Mobile app developers using Google’s AdMob ad network will start seeing a new version that has been rebuilt “in a ground-up sort of way,” according to Jonathan Alferness, director of product management for mobile ads.

The update, which starts rolling out today, also brings AdMob more in line with Google’s other ad platforms. That’s something the company has been working on since it acquired AdMob in 2010, for example by integrating AdMob with AdWords, but Alferness said today is the “culmination” of all that work, and that the new AdMob can be more easily extended with new features, setting the stage for future improvements.

More concretely, Google says there are a number of new features in the current update, including a version of the AdWords Conversion Optimizer, which allows developers to identify the cost-per-acquisition that they’re aiming for. It then automatically runs the ad types that are best-suited to drive the most app installations on that budget. There are also new filters allowing developers to block specific topics or specific ads for showing up in their apps. There’s a new setup for AdMob Mediation for showing ads from multiple networks. And AdMob now supports payment in local currencies.

There’s a new interface, too — Google didn’t show it to me, but Alferness said it fits much better with Google’s other ad platforms. At the same time it will have “a lot of the same tools, a lot of the same functionality,” so developers used to the old system won’t feel like “a fish out of water.”

“We’re continuing to see changes in the actual app monetization industry,” Alferness added. “The platform enables us to grow and pivot and change. You can look at the platform and start to imagine missing pieces — one of the areas where we know that we have more work to do is tracking and analytics.”

However, as AdMob changes, Alferness says the central vision remains the same: “We’d love to be a one-stop place for app developers to come to deal with various Google technologies.” And if mobile apps move to new business models, he wants AdMob to move with them.

You can read more about the update here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Software quality assurance testing on Android devices is far easier than it was just a year ago, at least according to one of Asia’s largest mobile app developers, Animoca.

The Hong Kong company has produced over 300 apps since it started two years ago, and just shot past 150 million downloads collectively. It produces mainly Android apps.

Last year, Animoca’s testing process for its apps covered a whopping 400 Android devices. Today, this number has been slashed to just a quarter of that, largely because of standardization in the Android handset industry.

According to Yat Siu, CEO of Animoca’s parent company Outblaze, most phones have become standardized on Samsung’s base hardware, thanks to the Korean manufacturer’s cornering of the component market.

Besides making its own branded devices, Samsung provides parts for a huge array of other devices. In 2012, Samsung was the world’s biggest manufacturer of NAND Flash (31 percent), DRAM (38 percent), and display components (25 percent).

The evolution of Android’s platform over the years has also made it a lot more flexible for app developers on the software side of things, with fewer variants of Jelly Bean than Gingerbread, he added. Together with hardware standardization, this has really eased the amount of testing that Animoca has to do today.

“Japan is the outlier in all of this—they have the strangest phones, and each one is a little different from the other. The rest of the world is mainly quite similar, based on Samsung hardware,” said Yat.

Phones are also getting better. He said that the 400 testing devices from 2012 were mainly made up of low-end handsets. “You have to cater to low-end devices because otherwise, you cancel out your biggest audience. But all the new hardware is pretty kickass, and more and more devices are getting very capable,” he said.

Animoca employs about 100 people working just on its apps, and has operations in Korea, the Philippines, the US and China. Its strategy is to flood the market with apps hitting different niche markets, rather than try to create a “Supercell-style or Angry Birds blockbuster” hit, said Yat.

Some of its titles, Star Girl and Pretty Pet Salon have pretty much reached hit status, but the company is focused on churning out a higher volume of app varieties, in the hopes of casting a wider net for loyal fans. “Those become paying audiences,” he said.

While Star Girl is enjoying millions of downloads, it’s still a niche app. “It targets girls, you share clothes and virtually flirt with guys. It’s not a Candy Crush,” said Yat.

The company has grown about four times in the past 12 months, although he wouldn’t say how much revenue it brings in now. “Frankly, we grew because Android grew as well,” he said, referring to Android’s growing market share. “That’s why Korea and Japan are big markets for us, because they are strong Android bases,” he said.

Animoca produces iOS versions of some of its games, but remains focused on Android, where ARPU is “very comparable” to iOS. Users in Japan and Korea tend to spend most on apps, said Yat.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

A/B testing has long been a fundamental part of developing applications and products for the Web, and, with the explosion of smartphones, developers are naturally eager to use the process to test new designs and updates for mobile apps. The problem is that, traditionally, this has been tricky to manage, especially on iOS given Apple’s approval process, requiring app developers to wait weeks to push new iterations.

Frustrated by the current process, Pathmapp decided to create a solution — one that would allow developers to test different designs and push them out in real time. After debuting at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco last year, today, the startup is officially launching an A/B testing platform for native iOS apps that aims to enable mobile developers to optimize their apps and increase conversion without making significant changes to their workflow — or to their users’ experiences.

Born of the founders’ experience building mobile app agency, APPEK, simply put, Pathmapp lets iOS developers create and deploy A/B tests in real time across their native apps without having to resubmit the changes to the App Store. Of course, while Pathmapp co-founder Adam Ceresko admits this may not sound like an earth-shakingly novel concept thanks to the fact that companies like Google and Optimizely have made A/B testing for the web available for years, he believes that no one has yet adequately addressed this problem on mobile.

“As mobile developers, we saw this massive gap in the market,” says Pathmapp CTO Andrew Herman. “Similar technologies have existed on the web for years, but have been sorely lacking in the mobile space since the first iPhone debuted in 2007.”

Since debuting at Disrupt last year, Pathmapp has been running an extended private beta, which came to a close in March. Today marks the beginning of the official public rollout of Pathmapp’s A/B testing platform, but Ceresko tells us that it will be a rolling release, as the startup plans to continue adding new features and tweaking based on user feedback over the next few weeks. The big-picture goal, he says, is to make Pathmapp completely “independent of the web.”

At launch, Pathmapp includes a number of new features that weren’t present in the beta product that the company debuted at Disrupt, chief of which is support for live configuration. In other words, app developers can now use Pathmapp to dynamically change the designs served to users in real time. This means that developers can change the interface of their apps without running an A/B test, bringing support to those who just want to tweak their design.

Pathmapp has also improved its analytics and statistics. It now offers a “confidence measurement” through which it crunches the numbers on user behavior and interaction, telling developers which design performs best among its customers. The idea is to save developers some time from getting wrapped up in data and behavior measurement, allowing them to instead focus on more critical product decisions.

To that end, Pathmapp now also offers the ability to segment users. This enables developers to run a test on a particular subset of users so that they can figure out which design is most effective among a particular group before pushing the change out to one and all. Lastly, Pathmapp is officially introducing A/B/N testing so that developers can try different variations within a single test, rather than having to run hundreds of tests for each small tweak.

In terms of pricing, Pathmapp offers all users a free, 15-day trial, after which Pathmapp starts at $19/month in its “Scout tier,” which is built to accomodate apps of all sizes, ranging from small to enterprise. Those who are looking for greater support and flexibility can upgrade to the startup’s “Pathfinder tier” at $79/month or “Trailblazer” at $399/month.

Pathmapp is developing a fairly simple, easy-to-use solution for app developers hung up on A/B testing for iOS. All they have to do is drop Pathmapp’s SDK into their apps, and they can begin building interfaces right in Xcode, managing the whole process and doing live configurations through their web dashboard.

For more, find Pathmapp at home here.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Facebook Insights provides page managers with an incredible amount of information about their audience. Through insights, page administrators gain access to data ranging from the specific the demographics of their Facebook fans to the number of unique fans they reach through page posts.

Looking to gain a better understanding Facebook Insights? Learn more with the Facebook Marketing Bible: The Leading Resource for Marketing and Advertising on Facebook.

About the Facebook Marketing Bible

The Facebook Marketing Bible has enabled thousands of brands, app developers, content publishers and businesses of all sizes to do more with Facebook, from the basics of creating a successful fan page, to the complexities of social plugin integration on an off-Facebook website.

The Facebook Marketing Bible includes hundreds of pages of strategies, comprehensive how-to guides and case studies analyzing today’s most successful marketing and advertising campaigns on Facebook. Take a tour of the Facebook Marketing Bible.

Recent Additions to the Facebook Marketing Bible

• Facebook Like to Unlock Plugin
• Gaining Likes by Text Message
• Instagram on the Web: Good for Branding
• Understanding Targeting Options: Less is More
• Understanding Reach Reduction
• Insights: Organic vs Viral vs Paid

Like the Facebook Marketing Bible on Facebook: TheFMB and follow us Twitter @FBMarketBible. Feel free to contact us with any questions or topic suggestions.

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

If you’re reading this, we want you to know that we’re thankful for your readership. If you’re a San Francisco local, we’d like to share our gratitude in person at Inside Network’s Give Thanks Mixer at Raven Bar this month.

Inside Network Happy Hours bring together app developers to connect and reconnect over drinks and casual conversation. Drinks (and food) are on us with your RSVP. Read on for full details.

Who: Social and mobile industry professionals
What: Enjoy free drinks, free food and discussion of the latest game, app and platform trends with industry peers and Inside Network’s team.
When: Tuesday, November 13, 6pm – 8pm
Where: Raven Bar, 712 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

Please RSVP on Eventbrite prior to the event and join our Facebook Event Page if you plan on coming out. We hope to see you there!

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

After raising $500,000 to create an ad-free social platform for developers six weeks ago, Dalton Caldwell’s App.net has silently been courting developers to build apps that rely on its APIs. Now it’s giving them another reason to build on its platform by offering a financial incentive. In a blog post today, Caldwell announced that the company will begin rewarding developers with at least $20,000 a month, distributing funds based on user feedback about which apps are providing the most value to its users.

As part of the App.net Developer Incentive Program, the startup will send an email to users, asking them for information on whichever apps they used during the month. Using some basic algorithms, it will then use that feedback to determine which apps have been most useful, providing a score to app developers who are participating in the program. Beginning October 1, App.net has promised to distribute a minimum of $20,000 per month to app developers based on their scores in relation to the total score among those participating.

Not all App.net developers will be automatically eligible. Those interested in participating in the Incentive Program will have to apply and be accepted — and, of course, App.net will need stuff like payment and tax information to get folks signed up. That said, developers don’t have to participate if they don’t wish to. And if they want to try to make money through other means — like advertising or app sales — they’re welcome to do so.

As with all things App.net, the incentive program is an experiment, and Caldwell is remarkably frank about the fact that they’ll probably make mistakes as they go along. But while developers on other platforms are forced to find ways to monetize on their own, App.net is providing real incentives to build applications for its platform — especially early on, as there’s not a ton of competition.

The incentive program could attract the very same type of application that Twitter is trying to get rid of — that is, client apps that potentially compete with its native experience. In an email, Caldwell noted that there are already eight compatible App.net iOS apps, with at least twice as many in development. There are also three App.net apps on the Google Play store.

But App.net is also hoping that developers are more imaginative than that: Caldwell notes in his blog post that a great app “will be inventive, simple to use, focused, opinionated, and, above all, built with the needs of users in mind.”

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Ever wonder how to run a contest on Facebook or if you should try out Page Post Ads? Learn abou these topics and much more with the September 2012 edition of the Facebook Marketing Bible: The Leading Resource for Marketing and Advertising on Facebook.

In the new edition, we cover topics for marketers and advertisers, including Why You Should Use Page Post Ads, How-to Run a Contest on Facebook, and Page Post Targeting.

About the Facebook Marketing Bible

The Facebook Marketing Bible has enabled thousands of brands, app developers, content publishers and businesses of all sizes to do more with Facebook, from the basics of creating a successful fan page, to the complexities of social plugin integration on an off-Facebook website.

The Facebook Marketing Bible includes hundreds of pages of strategies, comprehensive how-to guides and case studies analyzing today’s most successful marketing and advertising campaigns on Facebook. Take a tour of the Facebook Marketing Bible.

Recent Additions to the Facebook Marketing Bible

• Why You Should Try Out Page Post Ads
• How-to: Run a Contest on Facebook
• How-To: Enable Subscribe
• What are Admin Roles? How Can I Use Them?
• When is the Best Time to Publish a Page Post?
• Facebook Ads: Worth My Money?
• Marketplace Ads vs Sponsored Stories vs Page Post Ads
• 7 Tips on Using Promoted Posts
• What Is PTAT and Why Should I Care?

Ready to take your marketing and advertising campaigns to the next level? Subscribe to the Facebook Marketing Bible today.

Article courtesy of Inside Facebook

Smore, a startup which lets anyone quickly build attractive, single-page websites which it calls flyers, is rolling out a new version of its service today to specifically targets mobile app developers. Called simply “app flyers,” these mini, customized websites can be built in seconds by pulling in data from the App Store itself, then allowing users to tweak the design using a handful of built-in styles.

“Most apps are not built by these huge companies that have a ton of money to spend on marketing,” says Smore co-founder Gilad Avidan of the new offering. “Most apps are small or micro businesses – and these people need help getting the word out.”

Smore, a TechStars Seattle 2011 alum, launched into public beta this April, and now has over 10,000 users on its service, who have produced 8,000 flyers. Combined, the network has seen 100,000 unique pageviews per month, with flyers averaging around 100 views each.

What makes Smore different from other DIY website builders, is not only that it focuses on the one-page, promotional websites, but that it’s thinking about the needs of marketers – or rather, those who have to do their own marketing.

“With Smore, because we have these cool promotion tools, our users average much higher views than anywhere else,” says Avidan. “The flyers work very well with social, and you can send them in email – and they look really cool in email as well. They work on mobile. They’re SEO optimized. All that stuff really makes a difference,” he says.

Like its flagship service, the new app flyers also include built-in analytics, and support Google Analytics integration. Plans to beef up the basic analytics are in development, as are plans to roll out even more promotional tools through integration of various APIs and new partnerships.

For example, the company wants to point its users to other useful tools, like email marketing services or event listings providers. It also plans to expand to new verticals, like music and education, and it plans to support flyer creation for sellers on eBay and Etsy, among other things.

Avidan says the new Smore app flyers will help fill the vacuum that’s been left in the wake of App.net founder Dalton Caldwell’s decision to shift his company’s focus away from those About.me pages for apps in order to build a paid Twitter-like service. “This vacuum is not just starting now with this pivot,” says Avidan. “It’s probably safe to say that for the last few months, they haven’t really been doing anything for their market.” He also notes that there are several DIY website builders out there, but Smore’s key selling point is not just its design, it’s the focus on bringing professional marketing tools to everyone.

The service is will always be available as a freemium product, with things like multiple flyers, better analytics, and more tools available as paid features further down the line.

App developers can begin building their own flyers here, for free.

Note: Image is an example only, not a customer. 

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Wireless equipment producer Qualcomm has just released its fiscal Q3 2012 financials, and it looks like the company’s recent hot streak has finally slowed down. Qualcomm reported revenues of $4.63 billion — up 28% year-over-year, but down 6% from the company’s previous record-breaking quarter. Meanwhile, the company also reported non-GAAP earnings of $0.85 per share, which is up 16% year-over-year but down 16% from Q2.

Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $0.86 per share on revenues of $4.7 billion — both slightly lower than what the company managed to hit in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the company’s own guidance for this quarter forecasted non-GAAP earnings of between $0.83 and $0.89 per share on revenues of between $4.45 and $4.85 billion.

Though the company’s earnings were well in line with their own projections, it’s a bit of a surprise to see that they didn’t meet analyst expectations — it’s a feat that Qualcomm managed to pull off for the past five quarters. That said, Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs has said that the company has tweaked its outlook on the quarter to come:

“Looking forward, our growth estimates for 3G/4G device shipments in calendar 2012 have moderated slightly,” Jacobs stated. “We now expect the demand profile of the calendar year to be more back-end loaded as new devices are launched for the holiday season.”

In the days leading up to the release, there were rumblings that Qualcomm would move to put a more consumer-friendly spin on their oft-touted Snapdragon line of chipsets. The company has recently released an Android SDK that will help hardware makers and app developers tap more effectively into the Snapdragon hardware, allowing for potentially popular features like low-power geofencing, facial recognition, and noise cancellation to be introduced to a market full of innovation-hungry consumers.

Sadly, the company didn’t have anything further to offer on the consumerization of the Snapdragon brand, though there’s still hope for some additional insight. Qualcomm is due to kick off its earnings call at 1:45 PM Pacific/4:45 PM Eastern, so stay tuned for more as it happens.

Developing…

Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Tapjoy is best known as a monetization service for mobile games, but the company is working to expand into other industries. Case in point — a just-announced partnership with movie-streaming site Popcornflix.

Owned by Screen Media Ventures, Popcornflix allows its website visitors to watch movies (mostly independent titles that I haven’t heard of) for free. With the planned launch pf an Android app called Popxornflix Gold, Popcornflix viewers will be able to watch movies on their phones, but they’ll have to spend Popcornflix Points to access the content. And to earn those points, they’ll have to interact with advertising.

This will be the first movie-watching app to use virtual rewards, according to Tapjoy CMO Peter Dille. He’s pitching Tapjoy’s combination of ads and virtual rewards as a smart way for mobile app developers to make money — not just in games, but in entertainment and other industries.

“The world is trying to come to grips to what makes sense in mobile,” Dille says. “Pop-ups and pre-roll don’t seem to make sense.”

Other non-gaming apps that have partnered with Tapjoy include TextFree, Appzilla, and AppDog. Dille says that for the most part, Tapjoy is doing the recruiting, but with “the huge trend towards the gamification of content, it’s not a huge leap for folks” to sign on.

Popcornflix plans to release the Android app in early August, with other platforms to follow.

Article courtesy of TechCrunch