As Apps World Europe draws nearer we just wanted to say a big thank you to all the industry experts who gave up their time recently to attend the Apps World Europe advisory board meeting in London. Having escaped the Bristol offices for a day out in London we had a great day chatting with them about the latest developments in the industry, and learnt lots about what the key issues and topics are that they are currently facing. (more…)

Major telecoms carriers AT&T and Verizon, payment providers Capital One and MasterCard, along with industry analysts Yankee Group and Strategy Analytics will all be present giving their varied expertise at the mobile payments event and conference at Apps World North America, on February 7-8 at Moscone Center West, San Francisco.

There’s a huge race on for mind and market share in the mobile payments space, with banks, operators, platform owners and card issuers all fighting for a piece of the action.

The one-day mobile payments event will be of interest to anyone looking to incorporate a payments solution, in both the enterprise and consumer spheres.

Highlights of the first day’s track will include a panel on understanding the market opportunity and challenges for payment acceptance apps lead by CreditCall‘s Sian Bosley with expert contribution from MasterCard, PayPal and Intuit.

Other must-see discussions include  Michael De Jongh, mobile billing and content at MACH, examining the threat of OTT players in mobile payments; Jeppe Dorff, head of transaction services at Rogers Communications, looking at challenges with implementing NFC infrastructure; and a panel on the overall mobile payment ecosystem featuring contributions from representatives of Wells Fargo, AT&T Mobility and Verizon among others.

To find out on how to register for the mobile payments event at Apps World please click here.

The free-to-attend Android developer event at Apps World North America on February 7-8 in San Francisco is all set to feature various leading Android developers, authors, evangelists and operators divulging their expertise on all things Droid.

Sponsored by Barnes & Noble, the Android developer conference runs on both days of Apps World and will be of interest to anyone building apps on the Android OS.

Highlights of the day one track will include expert opinion from James Steele, author of The Android Developer’s Cookbook on how to create the optimal Android experience, and Tom Chavez, NOOK Developer Evangelist for track sponsors Barnes & Noble on how to quickly monetise on the NOOK bookstore.

The second day of the Android developer conference sees discussions on exploring cross platform dev tools, as well as insight from Donn Felker, author of Android Tablet Application Development for Dummies, and representatives from Facebook, Microsoft and VisionMobile.

The OS market has long since been considered a two horse race, but plenty of evidence suggests Android is pulling ahead, with recent research from MBA Online confirming that 1.3m Android devices are activated each day compared to 515,000 iDevices.

To find out how to register for the free-to-attend Android developer event, visit here.

Pushing the boundaries of multi-platform TV content development is central to the cross-platform ethos of Apps World, and we’re delighted to have joined forces with the TV HackFest to host the first Apps World TV Hackathon in San Francisco this February at the Moscone Centre West.

Taking place on February 7, the first day of the event, the TV HackFest will bring together Silicon Valley’s finest for a coding marathon workshop of creativity and hands on developer collaboration.

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By Davoc Bradley – Head of Mobile, Redware

Smartphones and tablet devices have dominated the market since their introduction and in our personal lives, we are using them to complete more and more of our tasks. From mobile banking, to keeping all our notes, shopping lists, appointments and emails in the vast array of apps that are out there, we are increasingly keeping more of our lives on them.

This trend is only set to continue, with tablet devices still in their infancy and new tablets always coming out, like the windows 8 surface tablet. As a market, it has gained traction quicker than any other product. Alongside this, the smartphone market is consistently innovating and we are seeing more and more sophisticated models on the market year on year.

For businesses this trend is no different. In a recent survey by IMC, 90% of the respondents already owned a smartphone and 42% of them a tablet device. 60% of the respondents companies already allowed mobile devices on their networks, but their use is still very much limited to accessing email and calendars with only some of the larger companies using the full capabilities of app’s for their business. (more…)

Interoute is proud to support BBC Children in Need and is offering visitors to its stand (no 146) the chance to win two pairs of ticket to this incredible event.

Join the guest of honour Sir Terry Wogan and Master of the Ceremony Alistair McGowan in the iconic Battersea Evolution for an evening of live entertainment. Guests will enjoy champagne and drinks reception, three course gourmet dinner designed by Michelin starred Chef Angela Hartnett, plus amazing acts. Lumina, the laser violinists, are set to perform a spectacular opening duel show, as well as an acoustic set from the incredible KT Tunstall.

During the evening there will be a ‘Strictly BBC Children in Need’ featuring professional and celebrity dances from past series of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Plus an after party with live music and DJ until 1am!

For a chance to win this amazing prize visit Interoute’s Virtual Data Centre stand, number 146, next to the Developer Zone.

On October 2 and 3, 2012, during the two days of the Apps World Europe conference, I’m offering the first book in our iOS App Development for Non-Programmers series completely free of charge to all conference attendees.

On October 2 and 3, 2012, this book can be downloaded free of charge from either of these sites:

• Apple’s iBookstore – You need an iPad 2 or third generation iPad to read this version of the book
• Amazon’s Kindle store – You can use a Kindle device or the Kindle reader software for Mac or PC to read this version (more…)

By: Jeremy Black, Director of Consumer & Media at Xtreme Labs  @jeremywblack

With the release of Apple’s iOS 6 there have been a number of new features announced, one of the most intriguing is the introduction of Passbook. Passbook is Apple’s first segue into the mobile wallet space, allowing you to use coupons, tickets and reward cards all collected from your favorite apps within your smartphone.

What’s the big deal? (more…)

Creating the wow factor for your app is a unique opportunity for every business and there are many ways of achieving it.

As we have seen time and time again, when one technology comes out the next big hit is already in the pipeline.

The same can now be said of mobile apps, when they started gaining momentum on Apple’s App Store and when the Android Market (now called Google Play) launched, the industry got a big wake up call and some of those businesses that were only just getting used to the internet had a new technology to contend with.

The mobile platform is flourishing; a recent survey sample found 78% of the UK population alone expected to use the mobile commerce channel within the next 12 months. We have seen numerous statistics for the amount of mobile searching done compared to desktop search. And Gartner have just published a new finding expecting 45.6 billion apps to be downloaded in total for 2012. (more…)

The value of mobile applications to brands is beyond question – in fact, it is almost something of a shock when a major marque doesn’t have one. Companies see apps as a means of building stronger, closer relationships with their customers, augmenting their existing marketing efforts.

In HTML5 we have the next generation of apps. At present, should a company wish to release an app they are required to use an app store provider and subsequently have to adhere to certain criteria and rules to gain approval. These rules can – although not necessarily – lead to a ‘watering down’ of the brand, diminishing the value of their offering. (more…)