Mobile Applications - 2/2 - TheWayoftheWeb

Browser app success – are iPhone owners itching to break out?

April 19, 2010 By Dan Thornton 1 Comment

A few days ago the Opera Mini mobile web browser application was approved and released for the iPhone, and it shot to the top of the free app charts around the world, getting downloads more than one million times just on the first day of release. Paid Content estimate that as 1.36 percent of the 75 million iPhone OS devices sold so far.

That’s faster than Skype for iPhone (2 days to hit 1 million), or Paypal (3 weeks to 1 million).

But what’s really interesting is that this isn’t an app as a ‘walled garden’ in the same way as most applications (Including many of the ones I’ve worked on, before you mention it). It’ll be interesting to see how far Opera will spread in what is general a close app world to promote simplicity on Apple devices…

And will that lead to more apps opening up as platforms to the web at a time when many media companies are being tempted into closed walls with someone collecting money at the gate?

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Filed Under: iphone, Mobile Applications Tagged With: applications as a platform, iphone, one milllion downloads, Opera mini

Upcoming events and a bit of mobile

April 7, 2010 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

At the moment it’s hard to know which events I’m guaranteed to attend – there’s a lot happening and my diary is subject to massive change at the last minute.

But I’ll definitely be at two upcoming conferences, as I’ve been kindly asked to host roundtables at both of them.

The first is the Specialist Media Conference on May 25th, which takes place in the delightful surroundings of Peterborough, about 5 minutes walk from one of my former employers. And the table I’m on will be all about mobile, hopefully discussing what lays beyond the iPhone, developing a mobile strategy and application development etc. What’s interesting is that the Specialist Media name brings to mind niche targeted magazines, but obviously websites, blogs, radio etc which have a defined belief and purpose are all specialist media outlets.

And then on June 1st, I’ll be on another round table at the M-Publishing event. This is going to be really interested as it’s part of a full schedule of mobile knowledge and insight. And in the midst of it all, each of five roundtables will be given the task of creating a mobile strategy for fictional publishers. And the other tables are being hosted by some very intelligent people: Nick Lane from MobileSQUARED, Belinda Parmer from LadyGeek, and my friends Jonathan MacDonald (JME.net) and Ilicco Elia (Reuters).

So it’s a bit handy I was able to share some news about one of Absolute Radio’s mobile apps (Cos that’s where I work). The Absolute Radio Player for Nokia phones has now been downloaded over 100,000 times by people who are not only lovely Absolute Radio listeners, but also happen to own a 3rd or 5th edition S60 handset. And considering it’s only been out for about 2.5 months, that’s not bad going. And it also goes someway to counteracting some of the oft-quoted figures on mobile which are using a U.S. audience, rather than European or global. Which will make Tomi Ahonen happy.

So hopefully I might see you at an upcoming event, and if not, just go and download the Absolute Radio iAmp for iPhone/Android or Absolute Radio Player for Nokia/BlackBerry.

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Filed Under: events, Mobile Applications, speaking Tagged With: debate, discussion, m-publishing, mobile, platforms, round table, specialist media, strategy

3 great new iPhone apps from Absolute Radio

December 17, 2009 By Dan Thornton 1 Comment

I’m obviously biased, bearing in mind I’ve been responsible for them, but three great new Absolute Radio apps are now available for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

They combine a really nice alarm clock with bespoke wake-up messages from either Christian O’Connell, Dave Gorman or Frank Skinner. And once the message has played, you’ll automatically hear your choice of Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s or Absolute Classic Rock.

The most difficult part of the project was probably stopping feature creep with all the other great ideas we were having – the important thing I had to remind myself is that the app has to function as a really good alarm clock first and foremost, otherwise there’s not much point. After all, we’ve already got a fantastic and extremely popular streaming radio application, with the iAmp (Now updated to feature Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s, Absolute Classic Rock and dabbl). And with various studies and reports suggesting that up to 70% of people have done away with an alarm clock in favour of their mobile, we’re hoping the apps will be popular.

So check out:

The OC Clock Radio

Dave’s Clock Radio

Frank’s Clock Radio

One of the really nice touches is the app store icon, with a great moment of creativity from AR Web Editor Anthony, which sets it off really nicely, and means it looks great alongide the iAmp and LiveAmp on your iPhone.

Lovely.

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