The buzzdoes stand was, well, buzzing, at Apps World this week, with developers working in consumer and b2b fields keen to learn about our viral app marketing tool. So they wanted to share their answers to the top 8 questions that cropped up. (more…)

Thank you to everyone who came to Apps World over the last two days; we’ve had an awesome show and we hope you got what you came for.

We’ve been lucky to have some of the leading minds in the industry here with us this year, delivering top-class insight and advice into the state of the apps industry, what it has to offer numerous business sectors, and how organisations can harness their power.

There have been some key themes running through a lot of the conference. The shift in ownership within companies seeking to move their brand into the apps sector seems to be swinging from mobile-curious CEOs to marketing departments. (more…)

Sophisticated geo-location technology will be able to compose a predictive customised schedule  for your day, reacting not just to where you are, but also what’s around you and what you’ve done in the past. This was a vision of the future delivered by the Geo-Location panel on day 2 of Apps World Europe.

For instance, your future app will be able to use location to realise you’re about to hit an area of forehead-slapping traffic congestion, calculate how late you might be for your important business meeting, then reschedule for you while you fight through the jam.

This fascinating panel session, chaired by Peter Swain, CEO of Always on Message, included Patrick Connolly from ABI Research, Ian Holt from Ordnance Survey, Anwar Ahmed from NAVTEQ and Phillip Gontier from Poynt. In the future our location apps will be jaw-droppingly amazing, they agreed, but right now, no one’s really come up with the killer location product. (more…)

Apps industry growth is still significant in the UK and throughout Europe, though the really rapid growth areas are Asia and Africa, according to Terence Eden, head of developer community at InMobi.

Developers need to recognise the global nature of apps, he says; your market isn’t just limited to the country or even continent that you live in.

“The UK market is getting saturated,” he adds. “If developers want to unlock the power of what they’re doing they have to translate their apps to all the different app stores around the world.”

Not only that, but he believes developers need to think more strategically about how they’re going to monetise their apps over their entire lifecycle. “Think about that first sale and think about how you’re going to follow that up,” he says. “We can monetise your apps by putting advertising in them.”

With growth in app downloads predominantly around free apps, offering a free version of your app is often a smart way to go. “Once they’ve got your free version, you can upsell them, get them to buy the premium version,” says Eden. “If you want to sell extra functionality or features, we can provide a payment solution for that.”

Eden says his big issue is making developers aware that mobile advertising is also an option for their own business.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re the biggest brand on the planet or some guy in his bedroom working on the next big thing; you can use advertising to get your app out to millions of people, he says. “You can actually make a big splash worldwide with not a huge amount of budget.”

Marketers and publishers alike have flocked to Apps World today to find out answers to some key industry questions: How can you make apps stand out from the crowd? How can you optimise app store placement? How can social publicity aid your app? Our Marketing & Monetisation track was on hand to discuss just this, and how marketing and promotion can support your app launch.

The panel, including Alex Kozloff, Mobile Manager from IAB, Emmanuel Carraud, CEO of MagicSolver, James Kaye, Director from appromotor and Ian Malone, Managing Director from We Are Apps, gave us some interesting insights into how to make your app the most visible in the app store.

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With Apps World Europe kicking off to a great start so far, we took a moment to visit Developer Zone 1 to find out what industry experts have to say on building multi-platform apps.

RunRev’s Benjamin Beaumont, Joe Stagner from Mozilla and Andrew Ashe from EuroTalk were on the panel to give app developers some top tips on how to develop a successful application:

Enthusiasm

Be aware of your own enthusiasm. You’ve got to publish something that people really want to use and it’s really easy to make something that you think is great but it doesn’t work for the customer.

Prototyping

Building a prototype of your app in order to test it on your audience is a great way to find out what works and what doesn’t. Making the target group your focus will aid you into creating an app that suits their needs. Andrew Ashe said: “We throw away at least 60% of what we do – testing it with your target niche group, and if they don’t like it you can’t try and persuade them, you have to change it to suit them.”

The use of an app is an emotional experience, so by ensuring you have targeted your audience and have made an app that suits them, you will have created emotion towards the app and the audience, therefore making them become a potential regular user.

Simplicity

Benjamin Beaumont added that simplicity is also a key part in the development and prototype process. Developers need to work on the design of an app, alongside the content. However, Beaumont said: “We are great developers but doesn’t mean we are great designers.” Hiring an external designer may help your process to building an app that engages with your audience.

Grab their attention

Another aspect of building an app is to focus on the first 60 seconds of the user’s experience, in order to keep them interested in your application. “If you’ve lost them in the first 60 seconds, you’ve lost them forever. Don’t think that you’ve got something amazing later on, you’ve got to get it right early on,” said Ashe.

Development practice

By having an actual development practice, it will make the process of building an app less painful. Joe Stagner said: “Because apps are so easy to replace and the marketplace is so dynamic, the ability to evolve your app quickly but without missteps is super important. You may have the number 1 app in your space, but a point release that is less than satisfactory could crush your market position from a single point.”

Good morning, welcome to the first day of Apps World Europe 2011!  We’re taking over the Olympia 2 here in London with some of the leading brands and people in the industry for two days of apps discussion, insight and networking.

If you’re heading down to the event this morning, the first sessions will be kicking off at 9am. Here’s a link to the full agenda.

Last minute booking has been furious but there are still a small number of places left on the free and paid for conference streams, so if you’re in the area, feel free to come down.

We’ve got some fascinating sessions today, with brands such as Nokia and Spotify taking part; as well as global operators such as Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica and Singtel all offering the benefit of their experience and industry viewpoint.

Here’s some interesting food for thought around some of our key sessions today. In the morning we’re looking at operator strategies for Apps & content:

Mobile Europe: Mobile application stores: what’s the opportunity?

Txt4ever: Operators need to embrace apps for new revenue streams

OVUM: Operator billing for third party app stores: changes ahead

In the afternoon we are looking at advertising your app and the media strategies available within the apps business.

Smashing Magazine: How to market your mobile application

Apps Tech News: 10 ways to make your app stand out in the mobile crowd

.NET: 10 step approach to marketing your app

Over in Developer Zone 1 Samsung are taking over with a whole afternoon dedicated to bada developers. Here’s what’s in store

2:00 Welcome
2:10 The UK bada developer challenge
2:15 bada ecosystem/from idea to published app
2:45 bada: show us the money
3:30 Coffee Break
3:45 Tools: implement, test, optimize
4:15 bada and iOS
4:45 Q+A
5:00 End of workshop

Manfred Bortenschlager, Platform Evangelist, Samsung
Keith O’Brien, Head of Content, Samsung
Sameer Ballewar, Technical Consultant, Samsung
Keith Bauwise, Technical Evangelist, Samsung
Jon Lansdell, Technical Writer, Samsung

So there are some things to think about today… If you’ve got something to add to any of the sessions you see, or harbour a burning question that needs answering, you can tweet it into the #AppsWorldQ hashtag; our panel moderators will be keeping an eye on this. Or you can earn maximum kudos by asking it directly over the Q&A mic.

Don’t forget about the official after show drinks will be at the Old Firehouse in Hammersmith. There’ll be complimentary drinks, networking and general merriment for all paid delegates. Doors open at 7.30, come along!

It is difficult to overstate the huge impact and growth of App Stores over the recent years. With App stores remaining a lucrative channel for distribution of mobile content, operators are acutely aware of the need to build a strong content ecosystem around them in what is now a massively competitive mobile content landscape. Extending connectivity and data usage will not be enough to compete with the big guns in this space. Operators need to tap into their strongest assets which are their robust relationships with both brands and their subscriber base and devise strategies for app monetisation.   (more…)