Articles about Mobile App

My friend Paul Tyma (ex-Google, creator of Mailinator, occasional stand-up comic) released a mobile product this week and one thing I find interesting is the difference between how he describes it and how I describe it.

Paul: "Let’s say you had an important meeting with someone you really want to impress. A smart person would probably spend a non-trivial amount of time scouring the Internet for information about that person. What are they tweeting about? If you’re LinkedIn to them, then go check out their LinkedIn profile. If you were really interested you might go look up their house on Zillow. Or see how their company’s stock price faired today on Yahoo Finance".

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There are only three weeks to go until the release of Windows 8.1 and Microsoft is laying the groundwork by highlighting some of the new features and apps that are to be found in the update. The latest app to be picked out is Reading List -- Microsoft's answer to the list of Pocket and ReadItLater. The app has been designed to make it easier to save online articles to read at a later time without the need to bookmark it.

Reading List differs from RSS readers such as Feedly in that articles are stored on an individual basis. And while it is well suited to "bookmarking" articles you find on websites that you would like to return to, it can also be used to bookmark content from other apps. Just like other "read it later" tools, the real advantage comes from the fact that content is synchronized between devices.

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Forty-eight in a series. Things do not look as grim any more in regards to the overall Windows Store application growth. 964 new apps found their way into the US Windows Store this week.

While still nowhere near the performance of previous months, it seems that things have picked up slightly again.

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Every once in a while the BetaNews writers have differing opinions when it comes to certain topics. Case in point: my colleague Joe Wilcox just wrote a story which may lead you to believe that touch is an essential feature for Windows laptops. That could not be further from the truth. As a long-time Windows (and Windows 8 user) there wasn't a single moment when I felt the need to poke the screen. And I'm sure that many fellow users would agree.

Joe cites NPD's Stephen Baker in saying that "Touch appears to be coming into its own as a core feature in the Windows ecosystem". That's a bit like saying "Stickers appear to be coming into their own as a core feature on laptops' palm rests". Touch doesn't have to be included (nor do the stickers), and here is why.

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All of the major antivirus firms -- big names like Symantec, McAfee, AVG and Kaspersky -- offer mobile security apps for Android which can help protect against malware and theft. There are offerings from lesser known companies available too.

BlueSprig is a newcomer in this field, but its AirCover Security Android app is a comprehensive offering which can protect against malware and theft, help boost your privacy, block unwanted calls and SMS messages, and safeguard you on the web, as well as optimize your system.

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When a consumer decides to buy into a platform or operating system, they expect commitment from the developer. For instance, Apple released iOS 7 on Wednesday and included support for the iPhone 4 which was released in 2010. An iPhone buyer can reasonably expect a healthy dose of updates for years. As a result, Apple users trust and buy into iOS.

Conversely, Microsoft announces that it is ending Skype development and support for Windows Phone 7. Yes, Microsoft will continue to support the smartphone operating system until September 9, 2014. However, ending support for one of its own apps is a slap in the face to the loyal users who chose to buy into the platform.

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Forty-seventh in a series. The overall application growth in the US Windows Store continues to remain under the 1,000 app mark. While that is usually a cause for concern in regards to the platform as a whole, this week has seen the release of a remarkable number of quality apps which is reflected below.

A total of 82,641 apps were listed in Windows Store at the time of writing, an increase of 693 apps in the last seven days.

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If you own a smartphone it’s likely you download apps for it, and given the proliferation of mobile devices, it’s not surprising that the volume of app downloads is continuing to rocket.

According to Gartner, mobile app stores will see annual downloads reach 102 billion in 2013, up from 64 billion in 2012, with free apps accounting for a whopping 91 percent of the total downloads this year.

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When I bought the first-generation iPad in 2010, I intended to use it for taking notes in college classes. Unfortunately, the iPad didn't come with an office suite and Microsoft's was not available. And so, I was forced to try a bunch of alternatives. Ultimately, I found one that stood out among the rest -- Quickoffice. I found it to be complete and a pleasure to use.

While my iPad is long gone, Quickoffice has followed me to Android with great results. However, Google bought my beloved Quickoffice in June 2012 and I became very nervous. My concern was that the software development would cease under Google's leadership. I am happy to say that my concerns were for naught -- Google announces today that QuickOffice has been updated and is now free.

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Just in time for iOS 7, Google has announced the release of Chrome 30 for iOS. Or for iOS 6-7, anyway -- the search giant has shifted its minimum requirements, so anyone still on iOS 5.x is now out of luck.

If you missed the release of Chrome 29 -- hardly surprising, as it only appeared last week -- then that extended searching with what Google called "intelligent pronoun understanding". And basically this gives your searches some context, so if you ask "Who directed Star Wars?", then "Where was he born?", you’ll get sensible answers in each case.

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The most difficult problem to deal with when launching a new mobile platform nowadays is the initial lack of apps. It is a chicken and egg sort of issue where tier one developers -- the ones who are behind the most popular offerings -- refuse to develop software for the new platform unless there is a large-enough userbase and users refuse to buy devices sporting the new platform unless it offers them access to the most popular apps. To put that into perspective, it's similar to the problem BlackBerry is facing now with BB10 OS (no major developers, no major apps, no user growth).

Jolla, with its Sailfish OS-based smartphone, is a newcomer on the smartphone market. And, it too faces the same problem as every other platform developer that ventures into new territory -- the big app titles are nowhere to be seen. But, instead of following the same troubled path as Microsoft which tries to lure developers into releasing Windows Phone 8 apps, Jolla says it has a different way, a better way. The Finnish company announced that Sailfish OS is now compatible with Android apps.

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Big news came from Apple and Microsoft this week. Microsoft seemingly had a change of heart; having previously said that Windows 8.1 RTM would not be made available before its official launch date, the company announced that it would be released to people with TechNet and MSDN subscriptions.

The same group of people also gained access to the pre-release version of Skype. Microsoft was clearly in a very giving mood this week as the company also announced that it was giving free copies of Office 365 to non-profit organizations.

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Forty-sixth in a series. The app growth this week fell under the 500 new apps mark when you look at the numbers. That is however only half of the story, as Microsoft seems to have removed quite a few applications from its store. The games category for instance lists 250 apps less than a week before.

The company must have removed more apps than this though, as new apps found their way into the games category this week as well.

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When it comes to the humble web browser, the fundamentals haven’t changed an awful lot over the years. Even when porting the browser to a tablet, developers have traditionally steered a conservative line and have either scaled up a mobile browser or attempted to replicate the desktop interface in a touchscreen environment.

For those who find web browsing on the iPad more fiddly than it should be, rejoice: Opera Software has attempted to reinvent the tablet browser with the release of Coast by Opera.

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Nearly a year after it debuted Xbox Music, Microsoft has introduced iOS and Android apps for its impressive music service, and sent out a clear warning to the likes of Spotify with the introduction of free web streaming.

iOS and Android users with an Xbox Music Pass can now enjoy unlimited access to 30 million songs for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. When you add a song to your music library on Xbox, it will be instantly available on the mobile device.

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