This Week in Mobile! How mobile technologies are impacting our businesses and lives. Please use the side-bar to sign up to our weekly newsletter Published by Juergen Berkessel 07 March 2013 Read paper → Technology Business Stories Education Environment Leisure #mobile #business Mainstream media meltdown! – Salon.com www­.salon.com – The decline of journalism over the past generation, which has accelerated in the last decade, would be a less pressing concern if the existing news media were making a successful digital transition… Digital Darwinism: What Killed Borders, Blockbuster and Polaroid and How to Survive www­.linkedin.com – We live in an era of “digital Darwinism,” a time when technology and society are evolving faster than the ability of many organizations to adapt. It is for this reason (along with a myriad of other… Five brands that reaped rewards after adopting responsive design econsultancy­.com – Posted 04 March 2013 09:56am by David Moth with 5 comments Responsive design is often touted as the future of web design based on little more than a vague sense that it makes websites more user-fri… Cellphone unlocking: The White House response is good, but carriers need to make changes, too. www­.slate.com – The nation’s largest mobile carriers have never been particularly keen on allowing consumers to take a device from carrier to carrier, and they have a number of tools at their disposable to make it… Facebook unveils redesigned, cleaner News Feed coming to iPhone, iPad & Web appleinsider­.com – Facebook unveils redesigned, cleaner News Feed coming to iPhone, iPad & Web In the coming weeks, Facebook users on iPhone, iPad and regular Web browsers will see a revamped News Feed designed to re… Our favorite Mobile Apps at SXSW 2013 www­.digitaltrends.com – If you have a hip, exciting app that you want to release to a bunch of people really quickly, consider launching at South By Southwest. The music festival turned everything imaginable festival play… MessageMe Brings Rich Media and Context to Mobile Messaging mashable­.com – Just in time for SXSW 2013 comes MessageMe, a new iOS and Android app that offers group and individual messaging, but with twist. On the surface, MessageMe looks like any group or individual messag… The diffusion of brand, ownership, and experience – Brian Solis www­.briansolis.com – Guest post by Ian Greenleigh, author of The Social Media Side Door (Fall 2013) and social strategist with Bazaarvoice. Follow him on Twitter @be3d Products were once contained by physical ownership… Five-Year-Old Spends $2500 on Apps in Under 10 Minutes mashable­.com – The 5-year-old asked his parents for the password to the family iPad to download a free game, only to accidentally rack up more than $2,500 in add-on purchases on his mother’s credit card. Danny do… Enterprise Invades the Apps Playground | Schedule Shared by Juergen Berkessel schedule­.sxsw.com – Long a stronghold for consumer-friendly photo apps, games, and renegade business apps, the app stores of today are in for a major renovation as enterprise-class comes into its own. Think of the opp… Does context always trump content in mobile? – Strategy – Mobile Marketer www­.mobilemarketer.com – As marketing becomes more personalized and relevant, there is an ongoing debate in mobile about the role of context compared to content. However, instead of comparing the two, the trick is balancin… Apple’s Design Team Studied Nike Sport Watches While Working On iWatch www­.cultofmac.com – Included in Bloomberg’s big story this morning on Apple’s iWatch that may arrive this year, was a small paragraph that said Jony Ive and his team ordered a bunch of watches made by Nike in the mid-… Smartphone Math Doesn’t Add Up – Duncan Mavin – Mobile – AllThingsD allthingsd­.com – For every winner, there has to be a loser. Smartphone sales have defied gravity in recent years, but there’s no defying simple math. Several major Asia-based smartphone manufacturers are talking up… Chatting Is Great, But GroupMe’s Mobile Apps Now Let Users Split Payments, Too techcrunch­.com – While the folks at GroupMe have spent some time exploring the world outside group messaging, they certainly haven’t given up on refining the formula that made them so appealing in the first place. … Glass vs. iWatch (Comic) – Nitrozac and Snaggy – Voices – AllThingsD allthingsd­.com – Along with original content and posts from across the Dow Jones network, this section of AllThingsD includes Must-Reads From Other Web Sites — pieces we’ve read, discussions we’ve followed, stuff w… Jean-Louis Gassee bemoans lack of App Store curation www­.tuaw.com – Former president of the Apple Products Division Jean-Louis Gassee has written an interesting blog post bemoaning the lack of App Store curation. The post will find a sympathetic ear from anyone who… Apps Spawn New Jobs, Services – WSJ.com online­.wsj.com – A year ago, Ashley Diedrich worked 12-hour shifts at a psychiatric hospital near her home in Hot Springs, Ark., making $1,700 to $2,000 a month. Today she makes as much as $3,000 a month peddling w… Rethinking Video Journalism, NowThisNews Blitzkriegs SXSW With Coverage And A 6-Second Pitch Competition techcrunch­.com – The TV news soundbite is about to get a lot shorter. NowThisNews, a New York-based startup that’s looking to reinvent video journalism for the Facebook and smartphone era, is hitting SXSW with an e… Videos Shared by Mobile Marketing Shared by Shakir Cannon Shared by Mobile Marketing More videos → Technology Mobile Ads Coming to Tumblr Vine Takes Early Command In The Mobile Video Market Over Viddy, Socialcam And Others Despite Low Adoption Clues Suggest Malware Is Moving From PCs to Mobile Devices More Technology → Business I.T. Managers Struggle to Contain Corporate Data in the Mobile Age – NYTimes.com Target Looks For Help From Mobile Developers With Newly Announced “Retail Accelerator” (Which Is Actually Just A Contest) Google Upgrades Campaign for Mobile Marketing – NYTimes.com More Business → Photos Shared by Juergen Berkessel Shared by JFD Interactive Apps Shared by Fades and Shaves More photos → Stories Jumpstart Creativity With the Buzz of a Coffee Shop Google Glass: Our Lives Are Not Reality TV – ReadWrite 12 Apps You’ll Use This Weekend More Stories → Education Facebook Admits Likes Are Down For Some Celebrities’ Posts, But Claims Up 34% For Most Ouya Is Finally Set To Ship To The Game Console’s Backers – ReadWrite Your Windows Of Opportunity More Education → Environment MWC13 Special Video Feature: Show wrapup Passing the mPayments Torch More Environment → Leisure Travel gear review – Chicago Tribune More Leisure → Technology • Business • Stories • Education • Environment • Leisure • #mobile • #business Read paper →

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The iPad app tells powerful stories through interactive media of dolphin rescues and efforts to keep them living safely in the wild.   The app, Wild Dolphins was created by a large team of committed, talented, professional people from Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute working with the team at Polymash.

eSpark, is committed “to transform learning so it’s personalized, best of breed, engaging, and mobile; enabling students to succeed in school and in life.”

The Top of the Class List features the best 15 apps in eSpark’s curriculum of 750 apps, and Wild Dolphins has been included because it “stands out as an exemplary model” for the following reasons:

• It constantly receives positive feedback from the most important critics – eSpark students.
• It meets eSpark’s learning design team’s criteria in selecting apps for its curriculum:

- Common Core Standard Alignment
- An engaging and intuitive user experience
- Bang for the buck
- Scaffolding of skills

We are particularly proud because there are more than 100,000 educational apps, books, and learning resources available on the Apple iPad platform and being selected by eSpark’s curriculum experts as they continually scour the app store looking for the most rigorous and engaging learning apps that meet their strict criteria is an acknowledgement to all who contributed to its creation.

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“You have really helped me think this through.”

“I hadn’t seen it quite like that before.”

“I’m now seeing possibilities I hadn’t considered.”

“You’ve opened me up to a new way of thinking.”

Developmental Conversations

I’m delighted because that kind of feedback tells me our conversation has helped the client progress her thinking.  Together, we’ve created a developmental conversation.  The conversation has constructed something new for both of us.  She has some insights about her situation and me, and I have new insights about my situation and her.  And, I’m grateful because she was open to the inquiry.  She was receptive. She wanted to find a new way.  She was willing to explore and discover. Our generative conversation created the new possibilities.

On the surface, Polymash is an app development agency.  But scratch a little below the surface and you’ll find that what we really do is develop people, and their ideas, and ultimately develop innovation behaviors.  We know that through our inquiry-based approach to our client engagements, we help them express that which they want to express.  We begin conversations with our goal to guide them so that eventually clients are able to express what they are wanting to achieve in the most positive way; they express what delights them; what they aspire to; and what brings life to their purpose in life and business. In our app development, we tap into the highest potential for people and for product. Our experience has been that people dig deep to contribute to something larger than themselves, something that allows their voice and creativity to rise to the top.  That’s how innovations happen. That’s how great design and user experience (UX) emerge organically.

Innovation Behaviors

When we come to a project with the mindset of people development over product development, we are focused on the human experience over the technological solution.  Our mindset, when we engage with clients, is that we want them to realize that through engagement with their apps, they can positively impact their user-base. Our Wild Dolphins iPad app and FilmOneFest iPad and smartphone apps are two examples where the inquiry-based approach resulted in not only producing highly attractive apps with great entertainment and utility, but also developed entire client teams involved in gathering all the content for the apps.  Teams can evolve to new heights in their relationships and productivity.  And, apps have the potential to create innovation behaviors among their customers – the users.

In the case of Wild Dolphins, we had members of the organization saying that being part of the content creation for the app was the best experience in their career to date.  They were amazed at how everyone just wanted to jump in and contribute.  They said productivity increased and leadership emerged where they had not seen it before.  New, innovation behaviors that have come from the app users have been greater awareness of what endangers the species, and what new, innovation behaviors they can adopt to help protect wild dolphins.  The Wild Dolphins‘ client wanted to put their mission into the world and be a force for good by bringing awareness to the positive human behaviors that will help protect dolphins in the wild.

FilmOneFest II app was also community-wide effort, where we engaged with various stakeholders whose content and ideas would be included in the app – filmmakers, film critics, sponsors, volunteers, business people. The articulated goal was to be able to show the one-minute films selected for viewing at the one-day film festival to help promote the filmmakers,  the event and the town.  What emerged from our inquiry was a whole new innovative approach to help promote the event and attract new filmmakers for future film festivals and an entirely innovative way of having filmmakers participate in all future events.

Greatest Energy and Excitements

Our approach to our work is grounded in a special kind of inquiry:  Appreciative Inquiry.  By “Inquiry,” we mean asking carefully crafted questions that to seek to expand the thinking and enlarge the conversation and its potential.  By “Appreciative,” we mean inquiring through a lens that seeks to appreciate or  “increase in value” whatever the topic of the inquiry is.  So applying the Appreciative Inquiry framework, we engage with our clients through a lens that looks for what is to be valued, successful and appreciated.  Energy and engagement result.  Creativity is unleashed and innovations pop up from unexpected sources.

What if, instead of looking for “the pain points and problems” in clients’ situations, we inquired into areas of “greatest energy and excitements.”  What if we stopped thinking and acting from a position of “what we lack and our weaknesses” and instead began to focus on “past successes, current best assets and individual and collective strengths?”  When you inquire from that perspective, shift happens!

To learn more and apply Appreciative Inquiry, download our iPad app Embracing Change which leads users through change.  To learn more about the principles of Appreciative Inquiry as a method of inquiry that results in stories of personal and professional triumph, download our smartphone and iPad app Appreciative Inquiry – an Introduction.

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Back in February Apple acquired Chomp, an app store search company. With the upcoming release of iOS6, Apple is about to showcase their integration of Chomps technologies. One likely result is that consumer app store search behavior will change forever.

Compare the current search results display on the left to the Chomp approach on the right.

How will this change impact app store search behavior for consumers?

This change will display cards about each app, roughly 75% larger than the current display. So I think the likely change in user behavior will be driven by the fact that 2/3 fewer apps will be visible in the search result viewport, but that more visuals about each app will be included in the resulting card display. For users this will likely increase engagement and drill down with the top search results. I would also predict that the total number of apps a user browses through in search results will decrease.

The above is true for the iPad.  I should also mention that the impact on the iPhone search results will be even more drastic, displaying a single card display users can swipe through a card at a time.

Image courtesy of MacRumors, read their post here

How will this change impact app developers and marketers?

For app developers and marketers this change will be significant. Getting into the top 25 search results will be even more important than it is already. Carefully keyword selection, as well as selecting the most compelling screenshots to entice users to check out an app in greater details will be key. But in general the opportunity to have cool screenshot displayed in the search result is good for apps and developers that have great graphic design. More challenging will be how the search algorithm will actually function.

What about the new search algorithm?

It is hard to tell exactly how this new search algorithm works. I suspect we will learn greater details about it once it is live. However, what is clear is that there are differences when comparing the results returned from an iOS5 search versus an iOS6 search.

In various Mac discussion forums some suspect at the new algorithms will emphasize popularity ratings and downloads, in favor of relevancy. The suspicion is that Apple would tweak the search results to increase sales as the primary objective. This means popular apps would get more popular, and smaller indie apps would struggle even more to be found. For indie developers this would not be good news.

However, PC Magazine Reports it differently

“… using an algorithm that learns the functions of apps, then allows users to search based on what an app does, rather than its given title.” read more…

A Stroke of Genius

I also suspect the new algorithm will play a result in driving the recently introduced Genius recommendations, which suggests other apps a user may be interested in and displays these on the bottom of the app store screen.

Watch a Video of the new UI

What do you think?

Will these changes result in app store search behavior that ultimately benefits consumers?

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The Crankamacallit story book app for kids continues to rise rapidly in the App Store ranking!

And looking a bit more closely (click here or on the image below), one can see that there are only 4 kids apps in the top 20. So in way we’re in the top 5 for story book apps for kids. As for the rest we’re competing with apps like  iBooks, Nook, Kindle, Scholastic etc. So that’s pretty good company.

We are extremely pleased that our back to school campaign is so well received, especially as the books category is the most popular in the app store. This means competition there is fierce, and we can be proud of this ranking. I’m attaching a graphic that illustrates:

Source: comboapp.com

Crankamacallit Story Book App for Kids – Campaign Details

The Crankamacallit will be FREE all day Thursday, August 30th, and will continue to be available for 60%off through Labor Day Weekend!

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The study included the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey.

Survey Findings

Device awareness and usage

Tablets have changed consumer behavior.

App user awareness and downloads

The Canadians and Germans are greater app users, downloading more apps and spending more money

While, globally, 73% of those surveyed download 1 – 4 apps per month, and 58% spend zero dollars per month, 21% of Canadians spend more that $5 per month and 29% download more than 5 apps per month. The Germans appear to be the heaviest downloaders with 30% downloading more than 5 apps per month and 14% spending more than $5.  These statistics apply to smartphones.

Germany and Canada came out on top as app users when it came to tablets. 41% of Germans tablet owners download more that 5 apps per month, and 17% more than 10 downloads. As far as spend, 31% of German tablet owners spend more than $5 per month.  Among the Canadian tablet owners, 37% download more than 5 apps per month and 28% of them spend more than $5 per month.

Least appreciated smartphone capability

The most misunderstood and undervalued smartphone capability is near field communications NFC, especially for m-commerce. 49% of the respondents indicated that would not want NFC capability at all.  Only 3% replied they would only want a phone with such capability.  Despite having responded that way, around 50% of respondents indicated they would use the activities that NFC enables, implying NFC functionality is not yet fully understood or appreciated.  See the graph below.

If you are interested to learn more, you can download the PDF of the full set of slides of Deloitte’s presentation: The Pulse of the Consumer: Global Trends in Mobile Communications

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In an Article in the NY Times, Nick Wingfield reports:

“But the effects of the case are likely to be felt far beyond these two companies. If Apple prevails, experts believe Samsung and other rivals in the market will have a much stronger incentive to distinguish their smartphone and tablet products with unique features and designs to avoid further legal tangles.”
read the article…

And this will be good news, because if the case goes Samsung’s way, then tablet features and design will continue to emulate the iPad and iOS experience, and I for one would look forward to seeing more innovation from Apple’s competitors both on the hardware and software side.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

What was interesting for me as an app designer was that attention to detail Samsung paid in copying software features of what they clearly perceived to be a superior product. An internal 132 page Samsung report complained about the fact that Samsung’s design fell short of Apple’s example in key areas, and did so through a comparison of the two devices in the minutest detail; for example a discussion about the pixel width of the separator line between numbers displayed in the of the built in calculator.

This surprised me a bit, as Samsung is a device manufacturer, and I would have expected them to be concerned with tablet hardware features and price to differentiate itself from other Android based tablets and smartphones.

But it seems that the 132 page report points to examples of how Samsung tweaked the Android OS software. And thus contributing to one of the biggest issues that keep Android based tablets from winning the tablet wars for now: Device Fragmentation. There are 700 some varieties of Android devices, with 30+ different screen resolutions and countless manufacturer specific OS tweaks, and this is what presents enormous quality and design challenges for cross platform developers like us.

Tablet wars aren’t won by hardware: It’s the Apps, Stupid!

As an app designer and developer I may be biased, but to me the tablet wars in the end will come down to neither device features or price. To mis-quote Bill Clinton: “It’s the apps, stupid”. Having a vibrant app marketplace, and therefore having an enthusiastic developer community is what I think will continue to primarily influence the tablet wars.

Do hardware features matter?

Manufacturers would like you to believe that hardware features and price make a significant difference to consumers, but in the end the iPad tablet is not that deficient on the hardware front. And on the software side? Of course there are great apps available for Android, but on the whole an extra megapixel of camera resolution on a lesser known tablet may simply not make up for the variety, quality and choice of fantastic apps available on the iTunes App Stores.

All Apple has to do to keep pace and marketshare is to announce a slightly less expensive tablet, perhaps with a 7″ screen size…

Quick Poll: What is your opinion?

What do you value in your tablet?

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In this post we outline some readiness factors to consider before getting started.

Since 2010 we’ve had lots of people approach us with great ideas for apps. Many clients share our vision that the future of accessing content is on mobile devices, and they visualize their own ideas or content as engaging, beautiful, stunning apps.

But before launching straight into developing an app, we help our clients understand the mobile market as a whole, and also help them assess their own readiness to launch a mobile strategy for their business. With this we introduce our assessment tool, and also invite you to download our comprehensive and free “Mobile 2012″ white paper.

Mobile Devices? It’s humans who are mobile.

Mobile devices are still relatively new.  The fact is humans have always been mobile.  It’s only now we have the technologies that allow us to access the content we value 24/7 in exciting ways.  This has been possible only in the last couple of years…. thinking here of how the iPad has transformed publishing, news, social media and just about everything else the internet allowed us to do in limited ways.  Apps on mobile devices allow us to interact with content and people in much more compelling, more beautiful and playful ways, wherever we are and whenever we want.  Pretty powerful stuff.

Transform Your Existing Content

If you are already mobile savvy and have fresh app ideas or novel app concepts, you may like following our app design process to create rapid wireframes & prototypes. Many others, like authors or leaders in their field, may be less mobile savvy but already have content they believe is of value to people.  Perhaps the following examples resonate with you:

• It could be a book you’ve already published, or want to publish
• It could be training materials that you have developed
• It could be you have a particular methodology or tool kit that has helped clients in your professional field
• It could be you have curated a photo or art collection of specific era, or subject matter
• It could be you have a hobby that you want to document and share with others who share the passion
• It could be you are a specialist in your discipline of health, fitness, education, medicine, history, astrology, biology, anthropology, or any of the sciences.
• It could be you have a children’s story that you’ve created and want to interactivate it!

So the question to ask is “How mobile ready are you?” You want to give yourself or your business the best launch possible into the mobile space.

If you have the dream, a strong belief and the content, that’s what counts

Polymash has had 100s of conversations on this topic with individual content owners and businesses.  After years of building relationships and educating clients, we have been able to distill the key drivers to successful app creation to six major dimensions.  This assessment takes a very real look at what it takes to make a successful app in a still relatively new, yet rapidly growing market place.  The self-assessment is not for the faint-hearted.  And, it’s not to say, if you’re strong in few dimensions that you can’t start.  If you have the content and a strong belief and a dream, that’s what counts.

What does it take to make an app, and how ready are you?

• Know your market – who your users are and what they will do with your app
• Compelling content – what assets can you provide – images, stories, models, videos, graphics
• Organization culture – the supportive work context – leadership support, finances, timeframes, innovative mindsets
• Mobile Device awareness – experience consuming content on mobile, so you’re able to discern good user experience
• Marketing and Social Media Savvy – a product launch is a product launch, requiring marketing investment and social proof
• Aligned Strategy including Web – going mobile is a strategic undertaking; a holistic integrated web strategy is important

As part of the free Readiness Assessment Tool and in addition to your results, you will also receive a comprehensive report and state of the mobile landscape as of July 2012.

Get ahead now in understanding mobile trends and position yourself for the future!

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As I filled out the online submission, our Polymash mission became so acutely alive for me. There was a energy that empowered me to achieve this goal by contacting you all with courage and belief that you would support us.  We reached out to you through emails, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  It was so gratifying and uplifting to receive messages back with your votes of support.  Thank you all so much.

We have been in the mobile strategy and app development business for 2 years. In that time we are proud of the contributions we’ve made and the apps we have designed and developed.

What would we do with the grant?  People come to us weekly with fabulous ideas for apps.  There is no shortage of creativity and innovation.  Examples include environmental apps like a Recycling Helper, Home Energy Audit App, Regional Plant Guide, a School App that connects teachers, students and alumni and many more educational concepts, such as a speech therapy app to help children who cannot communicate verbally. We want to support the innovative ideas that people and businesses have to engage with their constituents and make their visions real.

In addition, we also have an established portfolio of apps that we want to market more widely and we want to bring people on board so we can develop others in this very exciting and expanding field of mobile.

We are deeply grateful to all our Polymash supporters.  My personal note of thanks I posted on my blog, Positive Matrix and invite you to read more about what this experience meant to me.

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If you look at some of the mobile trends 2012 stats we have gathered in the presentation below, it’s clear  Moore’s Law going on. With the growth in mobile devices and, as a consequence, all that has to do with being able to access the web while mobile, having your content and message able to be comfortably experienced on mobile is a growth opportunity in all ways.

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