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Mobomo's RaceMate iPhone App for the 35th Annual Marine Corps Marathon

October 7th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

RaceMate-snaps

For those of you who enjoy marathon races, the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) is one of the largest in the world. It is the eighth-largest in the world, fourth-largest in the U.S., and the largest such race with no prize money — hence it’s nickname, The People’s Marathon. Past races have had participants from as many as 50 countries. At a course length of just over 26 miles, there’s a lot for runners to prepare for and onlookers to track. Mobomo’s new, first of its kind RaceMate(tm) mobile app is exactly what you need to enhance the MCM race-day experience. The app is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch,  iPad, and Android Phone.

RaceMate is packed with features, including a countdown timer, a course map, pre-viz animation, a pace calculator and more. The embedded marathon map not only shows landmarks such as aid stations, water & food spots and mile markers but actual GPS-based locations of race participants. Track your favorite runner in real-time.

Can’t make it to the race? With an expected 30K runners and many more spectators, not everyone can or wants to be present. The Location-Based Services (LBS) mobile technology used in the RaceMate app means that you can cheer on and track your favorite runner on race day without being present. Both runners and spectators will need their smartphones; however, market research suggests nearly 85% of runners own a smart phone and that almost half of race participants will carry a smartphone will carry a smartphone during the marathon (MCM press release).

More info: The 35th Annual MCM takes place on Oct 31st, 2010, in Arlington, VA. The Marathon Tour starts Oct 20th and passes through several American cities on the way to Arlington. An associated free two-day Health and Fitness Expo starts Oct 29th and includes a Speaker Series as well as over 200 exhibitors. The marathon race itself is open to runners aged 14 and up. For more details, visit the following links:

The Android edition of RaceMate is now available at your favorite Android app marketplace.

Upcoming, Spring 2011: editions for other races in Los Angeles, London and Boston.

Need advice on how your business can leverage the mobile platform? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app idea or mobile campaign needs.

Mobomo's Leadership and Values: Entrepreneurial Core Values iPhone App

September 24th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

Leadership and Values iPhone app from Concordia UniversityThe Leadership and Values iPhone app, created by Mobomo for Concordia University, helps you determine what your core values are, discover what makes a leader. Do you have the core values and skills of a leader?

Leadership and Values offers a fun game-style interface as well as visual help screens to help you navigate your way through the app. Choose from the stack of 52 cards listing possible core values and drag each card into one of three columns: “Definite core value”, “Maybe core value”, and “Not core value.” After you’ve grouped all 52 cards into the three columns, you can browse each stack to verify your choices or move them to another stack.

The next step is to select your top 5 core values. Edit your Top 5 stack until your satisfied. The Leadership and Values app then displays a beautiful screen quoting one famous or semi-famous person for each of the five core values that you selected.

This iPhone app is designed to promote core leadership values and enable students, teachers, and alumni to interactively discover their top leadership values. Using a fun step-by-step process, the user is educated on Concordia’s core leadership values, and is ultimately presented with a personalized result. This project demonstrates how Mobomo can create engaging mobile applications to educate individuals. Similar interfaces can be developed, for example, for FTC consumers to learn “how to” file a complaint or order a truly free credit report.

Get the Leadership and Values iPhone app free from iTunes or the Apple App Store now.

Need advice on a mobile app for your business? Just want to know how you can leverage the mobile platform in general? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app idea or mobile campaign needs.

Mobomo's QuickQ Music Player iPhone App

September 16th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

QuickQ audio player iPhone app from MobomoQuickQ, created by Mobomo for JARS Management, LLC. QuickQ gives you an alternative music player to manage the iPod on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Access your music without leaving the QuickQ. Build your own lists, see your playlist duration, and and re-order tracks visually on the fly by dragging a song to the top of the list.

QuickQ’s unique selling proposition? Temporary music lists for those times you’re waiting in airports, in line somewhere, impromptu parties or a quick playlist to help you get to sleep. QuickQ achieves this by letting music items disappear from your playlist as they finish playing.

Get QuickQ now from iTunes for only $0.99, and use the attractive help screen, with overlaid notations, to get up to speed with on your temporary playlists.

Need advice on a mobile app for your business? Just want to know how you can leverage the mobile platform in general? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app idea or mobile campaign needs.

Mobomo DomainStorm Domain Name Brainstorming iPhone App

August 11th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

DomainStorm iPhone app from Network SolutionsThinking of building a website and still looking for that special domain but you’re not near your computer? Don’t let that domain name get away from you. The DomainStorm iPhone app, created by Mobomo for Network Solutions, gives you the tools to search or brainstorm for domain names, check their availability and then register them — all from the convenience of your iPhone, from wherever you have a WiFi or 3G connection.

Search

Search for a domain name and automatically see availability for various popular TLDs (Top Level Domains) including .com, .net, .org and more. (Search results appear after every character typed, provided you stop typing.) If a domain is free, Network Solutions’ registration price is listed beside it. Otherwise, it’ll be marked as “Taken.”

Whois

If a domain you’re searching for is already registered, use the built-in “whois” feature to get information on the registrant, in case you want to dig further on the listed registry and make the owner an offer.

Brainstorm

Is your first choice of domain name taken? Why not get creative and use the Brainstorm feature?  Enter a keyword or two, spin the wheel or shake your phone, and you’ll get a random combination of related domain names. Want more flexibility? Specify advanced options including hyphenation, geography, digits, misspellings and more. From the results list, you can also retrieve a list of expired domains, premium domains, and more.

Shopping Cart

Found the domain you want? Pop it in the shopping cart and keep looking. When you’re ready, make your domain purchases directly from your iPhone. The sliding scale lets you specify registration durations of 1, 2, 3 and 5 years. Pay by credit card by logging in to your Network Solutions account, or create an account. Not comfortable with paying from the app? Use the “call” feature to call Network Solutions on your phone and make your purchase that way.

Other Features

Want to check on a previous domain search? Use the Search History feature. Need some help? Use the help screen or email, send feedback or call Network Solutions directly from your iPhone.

Get Network Solutions’ DomainStorm app free from iTunes or the Apple App Store now.

Need advice on a mobile app for your business? Just want to know how you can leverage the mobile platform in general? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app idea or mobile campaign needs.

Line Snob iPhone App: Check Event Lines Before You Wait

June 24th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

scrn-iPhone-Line-Snob-320wDon’t want to waste your time standing in line more than you need to — especially for launches of hot gadgets such as Apple’s iPhone 4, or for concerts or other popular events? There’s an app for that: Line Snob!

If you hadn’t heard, Apple, Inc’s official iPhone 4 launch day was today, Thur Jun 24th, and there were lineups everywhere in many of the 9 countries that were part of the first round release. From all accounts, it was a madhouse, and there’ll likely be lineups for the next few days — maybe even weeks in some areas.

Save yourself some time by finding out how line conditions are with the Line Snob app running on your existing iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Or let everyone else know by posting line conditions wherever you are (within the 25 cities that are covered by the app).

Of course, Line Snob isn’t just for reporting/ viewing iPhone 4 sales lines, but in fact any live events or venues in your city. It’s the social way to wait in line.

Line Snob, which was built for Line Snob, LLC, by Mobomo, nearly melted our servers, thanks to the huge surge from today’s iPhone 4 line updates after being headlined in Gizmodo and covered by CNN. As a result, it made it to the Apple App Store’s Top 25 Apps list for the Social Networking category.

Line Snob is free; get it now from the Apple App Store!

Mobomo's Barg Upender Speaking at 2010 Digital Media Conference

June 11th, 2010 by under Events

Washington, D.C., is the location of the 2010 Digital Media Conference East and Mobomo founder/ CEO Barg Upender will be one of the panelists for the Mobile track. The conference, which is now in its 7th year, is split into five tracks: Mobile, the other, Social Media, Television/ Video, Marketing and Law & Tech.

The one-day conference takes place Jun 25th at the McLean Hilton in McLean, Virginia. More details at the DMC East site. If you are following tweets on Twitter about this conference, look for the #dmc10 hashtag. The Mobile panel, entitled Mobile Apps: The Next Stage, takes place from 11:20 am – 12:05 pm (EST), which includes 10 minutes for audience questions.

7 Tools for Your Mobile Employees

June 10th, 2010 by under General

The current economy has created numerous reasons for enabling your company’s employees to be mobile, even turned into full-fledged digital nomads who have the computing power they need while on the go – regardless of the size of your business. What does such an employee need in their mobile toolkit? Here’s a quick starter’s list of the basics, beyond the traditional laptop.

1. Smartphone

“Feature phone” cellphones just are not going to cut it. Mobile employees need mobile computing devices. A smartphone such as Apple’s iPhone, Palm Pre Plus, or one of the many Android phones are the starting point of a toolkit to mobile-enable your employees.

Costs: phone (sometimes free or discounted), phone minutes, data plan, activation (sometimes), chargers, cases, mobile apps.

2. Netbooks

Smartphones, as powerful as they are these days, can’t do everything. But if a laptop isn’t always convenient to carry around, a netbook can often do the job. Besides being very light and usually having the same types of ports (USB, VGA, etc.) as a laptop, they have 3G+ cellular data plans, which allow Internet connectivity on the go, in coverage areas.

Note: Netbooks do not have optical (CD/ DVD-ROM) drives but depending on the operating system, can be enterprise-enabled.

Costs: Cellular data plan (no minutes), netbook (sometimes free), case, software.

3. Tablet computer

Right now, the iPad is the most prominent in the “tablet computing” arena, but other companies are racing to compete with Apple, and other tablet computers are already appearing. For certain types of use, a tablet computer might benefit an employee in the field better than a netbook — especially in situations where there’s no flat surface to lay a netbook or laptop.

Enterprise use of the iPad, for example, is growing, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs indicated in his recent WWDC keynote address that there’s “deeper enterprise integration” in iOS4, the mobile OS that powers the next iPhone and which will have an iPad version to match.
Costs: device, cases, converter cables, mobile apps. In the case of Apple, apps purchased for the iPhone will often run on the iPad, and there’s no extra cost of re-purchasing. Just sync your devices with iTunes.

4. Personal mobile hotspot

Some smartphones offer tethering capabilities that allow Internet access to nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices, or via special cables. Other phones have “mobile hotspot” capability that allows net access via WiFi. Mobile hotspot capability is also available via standalone devices that do nothing else. Internet access is handy for mobile devices that are WiFi-only, such as a laptop or an iPad WiFi-only model.

Costs: Depends on the device. Palm Pre Plus phones have ability and Verizon offers it at no extra cost beyond the phone, monthly minutes and data plan. AT&T will offer tethering for the iPhone 4 but the iPad will not be able to use it. Standalone devices run on a monthly data plan.

5. 3rd-party apps

Depending on the smartphone or mobile device, there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of applications available, many of which would suit businesses.

Cost: Per-seat app purchase, monthly subscriptions (sometimes).

6. In-house custom apps

For some companies, custom apps are a necessity for the mobile employee. The choices are Mobile Web and Native, and on some mobile devices, the difference between the two has been narrowed.

Note: Distribution methods differ depending on the mobile platform, with some options more “open” than others.

Costs: development, maintenance, distribution, training.

7. Cloud storage

Not all mobile devices make it easy, at present, to move files between desktop/laptop and smartphone/ tablet. One option is to provide a cloud storage account to mobile employees. There are a growing number of choices, and some work on the Freemium model where a basic account is free. E.g., Dropbox.com.

Costs: Size- and/or usage-based storage plans.

This is just a starting point for managers who want to mobile-enable their employees. Want to discuss a mobile Web or native mobile app for your business or projects? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app idea or mobile campaign needs.

Why Apple's New FaceTime Video Chat is Game-Changing

June 8th, 2010 by under Mobile Apps

pic-FaceTime-video-call-02-300wApple, Inc., loves to be a game-changer, and the new Apple iPhone 4, announced yesterday, will be one both for some of the hardware aspects as well as for the video chatting feature, FaceTime. In fact, FaceTime might have even more of a social impact than people realize, given that it’s intended to be an an open standard. This is a brilliant move by Apple. Why? Well first let’s look at the current situation.

Current Usage Situation

When the 4th-generation iPhone becomes available in the first round of countries on Jun 24th (preorders online in those countries starting Jun 15th), FaceTime will work only over WiFi, between two 4th-gen iPhones, only. There are consumers who will get the iPhone 4 for that reason alone. That’s a very limited usage scenario and not necessarily enough to win over sales of iPhone 4.

What’s Coming

However, there are some other parameters to the usage equation that are not yet taken into account.

  1. Cellular networks: Availability over 3G or higher cellular networks. FaceTime over 3G has already been promised by Apple. I honestly don’t care about this given AT&T’s change in data plan pricing. So unless Apple gives AT&T a stern talking to about the data plans, or gives other U.S. carriers the iPhone, I don’t see this as a big deal.
  2. Other phones: Usage over any other handset makers’ smartphones that are capable of replicating a similar experience.
  3. Other mobile devices: Usage over any other mobile device with a front-facing camera, such as an iPad of the future, say in early 2011.

Apple is great a creating market demand where it didn’t even exist. Look at the iPod. Did we need iPods, given there were other mobile audio players? Of course we didn’t. But they created what became a classic consumer electronics device, and the technology behind the iPod seems to have helped fuel the development on the iPhone/ iPod Touch and iPad mobile devices.

History of Video Calling

FaceTime is not hardware, of course, but video calling has been something that at least North Americans have been promised for decades, and which seems to have stayed in the realm of science fiction, at least for the masses. Until now. We really do need one calling protocol to make it work, with the least technical difficulties, and by being first, Apple has the advantage.

Okay, Apple’s not first with video calling. A number of VoIP desktop applications — e.g., Skype — have had it for several years now. Also, video calling has been available for conferencing systems — but such systems are costly and definitely not for the mass market. Apple’s not even first with video on calling on smartphones, since a couple of devices were announced within the past few weeks. However, Apple will be perceived as first because of the open standard offering.

Mass Market Video Calling

I have no doubt that Apple can get most or all of the big players such as Microsoft and Google on board to support the FaceTime standard, and in doing so, they stand to further the company’s brand. Even if they don’t immediately convert non-Apple device FaceTime users to hardware purchasers. How could they get them to convert? By offering additional FaceTime features available only on the iPhone. By offering enterprise integration for FaceTime on the iPad (a future model, with a front-facing camera). By constantly reminding non-Apple app developers and users that 3rd-party apps get access to FaceTime features only with the Apple iPhone SDK.

However, Apple creates the market demand for FaceTime, I’m very certain they’ll do it, and video calling will likely be integrated into iPhone OS apps very quickly. Imagine gaming, social network, healthcare, distance education, tech support, service calls and many other niches having next-generation mobile apps with video calling integrated. Even social interaction will be forever changed. (For example, imagine families spread across the globe who will now be able to see each other during those long periods when they cannot meet in person.)

If Apple can convince the right players to join in, FaceTime is going to have a huge impact on mobile application usage and on the way humans interact.

Want to discuss a mobile app with video calling features for your business or projects? Feel free to contact us to discuss your app or mobile campaign needs.

ABCs of Apple iPhone 4 and iOS 4: 25 Details and Features

June 7th, 2010 by under iPhone

pic-iPhone-4-01b-600w

If you’ve been off the planet for the past month or so, you can be forgiven for not knowing there’s a new iPhone, and much of its feature set was confirmed today by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in his keynote address for WWDC in San Francisco. This 4th-generation iPhone is packed with new features — some of them catching up to competing phones, some surpassing competitors. Here’s a  quick list of what’s new, hopefully ending much of the speculation that’s been going on.

  1. Availability: The release plan seems a little different than for the iPad, with five countries given first crack: US, UK, France, Germany and Japan being allowed online pre-orders on Jun 15th, and availability on Jun 24th online, at Apple and AT&T retail stores, and Best Buy and Wal-Mart. The rest of the release plan calls for 24 more countries in August, after the first five, then the remaining countries for a total of 88. According to the press release, the phone will be available in numerous countries by the end of July, including: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
  2. Battery: Larger battery, 40% more talk time. Specifically, 7 hours talk time on 3G; 10 hrs Web browsing on WiFi and 6 on 3G; 10 hrs of video playback; 40 hours of audio playback. Standby mode: 300 hours (nearly two weeks).
  3. Bing search. While Google is still the default search engine for mobile Safari, the new iOS allows for you to switch over to Bing if you want.
  4. Cameras: 5MP camera with 5x digital zoom and LED flash for low light conditions. Front-facing and rear-facing cameras.
  5. Color: Black and white models.
  6. Developer support: Over 1500 new APIs for developers to access 100 new features.
  7. Display. The predictions were right: the iPhone 4 has 4x the pixels, for a whopping 960×640 screen resolution, at 326 ppi (pixels per inch). The new “Retina” display gives it a much higher contrast than 3GS — apparently 800:1 contrast ratio, giving it an almost paper-like quality for display text. (Print magazines often have a resolution of 300 or 600 dpi — dots per inch.) The 3.5 inch screen has a resolution that is almost 80% the size of the iPad.
  8. Email, enhanced: Unified email inbox. Attachment support.
  9. Form factor: It has a more squared-off form factor than before — but you probably knew that from all the photos of “leaked” prototypes. It’s supposedly 24% thinner than before and claims to be the thinnest (9.3 mm) smartphone on the planet. Overall, it’s 4.5 inches tall, 2.31 inches, and just under 5 ounces. Unfortunately, the new form factor means the iPhone 4 has to have a new dock. The iPhone 4′s alloyed metal rim is not only strong (5x stronger than steel), it acts as the the phone’s antennae (plural), to improve reception.
  10. Gyroscope. The iPhone 4 has a 3-axis gyroscope that can more accurately detect phone motion in 6 axes — a plus for video gaming.
  11. iAd ad network. Apple says that they have advertising commitments through their new iAd ad network for $60M in 2010 alone. Steve Jobs claimed this morning that iAds will steal 48% of the mobile advertising market.
  12. iBooks. iPhone will get its own iBooks, which will allow for bookmarks and user sticky notes to be added to digital books.
  13. iOS iPhone OS. Despite some talk about the name “iOS” being owned by Cisco, iOS is what iPhone OS 4.0 is being called. It’ll be available for download on older 3G and 3GS phones on Jun 21st, and (probably) preloaded onto iPhone 4. (However, some new OS 4 features will not be available for 3G phones.) The iPad will get an upgrade this fall.
  14. Keyboard support, Bluetooth. Just as with the iPad, the iPhone 4 will allow you to add a Bluetooth keyboard.
  15. Memory: 2×128 = 256 MB RAM. 16GB and 32GB models. Looks as if they did not manage to use the new 64GB flash drives made recently available — meaning predictions of storage capacities of 64GB and 128GB were unfortunately incorrect.
  16. MicroSIM. Uses the new microSIM.
  17. Microphones: Two, for noise-cancelling.
  18. Netflix: Netflix is coming to the iPhone App Store free of charge, and it’ll allow starting a movie on the iPad and finishing viewing on the iPhone, or vice versa.
  19. Networks: 802.11n WiFi, with added quad-band HSUPA.
  20. Pricing: The phones are $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB. Wonder what they’re saving the $399 price slot for. The new 8GB 3GS model will be available on Jun 24 for $99.
  21. Processor: A4 processor, just like the iPad.
  22. UI features, enhanced. Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, “deeper” enterprise support.
  23. Upgrades: If your AT&T contract is up any time in 2010, you are apparently eligible to upgrade to a 4th-gen iPhone immediately (as in Jun 24th or whatever date depending where you live). You have to extend your contract for two more years. If you’re merely eligible for a phone upgrade, you probably don’t qualify. However, I called AT&T and the very helpful CSR concluded that while my non-iPhone line’s contract, and that of my wife’s, ends Mar 2011, our LG Vu phones qualify for upgrades in Aug and Nov of 2010. We are eligible for a partial discount immediately. Meaning, we might have to pay $200 extra per phone over the new prices to change the LG Vu phones into iPhone 4, as well as get new iPhone data plans. However, according to what Engadget says that AT&T told them, if you already have an iPhone and want to upgrade it, you are eligibility immediately if your contract allows an upgrade any time in 2010. So please check your online account or talk to an AT&T CSR for verification. You can also dial *639# from your AT&T phone, but the resulting text message is not all that detailed. Ultimately, you might just have to walk into your nearby AT&T store and on Jun 24th and find out for sure.
  24. Video chatting: It’s called FaceTime, and it allows two 4th-gen iPhones to video chat, but only over WiFi for now, with 3G support coming in the future. Given AT&T’s cellular data pricing plan changes, maybe that’s a good thing. Either camera can be used for FaceTime chats, in both portrait and landscape modes.
  25. Video editing. Not only will the phone have HD video recording (720p@30fps), you’ll be able to edit video with a built in app, or with the upcoming iMovie for iPhone ($4.99).

So there you have it. There are all sorts of other features and details that are not listed here, but these are amongst the most important. The FaceTime commercial by director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Jarhead) is below.

Google AdMob Beats Apple iAd to iPad Advertising SDK

June 4th, 2010 by under Mobile Advertising

logo-admob-300wGoogle’s newly acquired AdMob has beaten Apple’s iAd to market with an SDK that allows iPhone OS mobile apps developers to specifically target the iPad. AdMob’s iPad SDK was released on Jun 2nd, whereas iAd SDK is not expected to be announced until Monday’s WWDC 2010 keynote address by Steve Jobs.

AdMob’s SDK supports two formats: (1) text and tile ads; (2) image ads. Both format types are available in three IAB (Internet Advertising Board) standard sizes: 300×250, 728×90, 468×60. Personally, I’d think that these sizes are inappropriate for the iPad and really more suited to websites and blogs. It’ll be interesting to see what Apple’s iAd offers.

The two companies are now competing at yet another level. AdMob has the advantage over iAd, being the largest ad network on the iPhone. However, Apple is unlikely to block the AdMob’s iPad SDK, possibly because Apple is the target of an antitrust review by the U.S. Justice Dept and FTC. On the other hand, iAd has a development advantage, being able to access iPhone OS features for the iPad that may not be available in public iPhone APIs. Under the Apple App Store’s current guidelines, iPhone OS apps must not use “private” iPhone APIs.

Regardless, both companies ad networks stand to gain.

Want to discuss a mobile campaigns or a native mobile app for your business or projects? Feel free to contact us to discuss your mobile platform needs.

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