by Mark Jaffe

Mobile phones have to be one of the best on the spot, at the moment, information retrieval resources of all time.  How many times have you seen disagreements settled immediately, courtesy of a quick iPhone web research query?  Well, it looks like some companies are ready to capitalize upon our penchant for instant research about things that interest us.

Let’s flash back to a recent industry panel where a senior Best Buy executive said “The right information at the point of impulse increases desired consumer’s behavior, sales, profits and customer satisfaction.” That sure sounds like a description of one of Best Buy’s best in-store salespeople helping out customers standing next to the latest electronic gizmo in one of their stores. 

Watch a demonstration of applications from the Apple App Store built using Flash technology:

Flash Professional CS5 will enable you to build applications for iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3. These applications can be delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users through the Apple App Store.*

A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 with prerelease support for building applications for iPhone is planned for later this year. Sign up to be notified when the beta starts.

Learn more in http://www.adobe.com/iphone/

Courtesy of Brian J. Friedman

EpiCollect software

A mobile phone application will help professional and “citizen” scientists collect and analyse data from “in the field”, anywhere in the world. The EpiCollect software collates data from certain mobiles – on topics such as disease spread or the occurrence of rare species – in a web-based database. The data is statistically analysed and plotted on maps that are instantly available to those same phones. The approach is outlined in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

The software has been developed for so-called smartphones that run Google’s Android open-source operating system. Researchers can report back to the EpiCollect database with results from experiments they do in the field, and “citizen scientists” can send back photos or videos of certain species from their own backyards. The phones’ GPS system automatically logs users’ locations, and the data is then plotted by location using Google Maps. Then anyone can access the database online, or from their phone.

Introduction

A week ago I was asked to give a presentation to a local meet-up mobile group called Mobile Portland about my 12 years in mobile and how that relates to the iPhone App Store. I decided to focus this on some conclusions I came to regarding building an iPhone business instead of being specific to Infinity Softworks.

I then gave the same presentation earlier this week at OTBC, a local tech incubator that I’ve been involved with the past few years, for a Lunch-and-Learn. In total over 100 saw my presentation in person or streamed across the web.

I’ve included both the slides and video here for your review. I think I’m taking a very realistic look at the challenges. Most of the popular press and blogs have been so overwhelmingly positive about the App Store and its impact for developers. But the make-up of the App Store is far more complicated than that for the vast majority of us, and the opportunities have morphed substantially over the last nine months.

I hope this helps you with your business decisions, giving you a little more insight into the opportunities and challenges with Apple’s App Store itself. My goal was to analyze this from a business perspective. Obviously my own experiences influence the slides but feel that the presentation is broader than any one company’s experience.

Video

This video was shot with the second presentation at OTBC. The first half, 27 minutes, is my presentation. The second half is Q&A.

Slides

If you’d prefer to peruse the slides instead, please keep in mind that the video tells a much fuller story than the slides do:

Visit Elia Freedman’s blog

A growing chorus claims that Apple’s questionable approval policy for its iPhone app store raises issues with net neutrality. The latest is Free Press, which “alleges that Apple crippled SlingPlayer, a TV-streaming application for iPhone, so that it would only work on a Wi-Fi connection,” according to Wired. However, Apple has approved live streaming for a Major League Baseball app.

According to AT&T, the problem is that it doesn’t have enough network capacity. Wired reports:
“We’re certainly not crippling any apps,” an AT&T spokesman said. “This is an issue of fairness…. While we would like to support all video services across our network, the reality is that wireless networks simply lack the capacity to support customers streaming hours of cable, satellite or IPTV video programming to individual users.”

However, Ken Biba, founder of wireless consulting firm Novarum, says “SlingPlayer is clear evidence that AT&T’s network is overloaded” and he interprets that the new iPhone 3GS video recording and uploading option will clog the network even more and he added that even when carriers roll out the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution cellular network, AT&T’s network capacity will still be insufficient because by then, smartphones will be even more sophisticated and affordable, creating even more congestion. He suggests,
“An even better solution would be if more cities deployed free Wi-Fi coverage to offload the stress from carrier networks.”

At this juncture it is a mandatory to oversee the statement of Aneesh Chopra the US CTO, said at a consumer electronics show held in June 2009 at New York :

“If you were to ask investors how satisfied were you with your data wireless network investments pre-iPhone, my gut instinct tells me, they were not delivering the revenues that one would’ve expected to justify the investments they were making,”

Chopra noted that faster Internet speeds create business opportunities and that the government aims to create incentives for such investment. “We can lead with public policy in this area the way that the consumer has led in the device world”. Already $7.3 billion has been allocated to hand out for broadband build-out in the President Obama’s economic stimulus package.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to draw up a strategy to bring high-speed Internet to nearly half of the U.S. population that does not get it, many in low-income and rural areas.

Skype is embracing the Android platform with the expected launch of the Skype Lite app for devices running on Google’s mobile OS. The application will enable T-Mobile G1 users to make cheap calls without the need of a mobile Internet connection and also chat via instant messages with people in their Skype friends list.

The company’s first native VoIP client for Java, Skype Lite will also be available on many other Java-enabled phones, such as models from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG and Samsung. Depending on your mobile price plan, you can use your inclusive minutes or call your Skype friends for the cost of a local call with the new Skype Lite. The instant messaging feature though, will use your data plan.

Skype has been expanding its reach to a variety of mobile devices, from Windows Mobile smartphones to Internet tablets like the Nokia N810. Now it’s coming to the hottest new platform the Android OS, a platform that is set to expand exponentially this year, on forthcoming devices from Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

Skype Lite was already available to many handset models from Nokia, SE, Samsung and Motorola, but in a beta stage. The coming release, for both Android and other devices, is expected make it prime time and move the app out of beta status. As for availability, it will take a few days for Skype Lite to appear on Android Marketplace, while the version for the other devices should be available later on today from the Skype website.

Qik is a ground breaking video streaming service. Basically and very simply put they allow you to film from your mobile and stream directly to a central server which in turn broadcasts the stream to other mobile or web sites. They have a few competitors like Kyte and Flixwagon but have a significant lead.

Following is a simple diagram that demonstrates what it is that Qik does :

Here are some real life shots of what people stream. This is the most eloquent explanation of the rather trivial.. but actually kind of exciting and even scary possibilities that the mobile using Qik offers :

They have taken a rather interesting challenge to make this service available to the largest number of users by make a Java app that can be downloaded to non smart phones. It opens the doors to feature phones that a large audience uses.. and therefore make it possible that this could really go mass.. meaning the billions of Java enabled phones.. in Asia and South America.. along with Europe, Africa and of course the USA.

Here are the mobiles with which it is compatible in its Alpha launch :

Nokia handsets now supported: 5300, 6300, 6500 classic, 6500 slide, Nokia 6555, Nokia 8800 Arte

Sony Ericsson handsets now supported: K850, K858, W890, W910, W908, K660, G502, Z750

It will be interesting to see if there is really an up-take of this service as it could be very addictive. Lets watch and see.

Simon & Schuster, of Star Trek fame, has struck a deal with MPS Mobile’s Global Reader, which will distribute more than five hundred of the publisher’s bestselling and popular titles on its Global Reader mobile service. Simon & Schuster plans to make its entire eBook catalog available to the service in the coming months. For now, titles such as The Secret and books from the Star Trek series are available.

Books will be priced the same as they are in other digital formats–anywhere from $2.50-$10, depending on the title. Individual chapters will cost $0.99, which MPS Mobile says gives consumers a “low cost method” for “dipping” into a book to see if they want to buy it, or by giving them an easy way of accessing a specific chapter of a book they may have already bought in print or e-book format. Global Reader is available on over 75 mobile carriers in 160 different countries.

Ajit Joakar :

This is interesting .. and makes me think ..

Just because we WANT people to pay – does not mean that they WILL .. If the observation in this blog is true, it means that many a business plan based on paying for Context will also hit rough waters (considering that location is one of the most important elements of the Mobile context)

Consider some of the paid iPhone apps from the telegraph.

Vicinity (has got good reviews etc and also GPS based with wikipedia links and so on) is only £1.79??. Is that 1.79 per month or for all times??.

As far as I can see, it’s a £1.79 price as a one off charge.

Other paid iPhone apps are (from the Telegraph link above)

* Starmap Planetarium (£6.99): Astronomers and space nuts will love this – a stargazing guide that provides information about constellations, planets and even shooting stars, plus oodles of scientific details.

* Etch-a-Sketch (£2.99): Twiddle the virtual dials to start a sketch, or draw directly on screen using your finger. “Tilt technology” will be added soon to enable you to move the iPhone itself to create a drawing.

* Meal Splitter (£4.99): There will be no need to squabble over restaurant bills with this application, which precisely calculates what each diner owes based on the cost of the meal. Okay, so the iPhone’s in-built calculator could do pretty much the same thing, but this takes the pain out of the entire process; it will even work out how much the non-drinkers should pay compared to the drinkers.

* Vicinity (£1.79): Takes advantage of the iPhone 3G’s GPS to provide one-tap access to information about local services and amenities. It will even pull in relevant Wikipedia entries and Flickr photos.

* Band (£5.99): Compose your own music using the collection of virtual instruments.

* Stage Hand (£4.99): Control your Apple Keynote presentations using your iPhone or iPod touch, and read and review slides on its screen.

* Super Monkey Ball (£5.99): The pick of the bunch of new games for the iPhone and iPod touch. Tilt the device itself to control the progress of a monkey inside a transparent bubble. The graphics are first-rate, and the gameplay is highly addictive.

The games(super monkey Ball) seem to be valued higher as does niche apps

However, the business model does not seem to be so good based on this evidence since the useful apps like vicinity seem to be valued only at £1.79

We have all seen many many reports saying that LBS will be the big saviour, people will pay for location etc etc – and then we see a very good LBS application priced at only £1.79. This is in the same series of posts where I talked about taking the principles of better than free for mobile and also said that Google’s initiatives point to a pricepoint of free for mobile applications – for instance, if we contrast Vicinity to Google maps – then Google maps on mobile is free. And although Vicinity gives us some cool features like wikipedia integration which I love – it does point to a very low pricepoint if that becomes a precedent. Further, it points to a one off price point i.e. not a monthly fee ..

By Ajit JAOKAR

Android – iPhone revenue models: Can 70 plus 30 equal free? – Is the future of mobile apps free or fee based?

The iPhone has a simple revenue share model – 70 percent to the developer.

Considering Google’s developer friendly credentials, one would have hoped for something along the same lines .. But disappointingly – that’s not the case .. Because the revenue share depends on the agreements between the carrier and the developer.

Moco news points out that It will purely be an arrangement between the carrier and the mobile app developer. It is unknown what the revenue-share agreement will be between the carrier and a developer.”

To me, this is not a good development in the short term and needs to be clarified in the long term.

It appears that Google is working on the equation that 70 plus 30 equals free i.e. instead of the 70 30 model adopted by the iPhone. Also, Android itself appears to lean to free (ad funded model) for all mobile applications.

Here is why:

1) In terms of data usage and subscribers, I do not believe that individual Operators can have a large enough user base to make a commercial difference to a developer.

2) Individual agreements between developers and Operators are not feasible for Long Tail applications when most of the applications do not make a lot of money in the first place.

3) Also, we start to get fragmentation immediately(for example if developer gets 70 perc for supporting x devices and 50 percent for not doing so etc etc)

All this means that (at least) initially, free applications will proliferate.

This makes little difference for Google since every element of Android is a Mobile web 20 element – (because every element of the stack is capable of creating metadata – all of which can be harnessed towards targeted advertising – just like Gmail)

Hence, Google has a viable economic model but I do not believe that small developers can survive on an ad model alone(and further it is likely that operators may want a share of the ad pie as well)

On the other hand, Android may provide a genuine opportunity for operators to start with a clean slate. Apart from the Korean and Japanese operators, none of the operators have built viable portals. Android offers the choice to start with a clean slate and attract developers and to create a viable ecosystem.

Android raises a broader question is : Are all mobile applications likely to be free(ad funded)?

If we consider the example of the iphone, so far paid iphone applications have not fared well.

So on one hand, while we worry about the contrast between 70 30 and free, we have to consider the broader question of – which mobile applications will users pay for? And the answer is not very clear cut ( see this post where I say that we may have to adopt Kevin Kelly’s principles to the Mobile ecosystem ).

Longer term, I see an irreversible trend with more value being abstracted up the stack, multiple payment systems(Paypal and Google checkout), multiple networks(Wimax, WiFi and so on) – but the short term is unclear.

William Volk makes an interesting point when he says :

“The problem isn’t just the revenue share. It’s that Google, by handing off the sale of paid apps to individual carriers, have added an element of ‘friction’ to the entire publishing process:
With existing content sales carrier terms are typically net 60 to 90 days.
What’s more if you sell in multiple territories, then you will have to deal with multiple carriers.
Also, while there is an unfettered process for free apps, paid apps will certainly be subject to a review and approval process if for no other reason for issues of insuring appropriate content. What will that approval process entail?”

So, Can 70 plus 30 equal free? To me, it seems that Google is going towards Free and not a revenue share model.