Exclusive new features are a major draw when you’re choosing one phone over another and Siri is something you can only get one place … for now.

One month after the iPhone 4S was released, mobile app developer Applidium cracked the Siri protocol and discovered exactly how it works. PCWorld summarizes Applidium’s process (emphasis added):

Applidium achieved this crack by using its very own HTTPS server and faked SSL certificates (which sounds like a nasty security issue to us). And along the way, the French software makers found out a few tidbits about how the voice service works. Applidium claim that Siri sends compressed audio data over the network to the server. … According to Applidium, theorhetically, “anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri.”

 PCWorld goes on to point out that just cracking the protocol isn’t enough to enable developers to convert Siri to Androids and other phones (they’d still need an authentic, unique Apple UDID).

Circumventing Siri’s protocol is a “nasty security issue” on Apple’s part. But according to Applidium, there are significant security measures in place:

As you know, the “S” in HTTPS stands for “secure” : all traffic between a client and an https server is ciphered. So we couldn’t read it using a sniffer. In that case, the simplest solution is to fake an HTTPS server, use a fake DNS server, and see what the incoming requests are. Unfortunately, the people behind Siri did things right : they check that guzzoni’s certificate is valid, so you cannot fake it. Well… they did check that it was valid, but thing is, you can add your own “root certificate”, which lets you mark any certificate you want as valid.

So basically all we had to do was to setup a custom SSL certification authority, add it to our iPhone 4S, and use it to sign our very own certificate for a fake “guzzoni.apple.com”. And it worked : Siri was sending commands to your own HTTPS sever! Seems like someone at Apple missed something!

The people at Apple are top notch so I’m willing to bet that this security oversight is the result of being too close to the project … one of the major reasons to bring in additional testers with fresh eyes. Let me add here that Siri is still in Beta – but of all the issue to make it through internal QA and only arise after a public launch, a somewhat major security glitch that lets competitors figure out how to recreate your awesome new exclusive feature is probably near the top of the “bad” list.

No matter how this issue made it through the testing process, both PCWorld and Applidium are sure it won’t take long for Apple to correct the issue. What do you think?

The most recent complaint is the battery drain, but there are others, as documented in this YouTube video and listed below.

• iPhone 4S Battery bug
• Audio Bug

Add your iOS 5 bug list in the comments below.

P.S. – Apple, did you know we’re giving away free test cycles?

Previously, the issue was whether I should I invest in iOS and start the conversion over from a lifetime on Windows.  After all, my dad was a 30-year IBM vet, which put food on the table and paid my tuition.  I grew up seeing mammoth mainframes, punchcards…glowing green DOS.  No Apples of any color in our Big Blue household.

But on this occasion, it wasn’t a question of brand loyalty. It was the obvious: the loss of Steve Jobs.

I still find myself processing his passing both emotionally and practically. I remember how the AP alert popped up on my phone and it literally felt like someone had punched me in the stomach.  I admired him for living authentically, taking billion dollar gambles on ideas, picking himself up after billion dollar failures, and holding steadfast (stubborn?) to his vision.

I’m convinced his near-religious zeal over every minutiae of product design stemmed from the same social ethic that led to Apple’s creation:  to make computers so easy and user-friendly that everyone could benefit from computing’s powerful potential.  Not just the technical, highly-educated and elite. Computers for Everyman.

Attention to detail.  Risk-taking. Singular focus. These are among the core values of the Apple brand. As I considered buying the iPad, I wondered:  Are these values sufficiently infused in Tim Cook and the company DNA to continue on without Steve?  Or will Apple employees slowly lose direction like followers of the North Star left without guide over too many cloudy nights?

The only constant in life is change, it’s said.  And over the next 3-5 years, it’s going to be interesting to watch every stakeholder in the Apple ecosystem silently cast their vote about the saliency of the brand, and collectively determine the company’s future.

Consumers will judge with their pocketbooks whether iDevices remain revolutionary.  Enterprises will decide to invest in the iPad…or not.  Talent will vote with their pen, signing job offers from Apple…or not.  App developers will watch marketshare and and competing platforms’ ability to drive revenue with app discovery and merchandising technologies. Suppliers will re-evaluate their strategic alliances and preferred partners.

And investors? Competitors like Google?  Watching all of these subtle harbingers like hawks.

Acutely aware of his fragile mortality, Steve Jobs must surely have accelerated his succession planning and spent hours meditating on how best to expand a corporate culture of entrepreneurialism.  I can only begin to imagine the burden of responsibility he (like all CEOs) must have felt to maintain job security for the nearly 50,000 Apple employees worldwide.  And not the least, the utter determination he must have felt privately to ensure that his vision…his passion… continued beyond his lifetime.  This was a man who worked on Apple until his last day.

In a 2008 interview with CNN Money, Jobs confirmed:  “I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple. My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.”

Time will tell.

What do you predict for Apple in a post-Steve Jobs world?

It’s pretty extensive but we know there are more “Must Have Apps” out there – for me it’s…

• Nike+ GPS – best run tracking app yet with a lot of social interaction (i.e. play “tag” against friends, get live cheering from Facebook friends). Plus it’s compatible with DailyMile.com which is my go-to exercise tracker.
• TWC (The Weather Channel) – It’s the best weather app I’ve seen yet.
• Weber’s On The Grill – its summer.  How can you not have this downloaded?
• ESPN’s FFL app – With the pending lockout this might be pretty pointless come fall but I’m optimistic that I’ll have a chance to take some friends money.
• HBO Go – Free access to all HBO content for existing HBO customers means I watched all Entourage episodes in a couple weeks on the iPad. Curb Your Enthusiasm is next.

Scoble’s list after the jump. You know you want to see it….

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Twitter app. I use it all day long. I also use heavily the Facebook and LinkedIn apps.
• Hashable app. Is quickly becoming the way to trade info among industry insiders.

NEWS APPS

• NPR News. Nicely designed.
• CNN. Sometimes I watch CNN for live news reports.
• SkyGrid. Best news app, especially for tracking companies.
• NYTimes. You know, the New York Times.
• HuffPost. Huffington Post.
• BBC News. The best news organization.
• AJE Live. For keeping up on the Middle East.
• WSJ. Wall Street Journal is must own.
• TED Mobile. I love TED talks.
• Pulse News. Very nice news reader.
• Feedly. Very nice news reader too, with good tablet apps (great for RSS).

TRAVEL

• TripIt. Keeps all my travel data and helps me get information from airlines and others.
• TripAdvisor.
• Kayak. The standard for flights.
• FlightTrack. See where your flight is.
• Uber. Find a driver in some cities like SF and NY.
• Travelocity.
• Hipmunk. Best way to find a flight or hotel.
• Room 77 Find the best hotel room and use that to negotiate with hotel.

MAPS:

• Waze. Crowd-sourced traffic.
• Trapster. Shows you where the cops and traffic cameras are.
• Goby. Finds me things around me, like hiking trails.
• AroundMe. Quick, simple list of businesses around me (gas stations, etc).
• Find iPhone. For when one of our other iPhones are lost.
• SitOrSquat. Finding bathrooms near you.

LOCATION:

• Foursquare. For finding tips about places, checking in, letting friends know where you are, and getting deals.
• Glympse. Send people a temporary map of where you are.
• RunKeeper. Track where you are running or cycling.
• EveryTrail. Find bike trails.
• MapOmatic. For seeing where people have checked in where I am.
• Geocaching. Fun location-based game.

SHOPPING

• Amazon.com. Buying stuff on Amazon.
• eBay. Selling and buying stuff on eBay.
• Square. For buying stuff or selling it.
• RedLaser. For looking up info about products you are seeing.
• CardStar. Holds my loyalty card info.
• PayPal. For paying people via PayPal.

PHOTO/VIDEO

• iMovie. For editing videos.
• Instagram. For sharing photos.
• 360 Panoramic. For taking panoramic photos and sharing them.
• Ustream. For watching and broadcasting streaming video shows.
• Path. For sharing photos with close friends.
• Camera+. The best camera I’ve found.
• Color. Take photos with other people in the same room you are.
• Photosynth. Better quality than 360, but doesn’t Tweet.
• Hipstamatic. Fun effects.
• GLMPS (pre-release, coming soon). Does cool short videos, sorta like instagram.

SEARCH

• Google. The best search app.
• Siri. A personal assistant that uses a variety of services.
• Wolfram. Best scientific facts and results.
• Chomp, for finding and talking about other apps.
• doat. Great mobile search, brings you directly to services.
• Appsfire. Search and discover new apps, see what friends installed

SCHEDULE

• Plancast. My favorite event planning app.

FOOD

• FoodSpotting, for finding a meal close to you.
• Zagat. Best quality restaurant reviews.
• Yelp. Crowd-sourced restaurant reviews.
• OpenTable. Find a restaurant reservation at better restaurants.
• Epicurious. Cooking companion.
• Wine Ratings. Look up wines and see how they rank.
• 20 Min Meals. Jamie Oliver’s app for helping you make healthier lifestyle.
• AllRecipes. More recipes.
• MealSnap. Take photos of your food, get back calorie counts.
• Cor.kz. Help with wine choices.
• Fooducate. Scan food items in grocery store to see if they are healthy.

MUSIC

• NPR Music. Neat app for listening to music.
• Discovr. Find new music.
• Pandora for listening to music.
• Shazam for figuring out what music you’re hearing is about.
• Remote, for controlling my Apple TV.
• soundtracking. Find and share music with the help of your friends.

MEDIA

• CinchCast. For doing audio recordings and sharing them.
• Kindle. For reading eBooks from Amazon.
• IMDb. For looking up info about movies.
• Instapaper, for saving and reading longer text-based media.
• Evernote, for capturing stuff around you you care about.
• Fandango. For finding movies at local theaters.
• Hulu Plus. For watching my favorite TV shows.
• Netflix for watching movies.
• IntoNow. For sharing the TV shows I’m watching (and seeing what’s popular with friends and others).
• Squrl. Finding better online video.
• ShowYou. Finding better online video.

PRODUCTIVITY

• Evernote. Remember things.
• Skype. Talk to coworkers and friends.
• Dictation. Dragon for talking to my iPhone and converting it to text.
• Dropbox, for sharing files with other computers.
• Rackspace Cloud, for managing my cloud servers.
• LogMeIn, so I can sign into my home computers.
• Expensify, for doing expense reports.
• CardMunch, for turning business cards into contacts in my iPhone.
• Google Authenticator. For using two-pass authentication on Google’s services (much more secure).
• DisqusPro. Managing comments on my blog.
• CitySourced. Reporting problems with my city to city government.
• TestFlight. Testing pre-release iOS apps.
• Wi-Fi Finder. To find Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Onavo. Compresses data which saves tons of money overseas when roaming.
• Salesforce Chatter. For talking with my coworkers.
• Flashlight, for those times in the dark when you need to find your way.

PHONE AND CHAT

• Viber. Low-cost calls.
• GroupMe. Group SMS.
• Beluga. Group SMS.
• Grouped{in}. Group SMS.
• Google Voice, for using my phone numbers better.
• Whatsapp. Popular mobile messaging app

OTHERS

• Star Walk, for when you want to look to the heavens and understand what you’re seeing.

What do you think is missing from our cumulative lists?

Apple iPhone Tracking – First up, we learned last week that iPhones store their location in a file that never gets deleted, and then backup that file to iTunes each time the phone syncs. That means that anyone with access to a laptop belonging to an iPhone owner could see where they had been as long as they had owned their phone. (For the record, my iPhone says I spend a lot of time in Southborough, MA at the uTest headquarters.)

After a few days of silence on the issue, Apple announced that this was the result of a bug in iOS – three bugs actually. 1 – the iPhone keeps the location data for too long and should instead periodically purge it. 2 – this data is backed up to iTunes and should not be. 3 – the data is not deleted if a user disables location services. Apple has plans to fix all three bugs and to also begin encrypting the location file on the iPhone.

Why were they tracking this data at all? Apple uses this information (anonymously) to improve their location services and make it easier for iPhones to determine their location without having to resort to GPS (which is slow). But they only need a small amount of data at a time rather than the entire location history the iPhone was storing.

Do you have an iPhone? Are you curious to see where you’ve been? Here’s a clever app that will plot your location history on a map. If you’re into fancy statistical analysis, you can also use this add-on to plot your location using R.

Amazon EBS Outage – I don’t think anyone will deny that last weekend’s Amazon outage sucked for everyone involved. On April 21, cloud services in Amazon’s East Coast data center were dramatically impaired, halting operations for dozens of internet companies who use Amazon for hosting. The outage was long, and Amazon took several days to bring their data center back online.

Today, Amazon released a fascinating and detailed post-mortem explaining what happened during the outage and why. This document should be required reading for any software tester interested in root cause analysis. Amazon not only identifies what specifically triggered the event (an accidental network misconfiguration) but also how that single event could cause such a massive loss of service. It turns out that many of their well planned redundancies could, in the right circumstances, all execute at once and bring an entire data center to a grinding halt. They concluded that the real issue was software that incorrectly handled data replication during a failure – something they will correct with a bug-fix and update.

Kudos to Amazon for their transparency and for such a well documented failure analysis. We can all learn something from this.

$23 Million Books – Another Amazon story, but one for which they’re entirely blameless. Recently you could buy a copy of The Making of a Fly (a biology text) for a whopping $23,698,655.93 from their used book section. These books were not for sale by Amazon but rather by affiliates who use Amazon as an e-commerce platform. It turns out that two of those affiliates were locked in a very silly battle involving buggy pricing software that just didn’t know when to quit.

Bordeebook and Profnath are two independent book sellers who appear to use computer based pricing for their books. Bordeebook always set their price at 1.270589 times that of Profnath, and then Profnath would raise its price to be 0.9983 of Bordeebook. This cycle would continue over and over again until the top price of the book reached a whopping $23 million. The trend was originally noticed by Michael Eisen – a biology researcher at UC Berkeley. Eventually the issue was caught, and Profnath lowered their price to a more reasonable $106.23.

Lesson learned: when dealing with random data you should set checks, caps, and limits to prevent chaos.

Bugs Thwart Pirates – Not every bug is unplanned or undesirable. Would you believe that some game designers are even including bugs as a mechanism to identify and thwart software pirates? A recent article describes how one developer intentionally included a bug that would cause pirated versions of his game to crash with a very specific error message. When any pirates eventually posted a request for help on a software forum (along with the error message), moderators immediately knew they were dealing with a pirate and would instead ban them from the forum entirely.

This isn’t the first time game developers have used this trick. The always irreverent Cracked recently described six more examples in a recent posting. They range from the subtle (Batman is a klutz in pirated versions of Arkham Asylum) to the overt (the game music in Michael Jackson: The Experience is replaced with vuvuzelas).

Lesson learned: pay for your video games.

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.

Readers of the uTest Blog should know that ecommerce software (retail apps in particular) are a familiar topic of discussion. We also recently published a whitepaper on the subject, see Optimized E-Commerce. Today, guest blogger Michael Koploy of SoftwareAdvice.com offers up a list of the most useful retails apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems. So without further delay, here is this month’s guest post. Enjoy!

Whether you own a small retail chain or sell items out of your brother’s apartment, there’s an app for that. Developers are beginning to produce mobile tools to help retailers operate their businesses. These apps help with everything from clocking in to checking out a customer to creating sales reports.

But sorting through hundreds of apps and finding those true gems that can help run your business is difficult. iTunes doesn’t have a retail category — in addition to being far from search friendly. Meanwhile, the new web-based Android Marketplace is a little more search friendly, but the lack of a retail category again stands as a roadblock.

So, we put together a list of the best mobile apps for retailers. This list was the product of multiple keyword searches across various app categories, from productivity to business. Data of how many reviews, star-ratings, and approximate number of installs are provided, as available.

Be sure to let us know if you’ve found a helpful retail app that we’ve left off the list.

iPhone / iPad Apps

Cash Register (MyAppIdea) – 3.5 stars with 33 ratings | $1.99
Developed for iPhone. Keeps track of your inventory and acts as a virtual checkout. Simple interface tracks all transactions so you can easily total your sales and e-mail them to customers. Sales can also be exported to Excel. Can supports multiple businesses.

LightSpeed Mobile – 3 stars with 6 ratings | $4.99
Developed for iPhone. Mobile retail extension of the LightSpeed Point of Sale system for Mac. Connects with LightSpeed database to act as a mobile checkout. Works jointly with Linea Pro hardware to scan barcodes and swipe credit cards. Can support multiple businesses.

Ring it Up – 4 stars with over 300 ratings | $29.99
Developed for iPhone and iPad. Point-of-sale application that interfaces with numerous popular credit card applications and the RedLaser barcode app to act as a complete checkout terminal. Can send HTML & .PDF receipts/invoices to customers, import/export .CSV files, and backup/restore data. Can support multiple businsses.

Retail Math – 5 stars with 6 ratings | $1.99
Developed for iPhone. A useful tool for retailers looking to better understand the factors influencing their financial success. Contains a monthly sales and inventory tracker, financial planner based on past results, and can analyze monthly and seasonal factors. Formulas are accompanied with both explanations and calculators. Supports multiple companies.

SelBuk – 3.5 stars with 89 ratings | $19.99
Developed for iPhone and iPad. Provides the ability to email order receipts and analyze inventory, sales, and expenses. This app has the ability to import and export .CSV files so you can create and edit files on your computer and send them to the SelBuk mobile app. Product catalog, inventory, and order documents can all be backed up (and restored) to prevent data loss.

Intuit GoPayment Credit Card Terminal – 3 stars with over 1900 ratings | Free*
Developed for iPhone and Android. This app offers two different pricing models based on processing more or less than $1000 a month: no monthly plan and higher rates for under $1000, and a monthly plan with reduced rates for over. Provides the option for both swipe and keypad data entry, and offers support for a couple different card readers. Users can qualify for a free card reader on the Intuit website.

Pay Anywhere – Credit Card Machine – 4.5 stars with over 700 ratings | Free*
Developed for iPhone. After applying for a Merchant Account from North American Bancard, users receive a free card reader to pair with the app. Requires no monthly minimums or frees, and can be canceled at any time. Has the option to e-mail receipts to customers after transactions.

Square – 3.5 stars with over 7900 ratings | Free*
Developed for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Requires no monthly fees or contract and provides free Square credit card reader by mail after sign-up. Membership does require providing date of birth, SSN, and passing a credit check. Per transaction and weekly charge limits are determined by your credit score.

Swipe Credit Card Terminal – 3.5 stars with over 1000 ratings | $0.99
Developed for iPhone. PA-DSS certified, this app is one of the most secure credit card applications that supports most major credit cards. Offers rates as low as low as 1.74% + 24¢ per transaction at a $24.95 monthly fee. AppNinjas’ Credit Card Swiper (available here) for iPhones and iPod Touches is $79.99.
Android AppsPoint of sale (POS) – 3.5 stars with 33 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free
This application acts as a simple point-of-sale solution for android devices. Has the ability to manage goods, complete transactions, and process returns.

Inventory Droid – 4.5 stars with over 160 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | $4.99
Packaged with a free PC extension, Inventory Droid is a great app for managing store inventory. Can use the integrated barcode scanner to quickly upload and update inventory information. Comes with the ability to backup and restore data.

CHARGE Anywhere® Payment App – 4.5 stars with 7 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*
Accepts cash, credit, check, or ACH payments for $9.99/month plus per-transaction fees. Can integrate with optional Bluetooth module to swipe credit cards and print receipts. Also features reporting, the ability to tax and tip, and QuickBooks integration.

Credit Card Machine – 4 stars with 20 ratings | 5,000 – 10,000 installs | Free*
Can swipe credit cards and print receipts via external device (not included). Processes all major credit cards and creates a viewable transaction log with history details. Includes option for touch screen signatures. Requires Paynet Systems Merchant Account.

Credit Card Terminal – 4 stars with 25 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*
Allows user to process credit card transactions at a rate of $25.00/month, 24¢/transaction, and 2.09% qualified. No termination fees for cancellation.

Intuit GoPayment – 4 stars with 68 ratings | 10,000 – 50,000 installs | Free*
Developed for iPhone and Android. This app offers two different pricing models based on processing more or less than $1000 a month: no monthly plan and higher rates for under $1000, and a monthly plan with reduced rates for over. Provides the option for both swipe and keypad data entry, and offers support for a couple different card readers. Users can qualify for a free card reader on the Intuit website.

Square – 4.5 stars with over 4,000 ratings | 100,000 – 500,000 installs | Free*
Developed for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Requires no monthly fees or contract and provides free Square credit card reader by mail after sign-up. Membership does require providing date of birth, SSN, and passing a credit check. Per transaction and weekly charge limits are determined by your credit score.

USAePay – 4 stars with 14 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*
Can integrate with bluetooth devices for card swiping and receipt printing. Includes mobile POS option that can sync inventory with sales transactions. USAePay account required for use.

Ratings and prices were found from the Android Market and iTunes App Store, respectively.

This guide was provided by Michael Koploy of Software Advice, a free resource that provides reviews and comparisons of point of sale systems. The original guide can be viewed at Best Retails Apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Android Devices. For more, be sure to visit www.softwareadvice.com/retail/.

Well we’ve heard their pleas, and we’re happy to announce something that should help: the uTest iOS app. With a native interface for both the iPhone and the iPad, it’s now possible for testers and customers to test on the couch and on the go.

If that’s enough to make you want to download the app right now, then don’t let me stand in your way. Just click (or tap) on that image to the left and go get it. It’s free, you know.

If you’re still wondering what makes our app special, let me tell you about some of the awesome new things that both testers and customers can do.

For Testers

Customers and testers can start testing with the uTest iPhone app.

iPad users have a native interface that makes full use of the iPad layout.

It goes without saying that the uTest iOS app lets you participate in test cycles and that our app makes it easy to submit bugs right from your iPhone or iPad. But what’s really cool is that if you’re testing another iOS app, you can submit screenshots and videos of your bugs directly from the uTest app. You can even use your camera to take pictures for upload – handy if you need a screenshot of a bug on another mobile device.

In addition to all that, you can do all the other things you would expect while testing, like view the bugs submitted by other testers, reply to tester messenger conversations, and even check out your uTest earnings.

Of course, all this assumes you’re already a uTester. Because if you’re not, you can actually signup for a tester account right there in the app. It will even help you setup your iPhone or iPad as your first testing device on the uTest platform.

For Customers
If you’re a uTest customer, you’re going to love the uTest app. Why approve and reject bugs from a boring old computer when you can do it from the beach? And if you don’t have a beach nearby, how about the comfort of your couch? In fact, you can now review your test cycles from anywhere you like (assuming there’s a phone or wireless signal, of course).

With the uTest app, you’ll also be able to review attachments and even ask testers questions with tester messenger. Everything you need to keep an eye on a test cycle is available at your fingertips.

Wrapup
Of course, our community rigorously tested our iOS app and they discovered over 60 bugs before launch. Their diligence made this app super solid, and that helped us to get approved by Apple for the App Store in record time without having to resubmit.

Now that we’ve launched our first iOS app, we’re hardly finished. We want your feedback and ideas about how we can make it even better. uTest community members can join our tester forums and check out our Platform Feedback section. Customers can contact their project manager directly or drop us a line.

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 AT&T has a mixed track record of keeping up with the demands of the iPhone. In some parts of the country, their service is great. In other parts, it’s pretty terrible. Many AT&T customers have long wanted to switch to America’s other big phone network: Verizon. The problem with Verizon is that it uses a completely different cellular phone standard called CDMA. Using the iPhone on Verizon required a different hardware design, and that was only after Apple got out of their exclusive deal with AT&T for selling the iPhone.

Today both Verizon and Apple finally delivered: the long awaited CDMA iPhone. Starting February 3, Verizon customers can start using the iPhone on America’s other big network. Are you planning to get a Verizon iPhone?

Verizon owners will mostly have the same phone experience, but with a few small changes. First, the Verizon network doesn’t support using both voice and data functions at the same time. That means that if you’re surfing the web and you receive a phone call, your data will stop cold until your call has concluded. Over at TechCrunch, MG Siegler says this won’t be a problem because nobody ever uses data while on a call. Here at blog.utest, I claim he’s wrong because I do it all the time.

The second big change is that because the CDMA iPhone doesn’t have a GSM radio, it won’t work internationally. If you travel overseas a lot, especially to countries where GSM is dominant, your Verizon phone will be a glorified iPod Touch.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, because Verizon customers will have access to a really cool tethering feature. With a Verizon iPhone, you’ll be able to create a WiFi hotspot for up to 5 computers at once. Just enable the hotspot feature on your iPhone and start surfing on your laptop.

Final trivia – why is GSM so popular in Europe while CDMA is popular in the United States? Patents. The GSM patents are owned by Ericcson – a Swedish company. The CDMA patents are owned by Qualcomm – an American company.