With the launch of the Amazon App Store over a year ago, the imminent launch of the Facebook App Centre and even with Spotify getting in on the action with two more apps based around dating, this seems to be a push by others to establish themselves as genre specific application hubs.

This opens up a number of questions, among which; where will you be getting your apps from and will you divide your downloading to separate stores or head solely to one for your latest fix?

Inevitably the circle of life for any app occurs when we share our experiences with others. You download it. You share it. They download it. They share it. Rinse and repeat. Nonetheless the maturity and decline of apps are usually based on the attractiveness of interaction and type of app. Different genres of apps are used in different ways by consumers and as such have varying shelf-lives.

Are we going to see a shift in focus from search-all find-all app stores which allow you to view categories of apps to genre-specific app stores which allow you access to a single type of app? If we are, then we are more than likely to find that the life-cycle of an app on any platform, change dramatically. For instance, once you are over the initial hype of a new game, you tend to keep it on your phone to pick up at another time. The new age of game specific stores will certainly mean that consumers are more often visiting these sites to check out the latest game to replace their now dropped and forgotten game.

You’ve probably already seen this news bit, but just incase you haven’t. The technical World has been set buzzing recently with the news that Oracle, one of the World’s largest Hardware and Software Development companies is suing another of the World’s largest Software Development companies, Google, for copyright and patent infringement. This ascertains to Google’s use of the Java APIs (Application Programming Interface) publicly available to developers of which the rights for the Java platform belongs to Oracle after its acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Oracle have motioned that Google has given public development access to the industry without consultation and remuneration to itself in the form of licenses.

Google’s Android OS is predominantly a Java based platform which utilises a number of global APIs in order to render a User Interface and function. The copyright infringement occurring when Google gave Android to developers as an open source development platform.

With this news, and if Oracle’s motion is upheld, it could send shockwaves across to Java development industry. If Oracle wins its claim and Google may be forced to either pay damages and take on licences, or refactor a large amount of code. This would have a devastating affect on the general development community as software everywhere would have to be scrutinised for license infringements.

News is undoubtedly one of the World’s most wide spread forms of print in society. However, online news now generates more revenue than printed articles. With the age of the smartphone, consumers are increasingly beginning to exchange their subscription in a printed form in favour of a digital version.

However, it is not just the platform of news delivery that is changing, but also the channel.  Step forward social .  Commuters are more likely to receive breaking news via Twitter feeds and Facebook updates than via the daily paper, regardless of whether it’s printed on paper or downloaded on an iPad.

Let’s take the recent death of singer Whitney Houston, for example.  Within the first hour of her death, over 2.5 million people tweeted about the tragic story, averaging about 1,000 tweets per second.  The traditional news outlet would not go live about such a story without proper verification (sanity checks), which took time.  By the time those outlets felt confident to go public, the story was “old news” to the two and a half million who’d already heard the news: an entire 42 minutes “old”, in fact.  Twitter was indisputably the first one to the finish line.

The rush to be first and the immediacy that social media offers, is a heady combination and not without pitfalls.  Sadly, the Whitney story was true but a recent study indicated that 50% of received news via social media turns out to be inaccurate.  The question of liability also arises.  Newspapers are bound by strict rules and editors can choose to ‘publish and be damned’ but control of social media is much looser.  The recent naming of a rape victim on Twitter and the erroneous tweet by Spike Lee, giving the address of an elderly couple instead of the man who shot teenager Trayvon Martin, both demonstrate the danger of lawless tweeting.  By the way, what would have happened if the correct address of the accused had been published – twitmob justice?  That’s a whole new debate.

In the general sense, we still rely on traditional media for our fact finding missions, we still cross-reference what we have seen on social media to that of the large media corporations for corroboration. But we still pass on this information come-what-may and this seemingly unstoppable social networking machine churns on. Could this be used to someone’s advantage?

The demand for news has not gone away.  The methods of its delivery are increasingly digital.  The channels used are constantly evolving. So in the end who and in what form will win out the majority of the news and print market share? What forms of media will jump from strength to strength and which will fade into the obscurity that is last weeks news?

Nonetheless, it’s all good news for the apps.  If you can connect to the source, you engage to the user.

We are yet to see plans for the future for this service, however CEO Mark Zuckerburg pressed the point that “We’re committed to growing Instagram independently.”

Whatever the plans are, we can be assured that with the backing of a giant such as Facebook this can only be a positive move. Facebook may be using this service to rival other services offered by competitors but since when has competition been a bad thing? It springs innovation, debate and collaboration.

The jury is still out on faithful users to see whether they stay under new management…

Have your say!

To get an idea of just how popular these apps are, it’s worth noting that both Hipstamatic and Instagram were awarded Apple’s iPhone app of the year award in 2010 and in 2011 respectively. A poll done by http://www.iphoneography.com asked its visitors how many photography apps they had on their iPhone, 40% of respondents had 25 or more but some of the subsequent comments, admitted to over 90. Yes, ninety photo apps.

So what is driving this enthusiastic uptake of photo-apps? Obviously the technological advances in the smartphone industry means more people are carrying high-resolution cameras with them and consequently have the ability to take a photo at any time. Keeping the apps simple and features limited, creates an easy user experience while the use of filters, retro lens simulators and colour adjusting tools means nearly everyone can turn a pretty average image into something more memorable. Add the immediate publishing and sharing options and your mobile consumer is hooked.

Some more serious MoPhos (mobile photographers) dismiss the instantaneous tricks of Hipstamatic and the social streaming of Instagram but fact is, there is a huge variety of photo-apps available and people use their photo-apps for different reasons. If you want a Polaroid-style app, check out Shakeit for iPhone or Roidizer for Android; for toycam, fisheye or a Warhol feature, download FxCamera; YouGottaSeethis is an app that creates artistic collages; MagicShutter mimics the effects of shooting at slow shutter speeds and so the list goes on.  iPhoneography has evolved because of this variety of apps and the different handling of them. Many people use several apps for shooting and processing (and sharing) and of course, the novelty of a new look (whether Polarized, vintage etc) is always welcome.

With so many different users out there with different phones, needs and wants, there is an photo app that fulfils individual needs. So whether you aspire to be the next Ansel Adams or Annie Leibovitz or you just want to share your favourite pet picture with your best friend, there will be an app (or several) made just for you.

This innovative product allows you to create a simple app without using a single line of code heralding a new era in app building.  By using the clever web interface, anyone can use the step by step process and have an app up and running on multiple devices (including Windows Phone) within minutes.  

Once you’ve downloaded (for free) the basic app framework, you can populate it with some standard widgets like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and RSS feed. Then you can customise it with your own icons, headings, logo, content etc. For a mere $29 a month, your app is then submitted to App Store, Play Store and Marketplace.

With this kind of ease of use, no-one is suggesting that these apps will offer complex or bespoke functionality. However, it does present real opportunity for small businesses, community organisations and individuals to connect quicker and cheaper with its customer base. Post publishing, you can even fine-tune functions for immediate updates (at no extra cost). Couple this with Jampot’s proposed push capabilities (planned for June) and you can create real-time offers and promotions getting it out to your customers instantaneously.

In the same way that the web has evolved to give users more tools to create simple websites, App Builder is bringing apps to the masses. What quality these apps will be remains to be seen.

Unless your app’s scope is strictly local, not optimising your app for global use will severe limit your market place performance. The emerging market for smart phones is huge. Within China alone, there’s an estimated 122 million potential users, couple this with India and its 75million, and you begin to see the size of the market.

“We were amazed by how much support we got from our fans in China after we localized Plants vs. Zombies….in only three days, the Chinese version reached the number one paid application spot on the China App Store. We’re selling twice as many copies now, in Chinese, than we ever sold in English.”- Leo Liu, PopCap Country Manager Greater China

So how do you adapt your English-language app to launch in new market? Real globalisation of your app involves a lot more than simply translating its market description, although localising the metadata is one of the easiest ways to extend your apps’ discoverability.

Preparation is key. Thorough market research including which countries are worth targeting, checking out downloads of different types of apps and which operating systems are popular are all primary considerations. Technically speaking, internationalising your app means preparing it for use across different countries.  Consider keeping content separate from code and put it in a separate resource file.  This will make retrieving content for translation much easier.  Another tip is to allow for expansion and contraction of text – English takes up less room than many other languages which will impact on the design.

Localisation involves translation and adaption of locale-specific components.Simple steps like reviewing your app title, description and content could ensure a better understanding of your app and avoids any potential local offences or cultural embarrassments. It’s worth checking your whole UI – do the currency and time formats make sense to this market, what about symbols and icons? Even choice of colours can have a variety of meanings across different countries.  Translation of all details is essential – tips, policies and agreements all need to be in the local language. If this all sounds like a lot of work, take heart, there’s a lot of tools out there to help you and even step-by-step websites covering all the main coding languages.

To guarantee your apps real universal capabilities, it would be wise to test it on the actual device, ideally in the target country on the designated network/carrier. Once you start to see an increase in downloads and have a noticeable user base overseas, a final area to consider is local support. Having a dedicated team focused on supporting and marketing your app is essential to its on-going success.  

And finally, enjoy your global reach and keep an eye on the stats to see which emerging market to target next.

It’s an often asked question, just how many downloads do you need to make the charts in the Apple iTunes store. The answer of course varies from country to country, but how much it varies may surprise you. And just in case you were wondering, these are downloads per day.

Infographic of download numbers needed by country to make the mobile app store chart

This infographic was made by Catchy using figures from Distimo and Quora and is available to download on the Catchy downloads page 

Some of the market reviews have described it as “one of the most beautiful and inspired apps we’ve ever used” (Business Insider) or “the most beautiful, simplistic to-do app, ever” (The Industry).

So what is about a task management app that is creating such a buzz?

Fundamentally, it’s not its functionality.  It keeps coming back to the revolutionary GUI. Thenextweb.com explains “there are apps that make you re-think the way that you’ve been using apps altogether, breaking the mold and re-forming it with just a few minutes of use.” Its first smart act is to hand-hold you through how to interact with this new gesture based interface. These actions aren’t new – tapping, swiping, pinching and pulling but adapting to an app which has no buttons, no real navigation menu and no settings icons is. Reviewers are raving about its fun, colourful, musical experience describing marking items as finished as ‘joyfully satisfying’. This is all very well, but does it really help simplify your life?

Those in the less- than- impressed camp criticise its lack of features and the absence of custom push notifications. Its very simplicity is in fact its limitations.

One reviewer in MacWorld said “(it) doesn’t organize my life, but it makes my life a little more organized without getting in the way, and for that…I’m thankful.”

What is apparent, is that Clear is an example of how we will all be interacting with our multi-touch  platforms in the future.