Mobile Apps Drain Battery Because of Free Ads

Recently, we talked about how there are security risks associated with some mobile apps, not because of the app itself, but because of the ad module that runs within free apps to generate revenue. Now, we find that these same modules are also the biggest battery users in an otherwise efficient app. When I switched from a Blackberry to an iPhone, two things immediately irked me: lack of a raised QWERTY keyboard; and lousy battery life. Soon, friends clued me in to the fact that GPS and 3G were the biggest drains on my battery. So I learned how to better manage my location services, and how to get on Wi-Fi whenever possible. That, and how to carry a cord with me everywhere and plug in anytime I am not walking. These two principles...

Read more »

Wikipedia’s Mobile Apps Drop Google Maps for OpenStreetMap

In the world of online mapping, it feels like things aren’t quite going in Google’s direction these days: Apple switched away from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap when it launched iPhoto for iOS. Foursquare, too, announced a similar switch just a few weeks ago and today, Wikipedia switched to OpenStreetMap in the latest versions of its iOS and Android apps. As our own Josh Constine wrote last month, Google’s plan to charge high-volume users for access to its Maps APIs could backfire and this most recent defection is yet another clear signal that we will probably see quite a few more of these moves in the near future. While OpenStreetMap’s data wasn’t quite ready for prime time not too long ago, the service has greatly improved...

Read more »

Mobile app downloads to pass 66bn by 2016

Up from 31bn in 2011. The hunger for consumer apps will reach its highest point in 2016 when downloads will pass 66 billion, more than doubling the 31 billion downloads in 2011, according to Juniper research. Meanwhile, 87 per cent of downloads will be free apps, though developers are set to profit post-download from in-app purchases and subscriptions. Smartphones will continue to occupy the majority of the app market, though almost one in four downloads will be made via tablet. Dr Windsor Holden, report author, said: "Consumers are now demanding 24/7 access to services –  retail, financial, information, entertainment – wherever they are. "As a result, brands that wish to remain competitive have turned to apps as part of a...

Read more »

Path Adds Fresh Security Features to Mobile App

Path, which drew criticism in February over privacy breaches, upgraded the security for its mobile app on Monday. The iOS and Android upgrade to 3.1.1, announced on Path’s blog, includes the hashing of user contact data so such information will be unintelligible to hackers, at least in theory. Such data, includes last names, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter handles and Facebook IDs. Path, a social network that limits users’ networks to 50 people, initiated the new security features after a developer in February revealed that the Mac OS X version of the mobile app was sending users’ entire address book to Path’s servers without telling users. The revelation prompted Path CEO Dave Morin to issue an apology a few days later. Later...

Read more »

Windows Phone Passes 80,000 Mobile Applications

In the week before AT&T brings the Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan 2 to the American public, and with them the next concerted push by Microsoft to get Windows Phone into the smartphone space, the plucky young mobile operating system passed another statistical market, with more than 80,000 application submissions to the Windows Marketplace (reports All About Windows Phone). "Both the 80,000 apps and 20,000 publishers milestones, together with their respective growth rates, suggest the Windows Phone Marketplace is enjoying sustained and accelerating growth. It is now comfortably the third biggest mobile app ecosystem, behind Android (450,000+) and iOS (550,000+), but some way ahead of Blackberry (70,000) and Symbian (70,000)." As...

Read more »

Facebook Just Made It A Lot Easier To Make Awesome Mobile Apps

Facebook just did a really good thing for mobile app developers. It has open sourced its new mobile web testing software, Ringmark.  Anyone can use it for free and contribute their own tests to it. The goal of these tests is to help mobile apps run better in mobile browsers using the Web's next generation browser tech, HTML5. Today, creators of mobile apps have to create a version for each device -- iPhone, Android (by version), and so on. While this is fine for Apple, Google, Amazon and their app stores, it's a time sink for the people writing the apps. HTML5 promises to give mobile apps another option. Apps will run in a mobile browser, not directly on the device. But because mobile browsers are not all the same, and because...

Read more »

IPL 2012: Mobile apps to feed your T20 addiction

With temperatures rising and IPL just about to begin, we give you a few apps that could help you stay updated with the latest scores while on-the-move. IPL Dugout The app uses orange and white as 2 basic colour schemes. The user interface is pretty simple. The menu which gives you a range of options like Teams, Points, Fixtures, Results to name a few are laid out in two columns. The Home screen flashes the Live score and supposedly also has an in-built ticker for scores and IPL news. The Points table is very simple. It enlists all the teams along with their wins,losses, matches played etc. The Teams option helps you see the list of teams playing this year along with the owner of each team. You can also tap on each team to get...

Read more »

Path Improves Security in Mobile App

  Path, the mobile social network, announced on Monday that it had added a privacy feature to its mobile application. The update comes two months after it was discovered that some app makers, including Path, were copying people’s address book data without permission. In some instances the data was stored unencrypted on company servers. “We take privacy and security seriously, and we believe your data deserves to be well protected,” the company said in a short blog post. It went on to say that Path version 2.1.1, which is in the iTunes App Store, enhances security by adding a protective layer called hashing to data sent to Path’s servers. Hashing turns text into an unintelligible string of letters and numbers...

Read more »

Self-service platform lets SMBs advertise within mobile apps

With AdLeads from Pontiflex, small businesses pay only for actual signups, not for accidental clicks that often happen while people are using their mobile device. If your small business has been flirting with the idea of sending mobile advertisements to iPhone, iPad and Android devices, you might want to check out a new service called AdLeads. The platform was created by Pontiflex, mobile app development and service company in Brooklyn, N.Y. The technology allows SMBs to run mobile advertisements within free mobile applications. That in itself might not be all that unusual; what is a twist, however, is the fact that your company only has to pay for an AdLeads lead when someone actually signs up and shares his or her contact information....

Read more »

Escape From The Walled Garden: How HTML5 Trumps Native Mobile Apps

  While there is some worthwhile discussion around “should you have a mobile app, website or both,” there’s a strong case for building app-like mobile website experiences with HTML5. Not only can you achieve much of the functionality you can with native apps, there’s less friction (users do not need to download an app). And when it comes to monetizing your app, HTML5 enables you to reclaim profitability and control over the customer relationship that is lost in the “walled garden” of the app store.You may have heard that Apple takes a 30% bite of all subscription-based content apps sold through its App Store (yes, that’s recurring revenue). This is tough to swallow for many content publishers, especially as more people convert...

Read more »