Category: Mobile

Mobile Advertising 101

April 18, 2012

Introduction Mobile advertising is the most popular form of advertising. It is the most exciting frontiers in interactive advertising. Part of the success of mobile advertising can be attributed to the growing demand and reach of mobile devices in addition to the evolution of sophisticated smart phones. Internet has now been reinvented on mobile devices, so as the advertising. Mobile advertisement is an essential pillar of online marketing strategy. Each and every company/business is trying to reach to as many customers as possible and mobile as a medium is successfully catering to the need. Advertisers are shifting focus from mainstream computers to Mobile devices, hence smaller, personalized and interactive form of advertisement is also gradually gaining popularity. In the latest “Mobile Advertising and Marketing 3rd Edition” report  by Berg Insight the global mobile marketing and advertising market will grow from € 1 billion in 2008 to € 8.7 billion in 2014 which is a 43 percent Compounded Annual Growth Rate. At that value it will be 11.7 percent of total digital advertising. The number presented above gives an idea about how mobile advertising is gradually playing an important role. Mobile Advertising ecosystem The mobile advertising ecosystem involves several intermediaries between the “Advertisers” and the “Consumers”.  When a message has to be conveyed from an Advertiser to an intended consumer, it has to be processed through Ad agency, Content publishers, Mobile Carrier and finally to the Consumer. The figure below gives workflow of a typical mobile advertising campaign: Types of Mobile Advertisement Mobile advertisement is of various types. They vary from a simple SMS to rich media ads like animated graphics and video. These ads can be highly targeted and can be displayed based on user’s behavior. Let’s discuss below the various forms of mobile advertisement: SMS (Short Messaging Service) This is the primitive and simplest form of mobile advertisement and exists from a long time ago. This kind of advertisement is supported by all the mobile phones and hence it has the highest reach. But the conversion rate for SMS ads is very low. Whatever information a brand wants to convey to the consumers is composed in short message and sent via a SMS gateway. SMS advertising is suitable for sending coupon and special discounts. Retail, restaurants and entertainment markets get benefitted through this form of mobile advertising. If this SMS ad is used excessively by sending same message to a number multiple times, it cause irritation among customers and can be fatal to a brand. Text Ads These kinds of ads are displayed like a normal text on mobile websites. These ads are currently responsible for 50% of mobile Internet traffic as they fit in almost any mobile device and mobile web browsers having Internet access. The Text ads like normal desktop ads contain 3 lines of text and a URL that links to the advertiser’s website. Image Ads The image ads can be of 2 types. One that is served through MMS and another served through Mobile websites. This is a popular method of advertising. The image ads include both static and animated images. In image ads via MMS, the advertisers load static and animated images to an ad server and the ad server identifies the mobile device and serve related ads. In the image ads via mobile sites, the ads images are embedded on the mobile web pages and appear while browsing the mobile sites. Graphical Banners There are various types and size of graphical banner ads available for mobile. These ads may be quite interactive and can have call to action button placed on it. The difference between image ads and banner ads is that image ads might not have a clickable component whereas the graphical ads have a clickable component. Video Ads These kinds of ads are usually supported by high end mobile devices and resemble mainstream advertisement. The ads that are displayed on TV or websites can also be displayed on mobile devices. For example while playing videos in sites like youtube, few of the videos want you to see the video ads before the actual video is played. Embedded Ads These kinds of ads are generally part of free mobile games or apps and displayed during game play. Push Notification/Scroll Ads These kinds of ads are pushed to your mobile device and appear when the mobile device is idle. Usually these ads ask you to perform some action to deliver further content. These ads are served through the mobile operator. Mobile Ads Transmission Options Mobile ads can be served via various medium as given below: Short Messaging Service Multimedia messaging Service Premium SMS Subscription based SMS service Wireless Access Protocol sites Mobile Web Mobile Operator (via caller tunes and IVRS) Streaming media Broadcast Media Mobile Ad Network In order to facilitate the mobile advertising, the mobile ad networks play an important role. These ad networks are the one where advertisers meet the publishers. Below are a list of global renowned ad networks: Admob Admob has been acquired by Google in 2009. It is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising platform. It serves as high as 40 billion banner and text ads per month across mobile web and mobile apps. iAds iAds is a mobile advertising platform from Apple. iAds has been a part of iOS 4. It helps third party application developers to embed advertisement into the apps they build for iPhones and iPads. inMobi Founded in India, inMobi is the largest independent mobile advertising network in the world. It is a performance based mobile advertising network and helps advertisers reach their target audience and publishers monetize their content. It started as an SMS based search platform. Microsoft Adcenter Mobile advertising solution from Microsoft offers both display ads and search advertising. According to Microsoft the mobile display ad solution connects to nearly 50 million unique users and the mobile search ad solution leverage the partnership with Bing and Yahoo and reaches to almost 28 million users. Apart from the above list of ad

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How to Build Successful Mobile Apps?

April 5, 2012

As Smartphones are constantly evolving, people are preferring to go mobile to be able to have information access at fingertips. At present the number of mobile devices has exceeded the number of desktop computers. According to Microsoft Tag’s survey for the year 2011, there are over 4.3 billion mobile phones and out of that over a billion are Smart Phones. A Smart Phone becomes really smart when it is feed with Apps. According to a survey by Nielson usage of Mobile App is about 56% of all action performed in smartphones. This shows the immense popularity of the Mobile Apps. When we look at the number of approved Apps in Apple’s App Store or Android Marketplace (the 2 most widely used Smart Phone OS platform) it becomes more obvious. Almost half a million in each of them, they really look like saturated. But opportunities are still there to make a fortune out of a Mobile App. Not all the Mobile Apps developed are successful. So what are the differentiating factors that separate the successful Apps from the failed one? We have compiled few tips which need to be considered before developing a Mobile App and making it successful.   Researching to Generate Idea Thorough research before finalizing development of an App is very essential. With thousands of apps in Marketplace chances are high that your App will be a replica of another existing App. If you still decided to work on an existing App you can find out what is lacking in the existing App and come up with an improved one which will generate interest in people and your App will be widely used. Choice of Mobile OS Once you are done with your research to finalize what you want to develop, you need to decide the platform for which you will be launching the App. As Native Mobile Apps are not cross platform compatible they need to be developed separately for each platform like iOS, Android, Windows or Blackberry.Windows and Blackberry marketplace having less number of apps, any newly added app will have greater visibility contrary to iOS and Android. But Android having highest market share worldwide (approximately 38% by April 2011 and expected to reach 49% by mid 2012) you can have more number of users when you develop a native App for Android and it really clicks. The following image from Nielson’s report shows the market share of different smart phone OS in US. The table below shows Gartner’s data on Sales volume and market share in percentage of mobile devices by Operating System. The figures for 2012 and 2015 are expected. Know Your Target Audience When you finalize the type of app you are going to develop you have to identify the audience for the App. Each App present in any market place is targeted towards a specific group of people. So when you successfully identify the audience for your App their needs will be clearer to you and you can work out how well you can satisfy them. This one done successfully is like owning half the battle and nothing will stop your app from being successful. Ease of Usage No one prefers complexity and that holds good even for Mobile App. While designing the app make sure the interface is aesthetically appealing and it has an easy to follow navigation. Whatever features your app might be providing, if it is not easy to use, it will not take a second thought by the users to press the delete button. So good features combined with aesthetically appealing UX design will make you App a hit. Naming your App Name of the App plays a vital role in App’s success in the marketplace. So giving a proper name to your App is a very important step in your App development cycle. The name should be catchy, should have a high recall value and should properly demonstrate what purpose the App serves. Social Integration Try integrating your app with social tools like Facebook and Twitter. These will let the users interact with their social profiles through the App and their feeds can be updated through the App. You can even allow login to the App through Facebook and Twitter. Marketing Even though your App is completely unique and addressing the most sought after requirement in mobile space, if it does not reach to the target audience, it is of no use. So a strong marketing campaign to improve the App visibility is very important. The below chart from Nielson’s report on how consumers find branded mobile app will help in creating a proper marketing campaign: Updates and Customer Support Your App should undergo constant development and new features need to be added as and when needed. This also keeps the competition out of your reach. The App should come with proper support in the form of tutorial and help file as well as email and phone support when required. Once you reach at the top in order to sustain your position you need to be engaged with your users. Be active on social media and communicate with your users by asking for feedback and answering their queries. Also encourage them to vote for your App in the marketplace. All the above points when kept in mind while developing a mobile App will definitely make your App successful.

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Introduction to M-Learning

April 4, 2012

M-Learning or “Mobile Learning” is a form of learning through mobile devices. It is a flexible form of learning as you do not need to be at a predetermined location at a predefined time. You can take up learning at your own convenience even while you are on the go using portable devices like Mobile, Mp3 players or tablets. Like any other forms of learning m-learning also offers collaboration among students and instructors and instant tips and feedback can be shared. M-learning is the next big revolution in mobile technology. E-Learning is a passe and M-Learning is the beckoning future. The capabilities of mobile devices are gradually increasing which is facilitating further development in M-Learning technology. When the concept of M-Learning evolved a decade ago, no one imagined that it will undergo such phenomenal development. Thanks to the rapid growth in mobile technology and evolution of mobile phones into Smart phones. Types of M-Learning M-Learning comes in various flavors as discussed below: mVLE Based Learning This is an extension to Virtual Learning Environment like Moodle and Atlas. These E-learning providers have started offering Mobile Apps for facilitating learning through Smart Phones. So Mobile users can take advantage of activities happening in the non mobile version of the environment. Apps based learning There are specific mobile apps that help in improving vocabulary, mathematics and other skills. This is kind of discrete learning. This method supports interactive learning and hence works pretty well. There are free and paid apps available on different platform in the app stores which can be installed on the smart phone to begin study. Podcasting It is a form of passive learning where in the study materials are provided in the form of audio files. These can be played using mobile phones or mp3 players. Podcasting is more effective if it is accompanies with related slides and videos. If the audio podcast is instructional and allow users to follow certain instruction and perform task while listening to the podcast it becomes more effective. Augmented Reality Based Learning Augmented reality is a direct or indirect view of a real world based on the images captured through mobile phone camera and using the GPS. This technology can be utilized to impart M-Learning in a sophisticated way. Through Augmented Reality based learning users can input information and interact with other users as well. The HARP (Handheld Augmented Reality Project) project from Harvard University is based on an Augmented reality game to teach students Math and Science. Experience Based Learning This is a mode of learning that utilizes the device functionalities like GPS, Camera to enhance the user experience while learning. Students can share information on the fly while on a field visit. Content Delivery Based Learning This is another passive learning. The learning materials can be distributed in the form of ebooks, SCORM packages or html files to be read in mobile devices. These method is mostly available for Smart phones. Game Based Learning Game based learning is a very effective way of teaching with highest memory retention. This method is quite popular in offline learning as well as in E-learning. Due to the development in mobile technology it has now been offered through mobile too. Social Learning Social learning is also known as collaborative learning. This involves users networking with other users as well as peers using social network. Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are facilitating this with their mobile apps. Technical Approach to M-Learning While building M-Learning products and services the sole goal is to reach the maximum possible audience. This means the technology used to build it, should be supported on wide range of devices. With that said, cross platform technology for building apps or relying on mobile web is the only option at hand. The existing web standards like HTML, JavaScripts and CSS can be used in imparting M-Learning through mVLE and content delivery methods. The rapid development in Cross platform Frameworks like PhoneGap and Titanium enables cross platform applications to access device features which were only recently been possible through native apps. This approach is fulfilling much of the limitations offered by web approach. However for Game based learning or Augmented Reality based learning which requires sophisticated 3D technology no other substitute is available then going through the native apps and porting it to different platforms. The image below shows technical approach for various M-Learning techniques: Few M-Learning Mobile Apps As we discussed above, there are variety of M-Learning techniques. Some may require you to download an App and some can be done without use of any dedicated apps. Given below are few useful mobile apps related to M-Learning: Moodle Mobile Moodle Mobile is an extension of Moodle web. With the help of this app, you can get connected to your Moodle account and track progress of your course as well as take up course from your mobile. You can even download many courses for offline viewing. Teachermate As not all the students in a class posses same capability, it is very essential to impart them individual instructions while teaching. Teachermate differential instruction system helps teachers in imparting individualized and targeted reading and math instructions to students. Martha Speaks Dog Party This is an app for children to improve vocabulary. A study indicated that children, who played this, were managed to improve vocabulary by 31 percent. Dictionary Apps Dictionary.com is a quite popular mobile apps available in all of the smart phone platform. Orient Longman and Cambridge have also come up with paid mobile app based on their paper dictionary Johnny Grammar’s Quizmaster Johnny Grammar’s Quizmaster for Android is a grammar related app in a quiz form. It has everything related to English grammar like spelling, vocabulary and grammar. Managing Content for M-Learning People often think that mobile learning is delivering e-learning on smaller devices, which is not exactly true. M-Learning has much more potential than eLearning. There are Mobile Learning Management Systems (MLMS) which can be used to create interactive contents suitable for

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Mobile Apps for Business & Enterprises

April 4, 2012

Mobile Phones are no longer only a communication tool but play a major role in doing business online. Today’s phone is no longer a boring device with few keys and ultra small sized screen to make calls and send texts but they have evolved into smart phones and paved the way for conducting business online. These Smart Phones are replacing desktop computing pretty fast to be the mainstream device for Internet browsing. Mobiles being always at the reach of users, they can use mobile to access information at fingertips. Businesses are leveraging this widespread growth of mobile computing to engage with their customers through Mobile. The mobile App when compared to mobile web, provides better engagement as well as faster access to customers. So users prefer to use a mobile App, instead of opening the browser and typing the URL to access any information. When a business wants to go mobile, they have 2 options with them e.g. Native Mobile Apps and Mobile Web to offer information, interact with the customers and doing business through mobile. Mobile Apps take advantage of device native features to offer much functionality that mobile web cannot offer. The businesses gradually shift to mobile in the following way: Normal Website > Mobile Site > Mobile Apps So a company having a website today will have a mobile App tomorrow. Whether it is a B2C app for enhancing the core business and product offering or a B2B app for Enterprise Resource Planning or for Supply Chain Management, the Apps are becoming inherent part of any business going mobile. When brands and businesses extend their digital strategy to mobile, they go through a three-stage journey. In phase 1 they are in a hurry to launch a mobile app to advertise their product and service offering. In phase 2, they think of ways to drive core business through the apps. When they become veterans, they come up with ideas to generate revenue out of the Apps. The App store started the Apps economy and the businesses and end users are carrying it forward. The primary benefits of Mobile Apps for business are Speed, Volume of Information, Advertising and the Comfort of doing business anytime anywhere from the mobile. Mobile Apps usually provide access to same internet services that desktop and notebook offers but at much faster speed and at the touch of a button. Imagine a situation, where in you want to send an email to a client from your notebook. You need to first boot your notebook, open your browser and then type the URL of the mail service provider or open your Email client. This will take you at least 60 to 90 seconds. But if you want to do the same thing, you can just touch the icon of the mobile app for your email and you are in your mailbox in a second. Mobile Apps store large amount of data within them. So these are perfect for storing product catalogues, video etc. As data is internal to the app, even without an Internet connection work can be done offline and later it can be synchronized and updated. As Mobile Apps provide better engagement, they can serve as the best advertising platform for businesses. The in-app advertisement through pop up as well as utilizing the actual real estate inside the app can attract users’ attention and provide better conversion. Businesses can use this channel to push new products and updates to customers or rent out the space to advertise other products. As Mobile offers the convenience of doing business anytime from anywhere, it is gradually the preferred medium to do business. This facilitates real time availability of information to business executives. A survey by Forrester Research in early 2010 indicated that mobile applications for Emergency Response, Sales Force Automation and Customer facing Mobile applications respectively took 24%, 21% and 19% adoption. Apps related to assets, inventory and supply chain management took very low adoption. Highest adoption among corporate users was mobile apps related to email, IM and calendar. But now the scenario has changed. Corporate like IBM, Google and Apple are creating in house Apps and offering them to employees through intranet based App store to make their work life easier. Through these Apps employees are always connected to the business and can perform task at ease. There are apps for booking conference rooms to approving purchase order. Also availability of Apps like Quick Office, Sales Force Mobile, Sugar Mobile etc are increasingly gaining popularity among businesses. Industry Specific Mobile Apps The mobile apps targeted for a specific industry or business vertical serve the task effectively as compared to a generalized app. These kinds of apps take into consideration the core elements of the business segments they cater and come up with a tailored solution. At a broader perspective these industry specific mobile apps adoption is driven by the factors like: Optimizing staff efficiency Shortening the lifecycle of product delivery Effectively serving customers Technological advancement Let’s have a look at the usefulness of mobile apps for different industry. Manufacturing By using mobile apps for number of systems like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) a manufacturing industry can improve efficiency, enhance customer and dealer relationship and streamline operations. The mobile apps can help management to identify and resolve problem quickly, locate inventory and update information in real-time. Through the usage of mobile apps, the manufacturers can Lower the cost of production and keep it on schedule, Streamline field service operations, Track and manage progress of shipment. Government Governments around the globe are engaged in adopting latest technologies like e-governance and m-governance. Tailor made mobile applications for public safety; traffic compliance, law enforcement etc are rapidly being adopted by governments. Moreover widespread growth of mobile enables government services to reach maximum number of people. The policemen in US are provided with mobile devices with built-in app to access criminal database, which helps in effectively arresting a suspect. The

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Making Money from Mobile Apps

March 26, 2012

Every now and then we heard stories about app developers making fortune from the app they developed. Though the news are hard to believe, they are in fact true, as mobile app market has untapped potential to make money. The other side of the story also laments that not every app developers make money with their apps, which is also true to the T. Considering the fact that there are millions of apps in Apple App Store as well as Android Market, everyone into the app development cannot make money. Having a careful look at the top selling apps, we can see that all popular apps have few things in common which makes them popular and people do not think twice to pay money to have those apps in their smartphone. If you understand these distinguishing factors and incorporate those into your next mobile app, you can still win against the competition and your app will get visibility, more importantly it will serve as a money making machine. Before we proceed further on “how to make money through mobile apps”, lets us have a look at the recipes for a successful mobile app. If our app is successful then it will make us money. If you are serious about making money from your app, you need to clearly understand the elements of successful mobile apps. Researching the App Store With infinite competing apps in the market, you need to do proper research to find out the niche that has very few apps or no apps at all. This will lead you to face less competition. Researching on the app stores will also give you insight on the current trend of the app usage. You will get to know about what is making people dissatisfied about an app and what are they looking for in an app. Creating an Innovative App It takes lot of efforts, time and money to create an app that looks good and performs. So do not waste your effort in replicating an existing concept, rather utilize that to come up with something new. The app market is flooded with all sorts of app, so if the app you develop is another archetypical app available in the market with a little twist, it will disperse in the vast sea of app store and you will hardly find any takers. On the other hand after a thorough research if you come up with something unique that solves certain problem the smart phone users are facing, you will have lot of takers for that app. Performance and Loading Time The success of an app depends upon how consistently it performs. The app has to be tested properly in all conditions before it is released in the app market. The app should consume less memory and CPU power so it can run on all kind of smartphones including the starter range. The main reason people prefer mobile app is because they want to access information faster. Mobile apps which take long time to load are removed as soon as they are installed. Loading time of 5-7 seconds is fine but above that creates dissatisfaction. Enticing User Interface The main reason of success of a smartphone app is the user interface. If the user interface is appealing and has simple and easy navigation, it will be user friendly and hence will be popular among all kind of smart phone users. If the UI of an app is cluttered, it will fail to gain user acceptance. Apps like Feathers, Gowalla, Instagram are considered having the best User Interface. Value Proposition The mobile app has to be usable, that means it has to offer some sort of a solutions to something needed by the users and make life easier. Such an app will gain popularity quite rapidly. Such apps offer something extra then other app and engage the users. If you look at apps like Flixter, Gowalla, Echofon, Tripit etc. they all have what it takes to be a top selling app. Now that we are done with identifying the recipes of a successful app, it is time to know how to make money from our app. Once our app is ready to launch, there are 2 important steps that need to be successfully completed. Getting Approved in the App store After your app is developed the only hindrance before it is available to public is getting approved in the app store for the respective platform. While it is easier to be approved in Android marketplace, getting approved in Apple App store is quite difficult. But if the submitted app complies with all the policies and guidelines, it will definitely get thumbs up. If Apple feels that the App is just a copycat and does not add any value addition to iPhone, contains pornographic and racial content then the app is likely to be disapproved. Promoting the App Once the app is approved and listed in the App market place your next goal is to let customers know about it so that they will download the app. The best promotion technique is to get features as a new app in the category or top selling app. But to be featured in the app market place you need numbers. So there are external ways to promote the app and get the desired numbers and then automatically get featured in the app marketplace and you will see a sudden increase in downloads as soon as your app get featured in the marketplace. You can create a dedicated website for your app, utilize blogs in the same niche to write about your apps, Take help of influential people in social media to talk about your app in Twitter and Facebook. These methods will create a buzz about your app and information about it will reach to more and more people. With good promotion and marketing, your app will gradually gain visibility and it is time to see the result in terms of monetary benefit you

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Our Experience at Mobile World Congress – 2012, Barcelona

March 12, 2012

The 2012 Mobile World Conference must be one of the most important events this year to happen in the world of technology, perhaps even more than CES 2012. The event saw technology enthusiasts from around the world land in Barcelona in order to witness some of the hottest devices in the world of mobile technology. It is difficult to summarize everything that took place at the MWC 29012, but one could say that the event was all about super cameras, larger screens, NFC, 4G LTE and hybrid devices that blur the line between smartphones and tablets. Emergence of Near Field Communication-enabled Devices What certainly caught our attention was the importance that manufacturers are giving to Near Field Communication (NFC). Mobile payments are going to get a lot easier with NFC and consumers shall be able to make complete purchases within apps or with the help of their network operators. The MWC 2012 didn’t just reveal NFC-enabled cellphones but it also become clearer how best to make use of this nascent technology. While making purchases is NFC’s prime function, it might become easier to navigate one’s way, check in for Foursquare or even secure gadgets and vehicles with the help of NFC. In fact, the possibilities with NFC could be endless. Carriers are still in control of NFC but things shall surely change in 2012, with almost every new smartphone being NFC-enabled. Apart from this, we also saw mobile devices being a lot more secure in order to carry out mobile payments and make banking transactions. Changing Technologies and Changing Roles of the Operators Mobile operators, who have been bogged down by reduced coverage at home, enterprises and dense urban areas will now be able to function better thanks to smaller cells. Femtocells are the smallest ones being deployed for home use where as picocells, metrocells, and microcells are being used for enterprises and high-capacity public areas. At the conference, it was rather clear that small cells will replace macrocells in the coming years. Meanwhile, mobile operators will also benefit from Wi-Fi as data traffic is expected to reach 10.8 Exabytes per month by the time it is 2016. Operators are looking towards ways in which they can combine cellular data (3G, LTE) and Wi-Fi with the help of multi-mode small cells. Operators may also begin to offer differentiated services and collaborate with players and offer Rich Communication Services. This might include video calling and content sharing which might help them to compete with Over-the-top players. Transportation, Home and Healthcare to be Connected to Mobile Devices Mobile devices are also going to be increasingly connected to each other. When Ford unveiled B-max at MWC 2012, one should realize that mobile connectivity is going to be very different. Bill Ford described the car as a “rolling collection of sensors”, which would help in avoiding accidents. The idea is apparently is to connect vehicles and people so that there can be a synced communication network with different safety and networking possibilities. While connected houses are no longer something new, AT&T revealed an impressive digital in-home service delivery platform in which various sensors would help people to use devices and controls to virtually run the entire house. Mobile operators from various parts of the world announced mobile health initiatives that would connect people to hospitals, doctor’s offices, community services and other such entities. In 2012, transportation, home and health may begin to be connected through mobile devices, sensors and operators’ special initiatives. Android Rules, Mozilla Enters with Boot to Gecko Project While large screens ruled the roost, every major vendor seemed to be offering Android-powered handsets and tablets. Windows Phone 7 didn’t really create as much buzz as it should have but the year is still stretched ahead of us, and there might be a few sparks left here and there. While Android and iOS still rule the market, Mozilla may soon enter the mobile industry with its Boot to Gecko project. The OS is expected to make smartphones run Web apps. This could be interesting as many app developers have revealed lately that they wouldn’t mind developing web apps for their existing mobile apps. However, such a smartphone would always need to be connected to the Internet in order to function well. Speed, Power, Augmented Reality and HTML 5 •    With LTE 4G networks looming around the corner, almost all the devices seem to have 4G capabilities. These devices average speeds of 50 to 100Mbps. Perhaps it is finally time to watch those HD videos without any interruptions. •    Augmented Reality was yet another draw on most devices. This might perhaps please the video game fans the most. •    Another trend that was popular at the MWC 2012 was re fact that almost every phone had a dual or quad-core processor, which means that smartphones this year are going to be power-horses. •    HTML 5 is turning out to be the new common standard, and developers were seen rallying around it. Devices that Caught Our Attention Some of the devices that were launched at the MWC 2012 were 10.1 inch tablet Samsung Galaxy Note which comes with a 1.4GHz dual-core CPU. Samsung also unveiled 7″ and 10″ models of Galaxy Tab 2 and the Galaxy Beam, which comes with a build-in Pico projector. Nokia unveiled its entry-level Asha 202, 203, and 302 and a scaled down version of its Lumia 900, the Lumia 610. It features Xbox integration and Windows Phone Tango OS. Nokia 808 Pureview, like discussed earlier features a 41 MP camera. ZHTC unveiled its HTC ImageSense, an enhanced camera and imaging offering, part of the HTC One series. Asus unveiled its Padfone, which can be inserted into an Asus Padstation that doubles up as a tablet. Huawei unveiled what it claims to be the world’s first quad-core tablet, the MediaPad 10. Sony Ericsson’s Sony Xperia P and the Sony Xperia U come with NFC and dual-core CPUs. LG’s Optimus Vu is a ‘phablet’ too, doubling up as a cellphone

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Why You Cannot Ignore the BlackBerry Mobile App Platform?

March 9, 2012

Before smartphones were manufactured the way people understand them now, RIM perhaps was one of the pioneers in manufacturing devices that could be termed as phones that also doubled up as digital assistants. BlackBerry devices managed to retain a loyal audience of business users, government employees and even a segment of general populace. BlackBerry’s Current Scenario across the World With its addictive BBM messenger and secure email application, BlackBerry devices remained popular until a few months ago when the company experienced outages throughout the world. The devices are still popular in emerging markets like Brazil, India, Eastern Europe, Indonesia and South Africa, though its popularity in its home country Canada and also the consumer juggernaut U.S. has waned. What BlackBerry’s Condition Could Mean A reduction in its popularity doesn’t necessarily mean that it is all over for BlackBerry. Instead, it could just mean this is one of those opportunities for developers where they can target not just enterprise users but also regular consumers who love RIM’s BlackBerry devices for its BBM messenger and its highly functional physical QWERTY keypad. BlackBerry devices run on Blackberry OS V 7.0 at the moment, and their flagship model 9900 is one of the best models that BlackBerry has ever launched. The latest smartphones by RIM feature several new features like NFC, augmented reality, support for 4G-LTE networks, touchscreen capabilities along with physical keyboards and much more. Blackberry OS and QNX: The Future However, being a company that not only manufactures its devices but also depends on its own operating system, it is all a little confusing at the RIM headquarters. The BlackBerry OS 7.0 has been touted as being significantly faster than its previous versions and the company is expected to unveil a few more devices in the near future. However, RIM’s current plan of action is to overhaul its ageing software and introduce QNX-based operating system by the end of this year. During the fourth quarter of 2012, one may see BlackBerry’s first QNX based Smartphones for which developers are being given access already. In fact, BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM’s tablet bombed at the market but has received positive critical response and the company shall use the very same OS on its future smartphones as well. Why Developers Must Focus on BlackBerry Developers would stand to gain if they began to work on QNX-based applications as there is a huge market out there, which is going to remain loyal to RIM. The security, tactile feedback of QWERTY keypads and the allure of BBM messenger will keep both enterprise and regular consumers using BlackBerry devices though they may hesitate to do so. This lack of appeal caused due to a dearth of applications available on BlackBerry platform is one of the major setbacks. If app developers showed a little bit of interest towards BlackBerry OSW and developed applications just as excitedly as they develop for iOS or Android, they have significant chances of tapping an almost undiscovered market potential. Some of the advantages of the BlackBerry OS platform are that third-party developers can go ahead and write software using Blackberry API classes. However, certain functionality may need to be digitally signed. The OS is programmed in C++ and provides support for Java. With QNX being heralded as the new BlackBerry OS, developers have a lot to look forward to. The next few months will be crucial to not only BlackBerry, but also developers who are considering writing applications for another major OS apart from iOS and Android. App developers have a lot of tools to work with, as BlackBerry has slowly begun to realize the importance of having great applications. RIM has understood that if they do not lure developers to create apps that would keep its consumers hooked, the company might see losses that are irreversible. Moreover the company has changed its CEO and there is a new chief who might be able to bring back BlackBerry’s lost lustre. This worst-case scenario could in fact become a market opportunity for developers out there, who are still trying to figure out if it is a good idea to invest time in developing applications for BlackBerry. The answer to that lingering question is an emphatic ‘yes’!

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Cracking iOS: A Beginner’s Guide to Designing Apps for Apple Devices

March 5, 2012

If one were to consider various platforms available for developing applications for mobile devices, there possibly couldn’t have been a better time. Industry research firm Gartner revelled that Apple overtook Samsung in the number of Smartphoens sold. Though Android has overtaken the figures of iPhones sold, one must remember that Android phones are sold by several companies while iOS devices are sold only by Apple. Developers stand to gain more than anyone else when they develop apps for iOS devices. iOS 5 iOS 5 is the current version of Apple’s famed mobile operating system, and the one which developers need to know very well. It offers more than 200 new features if compared with iOS 4. What really have changed in the current version are the notifications. Earlier, notifications would disrupt running applications and that did not go very well with a lot of users. Notification Centre allows users to drag from the top of the screen and see all the notifications that need to be attended to. It is rather similar to how notifications work on Android devices, but more polished and sleek. iCloud lets users sync all their data across Apple devices with the help of the cloud. Apart from these two important features, iOS 5 features deeper Twitter integration, better camera applications and a host of other features that developers must know. Developing Applications for Apple Devices In order to develop apps for iOS ecosystem, developers would need to have some amount of objective C understanding. While it is not actually necessary, knowing C language can help developers a lot. Designing applications for the iOS platform requires one to jot down the plan, engaging in coding and finally publishing the application on the App Store. Administrative Tasks While Developing Apps Much of the time would be spent in coding but a developer would also have to perform a number of administrative tasks. While juggling between administrative tasks and coding can be done by just one person, some people choose to work as a development team. Administrative tasks are usually carried out at the beginning and end of application development. The person who signs an agreement with Apple in order to become an Apple developer is also known as the team agent, and bears legal responsibility for the team, and for the application. Maintaining Quality of Apps Unlike other platforms, the applications that are available on the App Store are carefully curated by Apple. Thus, an application must be approved by Apple before it can be published on the App Store. While this may mean stringent measures employed to maintain quality, it also means that the end product is flawless. Apple also requires developers to engage in code signing, which makes an application’s code resistant to malicious tampering. Talking about coding, much of the time of a developer is spent in Xcode. Xcode brings user interface, debugging and coding under its umbrella and developers would use it until an app is published. Developing Applications for iOS 5 With iOS 5 running on most Apple devices now, developers must keep in mind the higher screen resolution and iCloud. Higher screen resolution and retina display provide crystal clarity screens and thus developers need to keep that in mind while designing applications. An app that is designed for a lower resolution will not look good on newer iOS devices. iCloud allows app data to be synced across all the iOS devices a person may use. This means an application that’s used on iPhone may also be used on the iPad, and when a user switches from one device to the other, the data too is transported in real time. This would affect the design of UI layers and data models. Apple applications are known for their performance and lack of bugs. Such performance is possible only because Apple requires developers to tune their applications for performance. Apps must not degrade battery life of devices, must not crash often and must remain responsive even at times of duress. Developing applications for Apple devices can ensure digital fame and success, which naturally translates into wealth. However, app developers must bear in mind that Apple places stringent rules and quality standards in order to approve applications. While this can sound intimidating to developers, it is perhaps the reason why consumers choose Apple devices to others.

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From “An Idea” to a “Mobile App”

March 2, 2012

The growth of Smartphone has given birth to a whole new genre of application development called Mobile App. Mobile apps are small applications or games which are build to be run natively on a mobile platform. Due to the superior User Experience they provide, they are quite popular on Smart Phones. Because of the popularity of these Apps many of us want to plunge into App development to make some quick money. But remember that developing App is not everybody’s cup of cake. Conceptualizing an App functionality and turning this idea into a full blown App requires two complimentary skillets. And after development completes, we need an effective marketing strategy to make our App successful. Hence a proper collaboration is required. If you have an unique App idea, it is like winning half of the battle. Because conceptualizing the App is the most important part of the process. The rest is converting it into a finish product and doing marketing to popularize it. The end to end mobile App development can be broadly divided into 3 stages e.g. Platform Selection, Actual Development, Distribution, Marketing and Monetization. Platform Selection When we talk about Mobile App, we talk about Apps for different platforms available for Mobile. Some of these platforms have larger installation base while others have larger availability of Apps. Some Platforms are easier for development and some are difficult. The various platforms have various user bases so depending upon the App you are developing and the audience you are targeting, you need to decide on the platform. Various platforms available for a developer to choose from are: J2ME: This Java based platform exists for quite some time and has the highest number of installation base. Almost all the mobile phones today support J2ME. This can be used to build smaller games and applications. This is the platform of choice for feature phones to provide additional functionalities. Symbian: Before Apple launched iPhone or Android made any news, Symbian was the market leader. Symbian is a real-time, multi tasking mobile OS and runs well on resource constraint devices. It was the platform adopted by Nokia to power it’s phone. In 2011 it signed an agreement with Microsoft to replace Symbian with Windows Phone 7 to power its next generation Smartphone. The future of this look bleak as number of developers and devices adopting Symbian is dwindling rapidly. iOS: With the release of Apple’s iPhone the Mobile Phone saw a complete revival. iPhone started the Smartphone revolution and carried it forward. The usage of Smartphone increased drastically. The platform that powers iPhone is iOS. It runs only on Apple hardware, that means it can run on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The Mobile App developed for this platform should be passed by Apple and has to be distributed through App Store. The non-approved Apps can run on iOS only when the device is Jail Broken. Current version of iOS is 5.0 and Powers iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Android: Android is a Linux based mobile OS and is the platform of choice for most of the Smartphone manufacturers. Though it is a late entrant to the arena, it has gained popularity quite soon and has reached to the top slot among all Smartphone platforms. The current version of Android is ICS 4.0.3 and powers many beautiful Smartphone and Tablet PC. Blackberry: This is another proprietary platform from Research in Motion and can run on their hardware only. It supports Push Email and Internet Faxing, which are the 2 biggest advantage of it. Because of this Blackberry has higher adoptability in corporate users. The latest version of Blackberry OS is 7. The number of Apps available for blackberry is very less, so new apps can have greater visibility. Windows Mobile: Windows Mobile is the core of Microsoft’s Operating System for Smartphone which has been recently named as Windows Phone 7. Windows Phone 7 has quite a lot of feature improvement and primarily aims at consumers. As it is quite new as compared to other big players, number of users for Windows Phone 7 devices is less. The current version of Windows Phone is 7.5 called Mango. Actual Development After you have decided the platform you will be building your mobile App, it is time for actual development. The development is not an easy task and not everyone can master the development skills. Various platforms uses various programming languages to develop the apps. For example iOS apps are developed using Objective C where as Android apps need to be developed using a form of Java. The App developers find it easy to develop Apps for Android platform and Symbian is the most difficult platform to master App development. In order to build an App you do not essentially need to be an App developer. Do you build your house yourself or fix your car on your own? You can think of App development in that parlance, so It is often a good idea to engage a quality programming team specializing in mobile App development for your preferred platform. Make sure you have proper communication with them in terms of the concept. You can create an App specification document and chart out the whole idea, including as minute details as possible. Also include pictorial explanation wherever and whenever possible. This will help the development team in understanding the App idea better. Also remember that when you are contracting the App development, do not go for hourly rate as this way the team can stretch out the project to as much hour as they can to bill you more. Always insist on a fixed project cost model. If you are sure that you can develop your own Apps, then you can use various tools available for different platforms for developing the Apps. Below you can find few widely used developer tools for Mobile Apps: Apple iOS Developer program If you want to build iPhone/iPad apps, you need to register with Apple’s Developer program. It has an

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Cross Platform Mobile App Development

March 1, 2012

Recently I switched from iPhone to Nexus S. This was a major transition as I moved away from iOS to Android. There were few Apps and Games which I liked a lot in my iPhone and naturally after I started using my Nexus S, I tried searching for those Apps and Games in Android Market, as I never wanted to be departed from those. Like me there are many such users who have a similar instinct. I was surprised to find the exact same games and Apps for Android as I was using in my iPhone. This made me more inquisitive to find out how these little things are developed to provide the same user experience and feel in various platforms. Generally the marketplace for any Smart Phone platform contains the native apps for those platforms. And these native Apps are notoriously known to have compatible issues. So any native App developed for one platform will work only in that platform. So in order to have same Apps or Games available in all the Smart Phone platforms same App needs to be developed separately for each platform. This is not only time consuming but also requires additional overheads. To address this, another category of App called Hybrid Apps took birth. The Hybrid Apps successfully bridged the gap between Native App and Web App and also solved the major issue of cross platform compatibility. Cross Platform App development methodology As technology is constantly evolving, we have a plethora of tools and frameworks at our expense to build real cross platform applications which can even access most of the native features of the device in which it will run. One such technique of building cross platform mobile app is called cross compilation. The framework used in this process provides a platform independent API using dynamic languages like JavaScript, Python or Ruby. This API is used to build the mobile application. The code is then processed by a cross compiler which transforms it into platform specific native app based upon the target platform. The applications developed in this way are faster and can access most of the native features of the device like camera, GPS etc. Another method in which we can develop cross platform application is by using the virtual machine technique. In this method, the framework used will provide an API as well as the runtime environment for the app. The main disadvantage of this method is slower performance. Another more popular but less powerful method is building mobile web app using HTML5 and CSS3. The powerful nature of HTML5 and CSS3 let us build apps that gives almost similar user experience like a native app. Usage of JavaScript framework like Sencha Touch can take this approach further. Cross Platform Frameworks There are lots of cross platform framework available, few of them with Open Source license and few with commercial license. Some are quite powerful and some are there just for the sake of it’s existence. The most widely used and popular among them are PhoneGaap, Appaccelerator Titanium, Rhodes, Adobe Air, Sencha Touch, Jquery Mobile etc. PhoneGap PhoneGap is the most popular framework to create Cross Platform application easily. It leverages the power of standard web technology like HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build native applications. It is popular because of it’s flexibility, ease of use and open source nature. PhoneGap uses the web approach for app development using HTML, CSS and JavaScript and run on a mobile browser embedded on a thin native App wrapper available for all supported platform e.g. iOS, Android, Blackberry, Web OS, Symbian and Windows Mobile 6.5. The native device features are accessed via a device independent JavaScript API. PhoneGap lacks support for native UI components and dev tools. But it can be used with other UI reach libraries like Sencha Touch and JQuery Mobile to provide superior User Experience. The table below shows which device features PhoneGap can access under different platform. Titanium Titanium is used for both cross platform mobile application development as well as development of desktop application. It is based on the cross compilation technique we discussed above. Before the launch of Titanium mobile SDK the cross platform mobile app was a distant dream and the only way was to create same app for different platform was rebuilding the complete app from scratch for different platform. So Titanium is the pioneer in cross platform mobile app development technology. Titanium mobile SDK supports over 5000 UI elements and hardware controls thus gives a superior user experience and gives a truly native app. Titanium is currently supported under the two most widely used platform iOS and Android and support for blackberry will be introduced soon (currently in beta). The primary advantage is much faster performance, ease of use and built in UI elements and the disadvantage is, it currently supports only a few platforms. The table below shows access to device native features under different mobile OS platform for Titanium. Rhodes Rhodes framework is based on the virtual machine technique of building cross platform mobile app. This provides a complete toolbox for developing end to end cross platform mobile apps. It uses Ruby to build the business logic and the UI is coded in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This provides a templating language which helps in building portable UI. It uses JQTouch to provide animation capability in webkit based browser as well as native feel. Rhodes framework is supported under iOS, Android, Windows Mobile 6.5, Blackberry and Symbian. Main disadvantage of Rhodes is any update in the code requires a complete rebuild. It uses a not so popular programming language so popularity is less. The table below shows access to device native features under different mobile OS platform for Rhodes. Sencha Touch Sencha Touch is world’s first cross platform JavaScript framework for developing mobile web app. It leverages the power of HTML5, CSS3 and JavScript to give superior App that gives the look and feel of native app. Sencha Touch is based on

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