mobile — Page 7

W3i Lights Up the ‘Net with Its Latest App News

June 29, 2010 By Graeme Thickins

Okay, so there’s this company named Apple that I hear makes phones. And people tell me there’s been, uh, a bit of news lately about some new phone of theirs? Well, that media firestorm didn’t stop Minnesota’s W3i LLC from deciding to jump in with some news of its own, which is actually related to the exploding ecosystem around Apple mobile devices. That would be apps.

St. Cloud-based W3i is in the app distribution business — in a big, profitable way (33 successive quarters thereof). But till now that business has been all about desktop apps, and Windows only. Well, mark down yesterday as the day they entered the world of mobile, with this bombshell: W3i Launches New Incented Mobile App Distribution Service for iOS App Developers. A separate version of the release, for consumers, gets more to the benefit: Consumers Can Now Earn Rewards for Installing Apps. Those rewards, my friends, would be cash — for consumers who register at a W3i site called Apperang.com.

Naturally, app fanboys and girls everywhere loved the news — after reading about it on some of the sites they frequent the most. TechCrunch (MobileCrunch) ran this story: Apperang Pays You Cash to Download iPhone Apps… Ka-Ching! And VentureBeat (MobileBeat) ran concurrently — amazing how that happens — with their take: Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang. Numerous other sites and blogs picked up on it immediately, and Twitter was going crazy on it (just search on hashtags #apperang and #w3i). [Oh, sure, there was a story in the StarTrib last week, too, but that didn’t light up much of anything… <rimshot>]

I asked the CEO of a local app development company for his reaction to this W3i news, from a business perspective: “The model and integration W3i has developed for desktop distribution has been a huge success in the past, so I wouldn’t bet against them on making their mobile version a success,” said Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp Inc. “For developers wanting to get a core base of users fast, it makes sense to use this service. The key will be how long those users keep your app, because that’s where the return on investment is.”

I also asked one of Minnesota’s most experienced iPhone app developers for his reaction: “Will app publishers readily jump to use this type of service? Small developers, maybe,” said Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. “But small developers may not have budget to support this type of promotion… Will it be enough to hit the tipping point for more organic sales because of a higher App Store ranking? Well, ultimately, it would depend on how much a company wants to spend to buy a ranking.”

But, actually, W3i signed on some pretty successful big developers for its private beta before the announcement yesterday (the service is now in public beta). That list of launch advertisers — just those that let W3i use their names for PR purposes — includes these firms, with the name of their app in parentheses: Big Stack Studios (Sigma), Inert Soap (FingerZilla), Booyah (MyTown), Gist (Gist), Thinking Ape (Kingdoms at War), Flixster (Movies), Slacker Inc (Slacker Radio), xCube Labs (My Health Records – Health n Family), and infinidycorp (Zombies vs. Aliens).

I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a lot more, as W3i tells me they are crazy-busy now following up with other app companies who are inquiring.

(Disclosure: the author has had a consulting relationship with W3i for providing PR services.)

iPhone 4: Is it enough?

June 7, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

As Minnesotans continue to embrace the always-on and always-connected online world — and mobile startups here continue to clock millions of app downloads with their offerings — there is no question that our ability to richly communicate with one another, be more productive, work when and where we want to, and have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips (provided our mobile carrier connection is operational!) took a big leap forward today with Apple’s introduction of iPhone 4.

Taking the stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) Monday, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone, a product we unfortunately had already seen in some detail due to April’s leak at tech site Gizmodo, but still eagerly anticipated.

Priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (same as the previous generation 3GS now priced at $99) iPhone 4’s features are impressive: a 5 megapixel camera (which Jobs pointed out was technically far superior to other smartphone manufacturers with even more megapixels); a camera in the front for videoconferencing and one in the back for photos; the rear camera lit with an LED flash; and recording software for HD video capture; and a 960 x 420 display that’s roughly twice the resolution as the 3GS model, now rendered permanently inferior to this new model with its cutting edge features.

The operating system driving this new phone, dubbed “iOS4” instead of “iPhone OS 4” since it will also be available to run the iPad come Fall, adds multitasking, clustering apps in “folders” and more. These features are key to keeping up with competitors — like that of Google’s Android operating system running devices such as the recently shipped HTC Evo 4 — but many pundits and bloggers are dissecting Jobs’ keynote and some are wondering if this new hardware and software will be enough to stave off competitors (like Google) and keep the iPhone sales momentum going? … [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 78: Mobile Speed Geeking

May 7, 2010 By Steve Borsch

The Gang discusses several topics but then talks with Kelly Heikilla from MixMobi who is out at the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit in Mountain View, CA, an event exploring the latest Mobile development trends — both the technology and the emerging business applications — in an unconference format. Kelly was just about to head to lunch and then go to the “speed geeking” event where he’d have a chance to pitch MixMobi over-n-over again to attendees (more here).

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Podsafe music by Matt Mays & El Torpedo and their song “Travellin”…from Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 50:55 — 29.7MB)

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Show Notes:
+ FCC Broadband (CNet has good overview here and FAQ here)
+ Toktumi and their Line2 app for iPhone
+ Kelly Heikilla brought up Burbn and Shopify
+ Graeme brought up Pedalbrain.

DoApp Signs L.A. Newspaper Group to Mobile Local News Publishing Platform

April 13, 2010 By Steve Borsch

DoApp Inc., the Rochester-based mobile development company behind such apps as WCCO for iPhone, Mobile Local News, iKenex for Real Estate, Adagogo mobile advertising, and mRemedy, a partnership between The Mayo Clinic and DoApp, just nnounced their Mobile Local News publishing platform has signed the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG). LANG properties include: Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Los Angeles City Guide (LA.com) and seven more properties.

The key thing about the Mobile Local News publishing platform is that it integrates directly in to a publishing groups infrastructure and extends it into the mobile space and that “...publications can get up and running quickly with their own, branded mobile app. A Mobile Local News app can be ready within 30 days. The app is usually in the iPhone App Store or Android Market in less than 10 days if all news feeds are ready to go.”

Nice client. Congratulations to Wade Beavers, Joe Sriver, Dave Borillo and the team at DoApp.

YouTube Interview with FCC Chairman Genachowski

March 18, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Here’s a followup to the post Why the FCC Broadband Plan Matters and worth a few minutes watching it:

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHmFekhcnmU

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 65: Talking the Apple iPad

January 30, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Thursday’s Apple iPad launch was the most hotly anticipated technology launch event in years. To say there was enthusiasm for the device amongst many is obvious, but the disappointment felt by technologists and geeks is palpable. We explore the iPad — it’s good points and bad — with Julio Ojeda Zapata, the St. Paul Pioneer Press (TwinCities.com) technology reporter who was at the event and had hands-on use of the device and he was live tweeting and posting photos which you can see on this page (http://minnov8.com/tablet/).

As you probably already know, Julio writes a Tech Test Drive column about gadgets, apps and social media (among other things). He is the author of Twitter Means Business, one of the first books about Twitter. He is also a sometime co-host of the Minnov8 Gang podcast (and will join us this Saturday to discuss this Apple event in more detail) and focuses his commentary on tech trends. See his Posterous geekstream. Contact him by e-mail or follow him on Twitter.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Duane Andrews and the tune is “Mr. Butler”.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:17 — 36.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Like to see the iPad Nano?
+ Mary Meeker’s Web 2.0 Summit presentation (PDF) & we referred to slide #38
+ Video of Walt Mossberg at the iPad launch, a portion of which he’s talking with Steve Jobs
+ Bill Heyman of Minnesota-based Codemorphic (mobile app developers) post on the iPad
+ Steve Borsch’s article on MinnPost about the iPad & his Apple A4 chip post and another post on Apple opening up VoIP
+ Leo Laporte head of TWiT and tech journalist Natali Del Conte
+ Stanza was acquired in 2009 by Amazon & The Wall Street Journal’s take on Apple vs. Amazon
+ Hitler’s response to the iPad

A Demo-licious Evening at Mobile Twin Cities

November 18, 2009 By Phil Wilson

mobiletwincities The relatively new mobile group Mobile Twin Cities, self described as “a group of technology enthusiasts…meeting to discuss trends and software on all mobile platforms.”gathered last night at the Refactr offices in Minneapolis. This group founded and organized by local developer Justin Grammens of Recursive Awesome (Full disclosure; Justin and I are also partners at Localtone Systems) hosted a night of mobile platform demos which was dubbed “Demo-licious”. Judging by the larger than normal crowd, that included developers, designers, marketers and mobile enthusiasts it was a great success. The mantra that Justin continues to chant “No programming experience needed! Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile enthusiasts are all welcome.” seems to be working.

The evening was chocked full of demos of apps and projects that leaves little doubt that mobile development in the Twin Cities is more than warm, if not downright HOT! I would like to have seen more apps that reach more phones and platforms than just iPhone and Android, but the evening didn’t disappoint in highlighting some useful or potentially useful tools.

Following Breon Nagy’s demo of the latest Android device, the Motorola Droid (which I finally got to play with…nice phone, slide out keyboard ain’t great.), from the evening’s sponsor Verizon. Here’s the run down of demos...

MixMobi-Lisa Foote and developer Kelly Heikkila presented this DIY mobile couponing application. You can see a complete Minnov8 walk-through in our earlier post about MixMobi.

Sudden Deals-Julian Reytel walked the group through this SMS based discount service. Based on geographical location a user can be alerted about special discounts from participating businesses. It’s currently limited to restaurant and bar businesses. I would suggest there is much more potential opportunity awaiting Sudden Deals beyond these two verticals. Perhaps malls, shopping areas or even shopping circulars offer a more diverse number of consumers.

3D Light Racer-Robert Green the group’s gamer extraordinaire and owner of Battery Powered Games (fun t-shirt as well) showed off just one of his latest game apps. Think Tron for you Android device. I heard many hushed comments behind me about how addictive this game is…. [Read More…]

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