Partnering with operators beats app stores says Telmap

Rating: Going completely against perceived wisdom, then

Here’s an unusual one. A mobile app developer simultaneously singing the praises of mobile operators and boasting about the volume of its iPhone app downloads. Somehow, Telmap has managed to do this.

The open application store industry is where iPhone will see competition. PocketGear has bought out Handango

Mobile applications are often the subject of some seriously ostentatious advertising and promotion. Apple regularly quotes its most recent “billion” landmark, and the Wholesale Application Community announcement at MWC last week was the very definition of grandstanding. But in the older market of platform agnostic app stores, things are quickly getting very interesting. Todays announcement that PocketGear has bought out competitor Handango is only the most recent of several interesting developments.

Mobile operators joining forces to fight Apple App store? It’ll never happen, says Mobango

Yesterday saw a remarkable announcement from 24 different mobile operators. The group, which contains some of the largest mobile operators in the world, claimed it would launch an open platform to deliver applications to all mobile phone owners. But according to Fabio Pezzotti, Founder of mobile app store Mobango, that is never going to happen.

@MWC Vodafone turns up the heat for Android app Vodafone People and Vodafone 360

Vodafone starts Mobile Word Congress with an air of arrogance, boasting:

1. New app allows full access to the Vodafone People service, including wireless syncing of contacts and aggregation of social network feeds, chat and email accounts

2. Nearly 300,000 Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 and M1 phones sold since service launch

3. Downloadable 360 services now available for 100 devices

4. Hyves social networking site now integrated

Nimbuzz reports over 1 million downloads through Ovi - looking good for mobile VoIP and IM

Mobile communications hub Nimbuzz is reporting that it has seen over 1 million downloads through Nokias Ovi application store - which is a pretty significant portion of the 15 million total installations that Nimbuzz claims.

Sprint + GetJar = Awesome. Mobile operator teams with indie store for 60,000 applications

American mobile operator Sprint has just announced a major deal with mobile application store GetJar. GetJar is the largest independent application store in the world - and counting everybody else, only the Apple Store is bigger than it. Sprint will now be offering the entire selection of 60,000 apps from GetJar to its mobile customers. Why is this such a good idea? Read on…

Want to launch your own mobile app store? Go talk to GetJar

GetJar is an independent mobile application store - unlike the Apple Store or the Android Market, it doesn’t have manufacturer backing as a safety net. But it also isn’t tied down to one device, and GetJar offers free applications to download for pretty much every smartphone platform available. GetJar also claims to be the 2nd largest application store in the world behind the Apple Store (a title that Nokia somewhat amusingly attempted to yoink in December). And today GetJar is announcing the launch of a new service that could be very interesting. App Catalogue Express is a white label mobile app catalog that allows other mobile entities to instantly launch their own app store based on the GetJar catalogue.

Most popular mobile application downloads from GetJar include social networks, games and Google

Seems to be the time of year when analytics and metrics results are becoming available from different mobile sources. Earlier today GoMo News published the most popular search results from mobile voice enabler Vlingo. And now it’s time for some mobile applications, from successful independent app store Getjar.

Mobile developers threatening uprising? Apple changes approval process

Things are changing for Apple. The old ways are giving way to new. With the massive drive towards openness and transparency we’ve seen from groups like Android, OMTP and the Limo Foundation, mobile developers have more options than ever when it comes to publishing their apps. And it looks like Apple is feeling the pinch.

ngmocos Eliminate Pro and Freeverses Skee Ball Puts Plus+ Features at Number One

San Francisco – Nov. 4, 2009 – ngmoco, leading developer and publisher of games for iPhone and iPod touch, is celebrating Apps powered by its Plus+ social play network reaching the top of the paid and free charts in the U.S.
“The Plus+ experience is now rolling out in more games, attaining critical mass and [...]

Sprint 2010 plans include app store, WiMAX and more Android

Sprints financial results from the third quarter of this year show that the company is starting to turn it’s bad fortunes around. Losses are slowing, and mobile is picking up. The big question was “what will Sprint do next?” And with talk of application stores, WiMAX and more Android devices, Sprint is trying to answer some of those questions.

GoMo 1-to-1 at CTIA: Verve Wireless teams with Nokia for Ovi

Verve Wireless is a mobile company focused on local media. Originally dedicated just to getting local news content published on mobile channels (including a much publicised deal with AP Mobile) Verve has branched out somewhat since. I talked to Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Hallinan, about Verve’s recent deal with Nokia on the Ovi store.

GoMo 1-to-1 at CTIA: GetJar talks mobile apps and update

I sat down with Patrick Mork, VP Marketing for GetJar. GetJar is the largest independent application store in the world, serving all mobile platforms. Patrick talks about the most popular OS, improved search, the new Application Download Page from GetJar, and the up-coming introduction of paid apps to the GetJar store.

Create one app that can sell on every mobile application store… ish

GoldSpot Media has made a bold claim. It says that through its application creation platform, miApp, a developer can create a single application that will be suitable for sale on any application store. Well not ANY store, despite it’s claim of “Deploy In Any App Store” - so far miApp supports iTunes, Android Market, Blackberry App World, Ovi and certain operator stores. What’s the story?

Power to who? Vodafone rebrand aimed at pulling app buyers to operators

Choosing a single, global tagline is a tricky proposition - it may not sum up how a company really behaves, but it certainly gives an idea of how it wants to be seen by consumers. What does the upcoming launch of the new cross-device mobile application service Vodafone 360, and a brand new slogan that reads “Power to you” tell us? That not only does Vodafone want to be seen as the operator that is putting choice and variety in the hands of the consumer, but that it wants to take applications out of the hands of manufacturers like Apple.

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