Applications & Apps Business

More Than 10,000 Apps for Android Tablets

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Archos, the French device maker, says it has more than 10,000 Android apps available via its AppsLibs store, positioned as an alternative to Android Market.

Archos offers a range of its own Android media devices with screens from 2.8" to 10.1". This manufacturer has proven to be a survivor as an innovative maker of mobile multimedia devices: its initiative in apps is one more proof of its market savvy.

Maybe because its empathy to device makers, its app store has less painful hardware requirements than Android Market e.g.,devices without GPS or integrated cameras are supported without prejudice). AppsLib also supports products with better-spec CPUs, graphics hardware, and memory than standard Android smartphones. It offers payment by PayPal, so apps can be purchased in more than 20 currencies. It supports apps written for tablets with larger displays and screen resolutions

Go AppsLib

Android App Invention Now for Everyone

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Android App BuilderAndroid fans and amateur coders rejoice-- App Inventor for Android is now open to the public.

In very typical Google fashion, it's still tagged as "Beta" (of course) and is available on Google Labs' site. Before one had to ask for an invite to make use of the system.

The App inventor does not require any programming knowledge to play around with-- users build apps by connecting "blocks" of code and behaviours with each other. A bit like building a puzzle, if you will.

What one does require is an Android phone connected to their PC while inventing. As it's being built, the app appears on the connected phone.

Google handily provides a number of tutorials as well. Examples include building an app where a cat photo meows when touched.

Go Google App Inventor for Android

More Than 10,000 Apps for Android Tablets

  • PDF

Archos, the French device maker, says it has more than 10,000 Android apps available via its AppsLibs store, positioned as an alternative to Android Market.

Archos offers a range of its own Android media devices with screens from 2.8" to 10.1". The manufacturer has proven to be a durable and innovative maker of mobile multimedia devices and its initiative in apps is one more proof of its market savvy.

Maybe because its empathy to device makers, its app store has less painful hardware requirements than Android Market e.g.,devices without GPS or integrated cameras are supported without prejudice). AppsLib also supports products with better-spec CPUs, graphics hardware, and memory than standard Android smartphones. It offers payment by PayPal, so apps can be purchased in more than 20 currencies. It supports apps written for tablets with larger displays and screen resolutions.

Top 10 Most Downloaded Apps

1. Deezer (Multimedia)

2. Bluetooth File Transfer (Communication)

3. Talking Tom Cat (Entertainment)

4. Super Mario (Games)

5. Solitaire (Games)

6. YouTube Downloader - VideoBox (Multimedia)

7. eBuddy Messenger (Communication)

8. Aldiko Book Reader (Reference)

9. antivirus (Communication)

10. Little Metal Ball Lite (Games)

Go AppsLib

You Can Develop Brand Apps for Coca-Cola

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The GSMA is now accepting entries for its Brand App Challenge, a competition in which mobile application developers create “brand apps” for a select group of global consumer brands, including Coca-Cola (with its Coca-Cola, Coke Zero and Diet Coke brands).

Winners of the Brand App Challenge will be named at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, which will be held 14-17 February, 2011 in Barcelona.

It's a clever way for GSMA to get sponsorship money but an interesting opportunity for developers who want recognition and a calling card to bigger clients.

“The Brand App Challenge will create networking and business opportunities which benefit the brands, application developers and the broader mobile ecosystem,” says Michael O’Hara, CMO at GSMA. “This competition taps the creativity and capabilities of the mobile application developer community to address brand and industry challenges, and we are thrilled to be working with Coca-Cola to help them maximise the power of mobile.”

Developers will compete by creating customised mobile apps for the participating brand sponsors based on the objectives and guidance provided by the individual brands. The apps will address a wide range of mobile operating systems including Android, Apple iOs, BlackBerry OS 6, HP webOS, Symbian and Windows Phone 7.

“With the smartphone revolution, app developers stand at the vanguard of mobile innovation,” said Tom Daly, Group Manager, Strategy & Planning, Global Interactive Marketing Group at The Coca-Cola Company. “Coca-Cola is proud to sponsor the App Challenge and we look forward to seeing how the world's developers leverage the happiness our brands inspire via novel and powerful apps.”

Developers can sign up for the Brand App Challenge via an online portal and then upload a brief video demonstrating their proposed brand app. Each brand will select five finalists who will then compete to become the ultimate winner for the respective brands. Submissions for the Brand App Challenge will be accepted until 10 January and the finalists will be named approximately one month before Mobile World Congress 2011. The Brand App Challenge winners will be announced as part of the Mobile World Congress conference programme and will receive cash awards for their winning efforts.

Go Brand App Challenge

What 2400 App Developers Really Think

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Taken September 14-16, the Appcelerator/IDC Q4 Mobile Developer Report shows while Apple leads in iPhone/iPad interest, developers favor Android in the long-term.

  • 72% of developers say Android “is best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future,” (compared to 25% for iOS). 59% of developers now favor Android’s long-term outlook, vs. 35% for iOS (this gap has widened 10 points since a survey last June).
  • Yet Apple iOS continues to dominate in all categories relating to market/revenue opportunity and current devices. iPhone continues to lead overall developer sentiment with 91% saying they are “very interested” in developing for the device (compared to 82% for Android phones).
  • Developers show enthusiasm for connected TVs, with 44% saying they are ‘very interested’ in developing for Google TV vs. 40% for Apple TV.
  • Android tablets are poised for developer lift-off with 62% expressing strong interest, Android has similar enthusiasm to the iPad at a similar point in time (last January showed iPad at 58%).
  • Research shows webOS and BlackBerry tablets currently have little interest from developers (16% for both)...

Developers make significant use of third-party APIs. The study reveals the battles going on behind-the-scenes between these popular developer plug-ins (% of respondents say they currently use or will soon use the following APIs in a mobile application):

  • Social: Facebook slightly leading Twitter 65% to 60%, with Foursquare trailing at 22%.
  • Commerce: iOS in-app purchasing and PayPal payments are also locked 49% to 48% in a head-to-head battle for mobile commerce leadership. Of note, PayPal is nearly as popular as Google Checkout (33%) and Amazon (18%) combined. PayPal also leads iOS in developer popularity in Europe and Asia.
  • Media: Use of the camera (58%) far exceeds use of popular photo sharing services Flickr (21%) and TwitPic (19%). Stronger interest in using the camera for barcode scanning (31%) and augmented reality (41%) shows developers have bigger plans for mobile phones than simple photo sharing.•Advertising: iAd (52%) leads AdMob (36%) with developers noting a preference for iAd’s richer ad units and higher click-through rates, even as fill rate remains an issue.
  • Analytics: Application analytics (54%) is currently the most popular form of analytics, however there is strong interest in transaction (42%) and geo-analytics (35%) as location and commerce take center stage in mobile.

Four out of five developers say their users prefer native applications to mobile websites because of user experience expectations. When ranking features needed for their apps, developers prioritize native features as most important (% of developers using or planning to use feature):

  1. Native user interface (91%)
  2. Local database (81%)
  3. Push notifications (74%)
  4. Web services/Internet connectivity (72%)
  5. Geo-location (69%)
  6. Facebook integration (65%)
  7. Google maps (62%)
  8. Twitter integration (60%)
  9. Camera support (58%)
  10. Filesystem (56%)
  11. Application analytics (54%)
  12. iAd (52%)
  13. Audio/Video playback (50%)
  14. iOS in-app payments (49%)
  15. PayPal payments (48%)

Go Appcelerator/IDC Study

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