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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The changing face of app stores

Mark Bridge writes:

When applications first hit the headlines, there were many stories about developers making small fortunes just from selling applications. Now there’s much more focus on promoting the app.

To understand what’s changed - and to discover how developers get their apps noticed inside ever-expanding app stores - I spoke to Carsten Frien. He’s CEO & co-founder of mobile advertising marketplace madvertise, a company that’s based in Germany and has recently opened an office in the UK.

Carsten explained there was a very straightforward reason for this new focus on promotion.

“We believe that the focus has changed because the advertising-funded model is more sustainable and is generating higher revenues for the application developers, and so they have switched from a paid-for application model to the free-to-the-end-consumer ad-funded application model”.

But what about application stores themselves?  Will we see them change as well? 

Very probably, suggested Carsten.

“If we go back in time by about 12 to 24 months, the landscape looked significantly different - so I would assume over the next couple of years we’re seeing many changes how app distribution is working. There’s a number of companies who are already trying to cut out app stores and trying to distribute apps directly from their own web sites.”

madvertise brings together advertisers with mobile website owners and application developers. One of its services, KatAPPult, guarantees to get applications in the ‘top 25’ Apple App Store listing. Rather bluntly, I asked Carsten how consumers could trust app stores when the charts can be manipulated.

“If we draw a parallel to Google.com, you have two types of search results. You have the free listings which are driven by the Google index, and you have the paid search results at the top and on the right-hand corner. In the app store you don’t have this distinction between free links and paid-for links. There is no traditional paid-for search model in the app store yet, so the application developer who wants to be in the top 25 has to generate a large amount of downloads in a relatively short period of time. Whatever is popular and downloaded a lot makes it to the top 25 list. I wouldn’t say you can’t trust the top 25 listing; it’s a good reflection of what’s popular in general terms.”

My conversation with Carsten went on to cover the making of a ‘good app’ and the future of mobile advertising. Click here to listen using the built-in player on our website, find our podcasts via RSS or hear the show on iTunes.
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