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.”

According to a  report from International Telecommunication Union, exponential growth in smartphones, tablets and other web-enabled mobile devices will result in mobile web being more popular than the web as we know. With this paradigm shift, businesses across the globe see opportunities of getting into the hands of their customers, quite literally. (more…)

Apps World and Social Media World Forum Asia are almost upon us. Two shows designed specifically to help delegates build valuable connections in Asia and the rest of the digital world.We have compiled our top suggestions for how you can get the most out of getting connected at the show.

Twitter wall – a feature hard to be missed, located central to the networking hub within the expo area.  To see your tweets broadcasted on our big screens and be in with a chance of becoming the top tweeter at the event don’t forget to include the #AppsWorld and #SMWF hashtags in all your tweets!
Event app - download our event app and Talkbox to allow you to communicate with our speakers and delegates in a completely unique way.   Full details can be found here
Social shindig – come join the party at the annual Social Shindig Asia, this year located in the quirky Clarkes Quay at the Rupee Rooms kicking off from 7.30pm, an excellent opportunity to catch up over a few beverages in a chilled atmosphere
Tweet our speakers – twitter will of course be the order of the day, below you can find a list of many of our speaker’s and special guests twitter handles so you can get the conversation started ahead of the show. If you have a question for one of the speakers don’t forget to use the #SMWFQ and #AppsWorldQ hashtags. View all our speakers here. (more…)

An interactive conference deserves an interactive app. SMWF and Apps World Asia have teamed up with TalkBox to develop this year’s event app, bringing you a unique way to communicate at this year’s conference. TalkBox is all about sending messages with your voice. It’s an application dedicated to saving you the trouble and time of typing so you can get your message across fast!

Talk the message and get your emotions delivered instantly, with no ambiguity in your meaning! Forget SMS and BBM this is the new way to instantly communicate for free with no obligation to reply right away and the ability to listen back to the messages whenever you want.

The other exciting feature of TalkBox is that it gives you the ability to send voice tweets, that are restricted to 1 minute instead of 140 characters. (more…)

Alvin Koay’s Singapore-based startup MobileApps.com aims to deliver a fairer deal to app developers, providing a pan-platform wholesale app market that allows them to bank more cash from each app that’s sold.

Hailed by some commentators as a ‘Robin Hood’ of the apps industry, MobileApps.com compares favourably to the main app stores in cash terms, delivering 95% of revenue straight to developers, rather than the current industry standard of 70%. (more…)

This week saw the announcement from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) that a huge S$15 million (USD $12.22 million) is to be set aside for encouraging businesses to develop mobile apps for the service sector.

If that wasn’t a large enough incentive for businesses to get mobile, Singapore is now one of the most mobile-connected countries in the world, currently there are 2.4 million more mobile subscriptions than there are people. It is the predicted future global app hotspot.

According to market research firm, Nielsen this explosion of connectivity in Singapore is said to be down to the popularity of the iPhone and iPad and the increasing availability of cheaper mobile internet tariffs. An indication of the integration of mobile app devices into Singaporean culture is the new initiative from its Defense Ministry to distribute 8,000 iPad 2s to its soldiers to allow them to chat with colleagues and record outfield exercises. Singapore really is a the region for mobile investment in Asia. (more…)

Far from taking a well earned summer break, the Apps World team is gearing up for its next major event, Apps World Asia, in Singapore on 1-2 September, preparing to examine apps industry growth, consumer apps marketing and app development in the region.

The Asian apps landscape is one with its own very unique challenges, but also vast opportunities, with unparalleled 3G and broadband access in some areas.

The Asia show will gather the best minds in the industry to examine some of these challenges, and explore some of the potential benefits available for developers, operators, businesses and brands working in the Asian apps space. (more…)

Following the success of a great first Apps World in London last year, we are very excited about the expansion of the Apps World in 2011 and we thought it would be good to give you a heads up on all event destinations for the upcoming year and the all important dates for your diary.

• Apps World Dubai – 2nd & 3rd May 2011
• Apps World Asia – 1st & 2nd Sept 2011
• Apps World NY – 1st & 2nd Nov 2011
• Apps World, Europe – 29th & 30th Nov 2011

If you would like to get involved with Apps World please get in touch with the team:

Sponsorship & Exhibiting – enquiries@sixdegs.com
Speaking – Natasha@sixdegs.com

Whats next for Social TV? Below Mark Groves from NDS talks about whats next for social tv and how this will be intergrated into our exisiting platforms
NDS will be exhibiting at the Social TV and Social Media World Forum on the 15th & 16th March, London 2010. http://www.social-tv.net meet them at stand number 15.