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Appconomy Raises $10 Million To Accelerate Expansion In China

Posted: 19 Dec 2011 04:38 AM PST

appconomy

Mobile development platform company Appconomy has raised $10 million in Series A equity and debt funding to accelerate its operations in China. The round was led by Shanghai-based Qiming Ventures.

Other investors include IT services provider Neusoft Corporation (which Appconomy had previously formed a strategic alliance with) and previous backers Western Technology Investment and True Ventures.

Appconomy operates a cloud-based platform for mobile marketing and commerce that connects consumers and merchants through its AppWallet marketplace on smartphones, tablet computers, and feature phones. Basically, the platform and technology help mobile app developers integrate in-app commerce and community services for daily deals and coupons, loyalty and rewards programs, and social network & private group sharing.

In partnership with Neusoft, Appconomy plans to leverage combined customers and partners in China and the United States, which happen to be the two largest markets for apps in the world.

Qiming Ventures MD Gary Rieschel has joined Appconomy’s board of directors.

Appconomy says it will continue to operate its U.S. headquarters, product and business development in Austin, Texas and run its Chinese operations from Shanghai.

App-ocalypse

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 03:51 PM PST

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There are over 500,000 applications for the iPhone and iPad, 300,000+ on Android and thousands more on other platforms. The average user has 65 apps installed on their phone (source: Flurry). Many of us have more.

Entire businesses have been built to solve the problem of "app discovery" – that is, a way to supplement the limited app search mechanisms built into the vendors' own application stores. This is primarily to benefit mobile app developers, who can't get their apps found. The end results of these products are pitched to consumers as tools to "find new, cool apps," "find apps your friends like," or "find the best apps that do X."

While these efforts are appreciated by app developers and end users alike, they don't solve what is increasingly becoming a real problem: finding the apps you already have installed on your phone.

Before sourcing factual data from mobile analytics firm Flurry as to the average number of apps users have installed on their devices, I did some informal polling on Facebook and Twitter. I asked my friends and followers how many apps they currently have on their phones. The answers were surprising. Although there were a few outliers – the person who only had 10, for example, and a couple of others who have upwards of 300, most people fell within the 40-100 app range. More often than not, they had closer to 50 or 60. Again, this is anecdotal data, but speaks to trends within the tech community. It’s interesting that this non-scientific polling shows that early adopters have roughly the same number of apps, on average, as all smartphone users worldwide – around 65.

But how many apps do people actually use? According to Flurry, the average consumer uses only 15 apps per week. That means that the majority of the apps installed on the phone are for occasional use. The games you play while killing time, the tip calculator or bill splitter you only pull out when dining with friends, the calorie counter for that diet you began in January (and again June), the garage sale finder, the photo-uploader, and that game that you kid totally loves…you know, the one with the bunnies? What was that called again?

And herein lies the problem.

Unless your app is appropriately titled and optimized for search, on-device app search is severely lacking, at least on the two major platforms, iPhone and Android, which I'll address in this post.

For example, in tests on my iPhone, you can't pull up Groupon or LivingSocial by typing in "deals" into the iPhone's Spotlight Search box. It doesn't work on Android, either – you have to type the app's name.

But, oddly, this isn't always the case. Type in "recipes" on iPhone and Epicurious appears. But not on Android. Type in "deals" on iPhone, and there comes BiteHunter. Type "Shopping" on iPhone, and there's FastMall and Zoomingo, but not Target or Best Buy. And, in similar tests on Android, apps have to be searched for by name, not function.

Why is this happening?

It appears that some app makers are better than others at maximizing the on-device search capabilities provided by iOS. That is, they’re stuffing their app’s name with keywords. (Epicurious is actually called “Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List,” for example).

This is a problem because search is the quickest way to find apps on your phone. After all, (stock) Android is designed so that you'll hide most of your apps, only pinning favorites to your homescreen. Meanwhile, iOS addresses the app overload situation with folders…ugly and inelegant folders.

These solutions, built out of necessity, pale in comparison with an efficient search mechanism. But even as useful as keyword-based searching is today, given that it ranks results alphabetically, it won't continue to be as useful in the future.

I mean, really - results ranked alphabetically! - imagine if that's how Google ranked the web! Of course, the app store ecosystem is hardly as large as the web.  Due to the barrier of entry – the technical requirements, the vendors' curation process, etc. – app stores won’t grow to the web's size. In time, our app addiction will likely also give way to "app-ified" mobile experiences designed for the small screen, and built with HTML5. (Or so I hope). But the app ecosystem is insanely huge and still growing.

In the meantime, users will begin to hit a stopping point with apps – a psychological barrier – not only due to the limited storage space on their phones, but also because they simply don't have the mental capacity to deal with a phone that has some 500 or 1,000 apps installed. That's actually kind of a shame. Although it's a rare day that I feel compelled to check on the sustainability information regarding the fish I'm about order, it's nice to know that FishPhone is there. And the next time I get into a debate about global warming, I want to quickly launch SkepticalScience. If only I could remember their names!

So here's a crazy idea: give our devices a real search engine – one that's as powerful as the app store's engine, if not better. Apps should be keyword-optimized, ranked and rated by dozens of signals. The on-device app search engine should know what apps you have installed, how often you use them, how long you've had them, when you bought them, their ratings, your ratings, which of your friends use them, and everything the apps can and can't do. For starters.

On iPhone, Siri could one day be that engine – the way that we “re-discover” the apps we have installed will be through developer integrations with Siri’s engine. You’ll ask a question and Siri will launch the appropriate app. But Siri utopia is a long way out – it is very much an alpha product.

In the meantime, instead of downloading every app we like, we should be able to quickly access those apps we've deemed our favorites, whether or not they're on the device we have now. iCloud is a good first step to this – your favorite apps could be stored in the cloud and surfaced through Spotlight Search. And Google, a company that built the world’s best web search engine, could surely do a better job of building an engine for searching the apps on our phones.

Unfortunately, we’re getting to a point where, if this situation doesn’t change, then it's only a matter of time before all of us start to feel the side effects. Some are already there. Without on-device app search improvements, no one will try your new app because they have enough apps already, thank you very much.

How sad.

Image credits: top – Appstream via Appsfire; iPhone apps – Flickr user Karin Beil

New Facebook For iPhone 4.1 Includes Timeline Access and Faster Photos

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 10:22 AM PST

Facebook for iphone 4.1

Facebook has just pushed out version 4.1 of its popular iPhone app. The update includes the ability to view the new profile Timeline, Subscribers, Subscriptions, pop-over notifications, and add people to friend lists. The app feels more responsive, and photos seem to load significantly faster. Facebook launched Timeline globally a few days ago, but initially it could only be accessed from m.facebook.com and Facebook for Android. The update will give plenty of exposure to Timeline, as Facebook for iPhone has 99.5 million monthly active users and 57.6 million daily active users, according to AppData.

Facebook for iPhone 4.1 may have been planned to launch alongside the Android update, but could have been delayed by necessary bug fixes. Its release shows that Facebook isn’t favoring Android mobile development just yet, though its Android app now has more daily active users than its iPhone app. You may only see Timeline through the app if you’ve already opted into the profile redesign via the web. Though Facebook for iPhone 4.1 runs on iPad, Facebook says Timeline access for its dedicated iPad app is coming soon.

In 4.1, notifications, messages, and requests now load in partial-screen popovers rather than separate full screens. These make it easier and faster to return to the previously viewed screen. The reduced load time for photos will make viewing them a less interruptive part of the news feed browsing experience. Facebook has also fixed one of the app’s most annoying bugs, where tapping a photo would accidentally load a different photo from the same album.

By clicking on the Friends button beneath someone’s Timeline cover, you can now add them to friend lists (thanks for the tip, MG). This is especially useful if you accept a new friend request from mobile and want to immediately restrict their access to your content by putting them in a privacy controlled friend list. There’s still no way to edit a friend list directly, though. A Subscribed button on the Timeline also lets you select the types and volume of someone’s posts that you see in the news feed — great for quieting noisy friends. The Android app and mobile site added these features on Thursday.

One change I don’t think helps: to filter the news feed to show only stories from a specific friend list, you now have to choose it from the general menu. Previously, a button above the news feed itself offered speedier access to friend list news feed filters. Also, there’s no access to the Timeline Activity Log yet from the iPhone app or other mobile interfaces, which is important for making sure you’re not sharing anything risqué with the wrong people.

The Top 20 iPhone and iPad Games Of 2011

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 09:30 AM PST

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Editor’s note: Contributor Brad Spirrison is the managing editor of mobile app discovery services Appolicious, AndroidApps.com and AppVee. Here are the Appolicious editorial team’s picks for the best iPhone and iPad games of the year.

In our previous post, we listed the top 20 iPhone and iPad apps of the year. But games are in a class by themselves, often pushing the limits of the hardware, software, and graphics capabilities of Apple’s iOS devices.

Instead of combining the platform’s great games with all of the other apps you should know about, here are our picks for the top 20 iOS games of the year:

1. Infinity Blade II (full Appolicious review)

Using state-of-the-art graphics and technology developed by ChAIR Entertainment, Infinity Blade II builds upon its plot-challenged predecessor and is the best game to come out in 2011. The sequel preserves all the coolness of the original including amazing Unreal Engine 3 graphics, tight, touch-based swordplay and a weird, beautiful world. Infinity Blade II showcases like never before what game developers can create on iOS devices.

 

2. Jetpack Joyride (full Appolicious review)

The art style and effects in this running game are simply gorgeous. It's full of tongue-in-cheek humor and references to other iOS titles, including main character Barry Steakfires who was introduced in last year's shooter game Monster Dash. The soundtrack to Jetpack Joyride is also fantastic. Developed by Halfbrick Studios, creator of Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride is a game that is nearly impossible to put down.

 

3. World of Goo (full Appolicious review)

This popular PC and Mac game transitioned beautifully to iOS devices, including a separate iPad-specific version. World of Goo has a delightful art style and a haunting bit of story going on in the background, but it's really about well-designed puzzle levels and tight controls that make it a blast to play.

 

4. Dead Space (full Appolicious review)

This prequel to the hit console game Dead Space 2, Dead Space is as engaging on the iPhone and iPad as it is on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions. Dead Space is a pretty gory third-person shooter, so it's not for kids. It also manages to be scarier than just about anything else on the platform. The controls work well with the spot-on graphics and terrifying soundtrack.

 

5. StarFront: Collision (full Appolicious review)

Similar to the popular PC title Starcraft II, this real-time strategy title from Gameloft has players sending marines, tanks, robots and all kinds of other units to fight off the armies of their enemies. The game's robust online multiplayer mode lets you take on as many as three other players in a big battle royale, or team up in a two-on-two skirmish. A separate iPad version is also available.

 

6. Scribblenauts Remix (full Appolicious review)

Warner Brothers did a nice job converting this hit Nintendo DS puzzle game to iOS devices. Players help the main character Maxwell solve puzzles by drawing or typing in tools like blocks or bridges to help them get from one frame to the next. Scribblenauts includes 40 levels, including 10 that are exclusive to iOS devices.

 

7. Tiny Tower (full Appolicious review)

The main point of this resource-management game is to build a tower, complete with floors of apartments, entertainment, eateries, retail shops, and so on. The addicting gameplay blends well with the retro 8-bit graphics and a quirky elevator music-style soundtrack. Game Center integration helps players find new "Bitizens" to face off against in this freemium title.

 

8. Hanging With Friends (full Appolicious review)

Zynga's social and silly adaptation of the classic game hangman has some innovative wrinkles to please the Facebook and iOS generations. Players can use the Instant Replay function, for instance, to see your opponents fail or succeed at solving your word. Turn-based gameplay also lets players tap into the casual title on their own time.

 

9. Cut The Rope: Experiments (full Appolicious review)

This game isn't just a rehash of Cut the Rope, one of the most commercially successful games to ever debut on the iOS platform. Experiments introduces new tools and items to use in the game's 75 levels, adding a great new challenge to the title while keeping it easy enough for seasoned rope-cutters to pick up quickly.

 

10. Asphalt 6 (full Appolicious review)

In the mold of Real Racing 2 and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, this title from Gameloft delivers a fresh spin to the racing game genre. Arcade style graphics, comprehensive gameplay elements to choose from, and exotic locations help speed freaks pass the time until Real Racing 3 eventually arrives.

 

11. Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP (full Appolicious review)

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP is the sort of title that tries to blur the line between game and art, and it succeeds beautifully. From indie developer Craig Adams with a soundtrack produced by singer/songwriter Jim Guthrie, Sword and Sworcery has players taking on the role of an adventurer and questing for a legendary book.

 

12. Dark Meadow (full Appolicious review)

A first person horror title from Phosphor Games, Dark Meadow shares many qualities as our favorite game Infinity Blade II. The graphics and soundtrack of this combat title are state-of-the-art, particularly when leveraging the A5 chip inside the iPhone 4S. An interesting story and solid gameplay make up the core of Dark Meadow, and it brings a lot of spooky atmosphere along with it.

 

13. iOOTP Baseball 2011 (full Appolicious review)

An iOS version of the Out of the Park PC game, this manage-only baseball simulator drew rave reviews from iOOTP veterans and newcomers alike. Whereas Bill James Baseball IQ invites armchair general managers, this game will have you in the virtual dugout and test your skills as a baseball skipper.

 

14. Angry Birds Seasons (full Appolicious review)

While it's been two years since Rovio released its household name application, the company continues to bank on updating Angry Birds Seasons around significant holidays. The 25 new levels in the most recent Christmas edition aptly titled "Wreck The Halls"— also available for iPads — is the gift that keeps on giving to Angry addicts.

 

15. Asteroids: GUNNER (full Appolicious review)

Atari re-imagined the classic Asteroids game for iOS devices with surprising and pleasing success. Compared to its predecessor, Asteroids Gunner has graphics that are out of this world. Nostalgia junkies yearning for the arcade era and fickle mobile gamers alike have reason to tap into this one.

 

16. League of Evil (full Appolicious review)

Based on the classic NES series, League of Evil actually has more in common with Mega Man. It is also arguably the most addictive and challenging side-scrolling game you will find on any mobile device. The game has all kinds of obstacles waiting to kill your character in each of its short, quick levels, and requires a lot of skill and precision in its controls to get past them all.

 

17. Shadowgun (full Appolicious review)

A third-person shooter built on the beautiful Unity engine, SHADOWGUN brings a console gaming feel to the small screen much in the same way as other big name titles, such as Infinity Blade. It also packs some great production values, with some quality voice acting, sharp controls and lots of stuff to shoot.

 

18. Temple Run (full Appolicious review)

Temples with booby traps and curses are what you’ll find in Temple Run, the best running game available for under a buck. The music and graphics are all good, and the game is very addicting. It’s definitely one of those games that you play “just one more time” over and over again.

 

19. W.E.L.D.E.R. (full Appolicious review)

Part Boggle, part Bejeweled with a bit of Scrabble thrown in, W.E.L.D.E.R. might become your new vocabulary-infused addiction. The tricky word-puzzler offers a game board full of letters and free tiles, and tasks players with rearranging the tiles one at a time in order to form words that clear the tiles off the board.

 

20. Tiny Wings (full Appolicious review)

In addition to being the game that officially dethroned Angry Birds as the No. 1 paid app in the iTunes App Store, Tiny Wings is a simple and addictive arcade game that is well worth the 99-cent download cost. Players assume the role of a tiny bird with tiny wings that really wants to fly. The goal is to see just how far the bird can fly until the sun goes down.

NYPD Busts 141 Merchants For Selling Stolen Apple Goods

Posted: 18 Dec 2011 09:12 AM PST

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New York City is possibly the most dangerous place to take your new iPhone or iPad. Grand larcenies have increased this year in the Big Apple, which NYPD spokesman Paul Browne attributes to criminal’s obsession with stealing handheld devices. But after a sting operation that went down between Tuesday and yesterday, things might be a bit safer in the city that never sleeps.

Undercover officers attempted to sell iPhones and iPads at discounted prices (between $50 and $200) to over 600 stores throughout all five boroughs — including bodegas, supermarkets, gadget stores, etc. — clearly stating that all the hardware had been stolen.

Of the 600 stores solicited by the undercover policemen, 141 merchants were busted for trying to purchase the “stolen” hardware. Over the past year, the New York City subway has been prime real estate for thieves looking to jack smartphones and tablets. With more expensive gadgetry on the market, thieves are making bank selling their stolen goods to small shops.

"That's our intention, to reduce the places where people who steal these things can go and sell them," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to the NY Post. "If someone is offering you an iPad for way below market value, you have to realize that it's most likely stolen."

An unnamed source from Fort Greene’s 88th precinct mentioned that over half the robberies in the precinct involve iPhones during certain months. Interestingly enough, an ABC News story from last week uncovered that some thieves don’t want anything but the iPhone, asking for cash instead of an Android phone.

What we should learn: Don’t wave your phone around, iPhone or not. Don’t steal people’s phones. Don’t try to sell stolen phones. Don’t try to buy stolen phones.

[Photo Credit: The Lush Side]