Mobile Technology

App Developers, NativeX Has an Education for You

February 11, 2016 By Graeme Thickins

Graphic: VentureBeat

If you publish apps (and it’s hard to find a company these days that doesn’t), you’d better be up on the new science — and art — of App Store Optimization. Yes, say hello to another acronym: ASO. We all know about SEO — it’s such common practice, we do it like breathing. But when the whole world has gone mobile, when everyone and their mother are publishing apps, if you aren’t into ASO – well, you’re falling behind. It’s a major new focus for app developers and publishers, and one of our most successful Minnesota startups is ready to take you to school on it.

ASO is the direct result of a phenomenon VentureBeat calls “invisible app syndrome.” In a post today, it explains: “With over 1.5 million apps in each app store, it’s easy for apps to disappear and never be seen… App Store Optimization (ASO) can bring your app out of hiding, placing it squarely in front of the customers who need or want it, and keep them clicking through.”

St. Cloud-based NativeX is an experienced player in helping app publishers optimize for the app stores. You know them well. We’ve certainly written about the company before. It lately describes itself as “the premiere ad technology choice of top-charting mobile games and apps.” It has an expert team of engineers, data scientists, account managers, and designers, and has been recognized as a leader in effective monetization and user acquisition.

NativeX has been an innovator as well in redefining native advertising for mobile games and apps. (Worth mentioning here is that this Minnesota-born startup has been profitable for 12 straight years. Yes, you read that correctly. We grow ‘em good here in the cold North – where the firm began life under the name Freeze.com.)

An Upcoming ASO Webinar: “Money for nothing, clicks for free”
VentureBeat is hosting a webinar on February 18th on App Store Optimization. It’s sponsored by none other than NativeX, who will be participating along with Aaron Kardell, founder of Minneapolis-based real-estate apps publisher HomeSpotter.

From the post about the event (where you can register): “Mobile app developers are fighting a fearsome battle every day. As mobile continues to be second nature for us, publishers are releasing countless new apps on a daily basis — almost 1,500 a day are added to Apple’s App store alone. However, only a few will gain the undivided attention of the public.”

ASO Best Practices
In addition to sponsoring the upcoming webinar, NativeX just released an ASO white paper, which is all about best practices to help publishers improve app store visibility. It’s the first in a two-part series. Part 1 focuses on Search Ranking optimization. Part 2 will focus on improving Chart Ranking.

Ryan Weber, NativeX

“With the millions of apps already in the app stores,” said Ryan Weber, NativeX cofounder and chief product officer, “many developers have experienced the crushing reality of publishing an app that never finds an audience because the audience never finds the app.”

VentureBeat says this about the new white paper: “It takes effort and insight to implement the kind of ASO that makes a measurable difference, but the experts at NativeX have broken that process down to four steps.”

Ryan Weber adds: “67% of app users say the last app they downloaded was found through typing their inquiry into the app store search, making search the dominant organic app discovery method. Improving search ranking within those stores has become one of the most critical ASO requirements for publishers.”

Weber said that NativeX published the white paper to answer the questions most relevant to app publishers about ASO and how to improve their app store visibility. Specifically, here are the questions it addresses:

What is ASO?
What motivates users to download an app?
How are users finding/ discovering apps?
What impact do paid installs have on organic installs?
What do you need to measure for effective search discovery?
How do you pick the right keywords?
What tools are available to help with keyword selection?
How does relevance, difficulty and popularity affect keyword prioritization?
What are On-Page and Off-Page influence factors and what improves search rank?
How do you optimize paid campaign delivery for the purpose of influencing Off-Page factors?
What can you do in your app to influence Ratings and Reviews to improve ranking and conversion rate?
What are best practices for optimizing your app store click-through & conversion rates?
What tools are available to help with AB Testing to determine best assets to use?

VentureBeat published an extensive report a couple of months ago on App Store Optimization. In a post describing that report, it says, “App publishers who implement ASO can realistically expect a 20% lift in organic downloads, and can in some cases double or even triple their organic downloads. That’s huge, and reduces overall cost per acquisition of each mobile user.”

That report sells for $499. But you can get a pretty darn good education for free by reading NativeX’s two-part white paper series mentioned above.

Then you can not only be on your way to increasing your own downloads, but you’ll be ready to help your mother when she’s ready to publish her first app, right?

——-

[Note: This post first appeared on my personal blog, Graeme Thickins On Tech.]

Wait, Was That My iPhone That Just Flew Over Your Head?

November 4, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

It could have been if I had a “PhoneDrone Ethos” prototype — I could be buzzing you! But, sigh, I don’t have one … and none of us mere mortals will until they ship in September 2016. That’s as soon as the Kickstarter page promises. Nonetheless, as I write this, the product boasts some $238,000 pledged (well exceeding the $100,000 goal), and more than 900 backers — who apparently have no problem waiting for 11 months.

[Note: This post first appeared earlier today on GraemeThickinsOnTech. I’m posting it here because the “Gang,” minus me, discussed the product on our most recent podcast, and I thought Minnov8 readers would like to hear more about the product.]

xCraft, the designer and manufacturer, is a drone company that scored a record-breaking $1.5 million investment on Shark Tank recently.

Quite simply, the PhoneDrone allows your smartphone to fly and follow you around. How about this line on the Kickstarter page? “Grant your smartphone access to the third dimension.” Yes, it would seem we’ll all be holding back our smartphones from their full potential if we don’t get one of these things! A smartphone’s potential is a terrible thing to waste…

That’s why the makers of the PhoneDrone Ethos say it “gives your smartphone wings, allowing you to deploy your iPhone or Android phone as an autonomous aerial camera.” Oh, the glories of innovation we can all partake in if we just pre-order on Kickstarter! … and then wait patiently for that far-off promised ship date to arrive.

The company claims their product is revolutionary because they’ve “leveraged the sensor, processor, and wireless capability of the smartphone” to give you “a powerful, cloud-connected aerial vehicle for a fraction of the cost of a typical drone.” Cloud-connected… oh, snap.

Of course they say no drone experience is necessary (!), and that their companion app is simple and intuitive. So, never fear: your phone will be out of your pocket and airborne in no time!

You can’t argue with the value proposition: “Your smartphone already has a powerful processor and multiple sensors. Why pay for all those things over again when buying a drone?” Seems reasonable.

It will work with your Android or iPhone inside, with a companion app that will be available for either platform. For the iOS version, you’ll be able to access it via the Apple Watch, too (as an extension of your iPhone), as shown in the video. And here’s a key point: for control and video streaming, the PhoneDrone can easily tether to another mobile device. And it has built-in charger, so you can charge from any USB source, or swap batteries for extended flight times.

A really cool feature is a camera mirror, which allows you to get three camera views — shoot straight down, forward, or to the side (as shown). Soo Hollywood…

Here are some other important points about the product, as stated on the Kickstarter page:

Does PhoneDrone require two devices?  No. PhoneDrone Ethos can be operated by a single smartphone in Mission mode. You set your mission by drawing a flight path over a map, setting altitude, time, any events (like snapping a photo) and then hit start. PhoneDrone will takeoff, fly your flight plan, and return home automatically.

How does “Follow-Me” work?  Follow-me uses two devices tethered through WiFi; a smartphone in the drone and another device as the “beacon”. PhoneDrone will automatically follow the GPS position of the “beacon” device at your selected altitude. We are also working on a partnership with another company to allow follow-me by image recognition through the smartphone’s camera. [My emphasis – cool!] Look for this capability in the future!

Worried about your phone? We get that. We know some of you are a little worried about sending your precious smartphone up into the air. That’s why we’ve developed
several safety features that will protect your phone in the event of the unexpected:

• Redundant Electronic Design: Borrowing techniques from full-sized aircraft design, we’ve built in redundancy into hardware and software design. This allows backup systems to take over if primary systems fail – and brings your smartphone home safely.
• Protective Universal Mount: We know (stuff) happens. That’s why we cradled the phone in a protective neoprene sheath that provides vibration isolation as well as the ultimate shock protection. It can even hold waterproof smartphone cases for some piece of mind over water.
• Still not convinced? PhoneDrone Ethos is compatible with many low cost smartphones – some as low as $50. So pick up an extra smartphone and you’ll still be flying the lowest cost cloud-connected autonomous drone on the planet.

Some other questions I would have:

1) Will my AppleCare pay up if I lose my $950 6S Plus iPhone in a crash, or if it takes a dive while cruising over water shooting awesome video of me paddleboarding?

2) If I did buy a cheap Android phone to put in the PhoneDrone, wouldn’t the quality of the images suck? But, for only $235 for the PhoneDrone body (cheapest price now on Kickstarter), plus as little as $50 for a cheap phone to insert into it, that’s a darn good deal for a drone and camera combo. Tons of would-be filmmakers can afford that.

So, what are you waiting for — ready to become a smartphone pilot? Order up right here.

Follow the latest from xCraft on Facebook and Twitter.

TechnovationMN Makes Furst Class Appearance at World Competition

June 26, 2015 By Phil Wilson

We’ve kept close track of how the the Minnesota teams from TechnovationMN have fared as they progressed through the global Technovation Challenge competition. We’re happy to say that team Furst Class Techies walked away with the Audience Choice Award and an Honorable Mention in the Middle School Division at the World Pitch Technovation competition in San Francisco.

Andrea Richard, Rylee Melius, and Lydia Mindermann’s app, Mayo FreeTime, was developed to help patients at Mayo Clinic find things to do between appointments, helping them and their families reduce stress, anxiety, boredom, sadness, or loneliness. The team was guided by Coach Sharie Furst, Kasson-Mantorville Middle School STEM teacher and Mentor Kris Kendall, Software Engineer at IBM Rochester.

Team members commented, “Winning the Audience Choice Award was empowering, energizing, and we were really proud. The whole World Pitch experience was awesome!”

This competition brings finalists together from the Global Technovation Challenge, a technology entrepreneurship competition for girls. World Pitch recognized 10 finalist teams from India, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and the United States.

Additionally, Jean Weiss, Executive Board Member of Technovation[MN] was also recognized by Technovation for her outstanding dedication and leadership as a Technovation Regional Ambassador. (As a board member of TechnovationMN I can say, without hesitation, there is no one more deserving than Jean to be recognized in this way).

Cheers to all involved with TechnovationMN, especially the young women who represent a bright future for technology.

(Programming note-Shawn Stavseth, Executive Director and Co-founder of TechnovationMN will join us for the Minnov8 Gang Podcast available on 7/27/15)

Celebrating The Future Of Women Developers In Minneapolis

May 9, 2015 By Phil Wilson

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Much has been made of the lack of women working in the technology industry, we talk about it a lot on the podcast, especially when it comes to programmers and developers. Facts and figures abound to support the thesis. Save yourself some reading… walk into any software development shop and it will it you square in the head. Yeah, not a lot of women in front of those screens or in that morning standup.

For whatever reason you want to cite for this lack of X chromosomes (education, environment, etc.), we have a lot of work ahead to get more young women interested in technology as a career…and I’m happy to say we aren’t shying away from the task.

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Last Sunday I had the great privilege to be on hand for Appapalooza in Minneapolis, the culmination of the regional Technovation Challenge. I am also a board member of TechnovationMN, a group dedicated to inspiring young women to create mobile applications that benefit our community.

The event saw the presentations of 22 middle school and six high school teams. These teams of two to seven girls showcased everything from medical alert apps to networking apps for students studying abroad. They not only coded the apps, they researched the competitive landscape, drafted a business plan and outlined how to bring them to market.

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

I wish you could have felt the energy in the room as these young women presented and watched others present. The room erupted more than once as local women in technology spoke to inspire the audience of teams, mentors, teachers, friends and parents.

The awards ceremony was crazy as four teams including were selected for the next level in the Technovation challenge. It was electric. Check out the list of regional finalists.

Minnesota ‘Mompreneur’ Launches Parent App and Crowdfunding Campaign

April 22, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

Karla Lemmon has done it. She’s left a successful corporate career as a product manager to pursue her dream of becoming a tech entrepreneur and marketing her own app — an app for which she’s convinced there’s a big need.

Little Peanut on the Go is a personal-assistant mobile app for parents to help them stay organized and connected when they or their children are away from home. It lets parents create packing lists and to-do lists, build care schedules to share with caregivers, and connect with their children while they’re away with updates and photos. Little Peanut on the Go just became available this month, first in the Google Play App Store for Android devices. It’s expected to be available very soon in the iOS App Store. (UPDATE: it’s there!)

This month was also Karla’s official start date for taking the reins of her own firm, Karimack Productions LLC, on a fulltime basis — and beginning the process of marketing her new app. She says she’s had several business ideas over the years, “but Little Peanut on the Go is the idea that gave me the passion to actually pursue entrepreneurship.” Read more about Karla’s story in her own words on her blog.

Previously, Karla was employed by Honeywell for a dozen years in a variety of progressively responsible positions. Most recently, she was a program manager, where she managed all aspects of a SaaS communications application, including product design and development, marketing, pricing, usability and quality testing, and deployment. Karla has a mechanical engineering degree and also holds an MBA from the University of Saint Thomas. Read more about her background on her LinkedIn profile.

I first learned about Karla’s new venture last fall when I attended and reported on the 2014 “MobCon” mobile conference in Minneapolis. In my recap of the event, I wrote about how she took first prize in the startup pitch competition — going up against some pretty smart guys! — winning $25,000 in cash and services in the process. As I said at the time, I was pretty blown away with the quality of her pitch and her app.

While Karla was self-funding the development and testing of her app, she realized she’d need to raise some funds to begin the marketing process once the app was available for download. But how? After considering various options, she chose to do a crowdfunding campaign — but not on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, where it can be hard to get noticed. Rather, Karla decided to use a site designed specifically for women entrepreneurs: Plum Alley. Her campaign to raise just a modest $7500 is underway there, and it’s doing well in the short time it’s been live. Read about Karla’s decision to go with Plum Alley in a recent blog post she wrote.

So, tell your mommy friends — and grandparents, too! Have them download the app. And, let’s see if we can help Karla reach her funding goal. You can support her project right here on Plum Alley. Creative, smart, hard-working Minnesota women entrepreneurs like Karla deserve our support!

Also, be sure to follow Little Peanut On the Go on Twitter, and Like the app here on Facebook.

Mobile App Discovery Not Getting Easier; ‘Zombies’ Gaining

February 2, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

Image ©TelegraphUK

Basically, app discovery is a bitch, and the App Store is no longer the answer. That is the gist of a report on “2015 App Store Competition” published a couple days ago by an analytics firm in Berlin called Adjust. (PDF of the full report here.)

Minnesota developers are of course not strangers to this problem. It’s especially painful for startups looking to get traction in today’s “mobile first” startup environment — and moreso if they don’t have Silicon Valley sized funding rounds. I asked a couple of experienced mobile industry players here in Minnesota for their reaction to this news. But first, more on the report.

It opens with a somber tone: “The app ecosystem is evolving, and it is becoming more Darwinistic every day. Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive – which comes as no surprise to the developers who have followed closely as the app economy took a couple of milestones in the past year. The total volume of apps available through Apple’s app store crossed 1,000,000 apps in early April, only to continue its unrestricted growth to reach almost 1.5 million apps in December. At first sight, this seems to be an insignificant problem, because while the number of apps grows, so too does the user base. But this is hardly a compensatory mechanism, as each user can only handle a limited number of apps… With the growing number of apps, winning at the app store discovery game, securing those top 10 or even top 50 placements in their category, is proving an unattainable dream for many developers with smaller marketing budgets.”

Here are the key stats from the report:

• The App Store grew 60% in 2014, from 890,000 available apps on January 1 to more than 1.42M on December 31.

• The “Zombie” rate increased from 74% in January 2014 to more than 83% in December.

Image ©AppAnnie

What is a Zombie, you ask? It’s an app that’s effectively invisible in the App Store and not ranking in the top lists. An app that’s not displayed in the rankings is only available to users searching for it specifically. The App Store is an exceedingly crowded marketplace where only the biggest brands and budgets are able to achieve visibility among visitors.

Competition for visibility in the app stores is expected to get even worse in 2015. “If this trend continues – and nothing indicates it wouldn’t – we’ll see less than a tenth of apps attracting any kind of organic user attention by the end of the year, and those that do gain attention will be apps that already have significant traction,” said Christian Henschel, CEO and cofounder of Adjust. “The app store, as a source of organic acquisition, has finite capacity. When that’s reached, the app store will be dead.”

Okay, that last phrase is a little bit out there — but you get the point.

Emerging user acquisition techniques are replacing app stores for discovery. Here’s how Adjust’s CEO puts it: ”Developers need to look to other ways of promoting their work. In 2015, we’re looking at multiple techniques emerging that allow more ad formats to be less of a nuisance, instead adding value for users. If we can make ad user experience better, we can promote good content in new ways and places. The techniques that we are exploring – such as in-app use of source data – already show great promise to provide really good experiences for users in acquisition.” [Here’s one example. Hint: it has everything to do with data.]

Adjust’s report makes it clear that, as more app developers vie for consumer attention, 2015 presents a huge challenge for developers, “and an opportunity for app marketing and analytics vendors to provide app publishers with the tools to optimize their user acquisition and in-app performance.”

So, what do some local mobile app industry players have to say? First, I asked Wade Beavers, CEO, DoApp Inc., a mobile app publisher founded in 2008. His answer shows this is hardly news to him. He sees the growth in the App Store from another viewpoint: “The amazing growth in the App Store is a direct reflection that the mobile web does not fulfill the appetite of users and developers. That is the story. For years folks have been trying to make the mobile web the replacement, but it is not happening. The store needs a better way (for app discovery), but the real story is the mobile web is losing.”

Another Minnesota player who’s extremely close to this issue is Rob Weber, SVP and cofounder, NativeX (formerly W3i). His firm has been in the business of app distribution for years (even well before mobile). It has mobile app customers nationwide, including many in the Bay Area, where it has offices. Here’s what Rob had to say: “Nothing this report is saying is very surprising to me. From our vantage point at NativeX, we’ve seen that mid-sized app publishers and longtail hobby app publishers have been getting squeezed for a long time by the very top app publishers. Everyone has been watching Facebook’s massive growth in mobile ad revenues in recent quarters, most of which is coming from app advertisers. There are alternatives such as NativeX, but these alternatives also run on an auction basis, so there are some pricing pressures even in other channels. Facebook is the juggernaut. With Facebook’s auction-based ad platform being the dominant form of app discovery, top app publishers can afford to outbid smaller competitors and essentially squeeze them out of distribution. Many of the mid-sized app publishers have either folded up shop over the recent years, or been ‘acqui-hired’ by bigger app publishers. This trend is likely to continue. It is a sign of the space reaching maturity. The winners are primarily in gaming, where publishers like King and SuperCell have established dominant positions. To show just how far these top app publishers will go to expand distribution, and how big this space is, witness the multiple, very expensive Super Bowl commercials we saw this past weekend.”

As you may know, NativeX offers monetization solutions for app developers, with a heavy focus on game apps (the largest category in the App Store). And it has some pretty good data science chops of its own. The company was cited in this recent report: VentureBeat Recognizes NativeX As a Top 10 Company for Monetization & User Acquisition. It was also named as a leader in another report published by VentureBeat in late November: Mobile User Acquisition: How the most successful developers get better users for less money.

I’d be interested in hearing from mobile startups here in Minnesota — those in non-gaming categories — about what they’re doing to get their new apps discovered, or get more downloads for their existing apps. Is it all just about raising more money to spend on Facebook ads? Comment here or shoot me an email.

Mobile Minds Connect Again at 2014 #MobCon

November 17, 2014 By Graeme Thickins

One of our largest locally sponsored tech events here in Minneapolis is the MobCon Conference, dubbed “Where Mobile Minds Connect.” The third annual version was held November 13th & 14th, 2014, at the Hyatt in downtown Minneapolis. The event is put on by MentorMate, a large mobile development firm that was recently acquired by Taylor Corp. Sponsors for this year’s MobCon included many local firms, among them such bigcos as Target Corp and USBank.

The highlights for me were these three speakers:

• Brent Herd, Head of Telco Strategy & Development, Twitter, on “The Constant Revolution of Twitter and the Mobile Ecosystem” — with a special focus on Twitter Fabric, which you can read more about here and here.

• Alan Wizemann, VP Product, Target.com and Mobile, whose topic was “Expect More. A Lot More.” He’s Target’s first-ever product head and told us the company now has 21 product teams and has hired 157 engineers. Wow! And they aren’t done yet, as the show was teeming with Target recruiters.

• Josh Bernoff, SVP of Idea Development, Forrester (and a 20-year analyst at the firm), who gave a fascinating keynote on “The Mobile Mind Shift: Engineering Your Business to Win in the Mobile Moment,” which is the title of his latest book.

Another highlight for me at this event is always the startup pitches, which occured on the first afternoon, then the winners were announced at the end of the second day. The first place winner was a great app for new parents called Little Peanut On the Go, whose founder, Karla Lemmon, collected $5000 in cash and $20,000 in development resources from MentorMate. I see a lot of pitches, and hers was nearly flawless. Congrats, Karla, and all the best as you launch your app in early 2015.

The photos above are from my MobCon Flickr set (53 photos). And, if you’d like more highlights and snippets from the event, here are my many #MobCon tweets, a lot of them with photos. Cheers!

Rockin’ Appapalooza.

April 27, 2014 By Phil Wilson

As I walked into the room at TechnovationMN‘s Appapalooza I was hit by Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty to Me”. Wait, my mistake….it was the intro to the group “Talk Nerdy To Me,” a team of young women from Great River School presenting their application to the crowd. They were one of many teams of girls participating in the weekend event that served as the culmination of the Technovation Challenge. As noted in Graeme’s recent post, for the past 12 weeks, teams have been working on mobile applications that satisfy real problems in the community. The afternoon highlighted apps that provide help with organizing for school, preventing sexual assault and natural alternatives to current health and beauty products. All of the applications from teams like Tech Leopards, French Toast Mafia, and Talk Nerdy to Me are eligible to win up to $20,000 in funding for further development. It was great afternoon filled with music, fun, prizes and technology. The girls conceived, developed, and pitched their applications. Most importantly, it presented an exciting environment for young women to become involved in technology and inspire them as entrepreneurs…with a social conscience.

Skyway Holdings, Known for Minnesota’s First Tech Accelerator, Invests in Mashalot

December 21, 2013 By Tim Elliott

According to a recent press release, Skyway Holdings, the investment arm of Project Skyway,Minnesota’s first tech accelerator for entrepreneurs, has invested $200,000 to fund Mashalot.

It goes on to say:

Mashalot is the only free social network shopping app where the conversation is focused solely about shopping. This investment was the largest among the dozen investments made by Skyway Holdings this year.

Cem Erdem, a native of Turkey came to the US in 1994 and launched Augusoft Inc., the first software company to establish an online educational platform hosting lifelong learning systems. Following the success of Augusoft, Erdem co-founded Project Skyway with Casey Allen, to help early-stage tech entrepreneurs fulfill their ambitions through expediting connections with mentors, funding and other critical resources.

Entrepreneur John Marino created Mashalot, which garnered the attention of Erdem who saw major potential in the app’s ability to see what’s trending across the nation and around the world. The free app lets users snap a photo of an item they would like to buy or have purchased already, categorize it by creating a tag, include a description and share it simultaneously on Mashalot, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Tumblr.

For more information on Skyway Holdings and Cem Erdem visit: http://www.projectskyway.com/

Visit the App Store at www.AppStore.com to download Mashalot.

About Mashalot
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mashalot allows shoppers to share the who, what and where of their shopping experiences from anywhere in the world for free. Mashalot is the first free social network that is solely about shopping with the ability to share the social conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Tumblr. Let’s Go Shopping! For more information visit: www.mashalot.com, twitter.com/Mashalot orFacebook.com/Mashalot or download the app for free on iTunes.

Contact:
Amy Pandya/Karina St. Jean
Rogers & Cowan
apandya@rogersandcowan.com / kstjean@rogersandcowan.com
310-854-8262 / 310-854-8112

Focus on Mobile at MobiU

October 25, 2013 By Phil Wilson

The first ever Mobile University, or MobiU, rolled into Best Buy Headquarters on Thursday evening to talk about the Mobile Path to Purchase with some 50 attendees.

The agenda, presented by Heartland Mobile Council, included panels addressing mobile insights and lessons learned about the use of mobile in the consumer purchasing cycle.

What I was most impressed with was the focus group that was assembled to find out how “real” people use mobile in relationship to their buying habits.

While my first impression was that many in the focus group were perhaps more tech savvy than average, some were from Best Buy, there were enough mainstream consumers to offer some insight. Takeaways from the session included: the use of push notifications are clearly annoying and the first thing the group deactivated after signing up for a retail loyalty program. These notifications included both native and text messages.

Comments also highlighted some disconnect with brands and the technology they use. One participant noted that pricing not always matched between the mobile app and the store. Additionally, when I asked if any ever presented a mobile code or coupon to someone in a store, only to to be met with an unknowing blank stare, there were plenty of “yes” responses. And, while many went on to say that they could eventually find someone who was ‘in the know,’ they really shouldn’t have to.

The best part of the Focus Group panel were the ideas generated by the panelists themselves on what brands like Best Buy, Target and Cub could provide on a mobile platform, including helping locate specific products bia GPS.

The Heartland Mobile Council is a Chicago-based non-profit organization whose mission it is to educate brands on how to use mobile effectively. Founder Hugh Park Jedwill kicked off the evening with some remarks including plans of launching incubators and more events around the country. He emphasized that the MobiU was a “safe learning environment” where brands were welcome to take part, but not sell or make pitches. In fact, he talked so much about that environment and the actual Heartland Mobile Council, it started to sound much like a pitch itself.

All in all, the event was a solid evening of learning and exchanging of ideas. Any organization that can precipitate that kind of interaction on the topic of mobile is great…and needed to effectively capitalize on mobile technology.