Category: Technology

Ten Important Aspects of Optimizing Websites for Smartphones

June 20, 2012

A new research by Canalys revealed that global smartphone shipments overtook client PC sales. More people bought smartphones that ran on iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile OS than they bought personal computers in the form of desktops, laptops, netbooks and tablets. This leads one to believe that Internet traffic will be driven by smartphone users and websites need to be mobile device optimized now, more than ever in the past. Until now, web designers concentrated on designing websites that were well-suited to open flawlessly on major browsers. With the increase in smartphone-driven Internet traffic, web designers need to make that webpages are compatible with different mobile devices that run on complex mobile operating systems. Thus, mobile development is cross-platform and cross-browser at the same time. With serious bandwidth, screen-size, platform and interface deficits, mobile devices present challenges that were unknown to web designers of yesteryears. Here are 10 important aspects to keep in mind, while optimizing webpages for smartphones. Precision of Content Precision of content is an important feature a web designer must keep in mind while designing mobile-optimized websites. Reduced screen size and lower resolutions mean that each pixel is valuable and only relevant content must be optimized. Low priority content can be hidden or removed altogether. Images and videos must be optimized to suit a small screen and content must be very focussed. Horizontal scrolling must be avoided and as much as possible, vertical scrolling must be used. Single Column Layouts As the screen size is reduced, users would have to skewer their eyes in order to be able to read text comfortably. Even when the text can be maximized and increased in size with the help of zoom, users would not like it when content appears in two or more columns. Thus, it is very important that vertical scrolling and single column formats are adopted Interface and Navigation An intuitive mobile website renders information in the least confusing manner and the lowest number of clicks and taps possible. Making sure that there is always a search box near the logo on the landing page allows users to type keywords and retrieve information intuitively. Curtailing Text-entry Dropdown menus are always preferable to keying in text. Pre-fill options, automated input using GPS and suggestive options help in creating intuitive websites. Parallel Versions of Mobile Websites While most smartphones today have a good resolution above 480 x 800, there are older cellphones which have screen resolutions of 128 x 160 pixels. A mobile website that is designed for a larger resolution screen will never look tidy or synchronized on a screen with a smaller resolution. As a designer, one may have to design parallel versions of mobile websites for lower and mid-level resolution screens.  Touchscreen and Non-touchscreen Devices With an increasing number of people using touchscreen-only devices, web designers might be tempted to design sites that are touch-optimized. Doing so would alienate users that still use certain models of smartphones by BlackBerry and other companies, which sometimes have QWERTY keypads and no touchscreens. Location Tracking Optimizing a website to track a user’s location can give valuable information to owners of the website. This information is usually used to help users discover things and people nearby that matter to them. It may also help in driving contextual content to a user’s screen. Communication It is important to make sure that communication takes place effectively and intuitively in fewer numbers of clicks and taps. Telephone numbers on the websites must be enabled to be dialled directly, and clicking on email addresses should direct the user to email applications within the smartphone. Social Media With the advent of social media, website designers should design sites in such a way that content can be shared across Twitter, Facebook, Google+ Tumblr, Reddit and other social bookmarking and networking sites. Minimalism A web designer must always try to keep information, content, media and even design to the bare minimum. When there is very little real estate available, space is very valuable and that is just the case in mobile websites. As of December 2011, Android devices held 47.3% of market share, Apple’s iOS held 29.6% of market share, RIM’s BlackBerry OS a share of 16%, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has a market share of 4.7% and only 1.4% of smartphone users used a Symbian device. Web designers would however need to keep in mind that all of these operating systems are equally important and while designing a website, one must optimize sites for every major platform.

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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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The Magic of Font Replacement

April 17, 2012

While graphics and images can spruce up a site’s look almost immediately, the importance of typography and font selection can’t be downplayed. In fact, people would not want to take the trouble of reading through content that is not published in an attractive font. Choice of Typography Web designers however are limited to using only a few fonts that are ‘web safe’. The idea is to make sure that a certain font which is used is available across all operating systems. If a font is not available on a certain operating system, the page may appear to be filled with numbers and symbols. Moreover, it is no longer accepted to use static techniques to publish content, as they can’t be crawled by search engines. Web designers usually use Georgia, Ariel or Times New Roman for the bulk of the content. Why Font Replacement is Necessary and How to Achieve it However, it tends to become monotonous and even mundane to use the same fonts all across. If designers choose to use something that is a bit edgy or exciting, they might try dynamic text replacement. The idea is to make headers, quotes and such other text with a font that is eye-catching and attractive. Dynamic text replacement must not be used for entire pages, but only those bits and parts which need to stand out, like headings, quotes, menu items and whatever else you might think is important to be highlighted. With HTML5 and CSS3 invading the web evermore, several new font replacement techniques have appeared. Font Replacement Techniques Let’s take a look at services and products that are available for web designers in order to assist with font replacement. Typekit: It is open to all and a designer shall have to subscribe to a font library from one of the many foundries. You would need to customize CSS for it to work and create a font stack to fallback upon, if the font isn’t supported. Kernest: This is yet another service which is open to all and comes with an a la carte selection of different fonts. All that you would need to do is select the fonts you desire and paste them into the generated CSS style sheet. Unlike Typekit, you would not require JavaScript. Many fonts are free, so it can be quite attractive. Typotheque: Another open-to-all service, Typotheque comes with a number of fonts which can be selected, and pasted generated CSS into the stylesheet just like Kernest. Font Squirrel: This too uses @font-face and it looks good on Apple computers as well. It is one of the most preferred techniques at the moment. There are also certain techniques which do not make use of @font-face, and use Flash and scripting to display fonts that may not be available on the users system. These techniques are free too, and are easy to use. sIFR (Scalable Inman Flash Replacement): You would need to embed your font in a Flash SWF file. The chosen text will be converted to Flash text by JavaScript which can later be altered as you require. It is rather difficult to set up as certain aspect are handled by either CSS or JavaScript. Cufon: This is a really popular service which allows you to convert your font to a JavaScript, VML or HTML5 formats. However, Cufon causes a flicker on the screen when Internet is slow. Google’s Font API Service: This is an open source project that is provided by Google. However, if Google servers are down, your fonts may perhaps have a bad day too. Useful Resources for Web Designers The techniques that are available for font replacement are several and there are several exhaustive references online. We have compiled a list of useful references that would help web designers to engage in font replacement. Smashing Magazine has a list of tools and techniques to ensure rich typography on the web. Tutsplus, Zomigi and Webm.ag list a few popular services that we have spoken about, and mention their advantages and disadvantages. Web Designer Ledger and W3Designing both have listed 30 effective font replacement techniques each. These resources can prove to be extremely useful to web designers. In order to choose the best technique, a designer would have to make educated choices and informed decisions. It may all depend on the experience and knowledge of the designer. What one must remember is that when text is replaced with images or Flash, it may not be very good for SEO. Moreover, with HTML5 and CSS3 on the rise, web designers must be open to newer services and try to catch up with the latest in cyber town.

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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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CeBIT 2012: A Summary

March 21, 2012

CeBIT is a mega technology and gadget symposium hosted annually in Hanover, Germany. With more than 300,000 visitors and thousands of vendors from all around the world CeBIT 2012 was of of interest to designers, manufacturers, developers and consumers. Below is the summary of the important highlights of the event. Gesture and Face Recognition Technologies Kinect 3D motion-sensing cameras, which make use of Microsoft’s gesture recognition technology, are mostly used in certain video games played on the Xbox. The Kinect cameras resurfaced at the CeBit 2012, where 4 such cameras were placed alongside eight MultiTaction Cell 55in modular multi-touch displays to create the first 3D motion sensing multi-touch wall. It was put together by MultiTouch and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) ICT Labs again stressing on the importance of gesture recognition in the months to come by. Unlimited number of participants could use the display for interactive features that make use of each of their gestures. Talking about Kinect, Microsoft announced a few video games that support Kinect-based game-play at the CeBIT 2012. One of them was the Kinect Star Wars, which certainly attracted quite a lot of attention. On the other hand, robotic technology and hybrid devices that work on facial recognition and gestures helped to foresee a future that would make interfaces more sensory in nature. For instance, Audi’s new gesture-based entertainment system helps drivers to focus on the road and helps in navigating the car at the same time. Talking about gestures, the “Imaginary Interfaces” was revealed by Hasso-Plattner Institute at the CeBIT 2012. It allows users to make hand movements to switch on or off, wherever the switches might have been in place. It can be used to control lights, music or even the TV. It uses depth-sensing cameras to recognize movements on any surface. British artist Giles Walker designed Tobit’s pole dancing robots which dance and gyrate to music. Fraunhofer Institute’s Dr Phil Lutz Stobbe revealed ‘Shore’, which is a software that would use algorithms to guess people/s age, sex and mood they might be in. Such a technology might change the way we perceive mobile devices. Managing Trust, Managing Big Data and the Cloud The major thrust this year has been towards “managing trust”, which is the official theme of CEBIT 2012. Without a doubt, managing and protecting data has been at the forefront of technological advances. Vendors, keynote speakers and insiders spoke about how to protect big data, especially with each company accumulating social media and mobile device generated content. On that note, companies like Software AG have begun to upgrade their existing database products. Software AG announced that it would combine BigMemory with its WebMethods Business Events, which is a complex event processing (CEP) engine. Microsoft on the other hand would use System Center management software and Windows Server to approach the big data. With big data grabbing the headlines, cloud technology can’t be left far behind. Much of the data, both enterprise and consumer, would now be saved on the cloud. Without a doubt, cloud offerings were uniquely represented in the exhibition. Mobile Devices Get More Advanced Apart from managing big data and using cloud technology, mobile technologies too topped the list of keynote trends. Mobile Internet inspired devices and technologies included the first LTE smartphones from Samsung and HTC. These devices can download data more than 10 times faster than existing 3G devices. Multimedia streaming is going to get faster, and better. Samsung, Motorola and Huawei announced quad-core processors and multi-touch displays. With mobile Internet in mind, it is noteworthy to mention the proliferation of HTML5 apps. This might mean that app developers would soon become independent of Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Social Media and Mobile Technology Code_n competition attracted many developers and budding technocrats from 42 countries. The contestants presented their business models and how they would use contemporary tools to tackle communication in a global social media setting. This also leads us to another interesting development, which is that of ecommerce options. Social media and networks have thrown open doors to social business. Many developers spoke about a user-friendly Webshop for mobile devices and how one could add an emotional dimension to online buying experience. Much like the Mobile World Conference 2012 in Barcelona, CeBIT featured machine to machine communication, especially on a mobile front. Mobile health was a major trend just like it was in MWC 2012. Moreover, gestures, movements and environmental conditions can now be easily understood by mobile devices, and would help in what is being termed as intelligent IT. Mobile technology would not only help in providing and accessing mobile healthcare, but would also help in increased communication between citizens and governments. Other Products and Technologies that Grabbed Attention at CeBIT 2012 Technology seemed to become even more accessible than ever. For instance, Archos’ Childpad comes with child protection, so that they remain safe while surfing the web. It even comes with a parental control function and runs on Android 4.0. Talking about hybrid devices, Motorola’s Atrix allows one to take the desktop wherever they want to. The smartphone is kept in the lapdock notebook docking station, turning it into an 11-inch laptop. Other technical advances include Samsung Smart Hub, which allows seamless wireless communication between smartphones, tablets and new burners so that CDs and DVDs can be burned in a frictionless manner. Thus, data management, using the cloud, social business, LTE high speed networks and HTML5 are themes that have been popular in most technological exhibitions and events. Even at the CeBIT, the themes seemed to be consistent with other events such as the CES 2012 and MWC 2012.

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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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