Today all of this has changed because if your application is using Facebook login, your app can win a place in the new Facebook App Center.
The new app center is a whole new world to market/promote your Android and iOS application.
Moreover it is not just another “app store” it is a store with over 900 million users and 50% of them are using their mobile devices to login to Facebook, and eventually they will find themselves looking at the new App Center.
As for ratings, the new Appcenter will not use just the regular 5 star method that is used in most stores.
It will rank the app by “variety of signals, such as user ratings and engagement” .

So make sure you have answered Facebook’s page guidelines and come back for some more tricks and tip on how to market your app on Facebook new App Center

Working previously as an in-house Marketing Director at three companies, I know how crucial marketing is, especially in the mobile world. As a developer, you’ve got a gem undiscovered and have a lot of labor ahead of you, not to mention sweating to cut it, polish it, get on display and set the right lighting. We recognize and appreciate that effort.

The Founders of AppsMarketing.mobi, Harel and Oren are dream-team leaders. Harel is the heart of the company. His vision and intuition on the mobile market is priceless and unprecedented. Oren is what makes the company tick. His talent for business and marketing strategy is inspiring. Oren understands the evolution of the social world far into the future. I can safely say that being a part of it is a rush.

Opening Our 1st European Office

I’m happy to open AppsMarekting.mobi’s first European office in Basel, Switzerland. The decision for a Europe presence aims get us closer to our European clients and to quickly fulfill our potential here.

What else is new? We’ve added two major new services. The first is creation of marketing video demos and the second includes the creation of mobile websites. Both channels give app developers more for their money and places AppsMarketing.mobi a notch above its competitors.

I am proud, privileged and excited to be part of the AppsMarketing.mobi team.

Working on an outstanding app? I’d love to talk. Email me directly and let me know about it.

25 apps will be pre-selected and the jury will pick 3 lucky winners who will receive $10,000 in prizes. The Jury (myself included) is comprised of top names from the tech and mobile industry.

BuzzDoes CEO, Assaf Korlin asked me to define what makes a great app. So here’s my take: A great app is one that delivers an engaging solution to a specific need I have at any point in time. Regardless if it’s a game, productivity tool, entertainment or social app. The app should offer a perfect balance of surprise and ease of use, while being extremely fun and addicting.

Contest Details

Timeline

Pre-registration starts
App Submissions from Thursday April 19th to Thursday June 11th
Pre-registration starts
Pre-selection of 25 apps by June 14th
Public announcement of the 25 selected apps June 14th
Evaluation and rating by the Jury from June 15th to June 17th
3 Winners announced June 19th
To be eligible

Your app must be live (or must go live) in Apple appstore or in Google Android Market by June 11th
Your app must include the buzzdoes SDK
Registration to the contest is free of charge!

Jury

Jeff Pulver, Founder of Pulver and 3Rings
Veena Bissram, Mashable
Jeff Scott, Founder of 148Apps
Thibaut Rouffineau, Mobile Activist at WIP
Marion Moreau, FrenchWeb
Orli Yakuel,Web Analyst and Blogger at Go2web20
Oren Todoros, Founder of AppsMarketing.mobi
Yossi Taguri, Co Founder, Pah!
Eran Wagner, Partner at Gemini Venture Capital
Hamutal Meridor, Founder of Daps’em
Kobi Menachemi, Founder & CEO at CrossRider
Prizes

Prizes
1st place will win $5000
2nd place will win $3000
3rd place will win $2000
all places will win free featured campaign within buzzdoes

In the last 5 years alone, the mobile app industry has grown by Godzilla sized strides. Accordingly to a new report by TechNet, a consortium of business leaders formed to promote the growth of technology-led innovation, The App Economy now is responsible for roughly 466,000 jobs in the United States alone. This ascending trend is expected to continue well into 2016, when an estimated 1 billion consumers will own smartphones.

This surge in app development and usage requires a new set of building blocks to keep developers moving forward. That’s where SDKs come in.

If you’ve done any mobile app development, you in no doubt know all about SDKs and how they can be used to upgrade your app’s functionality, while saving you precious time and resources. For those who are still in the process of figuring it all out, Software Development Kits (SDKs) are essentially a package of pre-written code developers can embed in their apps.

Source: Apple.com

By now you’re probably asking yourself; great, but what can they do for my app? The short answer is, quite a lot. Allow me to introduce you to a few useful SDKs that are helping mobile app developers do some pretty neat things.

Functionality

Aviary’s free photo editor SDK which takes about 15 minutes to integrate is unique, in that it allows developers to create a wealth of photo effects with ease, such as vintage, retro and negative effects, all while staying within the native app. As mobile photography continues to dominate, this SDK can help give iOS and Android developers (Windows phone support coming soon) a running head start.

Source: Aviary.com

The Aviary photo editor SDK is free to integrate and does all the heavy lifting, their monetization model is a standard revenue share on the profits generated via IAP of premium effects.

Monetization

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. 90% fill rate, global reach, targeted ads, best eCPMs; sounds familiar? The fact is that most, if not all mobile advertising networks advertise much of the same benefits, making it very difficult for app publishers to figure out which one they should integrate.

To help simplify the problem there are dozens of ad mediation solutions such as Adwhirl, Inneractive, Smatto, NexAge and more. Integrating the SDK of one of these solutions essentially opens up your app’s monetization options to dozens of ad networks and helps optimize your ROI.

Digital Loyalty

One of the biggest challenges app developers face is increasing their app’s reach. Israel based BuzzDoes recently secured $750K in seed funding to help developers tackle the app visibility issue head on. By injecting apps with viral features the BuzzDoes SDK encourages users to recommend apps using rewards, essentially creating viral distribution.

Similarly, Badgeville has just introduced a mobile gamification SDK, which aims to make it easier for the developers of native iOS or Android apps to incorporate gameification elements into their apps. Badgeville is one of a handful of specialists in using game-like techniques to track and reward based on user behavior, keeping score and displaying customized badges for achievement. The software-as-a-service platform can be embedded in other applications or websites, and Duggan said he is seeing increased interest in incorporating it in enterprise applications as well as consumer ones.

But, There’s a Flip Side…

Not all developers are keen on letting 3^rd parties in on their turf. As John Arley Burns, a Dusseldorf, Germany based programmer pointed out, over on the iOS developers group on Facebook, organizations frequently suffer from “Not invented here” syndrome. There are a variety of reason’s as to why development studios and large scale organizations prefer developing their own tools, such as:

• It forces them to share information to other companies, often their competitors
• They already have their own extensive tracking and monetization systems and content delivery
• Most of the work is integrating to the existing systems for tracking, monetization, content
• Legally there would be a huge effort to renegotiate everything to use a new SDK and methodology for existing relationships (for instance payment gateways)
• Not-invented-here syndrome in adopting someone else’s SDK
• Large organizations have the resources to develop their own internal APIs instead of using existing SDK APIs
• Often the business process and use cases are specific to the organization and design, rather than shoehorning into an existing SDK it is often necessary to create something specific for the client
• Existing SDKs often don’t have the device coverage necessary for widespread deployment; they may only support iOS, and not BlackBerry, for instance, which is not acceptable for many target markets
• Existing SDKs often don’t have the country coverage necessary for deployment across global organizations; for instance a payment system that only supports the USA, or an ad display system that has very low fill rates for Russia
• Much of the world is still on feature phones, and most SDKs pretend they don’t exist; however there are many mobile applications that rely on feature-phone coverage to work effectively across an entire organization

In Conclusion

As the mobile app industry grows and progresses, we’re seeing a new wave of SDKs come to light. The SDKs mentioned in this post are just the tip of the iceberg. They may spark up a few new ideas for  apps you may be cooking up, or at least open your eyes to the potential benefits of developing services for the mobile eco-system, beyond just another app.

To this day, developers are anxiously waiting for Apple to include Siri in the SDK, so that they can leverage its full potential by creating intuitive voice recognition enabled apps.

More recently Apple acquired the socially charged app discovery service Chomp, (at the estimated cost of $50 million) which we’re probably going to see repackaged and rebranded as an official Apple product somewhere down the road. For iOS developers, this potentially means an improved marketing and distribution channel.

Despite the fact that Apple has been taking steps towards improving the iOS app development eco-system, there is still a significant piece of the puzzle missing, and that is Analytics.

source: Sap.com

To put it simply, it’s time Apple gets serious about delivering essential information developers need towards optimizing and monetizing their apps. The fact of the matter is that, the current “analytical” information supplied within the iTunes connect system is rudimentary at best.

While Apple lags behind with the raw statistical information they choose to share, third-party services such as Flurry Analytics, appFigures, Distimo, and App Annie are making huge strides to fill that void, for the growing mobile development community.

Yesterday’s news of Burstly acquiring Testflight, (story broke by MG Siegler) is more proof that the app development industry is sticking together towards delivering better tools to improve results thought the community.

Turning it back over to you: What analytics service do you use to track your apps success rate? What would you like to see improved by Apple in regards to better analytics? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The world’s top media sources, include: The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, The New York Times, CNet, ZDNet, Kiplinger, Telephony, and many other media outlets have made note of his work. I had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Weinkrantz, at a busy coffee shop in the center of Tel Aviv, while on his visit here, to share stories, thoughts and more importantly, what motivates us.

Prior to his talk “Startup Communications Strategies” at the TechLoft in Tel Aviv, I sat down with Alan to share my thoughts on the app industry, app marketing, and how developers can have their app stand out, at the upcoming SXSW 2012 interactive festival.

If you’re going to be presenting your app at SXSW, I’d love to hear about it. Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Vodio lets you discover and enjoy the best videos, based on what’s being shared around you as well as your personal preferences and interests.

For the sake of full disclosure, Vodio is an AppsMarketing.mobi client.

I sat down with Jonathan Messika, CEO and Co-Founder at Vodio to find out a little more about the process of developing an app, its marketing aspects, and what it really takes to build a sustainable business in the mobile app industry today.

Hey Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for our readers.

Can you please tell me about your professional background?

My professional background consists of various positions within internet consumer products industry.

My last position prior to founding Vodio Labs was with the new Corporate Business Development Team at IncrediMail Ltd. (now known as Perion), a Nasdaq company developing downloadable products for users. My job consisted of finding interesting companies and products that may fit the company’s product strategy and vision.

In the 2 years prior to that, I was part of the Product Management Team and managed two of IncrediMail’s main products; HiYo and PhotoJoy. I also held the VP Products position at Trivya Ltd. for a couple of years and was the Product Manager of Nextplay Ltd., both start-up companies.

What made you decide to get into the mobile app industry?

Spending many years in this industry I see the mobile industry as the spearhead of new internet products and applications. Mobile is where innovation is happening right now and that is where I thought I ought to be.

How did the idea of Vodio come to be?

I spent hours and hours with Uri, one of my two co-founders (Uri Twig & Ishay Weinstock) talking about developing a service related to Video. We were both frustrated with the video discovery issue and thought we really need to come up with a good solution for it.

Actually, the first tool we developed was a browser add-on that enabled users to collect videos from the web, similar to what Pinterest does today. From there it rolled into the idea of Vodio which is basically serving users, at all times, with the most updated and interesting videos in any given category, in an easy, simple and beautiful way.

What do you look for in the apps you choose to use?

Most of all, great user experience and real value. I need the app to solve a problem I may have or improve the use of something I am doing today with a different tool.

What’s been your biggest learning curve through the development process?

How to run a company of my own. There are so many different aspects I have only witnessed from the side but never had the chance to do for my own company.I find this to both very challenging and rewarding.

Let’s talk marketing – How soon in the process did you starting thinking about the marketing aspect of the app?

To be honest, we had marketing in the back of our mind from day 1. The reason we developed Vodio for the iPad to begin with, was among other things the ability to stand-out from the start in a relatively small marketing budget which looking back seems to be pretty much true.

Having said that, we know marketing is an everlasting effort and we have much work to do on that side of things going forward.

What’s the biggest tip you would give upcoming app developers?

Judge everything you do within the app in the eyes of your users and try to keep it stupid simple.

(Side note – Track everything you do, period. The Vodio Labs team analysis every aspect of user interactions within the app.)

In your opinion, what needs to be improved today, specifically in the mobile app industry?

I think one of the main things we the app industry today is missing, is great monetization engines for apps that are not games.

It seems there is a lot to do in that area and much to be explored. I am confident that many interesting solutions will be introduced with months and years to come. We should not forget that the industry itself is really young and in a way it is equivalent to where the web was circa 2000.

What’s next for Vodio? Go on, spill the beans!

So, as every start-up company we have a feature backlog that can fill in a full year’s schedule. However, each and every feature we will release in the upcoming versions were hand-picked and essentially are supposed to offer the user an even greater user experience, more tools to manage the video content and of course, more great content.
Having said that we are also open to implement other features, we did not originally plan if we see a strong demand among our users.

Anything else you would like to share?

We really would like to set a standard towards how video content should be consumed in our time and hope our users will prove us right Keep your fantastic feedback coming on our Facebook page or over on Twitter!

It seems that lately tech brands can’t make a move without being sued for a variety of reasons that range from strange to the down-write dumb. Truth be told, with so much money at stake, is it any wonder that tech brands have spent more of their time and money, defending themselves from patent-trolls?

Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes right now, in the world of tech.

China Sues Apple

The success of Apple’s iPad is unquestionable; however despite its huge success Apple is facing legal challenges over the trademark name in China.

A suit against Apple, specifically over the iPad trademark term, has been instituted by Hong Kong based Proview International Holdings. The company registered the iPad trademark in Taiwan back in 2000, about 10 years prior to the iPad’s launch.  In 2006, Apple purchased the trademark from a Taiwan based subsidiary of Proview, but the company isn’t buying it and are claiming that in the purchase, Apple only obtained the right to use the trademark in Taiwan, and the Chinese trademark was never part of the deal.

Wondering what a Chinese Proview iPad looks like?

Source: wsj.com

According to Dow Jones,

“If we are not compensated properly, then Apple doesn’t use the iPad trademark in mainland China,” said Mr. Yang, who is also the main shareholder of Proview International Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed company that has been suspended from trading.

Mr. Yang also said that authorities in more than 30 Chinese cities have taken action in connection with the dispute. While Apple’s tablet remains widely available in China, both at the company’s official stores and through other retail outlets, government officials have removed the product from some retail stores around the country.

Let’s move on, shall we?

Apple Sues Samsung (and Motorola)

Apple has become notorious for filing patent based law suits, most of which have been smartphone related. In Apple’s defense, the U.S. patent system is just as absurd and vague as Apple’s app developer guidelines.

Apple’s latest swing at Samsung is due to the Galaxy Nexus, in which Apple is asking for “preliminary injunction” to block Samsung from selling the phone.

Source: Theultralinx.com

The main issue’s Apple’s fuming about are:

• “slide-to-unlock”
•  Searching multiple sources of information at once
• Detecting phone numbers in emails so you can simply tap the number to call anyone.
•  Spell-check that suggests alternatives when you misspell something.  (Really Apple? I’m pretty sure that one’s been around for a while.)

And to top off our festival of tech wackiness, I saved the best for last.

Google Sues… Google?

I swear, you can’t make this stuff up – It seems that the legal team that represents a few of Google’s patents, Pepper Hamilton LLP, was also representing a patent licensing business that is responsible for suing the Google Android partners in January. Not the right guys to have on your team, but hey, who am I to know?

Pepper Hamilton is responsible for at least 50 patents in Google’s portfolio; 12 of them are specifically for Android smartphones. With so many patent lawsuits flying around, some overlapping is bound to happen.  But if Google can’t trust themselves with their own information, how can we trust them with ours?

To wrap things up, (because this is just bonkers) here’s an idea, I think I’ll go patent the use of fingers to type out letters on a keyboard. No one’s on to that idea yet.