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Did Google ever have a plan to curb Android fragmentation?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by admin

Summary: Make the users care about updates, and the people standing in the way of those updates will sit up and pay attention to things.

Another day, another set of Android fragmentation stories. And while there’s no doubt that there is wide fragmentation within the platform, and there’s not real solution in sight, I’m starting to wonder if Google ever had a plan to prevent the platform for becoming a fragmented mess.

How bad’s the problem? Jon Evans over on TechCrunch tells it like it is:

OS fragmentation, though, is an utter disaster. Ice Cream Sandwich is by all accounts very nice; but what good does that do app developers, when according to Google’s own stats, 30% of all Android devices are still running an OS that is 20 months old?

More than two-thirds of iOS users had upgraded to iOS 5 a mere three months after its release. Anyone out there think that Ice Cream Sandwich will crack the 20% mark on Google’s platform pie chart by March?

He then goes on to deliver the killer blow:

OS fragmentation is the single greatest problem Android faces, and it’s only going to get worse. Android’s massive success over the last year mean that there are now tens if not hundreds of millions of users whose handset manufacturers and carriers may or may not allow them to upgrade their OS someday; and the larger that number grows, the more loath app developers will become to turn their back on them. That unwillingness to use new features means Android apps will fall further and further behind their iOS equivalents, unless Google manages – via carrot, stick, or both – to coerce Android carriers and manufacturers to prioritize OS upgrades.

And that’s the core problem with Android. While there’s no doubt that consumers who’ve bought Android devices are being screwed out of updates that they deserve (the take up of Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ is pretty poor so far), the biggest risk from fragmentation is that developers will ignore new Android features an instead focus on supporting older but more mainstream feature sets. After all, developers want to hit the masses, not the fringes. Also, the more platforms developers have to support, the more testing work there is.

OK, so Android is fragmented, and it’s a problem that Google doesn’t seem willing to tackle. But the more I look at the Android platform and the associated ecosystem, it makes me wonder if Google ever had any plan (or for that matter intention) to control platform fragmentation.

But could Google have done anything to control fragmentation? Former Microsoftie (and now investor) Charlie Kindel thinks there no hope to curb fragmentation. In fact, he believes that most things will make it worse. I disagree with Kindel on this matter. He also believes that Google’s current strategy amounts to little more that wishing that everyone will upgrade. On this point we are in total agreement.

I disagree with Kindel that that there’s nothing that Google can do to at least try to discourage fragmentation. I believe that one of Google’s strongest cards are Android users themselves. Look at how enthusiastic iPhone and iPad owners are about iOS updates. They’re enthusiastic because Apple tells them why they should be enthusiastic about new updates. Compare this to Google’s approach to Android customers. Google (or anyone else in the chain for that matter) doesn’t seem to be doing much to get people fired up and enthusiastic about Android. In fact, it seems to me the only message being given to Android customers is ‘buy another Android handset.’

I understand that Google isn’t Apple and can’t seem to sway the crowds in the same way, but it might start to help if the search giant seemed to care about the OS. The absence of enthusiasm make the seem Sphinx-like and uncaring. Why should anyone care about new Android updates when Google itself doesn’t really seem all that excited? If Google created a real demand for Android updates from the end users, this would put put pressure on the handset makers and the carriers to get updates in a timely fashion to users.

Make the users care about updates, and the people standing in the way of those updates will sit up and pay attention to things.

via Did Google ever have a plan to curb Android fragmentation? | ZDNet By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

National Weather Service hold on mobile apps stirs controversy

Posted on January 9, 2012 by admin

Weather apps. There are hundreds – perhaps thousands – of them, for mobile phones, tablet PCs, e-readers, and other portable electronic devices.

The vast majority of these weather apps are made by private companies, using data provided by the National Weather Service and other sources. The Weather Service itself does not currently have an iPhone or an Android app, despite the explosive growth in the use of these devices, and the fact that many more people already rely on them for hazardous weather information than, say, NOAA Weather Radio.

In light of recent developments in communications technology, it seems rather strange that NOAA hasn’t developed a comprehensive weather app of its own. The agency has only recently embraced social media, and it has an increasing Facebook presence.

Since December 21, 2011, the Weather Service has prohibited its employees from developing apps for specific mobile devices.

Employees received a pre-holiday memo from Weather Service deputy director Laura K. Furgione, which reads in part:

“There are thousands of weather applications available for iPhone, Android, iPad, and similar wireless devices. Many of them are provided at little or no cost. Many of them use National Weather Service (NWS) warnings and other weather products and some explicitly identify NWS as the source of their information. Given this well-established and growing market for device-specific weather applications for wireless devices, NWS is declaring a hold on use of any NWS resources, including on-duty time of NWS employees, to develop such applications. This will avoid using NWS resources to duplicate products readily available in the marketplace and give NWS time to carefully evaluate our appropriate role.”

In case you don’t speak weather bureaucracy, the memo essentially states that NWS is going to stay out of the apps business for now, since so many private companies have produced many good (and oftentimes free) apps that communicate Weather Service products.

Why is this such a big deal, though? Well, it has been met with resistance from the agency’s rank and file, who see it as a move to privatize a core function of the federal agency – the delivery of timely weather warning information via a new generation of communication technology.

“It’s pretty clear to me that the world wide web is old technology and in the next 10 years… it’s all going to be on apps. If you want to be able to communicate to people, that’s the future,” says Dan Sobien, the director of the National Weather Service Employees Union. “The Weather Service has to be on the cutting edge of that in order to succeed in our mission.”

Screenshot of weather section on Washington Post’s Android applicationSobien sent a letter to NOAA administrator Jane Lubchencowarning that the employees union views the new policy as an attempt to privatize the dissemination of NWS products and services, which the union has been fighting for years, mainly under Republican administrations. The most far-reaching attempt at privatization was contained in a 2005 bill sponsored by Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum when he was a Pennsylvania senator.

“This all hands memo from Furgione has done more to demoralize the NWS workforce than anything since the Bush Administration proposed to close Weather Forecast Offices,” the letter states. “All our members want to do is save lives, enhance our nation’s economy and do what we can to protect the environment. Tying our members’ hands from doing so is counterproductive for them, the NWS and NOAA.”

The Employees Union’s argument is that since taxpayers pay for the information the Weather Service gathers and the forecasts and warnings it generates, they should not be forced to pay to download an app from a private company in order to receive this information on their wireless device.

On the other hand, NOAA can’t be seen as overly competing with the private sector, since that would go against its longstanding policy support a vibrant private sector community that specializes in customized weather info, including companies such as the Weather Channel, whose free iPhone app is the most popular free weather app, according to iTunes.

“It’s important to maintain the complementary services provided by the commercial weather sector and to ensure the most appropriate and effective use of our internal resources,” said Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro via email. He noted, the apps hold “applies only to apps developed with specific devices in mind and not apps that can be applied universally.”

Sobien said he’s hopeful that a policy will be crafted that will allow the Weather Service to expand its presence in new media without crowding out private companies.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “I believe the administration [of NOAA] has stepped in to fix this problem to make the Weather Service more transparent and to give the people the information that they own in the most convenient means possible for them, but until I see a signed document my optimism is cautious.”

National Weather Service hold on mobile apps stirs controversy – Capital Weather Gang – The Washington Post By Andrew Freedman.

Mobile-First World

Posted on January 7, 2012 by admin

In the last day, I’ve gotten two notes from start-ups that began on the web but have seen their businesses transformed by mobile, as users increasingly shift their consumption to mobile apps and browsers. This might seem obvious in a world in which services like Twitter and Pandora now get most of their traffic from mobile. But it bears highlighting because the trend is happening across all sorts of apps and websites and that has implications for developers, publishers and businesses, who must now consider what a mobile-first world looks like.

The latest examples came to me from online design store Fab.com, which just launched in June and then pushed out its first mobile apps for iOS and Android in October. In just three months, it said that 30 percent of its traffic is now on mobile. MyYearbook, a social networking site that was bought by Quepasa last year, said, thanks to a big holiday push, it now has 54 percent of its traffic coming in on mobile.

Now, these are just two examples, but it shows that though they both got their start on the web, they’re increasingly running mobile services. Twitter’s mobile traffic is up to 55 percent while Pandora is up to 60 percent according to Mary Meeker, of Kleiner Perkins. That’s happening quickly with Facebook as well, which has 350 million of its 800 million users actively accessing the social network through mobile channels.

Meeker highlighted this at the Web 2.0 summit in October, showing how mobile search, payments and shopping has taken off in the last two years. Online shopping destinations like eBay are seeing more and more sales via mobile devices. IBM said that 18.3 percent of all online sessions on retailers’ sites on Christmas were initiated from a mobile device, compared to 8.4 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, Google is increasingly capitalizing on the growth of mobile searches by encouraging businesses to think mobile first. It has said that 44 percent of last minute holiday shopping searches was expected to be by mobile and 79 percent of smartphone users currently utilize their phones to help with price comparison, product searches and locating a retailer.

The fact is, thanks to smartphones and tablets, the way people are going to services and destinations is changing. People are accessing stuff all the time on the go and that requires developers and publishers to think mobile first.

Om Malik touched on this last month when he talked about the redesign of his personal website Om.co. Here’s what he wrote:

When mulling over these changes, I began to wonder how a blog designed primarily for a mobile-first experience might fare. Of course, there would be a web-based version, too, but it would be not the primary focus. Mobile first meant — a great reading experience that allows readers to focus on things that matter — words, photos and videos — not the design flourishes and other elements such as social sharing icons.

Mobile first meant that the layouts would adapt themselves to the display. The iPad version would adapt to that device’s screen size while the iPhone/smartphone version would be even more barebones. The beauty of thinking about “mobile first” is that you get to use the latest in browsers, forget about backward compatibility and at the sometime are able to deploy newest technologies and hacks.

This is increasingly how publishers and developers need to prepare their services. There is still an obvious need for a traditional website but the shifting habits of consumption mean you can’t make mobile an afterthought. People notice if you’re not optimizing for mobile and ignoring mobile users and their experiences can cost publishers. Google quoted a study last year that found that 61 percent of mobile users won’t return to a site if they have trouble accessing it from their phone.

It also means you can’t just water down a site or gin up a simple app. It still needs to have robust functionality because people want to do a lot of things on mobile. And they look to developers to also leverage the unique capabilities of devices, which are location aware and have cameras and other sensors. Some developers may want to think twice about how they implement some web-only features if it can’t be enjoyed by mobile users.

We’re already seeing more mobile apps and start-ups that are beginning on mobile and then looking toward online. But there’s still a ways to go for traditional websites, businesses and services to embrace mobile. With smartphone penetration expected to cross over 50 percent soon in the U.S. and adoption unlikely to slow down, it’s going to mean people going online through the small screen. Those who prepare for a mobile first world are going have the jump when it comes to attracting those consumers.

via It’s becoming a mobile-first world — Tech News and Analysis by Ryan Kim.

Android vs iOS vs Windows Phone 7

Gallery

Posted on December 29, 2011 by admin

Android vs. iOS vs. Windows Phone 7: A mobile showdown Total Devices Total apps Tablet-optimized apps Unapproved 3rd party apps 4G Cloud integration Voice control Multitasking Navigation Search Dual-core devices Custom firmware Third-party keyboard apps NFC Showcase phones Showcase … Continue reading →

2011 in review: The year in iOS

Posted on December 29, 2011 by admin

In 2011, as in 2010, iOS received a lot of attention from Apple. Apple introduced significant updates to its flagship iOS devices—the iPad and the iPhone. It added a new buying option to the App Store, perhaps rescuing the magazine industry in the process. It premiered an insanely powerful and brilliantly designed piece of software that proved unequivocally that iOS devices aren’t just for consumption. And, of course, the company unveiled a significant upgrade to its touch-based operating system itself. And then a not-so-tiny upstart named Amazon tried to leap into the tablet computing fray, too.

iPad, tooFor fans of multitouch, 2011 was a big year. Let’s put our fingers on precisely why.

In March, Apple released the sequel to the world’s first successful tablet computer. The iPad 2 was acclaimed for what it added: two (admittedly mediocre) cameras, a zippier processor (the dual core, Apple-designed A5 chip), twice the RAM (512MB), and the magnetic appeal of the Smart Cover. But even as it added all those features, the iPad managed to take a couple significant elements away—namely, weight and thickness. The iPad 2 is just two-thirds as thick and 88 percent as heavy as the original.

In the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2011 alone, Apple sold 11.12 million iPads. The product continues to do a brisk business, dominating the mind and market share for the still-developing tablet market. Of the iPad’s sales performance to date, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “Some people are electing to buy an iPad rather than a Mac… A materially larger number are electing to buy an iPad instead of a Windows-based PC.”

Getting Siri-ous: The iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S became available in October. It scored the same speedy A5 chip that powers the iPad 2, a dramatically upgraded rear-facing camera, and an overhauled dual-band antenna design.

But the feature that got everyone talking was the feature that got everyone talking: Siri. With its still-in-beta voice-powered virtual assistant, the iPhone 4S can handle a multitude of tasks for you, based solely on the verbal instructions you provide it. Despite the fact that Siri was hampered by occasional outages, early 4S adopters loved its power, itssense of humor, and its uncanny ability to understand just what you wanted it to do.

Apple hasn’t said when or if Siri will come to the Mac, the iPad, or earlier iPhone models, but ask any iPhone 4S user who has come to depend on Siri for sending texts, setting reminders, and making appointments: The more ubiquitous Siri becomes, the better.

Carrier on, my wayward son

2011 was also the year the Verizon iPhone rumors were finally put to rest; Verizon got the iPhone 4 back in February. With the release of the iPhone 4S, Sprint became the third U.S. carrier, and regional carrier C Spire became the fourth.

iOS 5 is alive

October also brought iOS 5, the newest incarnation of the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. With it came Notification Center, a smart solution for the increasingly invasive blue alert boxes that had come to characterize the iOS experience. But iOS 5 didn’t just make alerts more manageable; it also introduced long-awaited niceties like wireless syncing, over-the-air iOS updates, iMessage, Reminders, Newsstand, system-wide Twitter integration, AirPlay mirroring, and more.

GarageBand of brothers

Apple launched the iPad incarnation of GarageBand in March, alongside the iPad 2’s release. An update at the beginning of November brought the app to the iPhone as well. The app combines Smart Instruments, loops, a drum machine, and support for devices like electric guitars and USB keyboards and microphones. In short, it turns an iOS device into a portable music studio.

The app makes amateur musicians sound good, and it offers plenty of powerful performance for professionals, too. If any one app raised the App Store bar—and proved that iOS devices can and should be used for creation just as much as consumption—GarageBand was that app.

Renew my subscription

Speaking of the App Store, 2011 saw one significant addition: iOS subscriptions. Introduced in February, subscriptions afford developers the option of taking recurrent payments—on a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or yearly basis—for digital services.

The first app to take advantage of subscriptions was News Corp’s The Daily, with its $1 a week issues (or $40 for the year). Subscriptions caught on, as a steady parade of major magazine publishers brought their publications to the iPad. Over time, Apple loosened its restrictionson how publishers could offer in-app subscriptions, allowing those publishers to offer free or discounted digital access to print subscribers.

Apple didn’t relent on some stricter policies, though; apps like Amazon’s Kindle were forced to remove links to their online stores to remain in compliance with Apple’s App Store rules.

Send in the clouds

October also saw the release of iCloud, Apple’s synchronization service for Macs, PCs, and iOS devices. With iCloud, you can backup your iOS device without needing a computer at all; sync iWork documents, contacts, emails, and calendars; locate your iOS devices; and more. With iTunes in the Cloud, you can re-download your iTunes Store purchases from your iOS devices, and newly-purchased apps download to all your devices automatically. And with iTunes Match, Apple’srecently introduced $25 per year iCloud add-on, you can store your music library in the cloud and wirelessly access it from your iOS devices.

Non-competes

Numerous iPad competitors came; most of them went. The RIM PlayBook was dead on arrival; theMotorola Xoom failed to catch on; and HP held a fire-sale to divest itself of its TouchPad inventory. The only device to make any major waves in the industry thus far is Amazon’s Kindle Fire, though reviews have been mixed at best. Some conclude that the Kindle Fire makes a great Kindle , but a lousy tablet. Perhaps that’s why Apple doesn’t seem that worried about it.

In the year 2012…

Predicting what’s next for Apple and the iOS ecosystem is never easy. And though the iPhone 4S was a zig when many expected an iPhone 5 zag, Cupertino spent much of 2011 ticking off long-rumored items on its list—new U.S. carriers, a new iPhone, and a new iPad. It seems certain that 2012 will bring another new iPhone and new iPad, but questions remain: Will the next iPhone sport a bigger screen? Will the next iPad score a Retina display? How many models of iPad should we expect? Is a 7-inch iPad in the offing?

There are but three ways to find out the answers: Get hired by Apple as a top-level executive; follow along with all the Apple news Macworld reports upon next year; or wait until the tail end of 2012 for next year’s roundup.

2011 in review: The year in iOS | Macworld by Lex Friedman, Macworld.com

In U.S., Android Has Upper Hand On The iPhone

Posted on December 29, 2011 by admin

Apple’s iPhones may seem more cool, but the Google-backed Android phones are much more popular in the United States. In 2011, Android’s U.S. market share was 53 percent, compared to 29 percent for the iPhone, according to the research group NPD.

And those Android phones are everywhere, even in foodtrucks. Kristi Whitfield owns Curbside Cupcake, a Washington, D.C.-area company. When customers show up without cash, Whitfield uses her Android phone to process their credit card payments with a system called Square. It lets her swipe the cards on her phone, and email or text receipts to customers.

Whitfield says that at first, she used an iPhone for the transactions. But then she switched to Android.

“We started on the iPhone,” she says, “but then as we got more phones for the trucks, we went to the Android. It was an affordable choice, and it worked just as well as the iPhone, and it was the right choice. We didn’t need all of the things that the iPhone did just to run our business.”

Pricing, usability and simplicity are all part of Android’s appeal. But Hiawatha Bray, a technology writer at The Boston Globe, says there’s one other thing that makes Android stand out — it’s its “open source.” Basically, Google lets the world see, and tinker with, their Android code.

“Anybody can take their software, break it down, analyze it, see how it works,” Bray says. It allows Android to get apps to its market with remarkable speed. So, when Apple introduced the voice-recognition technology Siri on the iPhone 4S, Android wasn’t far behind.

“There’s this guy in Bangalore, thought that [Siri] was cool,” Bray says. “[He] tried to create a knockoff, which he called Iris. Within a day or two of Siri, people started to get a crude imitation.”

But the Android app market is also something like the Wild Wild West, Bray adds.

“Google tells you outright — ‘We don’t do any kind of testing to make sure this app is safe,’” Bray says. That means malware and spyware can make it onto Android phones through apps. It’s a problem Apple doesn’t have because they test their apps.

Another advantage for Android is that it’s available on multiple phones and service providers, so there are many types of smartphones running the operating system. And some can do things iPhones can’t.

One example is the Casio G’zOne Commando. Verizon’s Brenda Rayney says the phone met a number of military requirements before it went on sale, making it possibly one of the toughest smartphones on the market.

Rayney says the Commando was submerged in water; survived winds up to 40 miles per hour; was subjected to heavy dust for six hours; and endured salt water spray for 24 hours. It also has withstood solar radiation, pressures at 15,000 feet below sea level, and survived high temperatures of 185 degrees Fahrenheit, and lows of 13 below zero.

You could call it the indestructible Navy Seal Team 6 of smartphones. I tested a Commando at home, with my friends Madeline Clayton and Ryan Whalen.

We threw it down the stairs. We tossed it into a frying pan. And the final test? Beer. We submerged the phone, which retails for between $179 and $449, in Budweiser.

The Commando rang when we dialed its number, as it sat in two beers. “And it’s bubbling!” exclaimed Clayton, as suds frothed from the phone’s vibrations. “It’s bubbling!”

You could try that with an iPhone, but you might not get the same result.

Bray says the Android-iPhone dynamic can be compared to another pair of competing brands. If Apple is Starbucks, then Android is perhaps Dunkin Donuts? “Both companies produce good coffee,” says Bray. “But I gotta admit, I prefer Dunkin Donuts because it’s so unpretentious and straightforward.”

It’s the kind of comparison that makes the case that the Android isn’t just an iPhone competitor, but almost its antithesis.

via In U.S., Android Has Upper Hand On The iPhone : NPR by SAM SANDERS.

Mobilewalla Ranks Users’ Favorites For Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone

Posted on December 29, 2011 by admin

Best Apps 2011 Ios Iphone Android Blackberry Windo

A few days ago, we brought you a report on the most popular mobile apps of 2011, in terms of downloads. (Quick version: You all really love Angry Birds). Now, new research from mobile analytics firm Mobilewallalays out a different app landscape: The apps with the highest user ratings across iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

Before we reveal the list, let’s talk methodology: Mobilewalla didn’t simply look at the scores users gave to the apps in the Android Market, or the App Store, etc.; rather, it devised its own Mobilewalla score. Sarah Perez of Techcrunch defines it nicely and succinctly:

Instead of looking at raw user ratings, this scoring system is an algorithm that analyzes a variety of factors in addition to ratings, including an app’s position within its own category, volume, social media sentiment and more.

From there, each app is given a Mobilewalla rating from 0 to 100. Unlike in golf, it’s better to have a higher score.

And now, here are the top-rated apps on each mobile OS for 2011. We’ve split them up by OS, and by paid vs. free, for ease of reading. We’ve also included some brief descriptions for the apps whose titles don’t immediately make their purposes clear:

ANDROID (Free)

1. Pixlr-o-matic: 97.5 out of 100.
“Add retro effects to your photos in a snap!”

2. Super Stickman Golf: 97.5 out of 100
“Swing your way through over 280 unique holes. Use all your special abilities to help you par the courses including sticky balls, ice balls, air brakes, and nitro balls!”

3. Smurfs’ Village: 97 out of 100
“It’s up to you to build a new village for the Smurfs to call home.”

4. Crime Story: 96.4 out of 100
“Crime Story is a game where you can narrate your own gangsta story. Your stairway up to the mafia boss position starts with searching of your kidnapped brother.”

5. Marvel Comics: 96.3 out of 100
“Download hundreds of comic books featuring your favorite characters -— including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine and more — on your mobile device or tablet with the touch of a button.”

ANDROID (Paid)

1. MADDEN NFL 12, 93.6 out of 100
“BOOM! Feel the excitement of NFL Football, anytime, anywhere with Madden NFL 12 for Android. With hard hitting action and beefed up rosters, get the ultimate football experience – now fully optimized for Android Tablets!”

2. Dragon, Fly! Full, 92.9 out of 100
“Slide and fly over the beautiful hills in this fast paced one touch arcade game.”

3. Earth And Legend, 92.3 out of 100
“The most advanced full-scaled multiplayer 3D RPG for Android has arrived in HD! The time has come to call for a hero. Join the battle in this epic RPG adventure delivered in stunning 3D.”

4. Great Little War Game, 92.18 out of 100
“Take command of your army and battle the foe on land, sea and air but be sure to make wise decisions as you go. You want to deploy your soldiers to take full advantage of the higher terrain, natural choke points, ambush spots and defensive walls.”

5. SHADOWGUN, 91.8 out of 100
“Using state-of-the-art weaponry, ships, and the assistance of S.A.R.A.—Slade’s personal android assistant—SHADOWGUN combines intense tactical combat with 3rd person action.”

iOS (Free)

1. MLB.com At Bat Lite, 96 out of 100
News, scores and coverage of Major League Baseball.

2. My Horse: 95.3 out of 100
“Live the dream of owning and looking after a realistic horse, and share the experience with your friends!”

3. Family Feud® & Friends: 93.5 out of 100
The popular TV game show on iOS.

4. Funny Videos & Pics by Break.com: 92.8 out of 100

5. MetalStorm: Wingman: 92.3 out of 100
“Dominate the skies and master the world’s most advanced combat aircraft as you experience the best looking, most action packed jet fighting game for iOS.”

iOS (Paid)

1. Angry Birds Rio: 93.9 out of 100

2. Tiny Wings: 92.9 out of 100
“You have always dreamed of flying – but your wings are tiny. Luckily the world is full of beautiful hills. Use the hills as jumps – slide down, flap your wings and fly!”

3. Craigslist + Notifications. CraigsPro+ Craigslist + Photo Wall + Posting + Photo previews: 91.7 out of 100

4. Where’s My Water?: 91 out of 100
The popular puzzle game.

5. Lock My Photos – Password lock photos & picture data for peace of mind!: 89.7 out of 100

6. Bike Baron: 87.3 out of 100
Motorcycle racing game with user-made levels.

BlackBerry (Free)

1. Memory Booster Pro: 95.1 out of 100
“Memory Booster Pro will recover the lost/used up memory from the device making your applications
run faster and smoother.”

2. BlackBerry Protect: 95.1 out of 100
“BlackBerry® Protect is a free application designed to keep your information secure if your BlackBerry® smartphone goes missing.”

3. Memory Booster: 95 out of 100
“Memory Booster will recover the lost/used up memory from the device making your applications run faster and smoother.”

4. AppsLock – Password Protect Applications (Full Version): 94.7 out of 100

5. Slider Lock Free – slide to unlock your phone: 94.5 out of 100

BlackBerry (Paid)

1. Sea Storm Animated Theme 2.0: 94.7 out of 100

2. Love Is Love – Great Offer of Valentine’s Day: 92 out of 100
Valentine’s Day-themed live wallpaper.

3. Playboy’s Animated Luck O’ The Irish: 90.4 out of 100
“Enjoy 4 different St. Patty’s inspired Irish Playboy wallpapers along with custom color icons and an ANIMATED LOCK SCREEN!”

4. Underwater HD Animated Theme: 90.1 out of 100

5. Juicy Girl Theme – On Sale!: 89.5 out of 100

WINDOWS PHONE (Free)

1. TuneIn Radio: 96.7 out of 100
FM and streaming radio stations.

2. Penguin: 96 out of 100
“With your help, this Penguin can and does fly through a colorful, fun landscape.”

3. gMaps: 95.7 out of 100
Google Maps for Windows Phone.

4. PhotoFunia: 95.7 out of 100
Free photo editing tool.

WINDOWS PHONE (Paid)

1. Phone 8: 92.2 out of 100
Themes for the Windows Phone homescreen.

2. Weather Live: 91.7 out of 100
Robust weather app.

3. Fuse: 89 out of 100
Newsreader app for WP.

4. iFun: 89 out of 100
Transforms the Windows Phone look into the look of the iPhone, from homescreen to utilities to dialer.

5. SuperTube: 88.4 out of 100
“Enables you to play and download YouTube videos in HQ and HD by 3G or WiFi.”

—–

Boy, BlackBerry owners really like their animated wallpapers and themes, huh? A few other observations:

- Gamers on three of the operating systems rated games that could be placed in the “send an animal flying using slopes and hills” category — Penguin on Windows Phone, Tiny Wings on iOS and Dragon Fly on Android all have the same basic game play.
- Photo editing and maintenance also won big across OS’s — Pixlr-o-matic for Android, PhotoFunia for Windows Phone, and Lock My Photos on iOS
- BlackBerry users hate fun. This was the only OS without a game in the top apps, either paid or free.
- iPhone envy? BlackBerry’s “Slide to Unlock” app mimics the unlocking mechanism that Apple owns the patent for, while Windows Phone’s iFun straight up replicates the iPhone’s interface. Android’s Pixlr-o-Matic is a take on iOS’s popular Instagram photo-filtering app.
- Companies don’t always slum it when translating popular apps to mobile devices: Family Feud, Madden NFL ’12, MLB.com At Bat, and Smurfs’ Village all scored highly.

The Mobilewalla report isn’t available online, but you can browse around the analytics firm’s website here.

To view a more cut-and-dry list of users’ favorite apps this year, check out the most-downloaded free iPhone apps from Apple’s App Store, as well as Android users’ favorites.

via Best-Rated Apps 2011: Mobilewalla Ranks Users’ Favorites For Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone .The Huffington Post Jason Gilbert

Facebook Adds Timeline to iPhone App | PCWorld

Posted on December 19, 2011 by admin

Facebook now lets iPhone owners view its new Timeline layout and has added several extra handy features in an app update pushed out to iPhone users on Sunday. iPad users still can’t view Facebook Timeline layouts.

Facebook launched its updated Android apps last week when Timeline was released. Facebook has already updated its Android mobile app with the layout. It’s unclear why the iOS update was delayed until the weekend but possibilities include waiting for approval from Apple’s app store and bug fixes. The Timeline layout was shown earlier this year at the company’s f8 Conference.

[Read- Facebook Timeline: How to Get Started]

Timeline however isn’t the only new feature added in 4.1. The new version of Facebook’s app brings a lot of the new features that the social networking giant added over the last year to its mobile apps.

[Read- Facebook Adds Timeline Feature, Supercharges Apps]

You now have the ability to add and sort into Facebook’s lists feature to help them organize their friends. It also adds the subscribe to page feature that the company added along with it’s revamp of news feed. And, as originally reported byTechcrunch, the new app felt considerably faster than previous versions during my time with the app.

This new iOS update leaves only the company’s iPad app without the new Timeline layout. Facebook promised that an update for Apple’s popular tablet is on the way.

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via Facebook Adds Timeline to iPhone App | PCWorld By David Daw, PCWorld Dec 19, 2011 10:49 AM.

Android Facebook app surpasses iPhone version – Crave – CNET Asia

Posted on December 19, 2011 by admin

For the first time ever, Android is being used more frequently than iPhone to access Facebook.

Facebook for Android has 58.3 million average daily users compared with an average of 57.4 million daily users who access the social network via an iPhone app, according tostats complied by AppData.

The Android app, which was released in September 2009–a full year after the iPhone app, still trails the iPhone in monthly average users accessing Facebook, tallying 85.4 million users to the iPhone app’s 99.1 million. However, the monthly user data doesn’t reflect the “stickiness” of the daily user data, or the number of users who return on a daily basis. In that measurement, the Android app’s 68.2 percent still leads over the iPhone app’s 57.9 percent.

One explanation for the leadership change could be the fact that more than 550,000 devices are being activated every day–up from a daily tally of 500,000 in June and 400,000 in May. More than 200 million Android devices have now been activated around the world, Google announced last month.

via http://asia.cnet.com/crave/android-facebook-app-surpasses-iphone-version-62212580.htm By Steven Musil on Dec 19, 2011

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