Apple's Appstore revamping its app ranking criteria

With more apps going into Apple's AppStore, it’s getting increasingly important to rank apps properly, highlighting the titles that are better than the others. Apple knows this and is working to improve ranking algorithms as we speak.

According to app-marketing firm Fiksu, the Cupertino-based company has been revamping the criteria it uses to rank digital products. They have apparently discovered two very important changes to the ranking algorithm: Rankings now take into account user ratings, and a change in how often the App Store updates the top-seller lists.

The first tweak is arguably more important as it will push apps and games with better reviews up to the top. On the other hand, if an app under-delivers (compared to what’s promised in the app description), users will take notice, give it a low rating and make it slide down the rankings.

The second change alters how often the App Store updates its rankings from every 15 minutes to every three hours. In other words, if an app scores a bunch of downloads in 15 minutes, it won’t fly up the top quickly. Rather, the algorithm will take notice and keep following the number of downloads for up to 3 hours before doing anything about it. It is believed that these two changes alone will help recommend better apps and games to the end users.

Complimentary FREE trial for 6 months on Sage One

Sage One small business invoicing, accounting and project management. Sage One was launched in the United States in the spring of 2012.  Since then it has seen several enhancements. Among the added enhancements is the ability to accept mobile payments and electronic payments  on invoices, as we reported in February.

The company also added bank integration this year.  Customers can now download transactions from over 10,000 banks in the United States and import them into the Sage One online system (avoiding manual keying of data for each banking transaction).

Here are the instructions of how to register for complimentary access :

1. Sign up for a free trial at https://mysageone.na.sageone.com/signup?product=sage_one&wizard_step=0

2. Once your account is activated, go into Sage One, under "Settings", "Subscriptions", enter the promo code, WELOVEBLOGGERS 

3. Your account will be updated to a from a 15-day trial to free 6-month account.

7 Dos and Don’ts of Mobile App Marketing [Infographic]

I wanted to share a simple infographic on App Marketing thanks to the guys at Dotcominfoway. They had simplified the 7 Dos and Don'ts on what developers should and should not do on app marketing.

The drop test : iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Protect Your Bubble, a gadget insurance company has carried out a series of drop tests on the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 in an attempt to figure out which phone is more durable. Which one you reckon will survive the fall from various heights? Check out the video below for the outcome.

iOS 7 - Biggest Revamp done by Apple so far

The new iOS 7 update gives the mobile operating system a radical new look and some first-for-Apple features for iPhone and iPad fans, like quick-access system controls, automatic app updates, and Apple's AirDrop file-sharing system.

The visual overhaul is a clean sweep that changes absolutely everything, from the typography and color schemes to the typical icon and button shape across the entire platform.

Below are some of the notable features added :

• Control Centre is among the 'hundreds of new features,' providing users with access to Airplane Mode, wi-fi, Bluetooth, screen brightness and more. It's accessible with one upwards swipe from the bottom of the screen.

• Notification Centre is available from the lock screen to offer users an overview of their alerts. The new Today feature offers a summary of events for the day ahead, such as meetings and so on. 

• Multitasking is also reportedly improved, with developers able to integrate functionality that offers their creations the ability to run in the background. 

Airdrop is a sharing solution that detects when contacts are close by, allowing the user to select content and make a P2P transfer without network or set-up required. The likelihood is that this is designed to eliminate demand for NFC.

Camera app features filters inspired by Instagram. Users will be able to make real-time photo effects and switch between four camera options with a swipe. 

Photos app features Moments, a function that organises media based on time and location. It comes with iCloud sharing which allows family and friends to share and connect their collections in one place. 

Safari redesign supports full-screen browsing, while iCloud Keychain stores all passwords and credit card details securely across all devices. Parental Controls are enhanced to block access to adult material and other sites. 

Siri has new male and female voices and Twitter search integration, so users can ask what people are saying on the social network. Wikipedia and Bing are also integrated. Integration with Bing is definitely a smack in Google's face. 

Music app comes with iTunes Radio internet steaming service, which features over 200 stations. Available across iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC and Apple TV. 

• App Store now comes with more than 900,000 apps and features a new Kids category. 

Developers can immediately access the iOS 7 beta software and SDK via developer.apple.com, while iOS 7 will be available as a free update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this autumn.

For the WWDC keynote video, you can check out the video below :

You can also check out the official iOS 7 promo video below :

Feel free to comment and tell me whether the new features are game changing. Has Apple done enough to stay ahead of the game or they are going to play catch up to Android?

May 2013 : Mary Meeker's Latest Internet Trends Report on Mobile and others...

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Apps4All

Check out the video of her presentation below :

App Annie: Apple App Store revenues still 2.6x higher than Google Play

Apple's App Store generated revenues 2.6x greater than the rival Google's Play store front during the first quarter of 2013, down from a multiple of 4x during the fourth quarter of 2012, analytics provider App Annie reports.

The US continues to lead all international markets on iOS app downloads, unchanged from the previous quarter. Here are the top 5 :

1. US
2. China
3. UK
4. Japan
5. France

China has started to gain momentum in the iOS App Store and was the leading contributor to the increase in iOS downloads from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013. While Games were the top category for downloads growth in China, gains were seen in many other categories as well. All together, these four key countries have been driving roughly half of total iOS downloads.

The top 5 by revenue for iOS are :

1. US
2. Japan
3. UK
4. China
5. Australia

U.S. and Japan together are responsible for close to half of all App Store revenues.

The U.S. tops all markets on Google Play downloads as well. The top 5 are :

1. US
2. South Korea
3. India
4. Russia
5. Japan

China is not listed as the Play Store was not launched in China otherwise I reckon China should also be high up on the top 5 list. The top four countries represented roughly 40 percent of Android installs during the first quarter, compared to about 50 percent for iOS.

Top 5 by revenue for Android :

1. Japan
2. South Korea
3. US
4. UK
5. Germany

The top 3 countries dominate Google Play, covering approximately 70 percent of its worldwide revenue. Their revenues are largely driven by games than any other countries' with South Korea  surpassing the 95 percent mark, while Japan has exceeded 90 percent.

Games continue to drive the overwhelming majority of worldwide revenues in both the App Store and Google Play, App Annie added. As of the first quarter, the category accounts for 70 percent of iOS revenues and close to 80 percent of Android revenues.

In short, its a still a gaming economy on both App Stores and it will continue to be driven by Games. The Play store is definitely catching up very quickly thanks to the exponential Android OS take up rate. Apple has to buck up quickly if they want to continue to dominate the space. 

FREE Subscriptions Giveaway on Zinio

In collaboration with Zinio, I will be giving away 10 magazines subscriptions for free to the FIRST 10 readers who respond back to me! All you need to do is to download the award winning app from App store, provide me your first and last name, title of choice and your email address. Here are just a few sample titles : PC MAGAZINE, POPULAR SCIENCE, and MACLife.

About Zinio

• Thousands of top magazines from around the world. You can browse and purchase subscriptions or single issues instantly from your computer or mobile device to read wherever and whenever you like 
• Explore section lets you read - even without a subscription - thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends 
• Use on iPad, iPhone, Android mobile phones and tablets, laptop or desktop 
• For use on Kindle Fire, follow these steps: http://imgs.zinio.com/faq/fire.html

Flurry: 1.76bn Android and iOS apps downloaded in last week of 2012

Happy Belated New Year and apology for the long hiatus as i have been busy wrapping up quite a few things and making plans ahead for 2013. 2012 has definitely been a huge mobile year for everybody and I m expecting 2013 to be another record breaking mobile year. The ride ahead is going to be an exciting one as i m certain the forecasted growth will surely be overwhelmed. 

2012 ended with a bang as Flurry had just released jaw-dropping figures showing 1.76 billion Android and iOS app downloads were made during the Christmas week from December 25th-31st, while 328m downloads were made on Christmas Day itself. 

 

Comparatively, 1.2 billion apps were downloaded during the last week of 2011, while 242m were downloaded on New Year. The download surge was stimulated as more than 50m new devices running on Google and Apple's respective operating systems were activated in the final week of 2012, while around 17.4m were brought to life on the 25th. 

In fact, Flurry says the period accounts for the highest number of device activations and app downloads of any week in history. Meanwhile, the US, China, and the UK all broke past 100m downloads to account for 604m, 183m, and 132m, respectively. 

Flurry predicts that one-billion-download weeks will become the norm in 2013 and break past a two-billion download week during Q4.