Bango blog

CES 2012, a show gone mobile

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Andy Bovingdon

For years now I have been saying how all things will become mobile in one way or another, and last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas clearly showed this to be well underway. A very large proportion of those exhibiting or attending were launching mobile initiatives or devices, using mobile operating systems or user experiences (UXs) or just talking mobile, with many of the keynotes leading with a mobile story. Read more »

Filed under: Mobile web, Trends | Tagged: CES 2012, user-experience | Leave a Comment »

Get 50% off BlackBerry® DevCon Europe tickets courtesy of Bango

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Sukey Miller

Showcasing the next generation in application development, BlackBerry® is set to launch their new platform, BlackBerry 10, at this year’s BlackBerry DevCon Europe event.

Taking place on 7th and 8th February at the RAI Convention Centre Amsterdam, BlackBerry DevCon Europe is a chance for all BlackBerry developers to gain valuable insight into the latest BlackBerry platform innovations and breakthroughs.

As always the event is jam-packed with a number of breakout and hands-on lab sessions designed to give web, native, Adobe and Java developers interactive hands-on experience. With over 50 sessions there’s plenty of learning opportunities. It’s well worth a visit! Read more »

Filed under: RIM | Tagged: bango, Blackberry, Mobile World Congress, RIM | 1 Comment »

Flash is out, HTML5 is in and we’re heading for an apocalypse!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Sukey Miller

Top 10 highlights of 2011 and predictions for 2012

2011 has been an exciting time for the mobile industry seeing many changes take place, some of which were on the cards and others totally unexpected. With consumers increasingly using their mobile devices for more than just calling and texting, internet usage and app downloads soared leading to a highly competitive smartphone and tablet marketplace.

Looking forwards, certainties for 2012 include the release of new iPhones and iPads from Apple. New BBX based RIM smartphones. Further Windows Phone updates from Microsoft and the new Windows 8 designed for tablets and other touch devices.

So, as the year draws to an end let’s take a journey through some of the significant highlights of 2011, and cast our gaze into the future to make some predictions for 2012. Read more »

Filed under: smartphones, Tablets, Trends | Tagged: mobile, mobile internet, Mobile web, SmartPhone, Tablets | 1 Comment »

HTML5 – the mobile game changer?

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Andy Bovingdon

…and how web innovation will challenge Apples control

Everyone in mobile knows that to sell something on the iOS platform you must pay your 30% tax to Apple, and that Apple has final say over whether your app will be published to iPhone users – they have control over the developer’s destiny. But just how much control do they really have?

Amazon recently had to remove all ways to purchase books from their iPhone Kindle app, effectively turning it into a free, basic viewer with no store. This was partly because the app failed to use the compulsory iTunes in-app payment API giving Apple their 30%, and partly because Apple saw Amazon as a competitor. If Apple can do that to a huge company like Amazon, they could certainly remove a smaller company from their store if they wish. Fortunately Amazon customers already knew to go and buy their new digital books from the Amazon website and that those books would magically show up Read more »

Filed under: app store, Apple, html5 | Tagged: Amazon, app store, Apple, mobile billing, mobile content, mobile payments | 1 Comment »

How going back to the browser with HTML5 benefits developers

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Sukey Miller

Back in the day web pages were displayed one at a time after a long loading process. The advent of Flash allowed websites to become live and interactive. Flash enabled animation, motion and video dramatically improving the user experience.

Then internet enabled mobile devices exploded in use and issues arose with the poor user experience from supporting Flash on mobile devices. Apple took the step of refusing to support Flash on its devices. Developers also had to tackle the problem of how to present large web pages on a small screen. This lead to many having to create and maintain both a desktop and a mobile site, a frustrating, work intensive process. Read more »

Filed under: html5, Trends | Tagged: Mobile apps, mobile browsing, mobile content, mobile internet, user-experience | Leave a Comment »

Mobile performance through lightweight

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Andy Bovingdon

…what the mobile industry can learn from car manufacturers

With the coming of quad core CPUs in mobile phones in 2012, are the manufacturers focusing on the right fight or are they in a spiralling battle over engine size? Adam Bunker, over at Electricpig recently wrote an interesting article about this new wave of ever faster handsets suggesting we are not ready for quad-core phones. But he fails to go into any depth about what the industry should be focused on instead. Read more »

Filed under: smartphones | Tagged: mobile phone, mobile phones, SmartPhone, smartphones, user-experience | Leave a Comment »

Why you should pay for your web analytics tool

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Andy Bovingdon

I recently read an interesting blog post asking, “Should you pay $150,000 for your web analytics tool?”, this is a great question given there are so many free solutions available. After all, free is a very attractive price point. The blog post covers a number of important areas and makes some excellent conclusions; for example, it recommends that if you are paying top dollar for your analytics then you should have the staff to support it – a full-time, paid-up analyst. Sound words indeed.

I would agree that for small start-ups launching their new business there is nothing to lose by using a free solution like Google Analytics or Flurry, but lots to gain. All companies really must use analytics, failure to do so means you are running your business blind, which your investors won’t appreciate. Read more »

Filed under: Mobile web | 2 Comments »

Has the fastest growing smartphone platform just lost the tablet game?

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Andy Bovingdon

With Gartner forecasting that the tablet market is set to grow from 63.6 million sales in 2011 to 326.3 million by the end of 2015, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Asustek, Acer and Dell all announce they are out of the Android tablet market. One has to wonder whether their decision is due to an inability to compete with companies that are combining hardware with tightly integrated software, like Amazon and Apple, fear of further litigation from Apple or simply a lack of sales. Read more »

Filed under: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Tablets | Tagged: Amazon, Apple, google, iPad, Tablets | Leave a Comment »

Carrier Payments help oil the machinery of mobile commerce

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Anil Malhotra

Recent numbers published by a developer selling on the BlackBerry App Store show a straight line, month on month increase in the percentage of revenue contributed from carrier-billed payments.

It’s clear that when available, customers like to charge mobile-purchased, digital content and services, to their phone bills. As blogged recently by Bango, this is great news for carrier billing, which in recent years looked like it might be pushed into to the wilderness by iTunes, PayPal and other internet payment methods. Read more »

Filed under: Blackberry, carrier billing, Mobile payments | Tagged: Blackberry, mobile billing, mobile content, mobile operators, mobile payments | Leave a Comment »

“Losing the Plot”

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Anil Malhotra

Despatching my 7 year old son to bed recently as an episode of Law and Order began on the TV, he turned and asked, “Are you watching one of those murdering programs?”

To his mind, the nuances that distinguish highly regarded programs like The Wire, Law and Order, CSI, The Shield etc are entirely lost. Instead, he sees this as one undifferentiated category of programming unified by the theme of “murdering”. He’s got a point, as have I in being unable to distinguish which of his cartoons, with its attendant plastic toys, is a Transformer, Power Ranger, Gormiti, Bakugan and so on. Read more »

Filed under: app store, Apps, Mobile apps | Tagged: app store, Mobile applications, Mobile apps, Mobile web | 1 Comment »

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