Startup Life
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Archive for August, 2009
Facebook 3.0 on iPhone Review
Aug 27th
After waiting for the Apple App Store to load … and it took a while … I finally updated my Facebook application for my iPhone. I’m sure Apple was getting slammed by everyone itching for the Facebook 3.0 upgrade.
I am tough on companies when it comes to developing a sexy UI/UX and I am super-impressed with the new Facebook 3.0 application for iPhone. I heard the hype and it was all right. Facebook has gone Twitter-esque, boasting a very easy to use and navigate news feed that drops pictures, videos, links, comments and basically anything else, right into view. Shown below is a screenshot of the first page you see when logged into the application. very easy and intuitive to navigate downward, flip to the main menu (by clicking the top-left icon), update your status or even click the camera button to upload (or take) a picture or VIDEO!
Here is the new MENU screen (below). Simplicity is king and Facebook nailed it. Each feature seems to work well and I didn’t encounter any errors or bugs in my testing thus far.
A while ago Facebook added the functionality of adding your own phone numbers to your contact information. Here you can really see that “phonebook” feature paying off. Facebook leverages this information by allowing you to simply tap a contact and choose a phone number that you’d like to dial. Simple as that. Enjoy your new phonebook, everyone.
I’m really looking forward to push notifications. That’ll really jazz up this rich(er) iPhone app.
iPod Touch Users Love Their Apps
Aug 27th
In AdMob’s July 2009 monthly metrics report, a special section on iPhone, iPod Touch and Android app usage showed the results of a 1,000-person survey to find our more about their interaction and download behavior with apps.
A couple highlights:
- Android and iPhone users download approximately 10 new apps a month, while iPod touch owners download an average of 18 per month
- More than 90 percent of Android and iPhone OS users browse and search for apps directly on their mobile device instead of their computer
- Upgrading from the lite version was the top reason given when users were asked what drives them to purchase a paid app
- iPhone and iPod touch users are twice as likely to purchase paid apps than Android users.
- Users who regularly download paid apps spend approximately $9 on an average of five paid downloads per month
There is a supplemental presentation that includes all of the data from the surveys for those who are interested to dig into the details.
socialDeck Platform Demo
Aug 14th
socialDeck, the creators of Shake & Spell on iPhone, Facebook and BlackBerry, have just launched a new demo on their website that discusses the various components in their technology platform and how it looks and feels across form factors.
The demo shows how the gameplay stays consistent across device types, and features such as their “trash talk wall” (or “chat”), leaderboards and social discovery engine all work.
For convenience sake, I’ve simply embedded the video below (view it at socialdeck):
Lessons Learned from Asia
Aug 11th
In researching the online and mobile worlds of virtual goods and avatars, I came across this interesting presentation by a consulting firm called +8* (Plus Eight Star) on Slideshare. It’s amazing how many things have been pioneered by those countries (largely Korea and Japan) that took so long to make it to the US.
Plus8 Star Lessons Learned From Asia
View more documents from Benjamin Joffe.
I particularly like the reference to South Park.