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Mobile App Discovery Not Getting Easier; ‘Zombies’ Gaining

February 2, 2015 By Graeme Thickins

Image ©TelegraphUK

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

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, WadeBeaversCEO, 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 RobWeberyears (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.

Filed Under: Mobile Technology, News & Events, Startups & Developers Tagged With: DoApp, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 291 – Tim is NOT happy!

December 13, 2014 By Steve Borsch

Poor Vikings fanboy Tim Elliott. He doesn’t understand why Vikings RB Adrian Peterson’s suspension appeal denied by arbitrator. The other three of us, um, shook our shoulders and went on to talk technology innovation!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: The Complainer’s Boogie Woogie by William Clarke. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20141213_M8_Gang_291.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:16:26 — 44.9MB)

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Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
  • Arrow IoT Immersion
  • Digital River shares plummet after Microsoft deal update
    • Will Digital River lose its biggest customer? It wouldn’t be the first time
  • Target is staging ground for Google’s 3D ‘Project Tango’
    • Project MARS
  • CenturyLink-fiber clues from reader
  • When CenturyLink fiber? New clues
  • HCMC mingling with small companies in new incubator
    • Hennepin Medical joins TreeHouse Health accelerator in Minneapolis
    • Techstars, Mayo Clinic Team Up to Launch Post-Accelerator Program
      • Techstars
      • YCombinator
      • Mayo Clinic Ventures
  • NativeX sheds 12 positions at its Sartell headquarters

 

Past Week’s Other Big Stories
  • Big changes ahead for Windows: ‘We’ve got to monetize it differently’ 
  • Google releases Android Studio 1.0, the first stable version of its IDE
  • LastPass follows Dashlane in letting you change loads of your passwords at once
    • Dashlane (WSJ review)
  • Apple
    • iDevices working with Apple to fast track HomeKit product development with its own SDK
    • Apple to begin Apple Watch mass production this month
Cool Thing of the Week

Phil: Pyro
Tim: The Innovators, by Walter Isaacson
Graeme: The Beatles Lyrics: The Stories Behind the Music
Steve: Media Temple SSD-based Grid, VPS and Dedicated

Upcoming Events
  • February
    • Date Night: How Data Science Leads to “I do”, February 3, 2015 (tickets)
  • March
    • Mobile March, March 26th, 2015
  • April
    • Twin Cities TechPulse 2015 – April 21, 2015

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Google, Microsoft, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 267 – Dick Tracy is PO’ed

June 7, 2014 By Steve Borsch

dick-tracys-tech_mainWe’re hearing a lot about wearable technologies, but a certain detective is pretty pissed off that he isn’t getting credit for it. We talk about Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), rumored iWatch for this fall, and much more.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week).
Music: I’d Rather Get Shot Down by Texarillo. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20140607_M8_Gang_267.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:04 — 34.1MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota’s Top Stories

  • Target
    • Minneapolis will get Target’s same-day delivery and in-store maps on app first
    • Target Takes Aim at On-the-Go Millennials with Mobile Commerce Push
  • Developer Debuts Free Coupon App For Local Restaurants
  • NativeX Unveils Native Ad Exchange For Mobile Games
  • Apple, Mayo partner on iOS health monitor

Last Week’s Other Big Stories

  • Apple
    • The 22 most important things Apple announced at WWDC 2014
      • WWDC 2014 Videos
    • Articles
      • What’s Apple Really Up To? Keeping You in Apple World
      • Swift: Apple’s next-generation programming language 4 years in the making
      • Code/red: Yes, Apple’s First Wearable Device Is Slated for October
      • Intruders for the Plugged-In Home, Coming in Through the Internet 

Other Links to Topics Discussed During the Show

  • HTTPS Everywhere
  • There Is One Movie Neil deGrasse Tyson Approves Of Scientifically

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Do you connect up to any Wifi location that’s handy? Do you have auto-connect enabled on your smartphone or tablet? Do you double-check that “Caribou Wifi” is actually Caribou Coffee’s…or is it some black hat hacker’s laptop pretending to be Caribou’s Wifi to which you’ll be connecting?

Steve discusses “The Evil Twin Hack” and will give you tips on how to stay safe. Also mentions VPN Private Internet Access.

Upcoming Events

  • INVESTyR’s Fundraising in the Digital Economy 1st Tue of each month 3:30-4:30pm
  • Twin Cities Geekettes + Surescripts Present: Intro to Agile – June 10th
  • Mobile Twin Cities June 17th at Code 42. Josh Walker talks WWDC. (Details to come)
  • Hack for MN 2014 at the Nerdery June 21st-22nd
  • TreeHouse Health: Business Formation and Employment Issues – June 24th
  • Cyber Security Summit 2014 Oct 21st

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, iOS, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 238 – Stop Your Whining

November 1, 2013 By Steve Borsch

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: We Are Stars  Artist: Leaving Richmond. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast
http://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20131101_Minnov8_Gang_238.mp3

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 51:36 — 42.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20131101_Minnov8_Gang_238.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:36 — 30.4MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota Stories

  • Tedx Lakeville: Phil’s review
  • Imation Divests Business As Losses Keep Mounting
  • Digital River sells businesses, cuts jobs
    • Former Microsoft Exec. Joins Digital River as COO
  • Best Buy Tries To Co-Opt ‘Showrooming’ This Holiday Season
    • Stores Are About to Push Further Into Thanksgiving Day
  • NativeX launches new ad tech so developers can make more money off their games
    • GDC Next
  • New 3D Printing Company Formed
    • 3D Printing Ally website
  • Shatter Buggy
  • Stop Your Whining (Borsch’s post on buying a Mac IIci in August of 1990 for $4,193)
    • Engadget’s fun (but fake) 1985 post

Other Stories

  • Car trouble? There’s an app for that
    • Automatic Smart Driving Assistant
  • Google’s Nexus 5 with KitKat available today, starting at $349
  • Apple
    • iPad Air Launch Day
    • iPad Air Teardown
  • Public Service Announcement for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

 Upcoming Events

  • MobCon 2013 November 7-8
  • CityCampMN 2013, November 9
  • TIES 2013 Education Technology Conference, December 14-17

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Best Buy, Google, iPad, Microsoft, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 233 – Prince’s Awkwardly Shaped Guitar Center

September 28, 2013 By Steve Borsch

princeHosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week).
Music: Great Dividing Blues  Artist: Gerry Joe Weise. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20130928_M8_Gang_233.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:10 — 32.9MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota Stories

  • Mobile App Contest In Mpls To Award $50K In Prizes
  • Target debuts digital-video movie service
    • Uses Ultraviolet to protect content
    • Ultraviolet website
  • Post-it Brand and Evernote Collaborate to Bridge the Analog Digital Gap
  • NativeX lays off 45 employees, including 28 locally
  • Letterman’s top 10 least successful Minnesota businesses (including one about Prince)

Other Stories and Links

  • Apple’s iPhone 5s And iPhone 5c Sell 9M Units Over Opening Weekend, Topping 5M For iPhone 5 Last Year
  • Martha Stewart breaks iPad, is disappointed that Apple fails to kiss her butt
  • Microsoft announces Surface Pro 2 with updated kickstand and Haswell processor
  • Bill Gates: Control-Alt-Delete was a mistake
  • Is Ford’s Alan Mulally Now in the Lead to Be New CEO of Microsoft?
  • Amazon refreshes Kindle Fire HD with new body, $139 price tag
  • The IT Crowd
  • Monoprice
  • Listen to This Tom and Jerry Music Performed Like You’ve Never Heard Before

Upcoming Events

  • INVESTyR’s “Fundraising in the Digital Economy”. First Tuesday of every month: 3:30-4:30pm at CoCo Minneapolis
  • Minnesota Developers Conference 2013 – Sept 26th 8-5pm
  • Tech Cocktail Minneapolis Social – October 2, 6:30-9:00 pm, The Open Book
  • Grace Hopper / Women in Computing, October 2 – 5, 7am – 5pm
    • Who was Grace Hopper?
  • Minnedemo 15, October 9th: Apply to present (more event details to come)
  • Life Science Lean-In, MinneAnalytics Forum, Friday, October 11, 2013 (all day)
  • Ed Jam Twin Cities, October 17-19, 2013
  • Twin Cities Code Camp 15, October 19, 2013, 8 – 5pm
  • Cyber Security Summit 2013, October 22-23
  • Startup Weekend Twin Cities 5, October 25-27, 2013, 5 – 7pm
  • MobCon 2013 November 7-8

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, mobile, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 221 – Oh Touch Me, Touch Me

June 15, 2013 By Steve Borsch

touch-me3M’s Touch Screen, Best Buy, Apple’s WWDC, the Internet of Things and more are discussed by the Gang this week.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: I Pretend They’re All You by The PowerGoats. From the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20130614_M8_Gang_221.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:12 — 38.2MB)

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Discussed during the show…

  • Minnesota Stories:
    • 3M introduces Multi-Touch Display screens
    • Honeywell introduces city-controlled thermostat system for homes
    • Best Buy adds new store-within-a-store: Windows
    • No WWDC reveal excited me more than iWork for iCloud (by Julio Ojeda-Zapata)
  • Apple
    • Apple debuts iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, and new Macs at WWDC
    • Watch this: Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote in exactly 10 minutes
  • Google
    • Google’s Project Loon
    • Meet Google’s ‘Project Loon:’ Balloon-powered ‘net access
  • Internet of Things
    • What’s Holding Up The Internet Of Things
    • MQTT
    • Digi’s new platform business Etherios
    • Xively by LogMeIn
    • ThingWorx
  • Others
    • Lucas And Spielberg Predict “Massive Implosion” Of Hollywood Caused By Tech Industry
    • Robert Weber: Pursue the Lemonade Stand
  • Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
    • PreyProject (Mac/Windows/Linux/iOS/Android)
    • Securing your Mac (contains tips Steve mentioned)

Upcoming Events

  • WordPress MSP, Thursday, June 27th at 7pm, The Nerdery
  • Becoming a Customer Company, July 17, 2013, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (featuring Jeremiah Owyang, Altimeter Group, and Peter Coffee, Salesforce)
  • Twin Cities Drupal Camp 2013, July 18-20
  • Cyber Security Summit 2013, October 22-23

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Best Buy, Google, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 210 – The Internet is Broken?

March 30, 2013 By Steve Borsch


Steve returns to The Gang after 3 weeks and Phil is spring breaking but three of us dissect the top stories of the week including Best Buy’s founder returning, did hackers really break the internet last week and T-Mobile’s aggressive announcements.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins (Phil Wilson is off this week).

Music: Dangerous Things from George Fletcher’s Bourbon Renewal/The Tequila Mockingbirds. From the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20130330_M8_Gang_210.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:05 — 38.2MB)

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Discussed during the show…

  • Best Buy
    • Best Buy, RedLaser partner on mobile app strategy
    • Founder Richard Schulze rejoins Best Buy as chairman emeritus
    • Expect Hubert Joly to Lose His Job at Best Buy
    • Losers Return to Best Buy to Oversee Second Death Spiral
  • Did the internet break last week?
    • The DDoS That Almost Broke the Internet
    • That Internet War Apocalypse Is a Lie
    • When spammers go to war: Behind the Spamhaus DDoS
  • Steve’s Security Tip of The Week
    • Anatomy of the Apple ID password reset exploit
    • Password denied: when will Apple get serious about security?
  • T-Mobile
    • T-Mobile’s UnCarrier event roundup
    • We Did The Math, And It Turns Out The T-Mobile iPhone 5 Could Save You A Bunch Of Money
  • Facebook phone?
    • Facebook To Reveal “Home On Android”
    • Facebook’s Home On Android Could Give You A Sixth Sense For Your Social Life
  • Others
    • Game Developer’s Conference
    • Minnesota Cup Commences Ninth Annual Competition
    • Yahoo Paid $30 Million in Cash for 18 Months of Young Summly Entrepreneur’s Time
    • Is It Real? With New Technology Has Activision Crossed The ‘Uncanny Valley’?
    • SendInc
    • Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School
    • Mike Elgan, tech writer

Upcoming Events…

  • WordPress MSP, Thursday, March 28 at The Nerdery
  • MinneBar 8, Saturday April 6, 9-5pm, Best Buy Headquarters
  • 2013 Nonprofit Technology Conference, April 11, 2013 – Saturday, April 13, 2013, Hilton Minneapolis
  • Minne-Fair / Maker and DIY Exposition, April 13, 2013 – Sunday, April 14, 2013
  • MinneWebCon, April 15, 2013 at 8:00 AM – April 16, 2013 at 4:30 PM, U of M Continuing Education & Conference Center
  • WordCamp MSP, April 27, 2013 – Sunday, April 28, 2013
  • Twin Cities Code Camp 14, April 27, 2013
  • Midwest Mobile Summit, downtown Fargo, ND, April 28-29
  • MHTA’s Spring Conference, April 30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center
  • EyeO Festival, June 5-8, Walker Art Center

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Best Buy, cloud computing, Minnebar, NativeX

W3i Rebrands, Launches Native Ad Platform for App Devs, Adds Trip Hawkins as Senior Advisor

March 20, 2013 By Graeme Thickins

Final_GDC_Booth_5W3i, one of Minnesota’s largest and fastest-growing Internet companies, with headquarters in St. Cloud and offices in Minneapolis and San Francisco, just made a major announcement today.  The company has changed its name to NativeX and completely rebranded around a new platform to help developers better monetize their apps. The focus for W3i has long been primarily (though not exclusively) on game apps, so it’s no surprise the announcement was timed to hit the wire as the company prepares for the huge Game Developers Conference, which takes place all next week in San Francisco.

With this move, the company is positioning to jump on what is becoming a clear trend toward advertising that is more specific, or native, to various web platforms, as opposed to the old, tired banner advertising, which everyone loves to hate.  W3i, now Native X, clearly wants to own the concept for apps, and what better way than to use the term right in their name?

A key part of the announcement today, adding mucho cred with the gaming community, is the addition of Trip Hawkins as an http://www.kmendozaphoto.com (408) 315-4714“advisor to the board.”  Trip, whom the company rightfully calls an “industry giant,” has a history going back to Apple’s early days. You can read all about him here on his Wikipedia page.

“Native advertising is the future,” Hawkins says in the news announcement. “Every major publisher on mobile and web has their eye on native advertising right now. NativeX is proving that we as an industry can do better than banner ads.”

What many observers would find even more interesting about this new initiative of W3i (now NativeX) is that a guy named Young Sohn is chairman of its board.  (More on Young below.)

I conducted an email interview with Rob Weber, cofounder and EVP of NativeX, after I got early word of this news last night:

Why did you decide to rebrand the company?

RobWeber“As we reviewed our marketing strategy, it became clear to us that the name “W3i” didn’t convey what we are all about. In the digital media world, most industry experts would agree that display advertising is broken. Even the largest banner ad units result in CPMs for publishers only in the $2.00 range, max. The reason for the low performance is display ads don’t drive engagement, and ultimately value, for marketers. This is why Google invented a more ‘native’ ad unit for its business (paid search), Facebook created new ad units built for the news feed, Twitter launched sponsored tweets, and, locally, DoApp introduced ‘RSS news ads.’  We are focused on solving this problem for consumer app developers, and we felt like the name ‘nativeX’ speaks directly to where we are headed — creating new, native ad units for developers that bring strong monetization to their business.”

How did you get connected to Trip? What role will he play?

“I was first introduced to Trip about a year ago by a mutual friend on a trip to San Francisco. We stayed in touch, and it became clear he could help us in a number of ways. Trip will provide a strategic perspective to our board with respect to what is going on in mobile and in the app space, which is dominated by game apps. Trip will help us build even stronger ties and awareness within the broader app world, and specifically in the Bay Area. On a personal level, Trip has also been helpful as a mentor to me.”

How long have you been planning this?  Who drove the rebranding?

“Plans have been in the works for a few months, and the rebranding effort has been led by our new VP of Marketing, Diana LaGattuta, DianaLaGattutabased in San Francisco.” [Ed.: Her photo at right, and her bio appears on the NatixeX web site.]

What changes will result to the organization locally, if any? 

“In terms of local changes, we expect a clearer message to our target clients, along with the new technology we are launching, will enable us to continue to increase the value of our company, which will result in us ontinuing to hire even more folks locally.”

How will this affect your SF organization? Will you be expanding it?

“We are looking to grow additional headcount in all three of our offices — Sartell, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. The Bay Area has a lot of relevant talent for a business like ours, and we plan to add significant headcount there. We’ve seen that the Bay Area talent we already have gives us the opportunity to increase our perspective, which helps the rest of the team grow faster.”

Does it mean any significant new hiring plans right away?

“We have lots of hiring plans immediately. Check out our career page for specifics.” [Ed.: That would be here.  No specific jobs listed there yet, but there sure is some enticing copy. And an email link to apply.]

What new partnerships, if any, will become a part of this new initiative?

“We will continue to ramp partnerships with mobile and desktop app developers. For example, in October we announced a new partnership with one of the globally most popular mobile app developers in the world, Imangi Studios, maker of the smash hit Temple Run. We have some other new partnerships that will be similar, but taking advantage of our new native technology.”

What are the long-term implications in this for your company?

“We think the rebranding and new technology will help us create further differentiation in the market. We think we can own ‘native advertising’ within the app space. Expect to see more specifics in terms of new products, technology, partnerships, and more tied to this ‘native’ approach.”

What if anything can we read into this because you have the Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung on your board?

“Young was 100% supportive of our rebranding.”

Rob Weber and his company have long been champions of developers, not only helping them make money with their apps, but even helping them get funding to launch or expand. He wrote a guest post on VentureBeat earlier this month, Six ways the Five Horsemen of Tech can build better app ecosystems, in which he spoke about that. (The “Five Horseman” being Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Samsung.)

#3 Lend a Hand: Create Funding Programs for Developers

This one is also fairly obvious. On one hand, you have large thriving companies generating billions of dollars in revenue every year. On the other hand, you have an app market that gets more cutthroat every day and is filled with bootstrapped developers struggling to stay competitive. All of the horsemen should be creating sizable developer funds to help them build the teams and infrastructure they need to make great apps. Such funds would also encourage developers to leverage the horsemen’s technology and make something innovative on their platform. Samsung is a great example of this. With their recently announced $100 million Samsung Catalyst Fund, Samsung will expand their brand, work with great developers, and help build their app ecosystem as clarified at the recent Dive Into Media conference.

Horseman that does this the best: Samsung*

*Full disclosure, the Chairman of our board at nativeX, Young Sohn, is President and Chief Strategy Officer at Samsung, and is involved in overseeing Samsung’s fund.

Young Sohn will surely play a role in guiding NativeX to even more growth going forward. Stay tuned!

By the way, I will be reporting from GDC next week myself, including updates about Minneapolis-based startup Canopy, which also will have a presence there.

——-

(My disclosure: I provided consulting services to W3i in past years, but have no current contractual relationship with the firm.)

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: mobile, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 197 – Perfect 2013 Predictions?

December 29, 2012 By Steve Borsch

perfect2013Even top-tier baseball players have hits and whiffs at the plate. The Gang had both from our 2012 predictions, but we have some quite good ones for 2013. Are they perfect? You decide.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Lights are On But Nobody’s Home by Albert Collins. Brought to us by Music Alley.

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The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20121229_M8_Gang_197.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01:19 — 35.9MB)

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Discussed during the show…

  • Last year’s predictions show: Minnov8 Gang 150
  • “Pagemaker for HTML5” likely from Adobe (see, “Adobe Edge“)
  • AppleTV Rumors 
  • Randi Zuckerberg’s “inadvertent photo release”
  • Wearable technology:
    • Definition on Wikipedia
    • Google Glass
    • Pebble Watch 
  • Android malware
  • “Internet of Things” and Intel’s “Moore’s Law Radio“
  • Asus, Acer & others to debut cheap Android tablets at CES
  • Apple will have blowout earnings in late January
  • Best Buy will go private and begin divesting massive amounts of real estate. Of note:
    • Big Box retail downtrending
    • Malls not doing well
  • The crowdfunding promise of the Jobs Act
  • The Great California Exodus
  • Context-aware technologies
  • Chromebook
  • How Steve Ballmer could exit Microsoft gracefully
  • Internet Radio Royalty reform? 

Upcoming Events…

  • Saturday, January 5th: DaVinci Fest, Stillwater High School
  • Monday, January 21st: MinneAnalytics BigDataMN: Minnesota’s Field Guide to Analytics
  • Thursday, January 24th: Wordpress MSP, The Nerdery
  • Sat/Sun March 2-3rd: Midwest PHP Conference
  • Thursday, March 21st: Mobile March 2013

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Best Buy, cloud computing, Google, iPad, NativeX

Minnov8 Gang 195 – Apocalypse NOT!

December 14, 2012 By Steve Borsch

You can rest easy now: NASA says the world will not end on December 21st of this year (phew)! We’ve averted a calendar-driven apocalypse (how did that even start!?!) so go ahead and make plans for Christmas, New Years or whatever else you have coming up.

The Gang discusses several stories but started off with Minnedemo (here is a list of who presented), the MIMA Holiday Party and the W3i Minnesota Tech Holiday Bash.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Waiting by Freeky Clean brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast
https://media.blubrry.com/minnov8/minnov8.com/site/wp-content/uploads/podcasts/20121214_M8_Gang_195.mp3

Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:03 — 34.7MB)

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Discussed during the show…

  • Imation getting into cloud data backup services
  • Schulze is expected to make his bid for Best Buy this week
  • 8thBridge 2nd Annual Social Commerce Study
  • Google Maps for iPhone is here
  • First OS X fake installer malware spotted 
  • Registration Now Open for Mobile March 2013 
  • An Awesome Guy Made a Flying Drone Armed with a Paintball Gun
    • The Burrito Bomber
  • Android:
    • Google Play and Amazon’s Android Store
    • Lookout Security & Antivirus
    • Google’s Schmidt: Android is ‘winning that war’ with Apple 
  • Samsung’s chief strategy officer admits to using Apple’s iPhone, iPad & Mac at home (also W3i Board Chair)
  • Intel’s Tiny Wi-Fi Chip Could Have a Big Impact 
  • $20 Android tablet by Datawind
    • Ubislate (the 7Ci is $82.99 U.S. with free shipping if purchased online)

Upcoming Events…

  • Monday, January 21st: MinneAnalytics Forum – BigDataMN: Minnesota’s Field Guide to Analytics (500 already registered!)
    • More breakout speakers sought – contact Dan Atkins: dan(at)dananalytics(dot)net
  • Friday, December 21st: SMBMSP #52, Jumping Tracks – Tales of Radical Career Shifts
  • Monday, January 21, BigDataMN: Minnesota’s Field Guide to Analytics
  • Sat/Sun March 2-3: Midwest PHP Conference
  • Thursday, March 21st: Mobile March 2013

Filed Under: Minnov8 Gang Podcast Tagged With: Android, Apple, Best Buy, Google, MIMA, MinneDemo, mobile, NativeX, SMBMSP

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