Ubuntu, a flavor of Linux and undoubtedly one of the most loved OSes around the globe, is all set to make it’s debut on tablets. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Continue reading »
Feb 222013
Nov 082012
NFC technology is starting to be widely deployed – except for the iPhone, it is available on all other handset platforms. Sadly, so far, it was difficult to find something to test your NFC handset on – it is much like the problem of storing an impressive Galaxy Note II in a Galaxy Note II case where no one can see it.
In the inner city of Milan, a trial has now been set up by a local carrier. It allows users to use their handsets to perform the following actions:
- Use vouchers
- Pay for food
- Find out about sightseeing spots
Find out more via the URL below – videos from the 3GSM can sadly not be embedded:
http://www.mobileworldlive.com/videos/feature-nfc-tour-of-milan/25883
Nov 012012
In today’s mobile industry, a variety of monetization methods compete – when creating an application, deciding on the correct revenue generator can make or break the bank.
The analysis house Flurry has now provided us with the following graph – it shows which applications commandeer a high degree of loyalty:
Of course, this also has an impact on the choice monetization methods:
On average, Quadrants I and IV (the right-hand side) are better suited to subscription and advertising-supported models. The main reason is that these apps have perceived enduring value by consumers over a long period of time, and therefore more successfully retain their user bases. For ad-supported apps, high repeat usage translates into more ad impressions served. Categories on the left-hand side, Quadrants II and III, are better suited for one-time download fees. Additionally, quadrants II and IV (top left and bottom right) are likely best for in-app purchase models. For Quadrant II, the intense usage means that consumers find very high value during a short window. This creates the opportunity to offer new content or functionality during “binge” usage. Adroit social game makers are masters at driving in-app purchases during a consumer’s greatest moment of engagement. For Quadrant IV, because the user will return again and again, there also exists the possibility to find new ways of increasing value, which includes offering add-on functionality or content for a fee.
Hit the link above to find out more…
Oct 312012
India is one of the largest markets for mobile applications and mobile web surfing – in fact, many people in India only have a cell phone.
Opera now shares the following bits of data which show what users do while surfing on the run:
Top 10 website categories in India
- News Portals
- E-commerce
- Social networking
- Education
- Travel
- Search
- Cricket
- Download portals
- Job portal
- Government websites
What do you think?
Oct 312012
Prices tend to change frequently, especially as inflation raises. At some point, using a digital screen becomes more affordable than permanentely reprinting paper price tags.
While running across a store in Vienna, I stumbled across this – a e-ink based price tag:
Looks like the price of the technology is becoming lower and lower – have you seen any weird e-paper applications recently?
Oct 312012
Most mobile ad solutions – Microsoft’s system is explicitly excluded here – pay developers only for clicks. Obviously, this motivates coders to create GUI layouts where it is easy to mistakenly tap on an ad to drive revenue.
Pace Lattin now brings us the following interesting quote:
A new study by GoldSpot Media claims that almost 50% of all clicks on static mobile ads are actually “fat finger” clicks. These aren’t just clicks from those who visit McDonald’s a bit too much, but from the general population who accidently click on the mobile advertisement and then close the app within two seconds. This means that they weren’t at all interested in the advertisement, but instead were just trying to exit or move around.
Of course, this causes significant problems for advertisers. Low rates of user engagement lead to lack of further funding, which comes to hurt developers as the clicks become worth less and less.
Have you ever mis-clicked an ad?
Oct 232012
Some years ago, the idea of using advertising to monetize business apps was considered insane – now, it is commonplace. The next step in the transformation of the mobile economy now sees developers giving back advertising revenue to their users.
We have now received the following press release – the highlighting is done by yours truly:
NINEPOINTEIGHT LLP releases Sweepstakes Free 1.0, the free iOS app giving away real cash prizes everyday. All sweepstakes are completely free to download and enter. As a special launch promotion, prizes have been set at a guaranteed of minimum of $20.00 USD daily and $100.00 weekly for the app launch through to at least December 1. Prize values will increase in value as the number of users increases.
All prizes are for real money in US Dollars, payable to a users Paypal account. These free sweepstakes are initially being funded out of pocket by NINEPOINTEIGHT LLP as a launch promotion, and long term are made possible by advertising displayed within the app. Note that any clicks on advertisements are not a requirement of entry and are completely optional. Apple is not a sponsor or involved in these sweepstakes in any manner.
. . .
Find out more via the URL below:
http://www.ssfreeapp.com/
Oct 082012
At times, it pays to be local. Micromax, the name behind super cheap mobiles and now tablets has emerged as a clear leader for tablets segments in India.
According to CyberMedia Research, Tablet shipment in India grew by 673 percent year-on-year and 59 percent over the preceding quarter to reach 0.55 million units. According to the report, Micromax had a 18.4 percent market share followed by Samsung at 13.3 percent and Apple at 12.3 percent.
The key factors responsible for these figures are an appetite for 7 inch form factor which is favored over 10+ inches and the price factor. While Tablets used to sell for around Rs. 25000 ($1=Rs 55) a year back, their prices have almost reached the Rs 12000-15000 mark, with a horde of vendors offering them for as low as Rs 6000.
We await the launch of the iPad mini and Windows 8 Tablets. Only then would be there some real competition for Micromax. Until then, we should hail it as the king.
Oct 052012
The computer processor company AMD has announced an app store to bridge the prevalent gap in smooth running of the Android apps on the computer. This store will showcase how the apps will be optimized for its processors. With this, we will be able to download and run popular Android apps on AMD based PC running Windows. The joint efforts of Blue Stack and AMD have enabled the AMS AppZone Player which in turn has led to such possibilities.
This is expected to be a big leap to bridge the gap and enabling the Android apps to be run on AMD-powered devices. With this collaboration, the software developers will now be able to easily tap AMD’s products and keep the great expectations of the users satisfied. Manju Hegde, corporate VP of heterogeneous applications and developer solutions at AMD confirmed the news.
Further, users will be able to download featured apps directly from the AppZone Player or search for the AppZone store. This collaboration is a success already and they are now planning and working with leading OEMs to preload the player on the upcoming AMD-powered devices.
We are waiting fingers crossed for more surprises. Thanks to AMD for the good news!
Oct 022012
The idea of using cell phones to interact with ads is not new – T-Mobile Austria deployed IR Kiosks all over Vienna about six years ago (see here and here).
As cameras in cell phones became better, QR codes replaced the now-unpopular IR booths. Accoding to ComScore, these codes become more and more popular every day:
|
Smartphone Audience Scanning QR Codes via their Devices 3 Month Average Ending July 2012 vs. July 2011 Total EU5 (DE, ES, FR, IT and UK), Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
||||
| Smartphone Audience (000) | YoY Growth | % of Smartphone Audience | YoY Percentage Point Increase | |
| EU5 | 17,390 | 96% | 14.1% | +4.0 |
| France | 2,843 | 71% | 12.5% | +1.9 |
| Germany | 5,084 | 128% | 18.6% | +6.1 |
| Italy | 2,765 | 75% | 11.9% | +3.2 |
| Spain | 3,381 | 218% | 16.0% | +9.0 |
| UK | 3,316 | 43% | 11.4% | +0.6 |
The result of most of the queries is the obtaining of product information – this is broken down further in the table below:
|
Result of Scanning QR Codes by Percent of Smartphone Scanning Audience 3 Month Average Ending July 2012 Total EU5 (DE, ES, FR, IT and UK), Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
||||||
| Penetration (%) of QR Code Users | ||||||
| EU5 | France | Germany | Italy | Spain | UK | |
| Product information | 71.7% | 65.4% | 77.9% | 69.2% | 71.1% | 70.1% |
| Event information | 31.8% | 32.7% | 28.9% | 36.4% | 36.5% | 27.0% |
| Charity/cause information | 12.1% | 9.5% | 10.0% | 18.6% | 13.4% | 10.8% |
| Coupon or offer | 19.4% | 20.3% | 19.6% | 17.6% | 22.2% | 17.0% |
| Application download | 13.4% | 17.5% | 11.4% | 14.8% | 13.7% | 11.2% |
Not much to add here…
Oct 012012
In the last few years, Microsoft has launched and closed down a fair amount of services intended to help the company move away from the pure business of selling software licenses – many of them have not been too successful.
Reuters now reports the following:
The world’s largest software company is making a “big, multi-million dollar investment” to create a “decent-sized media operation,” said Bob Visse, general manager, MSN Product Management Group.
Looks like Microsoft definitely is interested in transforming itself into a service provider once again – stay tuned to see how it all plays out…
Sep 302012
We started covering FireFox OS when it was still called Boot to Gecko – the webOS “imitator” is also based on HTML5 and will use the “browser” as an app runtime.
Mobile Business Briefing now claims the following:
Mozilla’s mobile platform, Firefox OS, will take a 1 percent share of the global smartphone market by the end of 2013, as it carves out a niche in the entry-level phone space currently dominated by Android.
Strategy Analytics forecasts that the open source, low-cost platform which supports HTML5 apps, will benefit from the interest it has gained from hardware vendors and operators.
…
Hit the link below to see our MWC coverage:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com/2012/02/29/mozilla-boot-to-gecko-webos-reloaded/
Sep 302012
When Nokia bought up NAVTEQ, quite a few pundits were left scratching their heads about what this move brings. Even more surprising, Nokia now uses this technology for all Windows Phone 8 handsets…which also includes HTC.
Engadget now brings us the following bit of news from a higher Nokia manager:
Hellmis declined to shed any light on the deal that saw Nokia including its latest and greatest mapping technology into Microsoft’s latest mobile OS, but this non-response should give you a pretty good idea: “We are a licensing business and there are traditional economics.”
The really interesting question is whether Microsoft or HTC foots the bill – either way, the situation looks interesting…
Sep 292012
The recent political turmoil has given FaceBook a lot of attention – after all, many popular uprisings have been started on FaceBook. This has caused mobile developers and operators to think about using FaceBook for marketing – the question is if this makes sense.
The Danish research firm StrandConsult has now provided us with an except of their analysus on why FaceBook is not well-suited to carrier marketing. Some of the points also apply to smaller houses, which is why the most important ones are right here:
2. Facebook boasts a “free” and open platform. This misleads operators to think that Facebook is an inexpensive medium for marketing. To control its costs and force companies to pay up, Facebook limits the distribution of a company’s message to its fan base, so only a fraction of the fans see the company’s posts. Facebook is not interested to talk to you unless you are already a major brand and are willing to invest hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in advertising. The dirty little secret about Facebook is that you have to pay to play.
7. Facebook doesn’t build brands; it reflects brands. The biggest brands on Facebook already have a large presence outside of Facebook, and they have large advertising/marketing budgets both online and offline. Almost no companies have been able to build a brand on Facebook from scratch.
10. Facebook can change its terms of service for any reason at any time and with no warning. These changes can have material and negative impacts to operators. One example was when Facebook announced its change to the Timeline format. All those tabs and apps the mobile operators developed, the mini-websites within Facebook so to speak, were made nearly invisible. . Collectively, companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars to customize their Facebook page, and thousands of independent Facebook developers and agencies sprung up in the process. With one announcement, Facebook effectively and instantly rendered operators’ investment on their platform worthless.
Did your company see success on FaceBook?
Sep 282012
When it comes to localizing applications, developers profit a lot from having access to top-lists for the various countries. Opera makes these available from time to time.
Of course, this list contains only J2ME-Capable devices (and the iPhone) – nevertheless, it could be more than useful for determining which locales to target:
Antigua and Barbuda
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Nokia X2-01
4. Apple iPhone
5. Apple_iPod
6. BlackBerry 9700
7. BLU Magic
8. BLU
9. Motorola XT502
10. BlackBerry 9780
Argentina
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Nokia 5130c
3. Nokia 2220s
4. Nokia C2-01
5. Nokia N8
6. Alcatel OT-802A
7. SonyEricsson E15a
8. Nokia X2-01
9. Samsung GT-I5500L
10. Samsung GT-S5830L
Bahamas
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Apple iPhone
4. Nokia X2-01
5. Apple_iPod
6. SonyEricsson W800i
7. Apple iPad
8. Samsung GT-S5360L
9. BlackBerry 9800
10. BlackBerry 9550
Barbados
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Alcatel OT-606
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Nokia X2-01
5. Apple iPhone
6. Nokia 5130c
7. Nokia C2-01
8. SonyEricsson W200i
9. BlackBerry 9700
10. Nokia 2690
Belize
Top 10 handsets
1. Alcatel OT-800
2. Nokia C3-00
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Alcatel OT-880
5. Nokia 2690
6. Nokia 2700c
7. Nokia 2730c
8. Alcatel OT-606
9. Apple iPhone
10. SonyEricsson W800i
Colombia
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. BlackBerry 9300
4. Samsung GT-S3350
5. Nokia 2220s
6. Samsung GT-S5830L
7. Nokia 5130c
8. Nokia C1-01
9. Samsung GT-S5260
10. Apple iPhone
Chile
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. LG T310
3. Samsung GT-I5500L
4. Samsung GT-S5570L
5. Samsung GT-S5830L
6. SonyEricsson E15a
7. LG P500h
8. LG P350g
9. BlackBerry 8520
10. Samsung GT-I9100
Costa Rica
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia 2730c
2. Nokia C2-01
3. Nokia C3-00
4. Nokia X3-02
5. Nokia 7230
6. SonyEricsson E15a
7. Nokia C1-01
8. Nokia 5130c
9. Nokia N8
10. Nokia 2690
Dominica
Top 10 handsets
1. BlackBerry 8520
2. Nokia C3-00
3. SonyEricsson W800
4. BlackBerry 9700
5. BlackBerry 8900
6. BlackBerry 9550
7. Nokia C3
8. BlackBerry 9300
9. Samsung SGHi600
10. BlackBerry 9000
Dominican Republic
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Alcatel OT-802A
4. Apple iPhone
5. Alcatel OT-800
6. BlackBerry 9700
7. Alcatel OT-807
8. BlackBerry 9300
9. Alcatel OT-710
10. BlackBerry 8530
Ecuador
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Nokia 5130c
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Nokia X3-02
5. Nokia 2690
6. Samsung GT-S5830B
7. Nokia X2-00
8. Nokia C1-01
9. Nokia 303
10. BlackBerry 9300
El Salvador
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Maui E800
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Nokia 5130c
5. Nokia X2-01
6. Alcatel OT-802A
7. Nokia 2220s
8. Samsung GT-S3350
9. Alcatel OT-710
10. Nokia 2730c
Grenada
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. SonyEricsson W800
4. Nokia C3
5. BlackBerry 9700
6. Apple iPhone_ver1
7. BlackBerry 8900
8. BlackBerry 9300
9. BlackBerry 9000
10. BlackBerry 9800
Guatemala
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Alcatel OT-606
3. Maui E800
4. BlackBerry 8520
5. Alcatel OT-880
6. Alcatel OT-800
7. Nokia C1-01
8. Nokia 2220s
9. Nokia 2730c
10. Alcatel OT-799
Guyana
Top 10 handsets
1. BlackBerry 8520
2. Alcatel OT-606
3. Nokia C3-00
4. Samsung SGH-A517
5. Motorola_MOT-Z3
6. Apple iPhone
7. Alcatel OT-800
8. BlackBerry 9300
9. Nokia 2690
10. Nokia 2700c
Haiti
Top 10 handsets
1. BlackBerry 8520
2. SonyEricsson W800i
3. Samsung SGH-A437
4. Nokia C3-00
5. Nokia C1-01
6. Samsung SGH-A737
7. Samsung SGH-A707
8. BlackBerry 9700
9. BlackBerry 8900
10. BlackBerry 8310
Honduras
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Alcatel OT-606
4. Nokia 5130c
5. Nokia 2220s
6. Nokia 2730c
7. Alcatel OT-800
8. Apple iPhone
9. Motorola EX108
10. BlackBerry 9300
Mexico
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry8520
3. Alcatel OT-808A
4. Samsung GT-S5830L
5. LG GM360
6. Alcatel OT-800A
7. Nokia 5130c
8. Samsung GT-S5233T
9. Nokia 303
10. Alcatel OT-802A
Nicaragua
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Nokia 2730c
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Nokia 7230
5. SonyEricsson W205a
6. Alcatel OT-606
7. Nokia 2220s
8. Nokia X3-02
9. Nokia 5130c
10. Samsung GT-S5233T
Panama
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. Nokia C1-01
3. Nokia 2220s
4. Nokia 2690
5. Samsung GT-S5830L
6. BlackBerry 8520
7. Samsung GT-S5830M
8. Samsung GT-S5570L
9. Nokia X2-01
10. Samsung GT-S5360L
Peru
Top 10 handsets
1. Alcatel OT-606
2. Alcatel OT-710
3. Nokia C3-00
4. SonyEricsson W800i
5. Samsung GT-S5570L
6. Nokia 5130c
7. Alcatel OT-800A
8. Nokia C1-01
9. BlackBerry 8520
10. Nokia 2330c
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. BlackBerry 9700
4. SonyEricsson W800
5. BlackBerry 9550
6. Nokia C3
7. BlackBerry 9800
8. BlackBerry 9780
9. SonyEricsson W800i
10. BlackBerry 8900
Saint Lucia
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Apple iPhone
4. BlackBerry 9700
5. Apple_iPod
6. BlackBerry 9780
7. BlackBerry 9300
8. BlackBerry 9800
9. SonyEricsson W800i
10. BlackBerry 8900
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. SonyEricsson W800
3. BlackBerry 8520
4. Nokia C3
5. Nokia N72
6. BlackBerry 9700
7. BlackBerry 9800
8. Nokia E63
9. BlackBerry 9300
10. BlackBerry 9000
Suriname
Top 10 handsets
1. BlackBerry 8520
2. Nokia C3-00
3. Nokia 5130c
4. SonyEricsson W800i
5. BlackBerry 9700
6. Nokia 2690
7. Alcatel OT-880
8. Nokia C1-01
9. Alcatel OT-800
10. Nokia 2700c
Trinidad and Tobago
Top 10 handsets
1. Nokia C3-00
2. BlackBerry 8520
3. Nokia 2690
4. Nokia C1-01
5. Nokia 2220s
6. BlackBerry 9300
7. Nokia C1-01
8. Nokia 5130c
9. Apple iPhone
10. SonyEricsson W800i
Uruguay
Top 10 handsets
1. Alcatel OT-606
2. Nokia C3-00
3. Alcatel OT-710
4. Alcatel OT-808
5. SonyEricsson W800i
6. Alcatel OT-660
7. Samsung GT-S5230
8. BlackBerry 8520
9. Nokia X3-02
10. Nokia X3-00
Venezuela
Top 10 handsets
1. Alcatel OT-606
2. Nokia C3-00
3. Alcatel OT-880
4. Alcatel OT-800A
5. Huawei UM840
6. Nokia 2730c
7. Nokia C1-01
8. BlackBerry8520
9. Alcatel OT-606
10. Nokia X2-01
Get the full PDF with population information here:
http://media.opera.com/media/smw/2012/smw082012.pdf