Slatedroid info

Even though we always recommend using only the Google Play Store to avoid falling victim to malicious apps, the growing number of applications on the Play Store makes it harder and harder for developers, especially independent developers, to have their apps discovered. While there are numerous third-party app stores out there, it can be a tedious process to publish your application on each and every one.

Not anymore! With App Publish, brought to you by InMobi, you can distribute your app across more than 130 stores by following a few simple steps. And the best part – It’s free! InMobi, the popular mobile advertising tech firm, lists a few reasons why you should consider App Publish, including -

• InMobi’s platform is pre-integrated with over 130 app stores to enable automated submissions of your app
• One simple online agreement is all you need to do business across multiple app stores and countries
• App Publish uses proven intelligent technology to reduce the cost and effort to submit to numerous app stores with just a few clicks
• You can track downloads and revenue easily from a single dashboard
• You will receive settlements and payouts across app stores from a single reliable partner

According to InMobi, using alternate app stores can bring thousands of downloads for developers, and with so many app store options open to you, it will surely help developers monetize their apps with more success. The long list of app store partners include T-Mobile, Mobango, Optus, and SlideME, just to name a few. InMobi also mentioned that early beta-testers of the App Publish platform have seen a 30% increase in the number of downloads of their apps.

The process itself is very simple as well. After creating an account and logging in, all you need to do is upload your app, select the relevant app stores, upload marketing content such as more information and images of your app, a final review, and you’re done!

You can find out more about App Publish by InMobi here, and also sign up for the service if you’re interested. If you’re seriously considering trying it out, you should definitely catch the “Introduction to App Publish” Webinar next Thursday, which you can register for here.

What are your thoughts? Will you be using App Publish? If you’ve tried it out, do share your experiences in the comments section below.

The post InMobi introduces App Publish, allows you to distribute your app across more than 130 app stores for free appeared first on Android Authority.

Amazon’s App Store is celebrating a birthday this week. It’ll be two years on March 22nd since Amazon brought their little creation into this world, and what better way to celebrate than by discounting piles of apps and games? Amazon will be running sales on certain apps through this weekend, discounting some stuff over 50% off. And there’s still the famous Free App of the Day, like always, so you’ll have plenty to pick from.

Right now, there’s some pretty big apps like Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, and OfficeSuite Professional 7, all of which are at least 50% off. So if you frequently use the Amazon App Store or own a Kindle Fire, you’re probably going to pick up a few extra apps and games this week.

source: Amazon

Come comment on this article: Amazon’s App Store turns 2 this week, celebrates with app sales

How many apps do you have installed on your smartphone or tablet? If we had to guess, that number would be fairly large. I have just over 70 installed on my Galaxy S III, however I would probably say that number is on the lower end as compared to some. Needless to say, regardless of how many apps you have personally, one thing is clear — apps are popular. And in fact, with more and more users moving to smartphones, the amount of downloaded apps is only going to increase.

On that thought, we have a recent report coming from ABI Research which is predicting that smartphone app downloads will top 56 billion for the year. If we choose to include all mobile app downloads, that is then expected to bring the number up to 70 billion. Basically, we are looking at smartphones with 56 billion and tablets with the remaining 14 billion. Shifting over to operating systems and it looks like Android users will take top honors with 58 percent of the share on the smartphone side.

But in an effort to not make iOS users feel bad, they are estimated to take 75 percent when considering only tablets. Looking at tablets as a whole and we also have Android users with 17 percent, Amazon tablets with 4 percent and Windows tablets grabbing 2 percent. Shifting back to the smartphone side and aside from the 58 percent from Android, the iPhone will get 33 percent, Windows Phone will get 4 percent and BlackBerry will get 3 percent.

One interesting aspect of these stats comes in on the tablet side — looking at how they have separated Android and Amazon tablets. They are both running Android, however they have 17 and 4 percent respectively. In this case the ABI Research report notes that this is one of the few times when “Android’s so-called fragmentation problem isn’t only a problem, but that it has a certain upside as well.”

[via SlashGear]

Back in early January we saw an update for the case that had Apple going after Amazon for the use of the term app store. At that time US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that there was no false advertising on the part of Amazon. Simply put, the judge dismissed the false advertising claim, however it left open the trademark claim.

Moving back up to the present day and we have word of a date. The details are coming by way of a Bloomberg report which notes that US Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco has directed Apple and Amazon “to confer on March 21.” These talks will include the lead attorneys as well as anyone having “full authority to negotiate and settle the case.”

The interesting part here, the March 21, 2013 date will have this case in talks almost two years to the date of when Amazon originally launched the Appstore. The store launched in March 2011. Of course, it is important to remember that the March 21 event is just talks and the actual trial is set for August.

Otherwise, what Apple is trying to accomplish is to have Amazon blocked from using the term app store. Apple claims that Amazon is infringing on their trademark. Apple originally launched their App Store back in 2008. That all being said, given this has been ongoing for such a long time, the March talks may be a necessity, however we wouldn’t be surprised to see this go to trial (as scheduled) in August.

A few days ago we told you that during Christmas Day no less than 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated – Santa was really busy delivering packages containing mobile gadgets it seems – and now we’re back with more analytics data from Flurry.

The company reports that in the last week of the year – December 25-31, so from Christmas to New Year’s Eve – 50 million iOS and Android devices have been activated. During the same period, 1.76 billion apps were downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store combined. Both numbers are new records for this particular week, beating the previous record holders that were registered last year.

Obviously, we still don’t have any details about smartphone and tablet sales in Q4 2012, but the numbers will be made official in the last week of January by various device makers – Google and Apple have already announced their earnings conference calls set for January 22 and January 23, respectively.

Getting back to Flurry’s report, it’s worth noting that the company expects to see app downloads top 1 billion per month in the coming months and approach 2 billion per month in Q4 2013. In the weeks preceding the December 25-31 week, Flurry saw more than 1 billion iOS and Android downloads.

The company also looked at app downloads per country, concluding that countries that celebrate Christmas witnessed an increase in app downloads in the last week of 2012, compared to other markets including China, Japan or South Korea, where Chrismtas is not celebrated, or at least not as “widely” as in Western regions.

Did Santa bring you a shiny new smartphone or tablet running either Android or iOS? How many apps have you downloaded these past few days?

Related Posts

• Google Play: 20 billion app downloads, 600,000 apps and games
• Apple Q3 FY2012: 26 million iPhones and 17 million iPads sales, $35 billion revenue and $8.8 billion profits
• Rubin: 3.7 Million Android Activations over the Christmas Weekend

While many people were occupied in recent days with news of Google Maps return to the iOS platform, owners of Amazon Kindle Fire devices continued to make do without a pre-installed mapping app. Yesterday, skobbler announced the availability of ForeverMap2 (Kindle Tablet Edition) through Amazon’s app store. ForeverMap2 is free to download and install for Kindle Fire owners. ForeverMap2 provides the expected map functions like routing and search. skobbler claims to provide an excellent visual experience and due to the map database, the product is especially strong when off major roads according to reviews.

ForeverMap2 is based on the OpenStreetMap database, a crowdsourced project similar to Wikipedia. The OpenStreetMap project boasts 900,000 contributors using a variety of methods to update the database. In addition to the free app, users can buy downloadable maps. Doing so provides users with the ability to use the app online or offline. Hit the break for the full press release and a download link (just for Amazon Kindle Fire users).

ForeverMap 2 Arrives on Amazon’s Kindle Fire™

Friday, December 14th 2012
skobbler | New York, NY

Popular Mapping Solution is Poised to be the Standard on Kindle Fire Tablets

—skobbler (www.skobbler.com), a leading provider of mobile map-based solutions, today announced that ForeverMap 2 is now available for Amazon’s Kindle Fire for FREE by visiting Amazon’s App Store. Through a series of impressive features including seamless online-offline functionality, and a unique integration with the OpenStreetMap database, ForeverMap 2 delivers the most detailed and versatile digital map service today, and is poised to become the standard map app on the Kindle Fire—which has no preinstalled map solution, like Google Maps, available on the device.

A worldwide crowdsourced project similar to Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap—a free and editable map of the world built by over 900,000 voluntary contributors using data from satellites, GPS logs, local knowledge, and other sources of geographic information—provides users with constantly evolving information about their surroundings and is simply unmatched in terms of detail—especially beyond road networks. As a result, by harnessing OpenStreetMap’s vast dataset, ForeverMap 2’s hyperlocal information is a key differentiator when compared to other mapping platforms.

In addition, ForeverMap 2 is one of the only map apps on the Kindle Fire that can offer “hybrid” functionality, allowing users to switch between online or optional offline map access through in-app purchases of downloadable maps. Optional offline map upgrades store locally, allowing for fast and reliable results and providing a flexible mapping service without the constraints of cellular carriers and excessive data or roaming fees. Meaning, whether you’re trying to find directions to the nearest supermarket or are off to take in the sights from around the world, ForeverMap 2 delivers worldwide map data to your disposal, making traveling a breeze—anytime, anywhere.

Furthermore, ForeverMap 2 is one of the only map apps in the Amazon App Store that offers unlimited offline functionality upon purchase of a downloadable map upgrade, meaning routing and essential search capabilities, including local and category or point-of-interest search, are all provided. Other map offerings on the Kindle Fire currently don’t deliver this degree of map functionality or use while offline.

Users can download ForeverMap 2 for FREE on Kindle Fire (first and second generation), Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9”, with continuous free software and map updates provided and absolutely no restrictions while online with the option to install the downloadable map upgrades for full offline use. Users can purchase nearly 1,000 in-app upgrades of city ($0.99), state ($1.99), country ($2.99) or continent ($5.99) maps. They can also purchase a worldwide map ($9.99), which includes access to all available in-app map upgrades. Each purchase is a one-time payment, no subscriptions required.

OpenStreetMap data also provides ForeverMap 2 users with unmatched information that goes beyond just their desired route, making it ideal for itinerary changes, or outdoor activities, such as hiking and camping. Intuitive map interactions and cutting-edge visuals, plus a user interface that quickly adapts to the Kindle Fire screen, are powered by skobbler’s advanced NGx map engine for mobile and make it easier than ever to interact with the map. Various search modes, car and pedestrian routing information, Wi-Fi positioning and optimal synchronization capabilities with skobbler.com, combine to make ForeverMap 2 one of the easiest and most reliable mobile map resources within Amazon‘s App Store.

“Amazon’s devices do not include pre-installed maps and Google Maps isn’t even available,” said Marcus Thielking, Co-Founder of skobbler. “By coupling unlimited ‘hybrid’ functionality with OpenStreetMap data, we offer Kindle Fire users a solution that’s second to none in the Amazon App Store. From its unmatched hyperlocal detail, to its constantly evolving data and incredible affordability, ForeverMap 2 is not only the go-to map service on the Kindle Fire, it is Kindle Fire’s standard mapping service, bar-none.”

For further information on recent developments at skobbler, please visit http://skobbler.com, http://blog.skobbler.com, http://fb.skobbler.comor http://twitter.com/skobbler.

About skobbler

Founded in 2008, Berlin-based skobbler (www.skobbler.com) is one of the premier players in mobile location-aware services. With over 3 million customers on iOS alone, skobbler has regularly topped overall and category app charts in more than 20 countries, leading the way in the development of location technology and end consumer products based on the OpenStreetMap. This experience also facilitates skobbler’s development projects for third parties. Based on the skobbler GeOS map access technology, companies can base their location-aware web or mobile services on the OpenStreetMap.

Amazon App Store Download Link

As much as we hate to say it, we’ve got some bad news for aspiring app developers: there may be 1.4 million apps between the App Store and the Google Play Store, but according to independent analyst firm Canalys, only a select few developers are truly making bank. According to a Canalys study, which took place over the first 20 days in November, just 25 developers pulled in 50% of app revenue between the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Even worse? The vast majority of these developers were making games, so if you’ve got an idea of an app that isn’t a game, it sounds like you may have a struggle ahead of you. Companies like Zynga, Disney, Rovio, Electronic Arts, and Gameloft all made the list, with Pandora being the only developer not putting out games. Just how much did these 25 developers take in during the month? A total of $60 million, a figure which include both “paid-for downloads and in-app purchases.”

That’s a lot of dough for just 20 days, so it’s easy to see why there’s such a large number of developers eager to get their app seen. Unfortunately, this study tells us that getting noticed isn’t all that easy, which isn’t happy news for app developers. It probably isn’t going to be any easier either, Canalys says, since the gift giving season is coming up quickly and these major developers will likely be cutting the prices on their games for winter sales.

That’s not something all indie developers can do, which is just another roadblock to success. The fact that new apps are always going up on these stores means it’ll be ever harder to get noticed as time goes on. In the end, this just shows that advertising is king even in the mobile realm, which is a shame considering it means some great apps don’t get the attention they should be getting.

[via SlashGear]

A new study – and we had a few of them these days – looking into application stores and their respective app ecosystem is available, showing some interesting numbers for the two main players in the business, Google and Apple.

App Annie Intelligence has been tracking a variety of apps to asses the performance of the Google Play Store and the App Store, and has put up a report about the current state of app downloads and app revenues.

In short, Google Play has seen an impressive increase in revenue in October 2012, up 311% compared to January 2012, but it’s still unable to match Apple’s App Store, which raked in four times more cash despite growing only 12.9% in the same period. And while in October alone Google Play revenue has grown 17.9% and App Store revenue contracted 0.7% – most likely compared to September numbers, as App Annie’s initial PDF report can be confusing – Apple’s digital store is still the leader.

Since the report has been issued, Apple has disputed App Annie’s numbers saying that it grew over 200% and not just 12.9% as the report says, which is why we postponed the story, waiting for further clarification from the later. App Annie revealed what we thought all along, that the two entities were apparently looking at growth differently and that both companies were right in their own way. Apple has grown over 200% year-over-year, so Apple is right, but App Annie compared growth using the available numbers from January 2012 and October 2012 which show only a 12.9% growth for the period, so App Annie is right too.

Moving on to other findings of the study, here are some other interesting numbers from the report:

• 10% more free downloads are available from App Store compared to Google Play
• 48% app downloads growth in the last five months for Google Play compared to 3.3% growth for App Store
• In October, 26% of iOS app downloads came from USA followed by China (15%), Japan (6%), United Kingdom (6%) and the rest of the world (47%). Revenues for the same month were as follows: USA (33%), Japan (14%), UK (7%), Australia (5%) and the rest of the world (40%)
• In October 21% of Android app downloads came from USA followed by South Korea (11%), India (6%), Japan (6%) and the rest of the world (57%). As for Google Play revenues for the same month, the top five is as follows: Japan (29%), USA (26%), South Korea (19%), UK (4%), rest of the world (23%).

The report is also looking at the most important players in the mobile game, with Apple and Google topping the top iOS publishers by free downloads, followed by companies like EA, Gameloft and Facebook. Over on Google Play, the top five free app publishers are Google, Facebook, Rovio, Go Launcher and Outfit7.

When it comes to revenue, the top grossing iOS publishers chart is lead by EA, Supercell and Zynga, while on Google Play, DeNA, COLOPL and GungHo Online are the top three companies by revenues. Needless to say that all these six companies sell games via the App Store and Google Play Store, respectively.

What Android apps are you downloading? Are they mostly free or paid apps? How many apps do you usually have on your Android device?

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Earlier this week we reported that Amazon‘s AppStore was now available in Japan, but before being pushed to other regions they also issued a quick software update fixing a few bugs and improving the user interface. This week Amazon updated their 3rd party Android Appstore to terminate a few bugs, as well as solve the Android 4.2 multi-user login problem.

Google’s new Android 4.2 Jelly Bean has tablet support for multi-user logins, something that was causing some serious trouble for the Amazon store. Luckily this latest update has solved that problem, so users that have managed to snag a shiny new Nexus 10, or updated their Nexus 7 should be able to proceed without issues. A small but problematic bug, that’s for sure.

Amazon has also improved the speed and performance of their store, along with solving what’s been an outstanding battery drain issue. Many users have been reporting the Appstore drains their battery, and Amazon has apparently fixed a few behind the scenes things to solve that problem. It might be time to give the Amazon Appstore another try folks.

Then there’s a quick user interface change and improvement too, as you see above. They’ve added the options to remove apps from the “My Apps” list so you don’t have to scroll forever through some of those free app of the day apps you never ended up enjoying. You can now remove them from your list. As far as the UI goes it mainly just got polished up a bit to closer resemble the latest Android 4.0 powered Kindle Fire OS. For those that love the Amazon Appstore get the latest version today.

– Thanks Bill

Third-party app stores for Android aren’t doing so well in the U.S. and Europe. Manufacturers and carriers are closing their own app stores, and those that remain open are increasingly coming under fire as being sources of malware. Finnish startup Blaast is hoping that it will find better luck in Asia.

Blaast, which was founded in 2010, is focusing on building a platform that will allow carriers to sell data plans that include free access to apps. While Blaast could have targeted a more multi-platform solution, they’re putting all their chips on Android.

While Android is doing well worldwide, it is absolutely exploding in emerging markets, thanks to the availability of sub-$200 handsets.  CEO of Blast, Joonas Hjelt told Reuters that “Android is going to own over 75 percent of smartphone sales in emerging markets.”

This is the exact market that Blaast is targeting. Carriers in Malaysia and Bangladesh have already launched Blaast on some phones, and the Blaast Android store will launch in Indonesia and the Sony Xperia J.

In addition to being useful for carriers wanting to offer bundled apps, this could be a boon to manufacturers who are unable to obtain Google certification and therefore can’t include the Google Play Store on their handsets.

Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing for Android as a whole? On one hand, it introduces more of the dreaded “fragmentation,” but on the other hand, it offers users in emerging markets access to more apps. Where do you stand?

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