Google’s off to a pretty intense start in 2011 – from a change in CEO to launching new products that compete directly with some of the biggest tech companies including Microsoft, Amazon and of course, Apple.
It’s no secret that web and mobile apps represent a lot of money to businesses and app markets are in a race to keep up. Google is using this as an opportunity to greatly expand their presence — and the early returns are impressive. In fact, the Android app market is growing 3x faster than Apple’s iOS market (although, as its marketshare grows, it become a more attractive target to black hat malware apps).
Google isn’t stopping there, though. They’ve recently launched their Shopper app on iOS – an alternative to Amazon’s really nice native apps – and the “One Pass” a publisher subscription alternative to Apple.
Apps! Apps! And more apps! As the summer starts winding down here at uTest, we’ve been able to take a step back and a closer look at the big trends emerging all around us. What has been most apparent is the tremendous spike in mobile app testing needs. From top marketing agencies to retail giants to social gaming startups, our customers are developing more mobile apps to grow (or define) their businesses than ever before.
In addition, a survey conducted by iGR found that more than half (53%) of US mobile developers are building apps for Apple’s iPhone OS. BlackBerry was the next most popular, followed by Android and Windows Mobile.
In response to this incredible momentum, this year marks the launch of Mobile App World 2010, where global leaders in mobile tech and app development and entrepreneurs will gather to network and learn about the latest developments and innovations.
uTest will be among the outstanding line-up of more than 40 speakers, which includes Google, Microsoft, Ericsson, Orange Global and the BBC, who will be discussing the future of mobile apps. Shoot us a note if you’ll be around!
Note: If you’re looking for some cool, new mobile apps, check out Mobile App World’s August Apps Of The Month. You may spot a uTester’s favorite app!
Self improvement is a lousy business model. Mobile app developers understand this better than most. For every app to help you lose weight or improve your IQ, there are basically 10x as many to help you drink more, find your nearest trans-fat vendor or change the channel without standing up to get the remote. What a world we live in!
But if sloth and gluttony aren’t your thing, you can rest easy knowing that your vices have also been covered. And so to illustrate, I’ve posted an app for each of the seven sins.
Gluttony: “Happy Hours, is a free application for the iPhone, Android, and the mobile web. With it, you get access to some 15,000 happy hours in 30 different cities around the country. You simply load the app up, tell it where you are (which it can know automatically on the iPhone and Android phones), and let it show you happy hours close by.” (from the washingtonpost.com)
Lust: Girl Zoomer – “This application turns your iPhone camera into a pair of binoculars with 4x zoom, so you can see “the details that other people can only furtively glance at.” (from reuters.com)
Today Apple announced their much anticipated tablet computer – the iPad. With a 9.7 inch screen, the iPad is a supersized iPhone; and it’s already inspiring both love and hate from Apple fans worldwide. Comments so far have ranged from “I want it now” to “I was expecting a lot more than an XL version of the iPhone with no phone capabilities.”
So what does the iPad mean for developers, testers, and Apple users? Here are a few thoughts:
Layout now matters for iPhone developers.
Up until now, an iPhone app was one size fits all. Every iPhone has the same resolution, meaning apps didn’t have to worry about scaling up or down. Not anymore! The iPad is a larger device, but it runs the same iPhone apps. While it can automatically scale up an app designed for the iPhone, the results are kind of ugly. The bigger screen real estate opens a lot of interesting possibilities, but for iPhone developers now is the time you need to start worrying about how your app will look on a larger screen that isn’t 480×320.
New interface means new challenges.
If it’s not enough that the iPad comes in a different size, now developers will also have a slew of new interface widgets to work with. Whether or not those widgets will be available on the iPhone remains to be seen, but whatever the case developers will have their hands full making sure their apps look correct on each platform.
For anyone looking to deploy an app across multiple mobile platforms and a gazillion different handsets, one massive problem awaits them: QA. uTest solves this problem with an army of testers across the world. Crowdsourced QA… Problem solved. (Click here to see Doron’s presentation.)
And that’s not all! Doron was able to connect with multiple partners, prospects and top media outlets, including Mashable’s Ben Parr (@benparr), editor in chief at IntoMobile.com Will Park (@willpark), ReadWriteWeb’s Dana Oshiro (@suzyperplexus), as well as participated in a couple great video interviews with bnetTV’s Michelle Sklar (@bnettv) and GoMo News’ Cian O’Sullivan (@gomonews) which are posted below!
Take a peek at the video interviews below to learn more:
Mobile bugs are becoming a bigger and bigger problem, and iPhone users are the latest to be affected by buggy software. Techcrunch reported yesterday that a bug in Safari causes it to consume bandwidth even when it’s closed. The problem arises with the use of Motion JPEG (or M-JPEG), a video standard that is built off of the JPEG images standard. When an iPhone user visits a page with an M-JPEG video, Safari will download continuously, even if the user pushes the Home button to end Safari and go back to the home screen.
What makes this problem really terrible is that many mobile users are charged for their bandwidth usage. Even AT&T users, who are used to having unlimited data plans in the United States, can be charged for data consumption while traveling internationally. That can mean big bills when they get back home.
Cellular service providers aren’t immune either. Networks around the world are struggling to keep up with the data demands of the iPhone, and providers certainly don’t need to deal with unnecessary data consumption caused by broken software. That means companies like AT&T are building out extra infrastructure to support buggy apps – something that costs you and me money in our phone bills.
For the security researchers who uncovered this bug, one hour of testing resulted in $3,000 worth of data charges. That is serious money, and anyone developing mobile apps should take heed. Your broken app can cost enough money to buy 10 iPhones, and that’s a great way to get some bad press. Further proof that mobile application testing needs to catch-up to the standards of web and desktop testing.
Mobile is the next great frontier for games, music, media and more. In fact, Gartner says that more than 139 million smartphones were sold last year. And the phone makers aren’t slowing down: Apple is planning to launch the iPhone into the Chinese market and a more affordable Android handset expected to hit the market by the end of ’09. But haven’t we all learned that big markets make big targets — for VC dollars, for advertisers, for media coverage… and for hackers.
Doug Gross wrote a very interesting article over at CNN Tech about the one trend that could threaten to derail the otherwise unstoppable mobile movement.
Security analysts say they’ve already seen all of the major online threats — Trojan horses, viruses, worms — spreading on smartphones, often through e-mail attachments sent to the phones.
And as mobile apps have evolved from games and tip to calculators to company email, financial transactions and other mission-critical activities, the risk of security exploits grows considerably for mobile users and their employers.
The good news, experts say, is that phones present problems for hackers and other bad guys that traditional computers don’t.
Most viruses and other malware are designed for Windows, because that’s the most popular operating system. Since smartphones use a variety of different platforms, someone writing malicious software needs to pick and choose.
Wow, getting code to work across mobile platforms is so hard that even the hackers are having trouble!
From global carriers and handset manufacturers to media companies, branding partners, press and VCs — anyone who’s anyone leveraging new mobile tech and interested in catching a glimpse of the 2010 mobile marketplace should attend.
Featuring the most cutting-edge mobile startups from around the globe, Under the Radar will no doubt be another hit.
In the past 3 years, presenters at Under the Radar have gone on to raise over $1.36 Billion! Other knock-your-socks-off stats from the show:
49% have gone on to raise funding or be acquired
14% have been acquired by companies such as Google, eBay, Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco
$14 Million average has been raised by presenting companies.
By now, it’s painfully obvious to all of us that the market for mobile apps is BOOMING and shows no signs of slowing down. But I was still amazed by the stats/news that back up the hype. Within the past few months, GigaOm has reported the following mind-blowing proof points:
Yesterday’s post — announcing that we need more mobile app testers to keep up with rapidly growing demand — has drawn a great deal of interest from testers around the world (which, I suppose was kinda’ the point). One of the questions that I’ve heard from a bunch of tester in the past 24 hours is “where do you have the most mobile testing demand?”.
The answer is that, while our mobile growth has been across a variety of handset makers, wireless carriers and geographies, our greatest areas of need are:
iPhone app testers in the US and Canada
Blackberry testers in Spain, France, Italy and Germany
So, for the dozens of mobile testers who signed up for the uTest marketplace in the last 24 hours, thank you and welcome aboard! For anyone else who’s interested, just send us an email and tell us your location, as well as your handset maker(s) wireless carrier(s).
Apps! Apps! And more apps! As the summer starts winding down here at uTest, we’ve been able to take a step back and a closer look at the big trends emerging all around us. What has been most apparent is the tremendous spike in mobile app testing needs. From top marketing agencies to retail giants to social gaming startups, our customers are developing more mobile apps to grow (or define) their businesses than ever before.
Self improvement is a lousy business model. Mobile app developers understand this better than most. For every app to help you lose weight or improve your IQ, there are basically 10x as many to help you drink more, find your nearest trans-fat vendor or change the channel without standing up to get the remote. What a world we live in!
Today Apple announced their 
Mobile bugs are becoming a bigger and bigger problem, and iPhone users are the latest to be affected by buggy software. 
Speaking of the 
