Designed for startups, Express helps young companies validate the quality & performance of their mobile apps, as well as speed up their app store approval process. Think of Express as a time machine for mobile app developers: they can transport a month or two into the future to see what type of ratings their apps will likely receive and if there are any major defects — before they launch.

Whether you’ve built an app for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, WinMo or Symbian, Express makes it easy to get real-world testing and expert feedback that meets your needs and budget. Oh, did we forget to mention that plans start at only $499? That’s half of what you probably spent on Red Bull and Starbucks while you were building your location-based, freemium, socially-linked, caffeine-free, voice-powered, 3D, virtual reality, highly-addictive, semantic-searching, gaming-layered, hybrid-powered, native app, right?.

For each project, uTest handpicks members of its tester community from North America who best match the testing requirements and have the right mobile devices and operating systems. The customer’s mobile application is then tested professionally on real devices across real carriers, providing real-world testing results and expert feedback that aren’t possible with emulators, simulators or remote access.

At the conclusion of each project, customers receive a list of well-documented bugs, including screenshots and videos with steps to reproduce them. They also receive expert feedback from the testers about the application – including app ratings and feedback for interface design, usability, app performance and more. To learn more about how it works,  watch this brief Product Tour.

Here are a few key features of the service:

• Cost-Effective: With three testing packages available, uTest Express offers mobile app testing to fit any startup budget;
• Easy-to-Use: A simple interface walks customers through a series of questions to identify their testing needs and facilitate the creation of the testing project;
• Professional Testers: Testers are selected from our community of 35,000+ professional testers;
• Real Devices and Carriers: Testing on real devices and real carriers – no emulators, simulators or remote access
• All Major Mobile Platforms Available: uTest Express is available for all mobile operating systems including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian;
• Accessible 24/7: Customers can access their testing projects on-the-go, using uTest’s downloadable app for the iPhone and iPad, or through the traditional browser-based interface.

The launch coincides nicely with our trip to CTIA Wireless – one of the largest mobile technology events in the world – so we’ll be spending the next few days talking to some of the most promising names in the business about this unique new service.

In the meantime, if you’re early-stage startup looking for an easy, affordable way of testing your latest mobile app (or your latest version), look no further than uTest Express.

But you know this.  And you also know that some app stores are a whole lot better at courting talent than others.  The good ones know that you don’t want roses or chocolate (well, occasionally wouldn’t hurt, right?).  What you really want is a faster, more streamlined approval process and a pricing structure that makes it worth your while.  You’re under a ton of pressure to speed your product to market, and probably feel the heat most when you’re doing the testing necessary to make sure you get those 5-star reviews out the gate…versus the dreaded 2-stars.  [cue the scary music]

That’s why RIM gets kudos this week for listening to the developer community and making a series of announcements on their dev blog that will simplify the Blackberry app store certification process.  Among them, they removed the requirement that developers must submit notarized proof of identification to distribute their apps on their storefront. They also posted some educational information to make it easier for developers to build apps for the BlackBerry Playbook.

Considering recent research, including a survey released in late 2010 by Appcelerator, that reports interest is waning for building BlackBerry apps, RIM is stepping up its game to make sure Android and iPhone don’t hog developers’ dance cards.  Time will tell…

What do you think?  Feeling confident that BlackBerry’s dev relations are headed in the right direction?

Out of the 101.2 million Q4 worldwide shipments of smartphones, Android claimed 33.3 million compared to Symbian’s 31 million. Apple’s iOS took the bronze with 16.2 million smartphone shipments, followed by RIM with 14.6 million, and Microsoft rounds out the list with 3.1 million devices shipped.

There is no denying that, just as Apple’s iOS revolutionized the smartphone category, Android has come on the scene and made major waves as well. Take a look at the graphs and the article here, both courtesy of Nielsen, to see this impact in vivid color.

How will the recently launched Verizon iPhone impact smartphone market shares? It’s not clear right now, but if pre-order reports are any indication, it could be quite significant. And what about the impact of Windows Phone 7 OS? Still too early to tell.

What is clear, is that some of the one-time industry leaders are being challenged and even surpassed. Unless they respond with new and better versions, they’ll be left on the sidelines to watch as the new kids on the block (no, not the real NKOTB) take over. All we can say for those who are looking up at the leaders is to keep “hangin’ tough.”

Yesterday, Kelton Research announced the results of their study on mobile enterprise apps, and I think they may shock you. According to Kelton, a whopping 90% of U.S. and UK IT managers surveyed will implement new mobile apps in 2011! 250 IT managers in the U.S. and UK at companies with revenue of $100MM+ were polled.

At first, I thought these stats seemed slightly inflated, but the more research I did, the more surveys I found that indicated that 2011 is indeed the year of the mobile enterprise app. In fact, ABI Research expects worldwide enterprise mobile data revenues to reach $133 billion by 2014.

With new apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, and Android making deep in-roads in healthcare, finance, education, media, and retail, employees are using mobile apps to access everything from CRM systems, to financial results, to marketing campaigns, to tracking orders, etc.

Another very interesting finding in the Kelton study… Saving money is the most popular reason (63%) for deploying mobile apps (chart above). I agree with Eric Lai of ZDNet who said, “It’s heartening, as it shows that mobilizing appears to be a fiscally sound strategy, not something with a pie-in-the-sky ROI.”

Some other interesting stats from the study include:

• Nearly one in two believe that successfully managing mobile applications will top their priority list
• 56% consider customizing company information for mobile purposes a crucial part of conducting business
• 21%  look to introduce 20 or more mobile apps into their organization
• IT managers report that possible data security issues with mobile applications cause more problems (65 percent) than implementation (25 percent) or employee adoption hurdles (10 percent)
• One in two respondents (50 percent) say that employee demand is driving the adoption of new mobile apps

Do you think enterprises are ready?

But while the pundits discuss how this new alliance with affect user stats, downloads and stock prices – and while AT&T and Verizon exchange jabs – I wanted to take a minute and discuss the implications it has for mobile app testing. The practice, that is, not the website.

Until now, Apple had made things relatively easy for mobile app developers. I know that may sound absurd to developers who have lost hair and sleep over problems with UDIDs and App Store acceptance, but it’s true. You see, unlike Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and the others, Apple simplified the testing process by having only one device manufacturer and carrier. Sure, you still needed to make sure your iPhone app worked across iOS 3G, 3GS and 4, but the overall testing matrix was much less complicated. Ask any Android developer.

That’s about to change in a big way.

But don’t take my word for it. We recently asked Matt Evans, the former QA Director of the Palm Pre smartphone, for his thoughts on mobile testing challenges in the coming years ahead. Granted this was before the Verizon news came out, but see if you can put 2 and 2 together based on his insight:

The biggest difference between a web product and mobile device is the amount of testing and certification that must precede the launch of a mobile product. A smartphone such as the Pre is an incredibly complex and highly integrated piece of technology–much more so than a typical web application. First off, a smartphone contains a fully-functional OS, usually based on some variant of Linux running on very constrained hardware. It must perform all of its concurrent services utilizing limited memory and limited CPU horsepower. The smartphone must also respond correctly to the multitude of many current events, from those generated from the environment–like switching from wifi to a WAN internet connection–to handling data input from the user, as well as handling events from the onboard applications.

Launching a mobile product requires exhaustive certification of individual hardware components such as the CPU, modems, codecs, and displays. Even then, the finished product is really launched by the carrier and must go through their exhaustive certification tests as well. Testing an onboard mobile application is also a much harder testing task. There are so many conditions and constraints that are involved in testing a mobile application. A typical mobile application is nearly functionally equivalent to any counterpart desktop client-side web application. Take, for example, a mobile email application. It must behave and interact with the server-side application in nearly the same way as a desktop web client. The established protocols were designed for a stable communications environment, but this is just not the case in a mobile environment. The internet connection may be lost and reconnected very rapidly. The connection may even be lost for long periods of time. The application may, at any moment, be swapped out of memory. The system may be shut down abruptly. Lots of system conditions happen in a smartphone that would rarely or never happen in the context of a desktop web client application. However, a mobile application must perform its main functional operations of retrieving and sending messages flawlessly with no loss of data and full operational integrity. Testing mobile applications under these environmental scenarios is a huge challenge. In short, testing a web application is no easy task, but mobile applications and products represent a much tougher and larger testing challenge. (Link)

…The biggest challenge I see is around compatibility testing and maintaining a consistent user experience across the landscape of platforms. To be competitive in today’s web-enabled software market, you need to support a variety of platform interfaces. It is now expected that any web-accessible service will include feature-rich clients for iPhones, iPads, tablets, smartphones, desktops, and kiosks. The compatibility matrix starts to explode when you add in device models, OS versions, and other configuration-dependent attributes. In my experience, you do need to test on real hardware and configurations. Emulation capabilities do help, but at the end of the day you can not be sure of software behavior unless you test it on live hardware. Its a real problem that doesn’t seem to get better with the plethora of new platforms available to users. (Link)

One would have to think that the parties involved here (Apple and Verizon) have been testing the waters longer than they’d care to disclose, so we expect them to be prepared. But what might seem like a smooth, seamless transition for Apple, Verizon and their millions of users, will be nothing of the sort for iPhone app developers, who face an entirely new set of testing challenges.

What say you?

According to ReadWriteMobile, a new study by barcode tech company ScanBuy claims that barcode scanning is up 700% in 2010!

Android was the most popular smartphone platform by far with 45% of barcode users, followed by Blackberry (27%), iPhone (15%), Symbian (9%), Java (3%) and Windows Mobile (1%).
Other Key Findings Include:

• Health and beauty products were the most popular items among 1D (UPC) scans with 21% of users, followed by groceries (14.4%), books (12.6%) and kitchen items (9.2%).
• Over 45 countries have scanned barcodes.
• Linking to a website is the most popular action delivered by a 2D barcode scan with 85% of scans.
• 1D (UPC) and 2D (QR) codes are being scanned equally.

In response to this huge news, I thought I’d have some fun with URL shortening service bit.ly‘s new QR-generation tool that launched a few days ago (FYI: goo.gl launched a few weeks ago too). Go ahead! Scan away and see where it takes you! (Hint: I am the PR Maven .)

While barcode scanning isn’t new technology by any stretch, the 2010 mobile boom is driving its increasing popularity. Even Calvin Klein recently replaced its massive billboards in New York and LA with QR codes (pictured above) – not to mention the giant QR codes in Times Square! I wonder what new and exciting mobile app testing doors this will open…

Probably not. In fact, several iPad rivals are getting decent play with the press, consumers and our very own tester community. We recently asked our testers and Facebook fans which of the new tablet devices they would most likely purchase as part of our weekly What Do uThink series. Here were the results:

• iPad (Apple): 47%
• Playbook (Blackberry): 24%
• Galaxy (Samsung): 15%
• Not purchasing a tablet: 15%

Okay, so maybe not everyone will purchase a tablet device. We even included the HP Slate, the ICD Vega, the Dell Streak and NAV9, but none of those devices received votes. Even so, it’s nice to know you have some options.

So if you’re still on fence about which tablet device you’ll be taking home, here are a few demo videos that might sway your decision:

Playbook from Blackberry

Samsung Galaxy

iPad from Apple

So which device tablet will you most likely purchase? Please write a thousand word essay in the comment section explaining your position. Actually, a few dozen characters should get the job done.

As we learned from our most recent What Do uThink poll, most mobile users actually want both of them. In fact, 70% of respondents said they would prefer a device like the Motorola Droid or the Blackberry Torch, as opposed to the 20% who said they preferred the physical keypad only (e.g. Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Bold) and 10% for the virtual touchscreen (e.g. the iPad, iPhone, etc).

So, 70% of mobile users can”t be wrong, can they? Let’s take a look a few of the arguments (from the uTest Forums thread) in favor of each, then decide for yourself.

Physical Keypad
“I go with Physical keypad. The reason is I have experienced problems while using touchscreen keys. I love Physical keypad which allows me to type the message fast and call the number much quicker than a touchscreen. Also, my LG Android had gone for service because the touch screen was malfunctioning. For instance, when I pressed 3, it used to display 6.”

Hybrid
“I prefer a hybrid model as it gives me independence to use the phone as per my convenience. Also, it makes things much easier for me. If I have to chat or SMS I can use the keyboard feature, but if I have to punch in a phone number or username/password I can do it from touchscreen. Plus, different situations demand things differently so a hybrid model is a perfect one for me.”

Virtual Touchscreen:
Pros:

1. Does not take physical dimensions & weight, thus devices can be lighter & thiner, or can be larger with larger screens & additional physical buttons in return to that acclaimed space & weight.
2. Some physical keyboards can be used only on one orientation. Virtual keyboard will mostly work on both.
3. Easy keyboard layout navigation & usage – E.g. Input switch, Special chars (rather than hitting an Alt/Shift/Sym+Char), Smileys and other special inputs.
4. Languages support – As opposed to physical keyboard which can support 2 languages max, TouchScreen keyboards can support and unlimited amount of languages, so everyone can enjoy the languages keyboard of their choice.
5. Used device’s brightness setting thus can be visible at dimmed or low-light environments with no problems, as opposed to physical keyboards’ limited lighting.
6. Clarity & efficiency – Most touch keys use all sorts of key highlighting pressed button such as – Coloring, Magnify glass (e.g. iPhone), Vibration (E.g. Android)

So where you come down on this debate? Which type of device will you be leaning towards for your next purchase. In other words, What Do uThink? The comment section is all yours.

As part of our newly-launched “What Do uThink?” series (more on this shortly), we decided to ask our community which mobile OS they considered to be the best. Here are the results:

1. Android – 38%
2. RIM Blackberry – 28%
3. Apple – 16%
4. Symbian – 12%
5. Windows Mobile – 6%

“What do uThink?” is a weekly poll, where we’ll be asking the uTest community their preferences and feedback on various apps, operating systems and other technologies. To encourage voting, we’ll be awarding monthly and quarterly prizes to randomly selected participants. This quarter, for instance, we’re giving away an iPod Touch. The weekly polls open every Tuesday afternoon and voting takes place in the uTest Forums available to registered testers) as well as on our Facebook page. Got it?

Good. Now back to the mobile OS results…

As you can see from the fractured vote count, there’s a strong case to be made for each mobile operating system. Below are some updated excerpts from the Forums thread where this question first appeared.

The case for Android, posted by “pedro gonzalez”:

“As a Google OS, Android knows better than any other OS how to manage Google maps, Gmail, Geolocators, browsers, and a lot of other Google applications. I’m a Gmail user, so the Gmail sync is one of the most valuable things for me.

There are a lot of tools for developers/testers within SDK, in addition the testing part is much better in Android, since the OS is much flexible than others (less limitations allow the programmer-tester to be creative).

Android is not as mature yet as other OS (Blackberry for example was released 10 years ago), although Android is getting better and better each release. For example, Adobe’s Flash player is supported in mobile devices for the first time ever from the last Android release.

There are a lot of cons too regarding the OS maturity (like the total 254Mb limitation), but it seems that the Android guys are working on this.”

The case for Apple, posted by “madhukarjain”:

I also voted for Apple….

Once you use it you will know why Apple can become a part of you’re life, so much that you can’t think of switching to another phone.

From GPS naviation to gaming to stock trading to radio…..you name it and Apple has an App for it and mostly for free, even if not free then most apps are 99 cents which is worth the money for its use.

Many people might disagree and will consider Blackberry or Android as better, but once you use its full capacity then you realize whats the Magic of Apple.

The case for RIM, posted by “jayadinu”:

1.Obviously its performance
2.GSM for its roaming ability
3.Camera and video capability
4.Full QWERTY keyboard
4.Push Email services and many other factors like “A very good deal that I could afford “

Care to weigh in on this debate? The comment box is all yours. Want to vote in the next weekly poll? Visit the uTest Forums or check out our Facebook page.

Case in point: The majority of mobile app developers remain overwhelmingly reliant on internal beta testing.

Here with proof is VisionMobile, who recently published a fascinating report on the growing mobile app ecosystem – a must-read for anyone involved in the space (developers, marketers, users, etc). From a QA point of view, the report further establishes that although testing innovations will ALWAYS trail those of development, the gap need not be so wide.

Here’s an excerpt that sums the whole thing up:

Internal beta testing is the most popular technique used by the vast majority (nearly 70 percent) of respondents, with beta testing with users and peer reviewing the next most popular techniques. Only 20 percent of respondents use focus groups or research of their own. Overall, North American developers are somewhat more sophisticated in their application planning, with 97 percent using beta testing as a standard part of application development and with broader use of a portfolio of planning techniques as well.

Yet, small development firms have limited means today to beta test and peer review their applications with a crosssection of representative users. Given the hundreds of thousands of mobile apps, we believe that efficient (crowd-sourced) testing of apps in a global market of users is considerably under-utilized. This presents an opportunity for the few solution providers in this segment – Mob4Hire and uTest.com, for example – but also for network operators, who can generate a channel for testing applications with end users, and provide an open feedback support system back to developers.

Other notable findings included:

Android as mindshare leader. Android stands out as the platform most popular with mobile developers. Our survey results suggest nearly 60 percent of all mobile developers recently developed on Android, assuming an equal number of respondents with experience across each of eight major platforms. iOS (iPhone) is second in terms of developer mindshare, outranking Symbian and Java ME, which were in pole position in 2008.

Debugging. In terms of debugging, our benchmarking shows that Android has the fastest debugging process, compared with iPhone, Symbian and Java ME. Debugging in Symbian takes up more than twice the time it takes on Android.

Open source. On average, 86 percent of respondents who use open source at work use it within development tools such as Eclipse. Android and iPhone developers are three times more likely to lead open source communities, compared to Symbian, revealing the contrasting pedigree of the developer communities. The single key drawback to open source reported by 60 percent of respondents was the confusion created by open source licenses; we believe education on open source realities can be used as a competitive advantage for developer programs launched by operators and OEMs.

The Industrial Revolution era (2010-2014). The next five years will completely remap the mobile industry landscape. RIM and Apple, two verticalised companies, move into the top five, displacing the incumbents, leaving one Finnish and two Korean companies in pole position. The operating system landscape will consolidate into two tiers; the top-end open to iconic products dominated by Apple and followed by the iPhone clones powered by Android; and the feature-phone market where licensable operating systems (Android and BREW) will finally allow handset OEMs to move away from legacy RTOS platforms. Google’s Android will also power a diverse range of new form factors, from picture frames to car dashboards, offering for the first time a simplified platform from which to achieve convergent interconnected services. In this age of Industrial Revolution, mobile developers will be responsible for most of the innovation on mobile devices, and can act independently from the mobile industry powers-that-be – OEMs or network operators – to get their applications to market. In this age, developers have both power and choice.

We believe that Android’s lead in developer mindshare ahead of Apple’s iOS is down to two factors: first the $99 fee developers have to pay in order to deploy their applications, an entry barrier which reduces the innovation from developing countries. Secondly, the very effective use of open source licensing as a marketing technique to attract developers to Google’s Android.

So forget everything you know (or thought you knew) about the current mobile app landscape. Like the folks at VisionMobile said, it will be totally unrecognizable in five years. Except, of course, for the internal beta testing.

Testers, do you see the beta testing trend reversing any time soon? Will Android soon be the king of all things mobile? Will crowdsourced testing still be under-utilized? Let us know what you think.