Ourial Ohayon, co-founder of app discovery platform Appsfire, went so far as to suggest that Apple do away with its charts in order to help people use other tools to find the right apps for them. He said at the very least, Apple should break out games from the App Store because they dominate the charts and keep other apps from being discovered.

Chris Dury, CEO of third-party app store GetJar, said only 1/10 of 1 perent of apps generate 50 percent of all downloads. That’s due in part to the power of charts on informing consumers’ download decisions. But he said charts make it appear that all consumers are alike and enjoy games. He said his research found that only 14 percent of users like casual games, but because the second most popular category grabs only 8 percent of users, games dominate the charts.

The reliance on charts also prompts developers to game and manipulate the rankings because they factor so heavily into their success. Even with Apple’s work to cut down on incentivized downloads and the use of bots, Tomer Kagan, co-founder and CEO of app search engine Quixey, said chart manipulation is still a big problem. In China, a developer can pay $40,000 to guarantee a spot in the top ten list, he said. 

“Charts are very detrimental. Consumers think (an app on the charts is the) only app that can do that. Very few apps have ever made it to the charts,” said Kagan.”

So what can developers do if they don’t want to play the chart game? Kagan suggested putting their efforts into a big launch with a lot of mentions, reviews and social media buzz because some app stores are taking into account more search engine optimization.

But what isn’t needed is more app stores, said John Ellis, Chief Technologist of Ford’s Connected Services and Solutions. He said companies don’t need to create their own app store, but are better off making catalogs of curated apps that leave the actual transactions to the big players.

Check out the rest of our Mobilize 2012 coverage here, and the live stream can be found here.

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On Monday, Ford’s navigation technology provider TeleNav announced an Android version of its Scout navigation app to complement its already launched iPhone mapping app. The Google Play version works just like the iPhone version, with one exception: if you own an AppLink equipped car the app will automatically connect to your vehicle, turning your dash into scale-downed version vehicle navigation system. So far, the app only works on Verizon, AT&T and Sprint Android phones, but TeleNav said it would support T-Mobile users shortly.

You won’t get all of the bells whistles of a dedicated nav system. There is no big interactive map or 3D renderings of the your route. But AppLink’s more limited screen will display individual route instructions and give you voice prompts. The app also taps into Sync’s voice command system so you can access all of the preset destinations in your phone and uses the device’s data connection to search for addresses or points of interest. You can tell the app to take you home or to look for fast food or gas stations.

It’s the first time that Ford has integrated on-board navigation directly with a smartphone – so far it’s focused primarily on entertainment “radio” apps. And in the process it’s showing its willingness to rethink how it sells services in the vehicle. To activate Scout’s Car Connect feature you have to pay $25 a year annual subscription (or $5 a month if you go month-by-month), but that’s peanuts compared to what Ford could get by selling car buyers expensive embedded nav systems and their accompanying subscriptions.

What’s more the strategy allows Ford to bring navigation to much broader array of vehicles, as Sync AppLink percolates down to all makes and models. The app runs off the smartphone and uses Sync’s dash controls merely as an interface, so Ford doesn’t have to make a big investments in hardware to support it.

Ford Connected Services and Solutions Chief Technologist John Ellis will be at GigaOM’s Mobilize conference this week, discussing just how Ford is reinventing itself as an application platform on wheels. It’s not only Ford that that’s treading into the unknown turf of applications. All of the automakers are wrestling with same questions of how open their connected cars should be to third party development and what services they should control.

Chevrolet has set out on a similar course to Ford and has potentially more at risk. It’s introducing a new smartphone nav app in the fourth quarter called BringGo to its MyLink connected car platform, which will bring an even richer in-vehicle experience to new Spark and Sonic models, which could cannibalize revenues from Chevy’s OnStar navigation services. Unlike Sync AppLink, Chevy’s latest version of MyLink has a seven-inch color touch screen, and Chevy is taking advantage of it. Not only will BringGo display maps directly on that screen, customers can use the touch screen interface to interact with the app.

Ford hasn’t gone that far yet, but it easily could. It’s higher-end connected car system MyFord Touch features all of the necessary hardware to recreate the full embedded navigation experience in its pricier vehicles. Ford has made embedded navigation standard its in all MyFord Touch package, but since TeleNav builds that nav system it could easily integrate its smartphone apps with the on-board platform.

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Don’t expect Chevy to open the floodgates – Google Maps Navigation and Apple Maps aren’t suddenly going to pop up on your new Spark’s in-dash monitor. The EnGIS-designed service was developed specifically for GM and it comes with a one-time fee of $50.

The app will be available for download in the iTunes and Google Play stores in the fourth quarter, and the in-dash software will come installed in all new Spark and Sonic models with Chevy’s MyLink connected car system. Customers who have already bought new 2013 Sparks and Sonics can get the in-dash app through an update via MyLink’s USB port, though Chevy hasn’t revealed yet whether you can perform the upgrade yourself or have it done by the dealer.

Global Program Manager for Infotainment Sarah LeBlanc said that Chevy realized after discussions with customers that the younger generation of car buyers wanted in-dash nav services but they didn’t want OnStar.

Chevy has been trying to revamp its image, targeting the millennial generation with affordable, trendier cars (if you don’t believe me, check out the advertising). The Spark, which Chevy was showing off to auto journalists Chicago this week, is the perfect example: the subcompact five-door ranges from $12,000 to $16,000 and comes in a color palette unknown to nature.

“The biggest percentage of people who would buy this car are young urbanites, many of whom have just graduated from college, just got their first jobs and are buying their first cars,” LeBlanc said. There’s one other thing these millennials all have in common, she said: They invariably own smartphones.

The Spark is the first car GM is selling that doesn’t have a CD player option in all but its most basic model. The expectation is that anyone who buys this car has already eschewed physical media in favor of digital. As you might expect, that same millennial set isn’t so hot on the idea of paying more than $1,000 for an embedded nav system or a $29 per month OnStar subscription fee when they’re accustomed to getting turn-by-turn directions on their smartphones for free, LeBlanc said.

It ain’t OnStar, but one day it could be

Chevy isn’t giving away BringGo for free, but it is adding value to traditional smartphone navigation with BringGo to justify its $50 expense. Unlike other mapping services, BringGo downloads full maps to the smartphone (the full version takes up 2 GB of memory), so the app isn’t constantly reaching out over the network to find out what’s around the next corner. This has the advantage of not sucking down drivers’ data plans, but it also means that maps don’t suddenly stop working if the data connection is weak.

The app connects to MyLink through Bluetooth or USB, and uses the dash’s built-in 7-inch letterbox monitor to render 3D color maps complete with traffic data. It uses the phone’s GPS and other sensors, but you can access all of BringGo’s controls through the car’s touchscreen interface. There’s even an option to use Google Local Search to find businesses, events and points of interest.

It certainly doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of OnStar. There are no voice prompts for instance, so you have to keep a close eye on screen. And if the assisted-GPS on our device loses one too many satellites, the nav system may temporarily lose your exact location. But those problems are minor compared to those of following a route on a three-inch screen lying in your lap.

But even if BringGo has limitations, they could quickly disappear. If EnGIS and Chevy decide to add more features – for instance, voice prompts and voice commands – they can do so simply through an app store update. Customer may hold onto their cars for five years, but they’ll likely own several different smartphones in the same period. As their devices and EnGIS’s software becomes more powerful, so do their cars’ nav systems.

Consumer friendly, yes, but GM friendly?

Chevy is definitely making a bold move. Maybe those 20-somethings would never fork over the money for OnStar, but they’re not the only age group that own smartphones. When will the buyers of pricier Chevys – not to mention Buicks, GMCs and even Cadillacs – start wondering when they’ll get BringGo as well?

The more GM opens its cars up to developers, the more it risks losing control of its platforms and cannibalizing services it provides through OnStar. So far GM has been cautious. Apart from the still-unreleased BringGo, MyLink has just two apps: Pandora and Stitcher.

This is a problem GM and its competitors are going to have to wrestle with in the next few years as they delve further into their connected car strategies. It’s also a topic we’re going to explore in more detail at GigaOM’s Mobilize conference in two weeks. Ford Motor Company Chief Technologist for Connected Car Solutions; John Ellis, GM of Harman’s Aha infotainment platform.  Robert Acker, and Honda(hmc) R&D Americas Connected Technology Engineer David Kirsch will all be in San Francisco Sept. 20-21 to discuss how automakers have become the latest smart device designers and how that trend will reshape their industry.

Cadillac CUE

GM is most definitely giving signals that connectivity will be key to its strategy moving forward. It now has connected infotainment systems for all of its major brands. Cadillac’s CUE targets the high end of the market with a rich interface and very powerful embedded hardware (more on CUE later this month). But GM is also showing it’s not going to cheap out when it comes to low-end models.

MyLink may not have haptic feedback, built-in Nuance voice recognition or a digital heads-up display. But its latest iteration in the Spark and Sonic – built by LG and powered by Microsoft — is certainly no lightweight, especially when you consider that many of the cars it’s going into will cost less than $15,000. It’s probably no coincidence that GM has also targeted the Spark to receive its first all-electric vehicle treatment.

GM seems to have made a key calculation: While wealthier car buyers can most afford connected car technologies, it’s the younger, more budget-minded buyers that will actually use the technology most.

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F|R: When did you first get the startup bug?

Barnett: Unlike some of your contributors, I’m a serial CEO. Historically, my passion and expertise has been taking entrepreneurial companies and scaling them into professionally-run companies. I did that with several companies, but ever since I was a kid I wanted to run a company from scratch.

F|R: Many founders find themselves in David vs. Goliath contests. Conventional wisdom is the only way to win is with superior technology. Turn is in a space dominated by DoubleClick, aQuantive, Advertising.com and Google. How do you compete?

Barnett: The Internet space doesn’t require you to have dramatically better technology, but there is no question that you have to be exponentially better at something. It might be technology, or maybe just a better product strategy.

In the ad space it depends on what part of the market you’re going after. Better technology is Turn’s approach because we’re going after the broad, more developed market in display advertising – it’s worth $30 billion now, and growing 20 percent annually. If you’re going after emerging categories, like mobile or video advertising, a lot of innovation comes from strategy; it is not necessarily a requirement to have better technology. Personally, I like to attack mature markets because even a small piece of a big market can lead to a big company, and I always want the vision of a big company. But for most startups, pursuing an emerging market where there is not an entrenched Goliath is a better path. So it’s about finding a new market (eBay, Yahoo, Netflix), a different product (Facebook) or simply a better product (Google).

F|R: Many of our founders are fond of bootstrapping. You’ve raised $22.5 million in venture capital for Turn. Why was this necessary?

Barnett: Bootstrapping is a fine strategy for consumer applications that don’t require deep technology or where a lot of your technology will be off-the-shelf. At Turn, we had to build both a team of PhDs focused on ad-selection algorithms and a best-in-class ad serving platform. It was capital-intensive. Whether you bootstrap or not, keeping your staff small until you get it right is absolutely the right thing to do. The truth is most startups struggle. Very few open their doors and experience life “up and to the right” every day afterwards. Often you have to evolve your strategy midstream, and that almost always requires tremendous persistence and time. We changed our strategy at Turn. If you don’t have capital, you won’t have the time to get it right. Selling equity to get some runway is the right thing to do.

F|R: How did Turn evolve its strategy from Plan A to Plan B and why?

Barnett: When we started we were focused on the long tail in advertising, but around year two, we changed our strategy to focus on larger advertisers and publishers. The problem with the long tail is that it’s the tail, it’s not the heart or the body…it’s not where the mass is. Our service is about aligning advertisers’ needs with publishers’ needs. Higher-quality advertisers want to be on higher-quality publishers and vice versa. The long tail gets a lot of visibility, but the real tonnage in terms of users and revenue is with the larger players.

F|R: Was this change difficult? What consequences did it have on Turn?

Barnett: Initially I had a co-founder at Turn. He’s a brilliant technologist, and he focused really deeply on our technology. But at a certain point I wanted to aggressively move to our new strategy and he had different opinions. So we parted ways. The lesson there is sometimes you have to make a change for change’s sake.

F|R: How do you know when change for the sake of change is what’s needed?

Barnett: You don’t know — you’ve got to trust your instincts. Most of the time there is no proven path, particularly if you’re in an emerging space. You want a collaborative environment, but at critical junctures most organizations ultimately need one leader to make the call, to stand up and say, “Nope, this is what we’re doing and here’s why…” That’s what good CEOs need to do.

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