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.

Mark Bridge writes:

Recently Pizza Express introduced a new iPhone application that lets customers book a restaurant table and pay their bill. The app was developed by 2ergo, a UK company based in Manchester.

Last week I spoke to Colin McCaffery, Product and Technology Director at 2ergo, to find out how difficult it was to get the app and the restaurant's own technology working together.

In this special feature we look at the current state of mobile applications and try to discover what makes a good app. You'll hear contributions from madvertise CEO Carsten Frien and 2ergo Product & Technology Director Colin McCaffery.

This week's podcast covers a wide range of mobile industry topics, from unused TV spectrum to the UK's favourite apps. We also discuss smartphone reliability, Symbian's plans, touchscreen patents and quite a bit more.

Mark Bridge writes:

There's been a bit of a location-based theme in the mobile industry this week.

Hardly surprising, with a new report from Pyramid Research saying location-based advertising is becoming increasingly popular – and NAVTEQ revealing that most consumers are happy receiving promotional offers in exchange for free location-related content.