Posts Tagged ‘iphone’
Mobile Roadie Apps Hit Android
posted by Michael Arcand
You’ve been asking for it, and we’re ready to deliver. We’ve been planning on producing apps for Android users for some time, and now we can finally let the cat out of the bag. So who are the first users to have Mobile Roadie apps on both the iPhone and Android systems?
None other than Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and Dolly Parton (with Taylor Swift coming soon!). That’s right, four of the most recognizable names in the entertainment industry today are powering their online app presence on multiple platforms via Mobile Roadie.
You might say, “So what? What’s so special about that?” Here’s the big deal – Mobile Roadie is the first platform that allows anyone to create and manage their own Android App in minutes with no programming knowledge required. Additionally, customers will be able to use Mobile Roadie’s content management system (CMS) to simultaneously make updates to both their iPhone and Android Apps. This empowers our users to take control in a way never before imagined by everyday people, musicians and entertainers. Building a brand image on both platforms has never been easier, and now you don’t have to make a choice between one or the other.
So why does Dolly Parton use the Mobile Roadie platform? Parton has always been a pioneer in the music and entertainment industry, and she doesn’t want to get left behind now. In fact, she’s got fans ranging in age from under 20 to over 50 downloading her iPhone app. Who else can say that? Her plans for using the platform include sharing un-released photos and promoting her events if she decides to go back on tour.
In fact, here’s what Dolly Parton had to say about Mobile Roadie’s services:
My first phone was two tin cans tied together with string, and it worked pretty good. But now you can watch TV, download music and surf the web from your phone. Sure beats smoke signals. I never thought in my lifetime, that you’d be able to watch movies, read books and listen to music from a phone, but I guess the technology of tomorrow is here today. And to think that folks will be able to watch my Video Diaries and listen to my music on the go is just fantastic. I think it’s great that Mobile Roadie has made it so simple for my fans to keep up with everything I got going on, and who knows, I may even learn how to use it.
So what are you waiting for? Find out more about our multiple-platform services by taking our tour and view all of our live apps here. Don’t miss out on the easiest way to manage your brand image on both of the most popular smartphone systems around.
Web Apps vs. Native Apps
posted by Michael Schneider (Mobile Roadie CEO)A frequently asked question we get is why get a native app when web “apps” are becoming so good? Why invest in Apple’s approval process and store (and soon Google’s and others) when you can hire a web developer to build you an HTML5 mobile friendly experience?
As good as web apps may be, they are still a far cry from their native app cousins. Here are a few specific examples that matter to you:
Push Notifications.
One of the great things Mobile Roadie customers do with their apps is reach their users – at times geo targeting them up to just one mile around any location – with a “push notification.” This message looks like a text message and appears regardless of whether the app is open or not. It’s an incredibly powerful way to reach users. Web apps simply can’t do this.
U/I.
As good as web apps have become, the overall user interface is still dependent on Safari. Things like scrolling, animation, transitions, forms, “cover flow,” and other native app-specific nuances aren’t possible or aren’t as pretty and seamless for users. Loading time is also greater in web apps than native apps. What this really means, quite simply, is that your users will have a better and faster visual experience with a native app – and be more likely to come back and frequent it.
Home screen icon.
Yes, you can create a “bookmark” which creates an icon on the iPhone’s home screen to a web “app.” But not everyone knows this. An App comes with a built in presence on the iPhone’s screen – making it easy to find and placing a constant reminder about you/your company/your brand/your group. Additionally, native apps show up in iTunes under Applications; web apps don’t.
Enhanced access.
Web apps can’t access your address book, iPod, or camera; native apps can. Native apps can tap into your iPod (to suggest to users what tracks they’re missing from your collection) and address book (to enable easy access to share with friends). Native apps can also access the camera that – in Mobile Roadie’s case – allows users to post photos from a particular event/show.
Your own world.
Native apps are all about you – your content, your users, your brand. But with a web app, while users may start off in your world, with one errant click Safari can take them to a completely unrelated website with no clear way back. This can’t happen in a native app.
While we applaud the efforts of developers around the world to improve HTML, Javascript, Flash (not on the iPhone), and other languages to make the web a more mobile-friendly place, there is still a very relevant place for native apps – and it is only going to grow as Apple (and others) add on features to the hardware that only native apps can take advantage of. While it’s a good strategy to have both a mobile-friendly website and a native app – if you wanted to go for the one with the best chances of making a big impact on your customer/fan base – native apps simply blow web apps away.
The Mobile Web is Exploding … Are You On Board?
posted by Michael ArcandFar be it for us to toot our own horn, but we just happen to think we’re in the right place at the right time. And we want you to be right there with us. Are you ready? Here’s why we think the mobile web is where it’s at and why the iPhone is the one platform you must be on …
Mary Meeker, the managing director of Morgan Stanley (yeah, those investment folks), gave a presentation last week at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Fransisco touting the tech sector as a leading indicator that we are rebounding from the recession. But more importantly, to us at least, was the emphasis she placed on the mobile web and her perspective on things to come. Meeker surmised that the mobile web, which is already expanding during the recession, will explode once the recovery in other sectors of the economy is in full swing. At some point she feels that the mobile web use will dwarf the desktop use of the Internet 10 to 1.
So why are we so excited about this and what should this mean to you as an iPhone developer? Meeker pointed out that the iPhone and the iPod Touch are the fastest growing pieces of electronic hardware ever. Given the fact that the iPhone currently dominates the landscape in usage share and market share numbers, the sky is the limit with this platform. It will only get bigger and bigger.
If you want to look over all of the slides from her presentation, you can check them out below. Why not take a few minutes to think about what impact the mobile web will have on your business in the future, then let us help you get where you want to go.
