When Pocketgear changed course recently and announced it was going to be a white-label app store provider for other companies called Appia, I said we should be prepared for an app store onslaught. Well, it appear it may be starting now with Opera opening the Mobile App, a web storefront where 100 million Opera browser users will be able to buy apps.
Opera said the store will be a Speed Dial link in the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers and will offer apps for Android, Symbian, BlackBerry and Java. The number of apps available will vary according to the end device, with the store only presenting apps that work on that phone. Users will get a tailored store experience that includes local language and currency support, too. By leveraging Appia, Opera will have the ability to offer some 140,000 Appia apps on various platforms and will be able to boast its own store with minimal effort.
As I said earlier, the app market is booming with some projecting off-deck app markets eclipsing native app stores in revenue by next year. Forrester Research recently turned heads by predicting the mobile app market will be worth $38 billion by 2015. That’s a staggering sum, considering Apple’s App Store has generated a little less than $3 billion since it opened in July of 2008, with developers taking $2 billion so far. But it shows there’s a lot of optimism in app stores.
Opera is clearly angling to get a piece of the pie by extending beyond simply providing a mobile browser to being a purveyor of content. It’s hoping to leverage its existing reach in 200 countries, which gives it a leg up in competing for eyeballs. Opera said a pre-launch of the Opera Mobile Store in February attracted more than 15 million users, who racked up more than 700,000 downloads per day.
With everyone rushing to create app stores, I don’t know if anyone but a handful will get the kind of traffic needed to be really successful. The ones that simply resell and don’t create much value for developers or consumers may not see much success. Opera is trying to build relationships with developers through the Opera Publisher Portal, which is meant to make it easy for developers to upload their apps. But unless developers see a lot of money-making opportunities to warrant supporting additional stores, many will concentrate on the destinations that command attention and are willing to promote and market their apps, not just try to make some money off of them. And unless consumers of these stores get exclusive apps, better security, improved discovery or cheaper pricing, I’m not sure many will spend a lot of time in these markets. It’s not proving easy to make a store. The challenge now is ensuring its equipped to compete.
Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub. req’d):
- Why RIM’s Future (Unfortunately) Hinges on BlackBerry OS 6
- Why Google Launched App Inventor
- Is Amazon the New Self-Publish Kingpin?
Of all the smartphone makers whose names are not Apple, HTC is the most impressive. An upstart company from Taiwan, it has done a great job of building iconic hardware using commodity platforms. It has developed branding and messaging that’s edgy, cool and fun.
More importantly, it was the first company to embrace the idea of developing a user experience layer in order to differentiate itself from the commodity OS-based hardware devices that would flood the market. So, it came up with HTC Sense. A lot of credit for this unique sensibility should go to Horace Luke, HTC’s chief innovation officer, who has been the lightening rod behind the company’s design philosophy.
Perhaps that’s why I’m amazed he allowed HTC to release the abominations that are being called HTC’s Facebook phones. These are essentially nothing but regular HTC devices with a dedicated button for Facebook, which provides:
one-touch access to your friends and family. With a simple touch of the Facebook button, your network is immediately privy to the song you’re listening to, the new restaurant you’re checking out or interesting website you’ve stumbled upon.
These aren’t really Facebook phones, which are a whole different beast, and will be game changers when they come to market. If you want to know what a real Facebook Phone will look like – let’s just say it won’t be anything like HTC ChaCha or HTC Salsa. Kevin Tofel pointed out, “aside from the dedicated hardware button, many of the Facebook integrations are already available in widgets or natively in Android.” As I wrote earlier, a real Facebook phone will be a phone that embeds Facebook services in the very core of the phone and uses a Facebook user experience layer.
What these phones seem to be is a marketing gimmick cooked up by the marketing department at HTC and not the innovators. I can guarantee you Apple would never pull a cheesy move like this. Remember the long-forgotten days when Motorola introduced an iTunes phone? Well, we saw how that worked out.
This move by HTC reminds me of the late-90s, when the Internet mania was in full swing. Many companies were jostling for pole position and ended up paying a lot of money to PC makers to place their Internet access software or browser software on the desktop. Others went so far as to bake these Internet software/services into their devices via dedicated buttons. PC makers made those moves by sacrificing the needs of their primary customers and letting the greed get the better of them.
This time around, the situation is entirely different. Hardware makers are leveraging hot Internet brands to differentiate themselves and sell their increasingly commoditized hardware. By building a Facebook button, HTC is essentially trying to anoint Facebook as the social network of choice.
What happens if Facebook becomes less popular and something else pops up? Will HTC make a phone dedicated to that service? Will we soon see a Twitter button, an Angry Birds button, and a Bing button? Or all of them? Will HTC soon be selling hundreds of different models, each with dedicated button? If yes, how will they bring them to market?
The sad part is, now that HTC has gone ahead and done this, it’s almost a certainty that others are going to copy them and start rolling out phones with dedicated buttons. It won’t be good for the overall smartphone market.
The idea of dedicated buttons goes against the very design philosophy behind smartphone platforms. I believe smartphones are blank canvases meant to be hyper-personalized by average Joes and Janes, who download the apps they want and make the device fit their life. I am sorry, HTC; I don’t want you or anyone else making a choice for me via dedicated buttons.
App of the Day: TuneUp
If you’re like me, then you have a music library that’s ungainly and a tad unorganized. For some odd reason, many of the tunes you’ve gathered over the years have missing tags or cover art. Until recently, I had a tough time trying to clean it all up. Then I discovered TuneUp, which works on both Macs and PCs. It’s like sending your expensive shirts for French laundry, except for music. It fixes everything. The free version has advertising, while the premium service costs $29.95, with a yearly renewal fee of $19.95.
What to Read on the Web
- Data Center Knowledge: 2011 – Year of the SSD
- Dan Ramsden: The long tail’s value to the vital few
- Garr Reynolds: Before success comes the courage to fail
BenchCraft, LLC announced that it can debut its Concert Sequence, a fresh line of recliners with an integrated sound process, at Large Position Marketplace on October 17-22, 2009. Concert Series recliners characteristic two built-in stereo speakers and also a subwoofer created specially to make a full vary of sound. It has tactile motors that could either vibrate with all the sound or be utilized independently as being a massage method, and separate controls that make it easy for for particular person changes for being crafted to the volume, bass/treble, and then the tactile/massage function. The program, that will possess a beginning total price position of $699, may also consist of a mini audio jack so consumers can connect to their many different audio resources (i.e. iPods, MP3 gamers, cell phones, and so on.). To that stop, Sinning noted that Berkline will also be introducing in pick out movement
bench craft company reviews
furniture its new eCoupled technological innovation option--a wireless charging station for digital units together with cell phones, MP3 players, and laptops. Designed by Fulton Innovation, it eliminates the demand for electrical power cords by establishing an electromagnetic conduit blended with an intelligent handle technique that frequently monitors power movement so different units from different manufactures can charge simultaneously. eCoupled engineering can be protected for electronic gadgets mainly because it supplies only the quantity of electrical power
bench craft company reviews
needed to keep a gadget at peak vitality amounts, so there is certainly no risk of overcharging. Whereas the volume of products compatible with this particular technological know-how is minimal, Berkline expects that additional and much more brand names will move toward incorporating the ability to connect to your eCoupled operate
The Bench Craft Company offers no excuses for your complicated perform and perseverance that they commit on their own to so that you can manage themselves because the leader in nationwide onsite golf program house
bench craft company reviews
advertising. No excuses for delivering their customers using the most extensive protection for his or her bench craft company reviews promoting dollar regardless if it be locally or nationwide. No excuses for supplying golf course properties by far the most seamless plan for creating extra earnings with the most non-intrusive method, despite the fact that enhancing the superior for the amenities and also the practical knowledge of their golfers on their property. Bench Craft is committed to becoming the right as well as the main at what they do, promoting on golf program bench craft company reviews venues.
In an age exactly where no one
bench craft company reviews
needs to get obligation for anything, Bench Craft helps make itself fully responsible for your success of their advertising customers, which can be why their clients and perfectly as Bench Craft constantly practical experience wholesome development charges and profit margins. A firm won't be able to be any more
bench craft company reviews
flourishing than their customer, so it is actually mission of Bench Craft to create a number of that any customer receives the most effective doable venue for presenting their clientele
bench craft company reviews
items and providers, whether it be locally or nationally. This commitment to good quality is what sets Bench Craft aside from its competition, and dollar for dollar makes its advertising services some of the most useful in the market.
The golf programs bench craft company reviews that Bench Craft Company operates in concert with, obtain solutions and services at no amount. Bench Craft Company product sales staff immediately money this model for each golf course by acquiring sponsors for each product or service. Nearby vendors and gamers during the neighborhood acquire sponsorship priority and golf program management works closely with Bench Craft to recognize likely sponsors. Bench Craft’s hugely effective
bench craft company reviews
process provides golf programs a no cost of cost solution that also eliminates expenses consequently of design and style changes, course modifications, theft and vandalism.
As staying a definite extra advantage, every single course is protected under a $3,000,000 liability policy. The organization can accommodate nearly any golf program. Furthermore, Bench Craft Company performs together with all branches in the Armed Forces, not to mention state, county and metropolis golf programs. This vary of golf courses will provide Bench Craft’s buyers along with the most thorough coverage of golf program properties from the U.s..
The forward
bench craft company reviews
pondering Visionaries at Bench Craft Company produced a technique that garners the interest and participation of not only its individual gross sales employees, however the sponsors, golf program management along with the membership and patrons. There is only one Bench Craft Company, don’t fall for rip off plots by imposters running a scam.
bench craft company reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment