Articles

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In General Articles

Is Big Brother Listening In?

There have been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words written over the last few weeks about the leaked information that claims the National Security Agency (NSA) had made arrangements with major telephone service providers in the United States and Great Britain in order to sift through communications records in the name of anti-terrorist efforts. The man responsible for the leaks, former NSA tech analyst Edward Snowden, has been called everything from a hero to a traitor, and is the...

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In General Articles

The BIG-Dollar Business of Mobile App Acquisitions

If you've followed the high-tech news recently, you've no doubt read about some pretty impressive mobile application acquisition deals that have taken place. Take Nick D'Alosio, a 17-year-old student in England who developed a news-reading application called Summly at the ripe old age of 15. Even before graduating high school, D'Alosio sold Summly to Yahoo for what industry insiders are estimating could be as much as $30 million. Then there's Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, who sold his...

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In General Articles

Mobile Applications and Niche Markets

When developing a new mobile application, it's a completely natural impulse for you to want to market it to the largest audience possible. The more people who see your app and like it can translate to better word-of-mouth and potential for profitability. Everyone wants to generate demand for their apps, and everyone wants to create the next “Angry Birds.” And that's all well and good. However, in this article we'd like to submit for your approval (in the words of Rod Serling) the potential of...

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In General Articles

Can I Market My App Outside the Apps Stores?

It's almost a given that once you have a mobile app created, you have to get it listed in Apple's Apps Store or Google Play in order for it to do well at all. These stores—and others directly associated with apps created for a specific mobile operating system—have a built-in customer base and offer marketing and exposure opportunities that can be difficult for an app owner to find otherwise. However, a lot of folks balk at the thought of having to pay 30% off the top of an app's profit in order...

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In App Design

Custom Artwork for Tablet Apps: Worth the Hassle?

When it comes to the creative side of mobile app development, a common question we get is: Do I need to create custom artwork for a tablet app if I already have perfectly good creative elements for a smartphone app? After all, there really isn't enough difference between the two to justify creating a completely new set of graphics, right? Trust us; from an app developer's point of view, we'd love to agree with you. After all, creating new graphics for each type of device takes additional time...

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In General Articles

Enterprise Mobile Applications: Some of Your Business

As mobile computing technology assumes a steadily larger role in modern society, its lingo finds a way into our consciousness, as well. For example, smartphone and tablet owners know what applications are; after all, we come in contact with these handy little programs on an almost daily basis. Types of applications are pretty easy to understand, too, such as games, utility and educational apps. But we've found that when we mention enterprise applications, we're often given a curious look and...

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In App Marketing

The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Your Mobile App

We here at AppsAustin often recommend to our clients and partners the inclusion of social media in their mobile application marketing strategies. Connecting with new customers, and building a loyal base over time through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, is an excellent and inexpensive way to build interest not only in a specific product such as an app, but to shore up brand loyalty as well. After all, social media marketing is free of cost; your only investment would be time and...

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In App Development

Does My App Need to be 100% Custom-Made?

At AppsAustin, we take great pride in the custom mobile application builds we create for our clients and partners. We like to take the time and get a shared vision with them for the app, and involve them in every step of the process, so everyone involved in the project is delighted with the end result. Therefore, we're a little hesitant to discuss app templates when we're asked about them. We'd like to dedicate this article to a discussion of apps created from templates as opposed to custom...

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In General Articles

How Are Apple Developer Accounts Established?

We've pointed out in several of our articles how important it is to have an iPhone or iPad app listed in the Apple Apps Store. The exposure such a listing offers is crucial to an app's success. In order to be able to submit apps to Apple, one must also have an Apple developer account. We've been asked, what's the process? How does one become an Apple developer? Is there a special handshake, a secret decoder ring, or what? Well, today we're gonna share with you what it takes to become an Apple...

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In General Articles

Which Mobile Application Types are More Popular, and Why?

We often get asked which apps are the most popular. This is a difficult question to ask, as there are all sorts of criteria to keep in mind, and the answer can almost literally change from day to day. However, we also get asked which types of apps are more popular, and that question is at least a little bit easier to answer. It's with that question in mind that we'd like to share some statistics and analysis on the most popular categories in the mobile app marketplace today. For simplicity and...

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In App Development

Web Applications vs. Native Applications: What's That Mean, Really?

Within the mobile app development community, there's been a lot of animated discussion about the difference between web and native applications. We've found that outside the community, however, most folks don't fully understand the difference between the two. Before we dive in, then, we'd like to present a working definition of the difference between the two types of mobile apps. Web applications are those written specifically to be accessed through a mobile device's web browser, whereas a...

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In General Articles

Apple vs. BlackBerry: A Developer's Point of View

When it comes to operating systems named after types of fruit, Apple and BlackBerry are without a doubt the top two contenders. Okay, admittedly that was a silly line...but it offers us a nice clean segue into our topic of discussion this time around. We've been asked on occasion that, even though Apple is the bigger player in the mobile market, does that necessarily make it better, from an app developer's point of view? With that question in mind, we'd like to discuss the pros and cons of...

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In Android and Tablet Articles

A Look at the Google Nexus 10

At AppsAustin, we like to keep up with developments in the world of mobile technology. It moves along at an almost crazy pace, but we consider the time and effort justified in order to maintain our reputation as one of the best app developers in the business. During that time, it's become apparent that mobile consumers need not live on smartphones alone. The tablet computer is on the rise, and it's carving a nice niche market between the PC and the smartphone. Apple's iPad has the most...

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In App Development

Face-to-Face? We Make Our Case

When we open app-building discussions with prospective clients, they often express concerns about going through the process long-distance. We certainly understand why they might hesitate to make such an undertaking with someone who isn't local; after all, it's human nature to prefer to do business with someone you can meet face-to-face. However, we do have some important points we like to make to put their minds at ease—and we'd like to share them with you here. It wasn't so long ago where...

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In General Articles

A Peek Through the Google Glass

If you've been following the tech industry lately, you've no doubt heard of Google Glass. (Many of us have made the mistake of calling them “Google Glasses;” after all, they look like a pair of spectacles. But Google reminds us often that it's “Google Glass,” singular.) Google's counting on their new gadget to be the vanguard for wearable augmented reality. Though it hasn't been released to the general public yet, the press surrounding it has been getting a lot of attention. Basically, when...

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In General Articles

Social Media Marketing For Mobile Applications

When we brainstorm with our app development partners, we always emphasize the importance of marketing once the app is launched—and even beforehand, for your marketing strategy needs to be kept in mind throughout the app creation process. We also like to recommend the use of social media as an integral part of marketing, because it can be both inexpensive and effective. In fact, with just a little extra legwork on your part, social media marketing for your mobile app takes as little as...

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In App Development

Pricing The True Value of App Development

We can't count how many times we've seen the following scenario played out. We'll bid on an app development project, and the client (or partner, as we prefer to call them) will take a look at our bid, then at their budget, then back to our bid, and over to their budget again. Then they ask the dreaded question: “Why so much? I mean, Company X gave us a much lower bid.” The short answer? We're worth it, and we've got the confidence and expertise to back it up. However, we know—and...

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In General Articles

iOS 7 on the Way!

As anticipated, Apple recently released the details of iOS 7, its new mobile operating system for devices like the iPhone and iPad. There was a lot of press preceding their announcement at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2013), and there's been even more since. Since iOS 7 will directly affect the mobile app development world, we thought we'd take a look at what's under its electronic hood. First, a word about design, especially since Apple's overall mobile look has gone...

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In App Development

The Case for Over-The-Air Testing Distribution Using QR Codes

As we've discussed in some of our other articles, testing your mobile application before sending it to market is important to its overall success. The testing phase is where any user experience (UX), coding, text, or graphics issues can be found early—and therefore fixed—before your app's released to the general public. While it's true that no one's perfect, testing gets your app as close to perfect as it can be. And that's what you want your potential customers to see. Whether you have two...

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In App Development

Augmented Reality: High-Tech Toy or Game-Changer?

As technology progresses, it can be difficult to keep up with all the new innovations and changes taking place. Some ideas don't even get past R&D, and the general public never hears of them. Others are thrown into the PR machine in their infancy, and consumers are almost tired of hearing about them by the time they're made available to most of us. Even though the concept's been around for a while, most folks consider augmented reality (AR) technology to be relatively new. As it comes of age,...

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