. It can be found here. The letter says, “The IGDA has significant concerns about Amazon’s current Appstore distribution terms and the negative impact they may have on the game development community, and we urge developers to educate themselves on the pros and cons of submitting content to Amazon. This letter has inspired Patrick Mork, CMO of GetJar, to blog about the matter himself. Continue reading
Forget mobile app downloads, you need to generate loyal users
Even a quick browse through the iPhone or Android app stores will show you one very important thing: there are an awful lot of apps out there. For developers, the greatest challenge isn’t in creating an application. It’s in making sure it doesn’t immediately sink beneath the waves the moment it’s released. This month, Fiksu for Mobile Apps has launched – calling itself a “user acquisition” platform for mobile developers. Continue reading
Redmond cons WP7 developer into tool withdraw
Rating: No real evidence of any danger, only F.U.D.
The developer who sparked who sparked the ‘homebrew danger’ warning over unauthorised NoDo updates for the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) OS has been intimidated into withdrawing his product. Chris Walsh is the developer of the ChevronWP7 Unlocker tool for WP7. Last week (April 8th 2011), he revealed that under pressure from Redmond-based Microsoft, he had withdrawn this tool from circulation. An estimated 25,000 people had already downloaded it. Writing in his blog here, Walsh spelt out the reasons for his decision. Yet as every singular comment to this particular blog shows, none of his customers have reported any ill effects. GoMo News is warning against obtaining an illicit copy of the ChevronWP7 tool, however. Continue reading
Sencha says 2011 is Year of HTML5
Rating: Recruiting mobile web engineers fast
Things have suddenly taken off for Silicon Valley HTML5 specialist – Sencha. It has been hiring software engineers so fast – particularly for its mobile web products – that it’s had to move to Redwood City. It has also secured a Sequoia-led VC funding of $14 million. Crucially it has developed web apps for the latest touchscreen devices including Android and RIM/ BlackBerry as well as Apple. Sencha’s tools are even spawning companies such as ModusCreate dedicated to creating web apps using HTML5 tools. Continue reading
HP pumps up webOS with new SDK
Rating: Something about millions of users
HP is doing its upmost to pump up the webOS which it bought from Palm to potential app developers. The first step has been to offer a webOS 3.0 SDK. It claims this has “everything you need to start developing apps for HP TouchPad and the next-generation of webOS devices.” Whoah! Plus – just to be on the safe side it has tidied up the web developers blog which GoMo News assumes it inherited from Palm. What’s behind the redesign? Here’s a clue … “We’ve made evangelism an integral part of the portal.” That word evangelism appears all over the place in the newly rejuvenated app developers blog here. What fascinates GoMo News, however, are the constant references to millions of users. Continue reading
Will Asus beat Motorola to 1st Honeycomb tablet out?
Rating: Goes heavy on built-in apps, too
Asus is claiming that it will be the first to market with Google’s Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS in the shape of its Eee Pad Transformer TF101. The Press blurb says this device will become available on April 6th [2011] but curiously both sites taking pre-orders online say April 18th. So, it’s still possible that Motorola’s Xoom which at least one online retailer says will be out by April 9th. Never mind because whatever happens the tablet wars are hotting up and Apple is going to face serious competition at last. Continue reading
Grapple attempts to fix HP TouchPad’s biggest weakness: webOS
Grapple Mobile is a mobile development agency – it’s a firecracker when it comes to teaming up with companies, businesses and brands, and helping to create their apps for them. Today it has announced an interesting deal with HP, to help its clients to develop apps for the TouchPad. But this kind of seems like sticking your finger in a crack in the dam to me. Continue reading
App stores are the worst way to market your app
GetJar is one of the biggest app stores in the world, brushing shoulders with Apple’s App Store and the Android market. Today it releases the results of a massive commissioned survey, showing that 40% of those surveyed claimed they will switch from iPhone to Android with their next smartphone purchase, and that only 25% of people discover the apps they buy on actual app stores. Continue reading
Turning mobile money into real money: Bizmey launches virtual currency solution
The idea of virtual currency was one of the great innovations in both social networks and mobile gaming. By creating a shared space where users can put money, and developers can put rewards, an entirely new opportunity for generating revenue was created. Now a company called Bizmey has decloaked, a few months after launch, and claims to have a great solution for monitoring virtual currency on mobile. Continue reading
neXva’s multi OS app store woos developers
Rating: Mobile payment system could prove tasty, too
One of our quests here at GoMo News is to help mobile app developers escape the tyranny and arbitrary behaviour of the big app store operators. So we were intrigued by an approach made to us by the multi OS app store, neXva. The company was pushing its neXliner tool which employs QR codes and looks pretty handy. However, what really sparked our interest is its neXpayer payment tool which is adding new payment mechanisms. Plus the company will soon be launching an in app payment SDK that will facilitate one click payments from within mobile apps and works across most mobile OS. Continue reading
USA TODAY pushes mobile feeds at SXSW
Remember when SXSW was just about music? Yeah, neither do I. When it came to my attention, it was because of all the incredible tech that goes on display there. Of interest to my particular field, today sees USA TODAY further mounting the smartphone bandwagon with two API releases to allow developers to stream some USA TODAY content directly through their apps. Continue reading
iPhone games ‘go Android’: Scoreloop launches porting platform
Developers of iPhone games now have yet another option for porting their product over to Android. Social gaming company Scoreloop has announced a new platform called “Go Android”, which will help developers with both the technical and financial help they need to get their game onto both platforms. And no, it’s not deja vu – OpenFeint did have an extremely similar announcement yesterday. Continue reading
