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Thursday, May 12, 2011

Android and GetJar admit that app stores aren't working

Mark Bridge writes:

The Apple App Store runs in a similar way to many high-street shops. It decides what it’ll sell. It decides what it won’t sell. It has special offers. It has free gifts. It promotes certain products above others.

Most other app stores (or ‘application stores’, as I’m sure Apple would prefer) aren’t much like retail stores. Instead they’re somewhere between a cooperative marketplace and a headless automaton. But they’re starting to change.

This week Google has announced it offers over 200,000 apps... and it’s introducing a handful of new new features for the Android Market “focused on helping you find apps you’ll love”. There are now staff recommendations and favoured developers to help customers make their choices.

Then we have GetJar, which has just acquired a company with technology that’ll help customers find the apps they need. Usability and discovery are high on the agenda.

Okay, I may have overdone the hyperbole in the headline - but I’d like to think the point is pretty clear. App stores - as they were originally set up - don’t work. They’re going the same way as mobile operator web portals.

Once, when they were new, they did okay. But now the novelty of buying any old virtual tat has worn off and the app shopping process needs to change.

It’s a point that was made yesterday by James Rosewell following BBC’s The Apprentice and is also covered in this week’s 361 degrees podcast from Ben Smith, Ewan MacLeod and Rafe Blandford.

The ultimate point of shopping is finding (and buying) what you’re looking for.  It’s not about how much stock a shop has. It’s about how good a product is and how much it costs. Specialist retailers, whether it’s chocolatiers, car showrooms or app shops, have a place alongside hypermarkets and department stores. But putting everything in a pile and letting customers search through it - especially when they don’t necessarily know the name or the appearance of the product they’re looking for - is no way to sell.

Fortunately, it looks as though app stores are realising this.

After all, even jumble sales involve a little curation before the doors are opened.

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Author: The Fonecast
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1 comments on article "Android and GetJar admit that app stores aren't working"

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Todd Levy

5/15/2011 10:43 AM

Thank you for writing this article.
My name is Todd R. Levy and my company BloomWorlds, is developing Android’s family friendly app store, to help Android parents discover safe, secure, and appropriate apps by utilizing our hands on approach to curation.
We are a specialty app store serving a niche market, Android parents and their children.

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Opinion Articles

The fight against mobile bullying gets smarter with Bully Block

Mark Bridge writes:

With mobile phones becoming smarter – and increasing numbers of children using these smartphones – it's not surprising to hear that bullies are taking advantage of mobile technology. 'Cyber-bullying' is now in the Oxford English Dictionary... and some people have even called for a ban on mobiles in schools in an attempt to reduce bullying.

Taking a high-tech perspective in the fight against mobile bullying is Sedgrid Lewis, CEO of Spy Parent LLC.

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Never mind iPhone 5, it's the Apple iPad 3 that could change the world

Mark Bridge writes:

I like a bit of competition. It can encourage innovation, whether it's NASA's moon landings or Formula 1's telemetry. And it can be entertaining to watch, from Premiership football to the Tour de France.

It's one of the reasons the mobile industry still excites me. Although the frenzied growth of the 1990s is gone, there are still many competing forces.

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This week at The Fonecast: 17th July 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Much like the mainstream media, this week's news summary begins with 'voicemail hacking'. In our podcast feature on Friday we spoke to industry crime-fighter Jack Wraith about the security of voice messages. He explained how remote voicemail access was now much more secure than it was ten years ago, which is good news for everyone (except dodgy investigators).

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How safe is your voicemail... and how safe is your phone?

Mark Bridge writes:

In this week's podcast feature we're joined by Jack Wraith, chief executive for the Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum and chairman of the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum.

He talks to Iain Graham about the current state of voicemail security and the improvements to mobile security we've seen in the last few years.

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Dead phone boxes are now ready for saving lives

Mark Bridge writes:

The public telephone box is disappearing as mobile phone coverage improves. In 2002, there were 92,000 BT phone boxes in the UK. Today, there are a total of 51,500 payphones… including 11,000 traditional red boxes. In order to preserve the appearance of rural life - if not the landline connection - BT has been asking parish councils across the UK if they'd like to adopt their local kiosk. Just £1 lets a community keep its red BT phone box (with the payphone taken out)… and 1,500 have been adopted so far.

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Recent Podcasts

Reviewing our 2015 mobile industry predictions... and looking forward to 2016

Podcast - 15th January 2016

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

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Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Podcast - 6th March 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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Looking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

Podcast - 27th February 2015

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

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Interview with Chris Millington of Doro about mobile retailing, wearables and technology for older consumers

Podcast - 24th February 2015

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

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