Wikipedia’s website may have been dark yesterday in protest of SOPA, but now there is a new official Wikipedia app for Android 2.2 and up devices. You could use the mobile web for Wikipedia, but four key features make this app worth the download. Read more »
New data from app analytics firm Localytics suggests the best way to make in-app purchase pay is to build loyalty and engagement, which can result in more revenue overall than a quick sell. Localytics found that loyal users generate 25 percent more in-app purchases. Read more »
RunKeeper is taking another step forward with its HealthGraph API initiative by updating its user reports feature. New, simpler Fitness Reports incorporate more health data. As the number of health-related gadgets and apps grows, RunKeeper’s HealthGraph API is becoming the glue to track such data. Read more »
After my Gmail account was hijacked last year, I looked into Google’s two-step verification process. It relies on your having your smartphone with you, even when logging in on a PC. Here are two ways to use your smartphone to better protect your Google account access. Read more »
Pioneer’s new $599 AppRadio2, a smart, 7-inch capacitive touch display radio supports both iOS and Android phones. It includes an external GPS, rear-camera input, and of course, smartphones with compatible apps. Looks like a great way to get Pandora, Waze, or Rdio integrated with your car! Read more »
Google is getting serious about improving apps on Android, which are sometimes less polished and usable as their counterparts on other platforms. It’s introducing the first Android Design style guide, which is aimed at helping developers learn the principles and best practices for building awesome apps. Read more »
All that virtual currency sold in mobile games is anything but virtual in terms of revenue. Juniper Research, in a new mobile games report, said revenues from mobile in-game purchases totaled $2.1 billion in 2011 and are expected to grow to $4.8 billion by 2016. Read more »
The world is increasingly going mobile: mobile apps, to be more exact. New data out of app analytics firm Flurry finds mobile users are spending more time in mobile apps than mobile web browsing, widening a gap that began for the first time last summer. Read more »
Increasingly, websites and services are getting a bigger chunk of their traffic through mobile with some pushing past the 50 percent mark. That’s setting up a world in which developers and publishers have to think mobile first as consumption shifts to smaller devices. Read more »
All startup activity around cloud computing in the past few years has been great, but it also means there’s precious little room on the playing field for newcomers. Here are 10 cloud startups launched in 2011 that have a chance to make it big in 2012. Read more »
Mobile users love their apps and that love affair has outstripped our interest in browsers. That’s according to comScore’s latest mobile subscriber data, which found that the percentage of users who use apps has finally surpassed the percent of subscribers who turn to a mobile browser. Read more »
Which apps were the best rated and most buzzed about in 2011? That’s a question that app rating analytics firm Mobilewalla tackled, coming up with a list of the top five paid and free apps on four of the biggest mobile platforms. Read more »
In half a dozen years, I’ve tried more task manager apps than smartphones — and I’ve tried dozens of phones. But Any.DO, a free app for Android, offers an elegant iOS-like interface and syncs with Google Tasks. If you do one last thing this year, try Any.DO. Read more »
Vevo clocked more than 3.6 billion global video views in October, with the average viewer spending 66 minutes per month on the site. That’s a huge success for the music video platform, but one that didn’t come cheap: Vevo paid more than $100 million in royalties. Read more »
Facebook’s new Timeline user interface is now available pretty much everywhere — including on mobile devices.Just a few hours after announcing worldwide availability of the new Timeline profile interface, Facebook on Thursday launched Timeline on its mobile Android app and on its mobile website, m.facebook.com. Read more »
While mobile device usage has been steadily growing for years, 2011 was the year that mobile took over the world. This two-minute video from MobileFuture illustrates this view, recapping key mobile datapoints: 8 trillion texts this year and 26 Instragram photos shared every second, for example. Read more »
Gwyneth Paltrow just became the latest celebrity to toss her cap into the mobile app market. GOOP, the lifestyle-focused email newsletter run by the Oscar-winning actress, announced on Tuesday the debut of a new iPhone and iPad app called “GOOP City,” which costs $3.99. Read more »
Despite the confident words of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, who predicted that Android would be the primary platform for developers, the current trends are still decidedly leaning toward iOS. Mobile analytics firm Flurry found that developers are picking iOS over Android by a 3-1 ratio. Read more »
Gogii, the maker of popular messaging app TextPlus, is launching a service called TextPlus Free Calls that enables a host of devices, even Wi-Fi-only devices, to make and receive phone calls for free or very cheaply. Free Calls joins a growing number of IP-based communications competitors. Read more »
Fiksu, a Boston-based start-up that helps developers obtain loyal app users, is training its sights on helping drive paid downloads with a new product called FreeMyApps. The service incentivizes iOS users to try traditional paid apps that have been made free. Read more »
Xamarin, the company born earlier this year when Novell laid off the entire workforce dedicated to maintaining Mono, the open-source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET development framework, was up against big odds. But at just seven months old, Xamarin is now profitable without VC backing. Read more »
After T-Mobile complained, Google pulled the YouMail voicemail app from the Android Market on Thursday. T-Mobile issued a statement saying it contacted YouMail last month to address issues. Aside from the “he said, she said” issue, there’s a bigger underlying problem here with the Android Market. Read more »
Research firm Strategy Analytics predicts sales of one billion HTML5 phones in 2013, compared to 336 million this year. The idea of mobile apps relying heavily on HTML5 — as far-fetched as it may seem — is desirable. Why? Application lock-in essentially becomes an issue of the past. Read more »
After its successful showing during LA’s Carmageddon, Waze, a crowdsourced traffic data app, is now launching a broadcast partner program to allow local TV stations to tap into its data and leverage the app to engage consumers. It is a validation of crowdsourced data and reporting. Read more »
Google released an updated version of its Google+ app for Android devices on Wednesday, adding a handful of useful features. Presence in Messenger, high-resolution photo support, search and the ability to +1 both comments and photos are in the free software — welcome improvements. Read more »
Flipboard, which made its name with a slick iPad app, is now branching out. The company is announcing a brand new iPhone app that is slick, sticky and addictive. The game plan, according to CEO Mike McCue, is to take attention away from the old-fashioned browser. Read more »
After launching a little over three years ago, Android Market has caught fire with downloads, hitting 10 billion over the weekend. Google’s mobile application store is now up to 1 billion downloads a month, and growth is accelerating as the number of Android devices sold soars. Read more »
Got an Android device and 10 cents in your pocket? That’s the right combination to buy one of 10 Android apps for just a dime over the next 10 days. Minecraft, Asphalt 6 and my highly recommended keyboard app, SwiftKey X, are all on sale. Read more »
As children get smartphones at an earlier age, there are dangers ranging from inappropriate content to texts from strangers. Sprint Mobile Control, a $4.99 monthly service, help parents manage their kids’ smartphones and help control usage as well as communications from unknown contacts Read more »
IOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 have collectively hit 991,524 apps available in their stores with the big million unit milestone set to be reached in the next day, said an analytics firm. It’s a reminder of just how big this modern app market is. Read more »
Although the story is still developing, it’s clear that some phones on certain carriers have app called Carrier IQ pre-installed; the app can capture nearly activity one takes with a smartphone. Will this situation cause you to think harder about your choice of smartphone or carrier? Read more »
Smule, the successful iOS music app start-up behind Ocarina, Magic Piano and I am T-Pain, is buying fellow social music start-up Khush, of Songify fame, in a bid to take command of what it believes will be a fast-growing mobile musical expression market. Read more »
Path has enacted a dramatic redesign with the newest version of its app, “Path 2.” Path has expanded beyond photo sharing and now aims to be a “smart journal” that helps users catalog their lives — putting it more squarely in competition with Evernote and Facebook. Read more »
A Nielsen study found among smartphone users who downloaded an app in the last 30 days, 83 percent used an iPhone or Android devices. That app advantage will help keep those two at the top ahead of other smartphone challengers. Read more »
Last week’s news of a potential Facebook phone built by HTC certainly got people talking. Regardless of who builds it and when that happens, the real question without an answer is: Do we really need a Facebook phone? We sound off in a GigaOM debate! Read more »
In today’s crowded media marketplace, presidential candidates (and their media consultants) have an almost mind-boggling number of mediums in which to get a message across. From TV to talk radio to the printed word and all the permutations in between, there’s no doubt that a mastery […] Read more »
Lots of people logged on to the web to find holiday recipes for the United States holiday of Thanksgiving: Allrecipes.com said it had its biggest traffic day ever on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, with more than 6.8 million visits in that day alone. Read more »
HTML5 development tool provider appMobi is putting together a Black Friday deal for developers as it open-sources many key HTML5 technologies that it hopes should help spur the building of more mobile web apps that can compete with native apps. Read more »
A new wave of apps aims to replace the increasingly crowded space of long-winded five-star user generated reviews (like those on Yelp and Amazon) with straightforward social recommendations. The newest entrant in this field, an iPhone app called Stamped, aims to win with simplicity. Read more »
The GigaOM RoadMap conference on Nov. 10 gathered leaders and visionaries to discuss how, thanks to technological and generational shifts, society as a whole is becoming more connected — not only in the media we consume and the social networks we use but also in the way we interact with devices and manage our resources. This research note takes a look back on the event in order to analyze this new era of connectivity across various industries, from Jack Dorsey’s idea of becoming “more human,” not less, to the concept of “invisible technology” and data, the fuel of the new century. Companies mentioned in this report include Airbnb, Netflix and Twitter. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
