Insights & Ideas

The tech industry has been hailed as a boon for growth and job creation.

But upon closer inspection of multi-billion dollar valuations and scrappy startups on their way to profitability, you might notice that the revenues these companies command are wildly disproportionate to the number of people they employ.

Facebook, which some have valued at $100 billion after filing for an IPO last week, employs a mere 3,000 people. Compare that with General Motors, which raised the biggest IPO in history in 2010. Its estimated market cap at the time of this writing is only $41.4 billion, and they employ a whopping 202,000 workers to create that value.
This should come as no surprise. It takes a lot more people to build a car than to build an app.
We thought it might be interesting to parse all these billions in relation to the actual people who work for these companies. How much money and value is being pulled in per employee? And which tech companies are getting the biggest bang for their payroll buck?
Our friends at research and analysis firm Statista have put together these handy charts to show which companies are maximizing employee return.

So here are some of the most interesting trends and graphs we came across in the later part of 2011 (therefore showing trends of 2011). They are from a variety of sources and we have tried to include the relevant credit at the bottom of each.

We will be adding a couple more as this is a useful repository of mobile stats and trends in the industry (and globally).

Enterprise Mobile Apps - 2011 Stats

Some-interesting-Smartphone-Stats-2011

Smartphone - Penetration - various countries

Number of apps installed per user (avearge) various countries

Operating systems in China - Mobile - 2011

India - type of Smartphone Usage

India - Smartphone Apps per user

UK - Smartphone OS - 2011

 

Smartphones in India - 2011

 

HTML5 capabilities of UK Devices - 2011

FeaturePhones are still in majority - 2011

Most of the sessions so far are talking about how the Asian scene (Emerging market driven) requires different business models for Apps Stores and even Device makers.

Talking about huge opportunity as mobile screens being the main screen for content consumption. Tablets are got to become a major screen that replaces the laptop (CEO, Vidiator). Turner APAC talking about Content Everywhere that also syncs with this concept.

Airtel India presented about India market where you can’t ignore the feature phones.

Sessions from Rovio coming up later. Also more about FabriQate presentation shortly.

(updates to follow through the day). Some images below:

We have been involved with the Enterprise Mobile Apps scene from its early days, and its amazing to see the growth in this space as more and more companies embrace mobile technology to empower and mobilise its systems (and people).

Either as a cost-saving or as a sales-acceleration, the enterprise mobile apps story is getting interesting. Just look at some of these news blurbs below that we have been tracking:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces 92% of Fortune 500 are trying out the iPad.

Adoption by sector:
Financial service firms are the most likely to adopt the iPad – 36.8% of its customers iPad deployments are in financial services companies. Technology clocks in at 11.4%, and the healthcare industry lands at 10.5%.

Here’s a useful chart from Good Technology explaining iPad usage by industry:

Other interesting trends around devices (its mostly iPads!):

While iPad has been the clear leader in the Enterprise Mobile Apps game so far (estimates suggest over 96% market share), there are a couple issues that make other Android (or WP8) powered tablets also interesting. Most important issues with the iPad:

1. Cost — its still an expensive device compared to base level Android tablets like Amazon Fire or the Nook

2. Limited customisation — Apple has strict rules about what can and cannot be done on the iPad, so Enterprises sometimes cannot overwrite or rebrand core features. In that sense Android again has an advantage

3. Still a personal device — Many argue that the iPad is still a consumer focussed device with entertainment and fun apps. While these can be turned off (Configuration Profile), the other tablets (especially WP8) are going to be more “corporate” in their approach. This almost is going back to the Mac vs. Windows argument for enterprise where as we know Microsoft is the clear winner.

In summary, dont write off Android tablets or WP8 tablets when they launch. No one knows the Enterprise game better than Microsoft and their recent WP8 offering is very good and many would argue, its ideal for enterprise.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or pop us a visit if your company is considering enterprise mobile apps and need a sounding board. FabriQate is a dedicated mobile technology company and we have deep expertise in enterprise mobile apps for several Fortune 500 clients including handling the essential security issues.

Finally, the infographic that says it all:

The one that amazes us is that 66% of the people check their favourite app atleast once a day… wonder how many people have Facebook as their favourite app!

Just been informed that Nokia Retail stores in Asia have chosen the FabriQate Ideas app as a demo on the devices. See picture:

FabriQate Ideas app as demo in Nokia Retail in Asia

Yesterday was a special day: it saw the formalization of a dynamic new partnership with the world’s largest self-service app platform, Mobile Roadie, and the much anticipated China launch of our joint product, Q Mobao, all at a sparkling press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Guangzhou.

Among the audience of 50+ was a contingent of friends and existing clients, new and soon-t0-be partners and distributors, and the full gamut of local and national press/media.  They were treated to two rousing speeches by the partnership’s CEOs, a live demonstration of the Madonna “麦当娜” app by FabriQate’s Q Mobao lead Daniel Dong, a networking and group-interview session, and a live Q&A session, conducted by FabriQate’s BD Manager Roban Chen, to conclude.  By the time the conference was underway, the news had already reached TechCrunch, and today the Washington Post, Sohu, and many more.

Manav Gupta, FabriQate China Managing Director, announced FabriQate as Mobile Roadie’s strategic and exclusive partner, as well as its business expansion in China and around the globe.

Michael Schneider, CEO of Mobile Roadie, elaborated on its global presence as well, its broader impact to Chinese consumers, and its future plans in China.

Q Mobao, the localized version of Mobile Roadie’s successful DIY solution, allows iPhone and Android apps to be created in hours instead of months and at a fraction of the cost of custom development, with features such as music,video, and social-sharing to popular Chinese SNS, as well as data management to monitor user behavior.  Pricing can be found on the Q Mobao website.

Through a local partner, apps made on the Q Mobao platform will be accessible to China Unicom and China Mobile’s combined 900 million mobile users.

“With a web-based platform, Q Mobao aims to bring businesses and individuals custom-made iOS and Android apps that can promote their brands more effectively,” stated Gupta.  “We have a strong local R&D and Operations team that deeply understands China market’s needs. Moreover, with our global network, we are best positioned to further ease any and all strategy and creative ideation, set-up, development, and post-launch processes.”

Mobile Roadie has already amassed more than 10 million end users worldwide.  With the release of Q Mobao, FabriQate’s goal is to add a couple more zeros to that number in China as the decade progresses.

Stay tuned for additional updates and photos from the event!

We’re launching QMobao.com & Madonna’s China Mobile App tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel in Guangzhou at 2pm.

QMobao is a localized version of the World’s largest app platform already powering apps for Taylor Swift, Adele, David Guetta, WEF and so on. 30+ partners and 25+ national press / media to be in attendance.

Going to be a great day for FabriQate & @mobileRoadie as we grow in the world’s fastest growing app market (China). Come by and meet us…

QMobao from FabriQate China

So the team at FabriQate thought it’s best to discuss the real potential of Mobile Payments. Is it truly going to lead to the rise of the “Superphone” or does it just become another 10-year story that goes nowhere?

As teenagers, the founders of FabriQate saw the endless potential of mobile phones while growing up in Japan. They both knew that mobile technology would soon be our end-all be-all gadget. And Japan has made leaps and bounds here with the popular M-Mode. However barring the exception of M-Pesa (Kenya) and M-Chek (India) there aren’t that many success stories around.

The media and marketing industry has spent the last couple of years in anticipation of the full-scale launch of mobile payments. This year seemed to get us closer, with news of Orange and Barclaycard’s UK JV to deliver mobile payments, Google wallet’s launch in the US and O2’s impending wallet system. Another UK company called Monetise (whose Chairman, we recently met) also has been making some progress here.

Despite this progress, mobile payment is still limited in the UK due to the spend limits imposed (£15 on Orange and talks of £30 on O2), as well as lack of scale and too many different stakeholders and services in the market. All this was slowing progress but more importantly, it was inevitable that all these products were going to confuse consumers.

So FabriQate asks the question, what do consumers really want?

- Convenience
- Effortless (and natural)
- Consumers want to be able to replace their physical wallet with a secure mobile wallet (possibly using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to pay for goods and services)
- Benefit from relevant offers and coupons, delivered direct to their phone

The latest YouGov mobile wallet survey backs this up, with the majority of surveyed consumers saying they would only use their phone for smaller ticket purchases. Also the operators recognised the need to invest in mobile payments infrastructure and had to face up to the threat of being overtaken by companies like Facebook, Square and Google in the mobile payments space if they didn’t react and work in a collaborative way.

In all – we think the wave is now. After 10 years + of deliberation, the mobile payments wave is finally arriving .. however the solution still needs to be refined or this wave will dissipate on the wave breakers!

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

The tech industry has been hailed as a boon for growth and job creation.

But upon closer inspection of multi-billion dollar valuations and scrappy startups on their way to profitability, you might notice that the revenues these companies command are wildly disproportionate to the number of people they employ.

Facebook, which some have valued at $100 billion after filing for an IPO last week, employs a mere 3,000 people. Compare that with General Motors, which raised the biggest IPO in history in 2010. Its estimated market cap at the time of this writing is only $41.4 billion, and they employ a whopping 202,000 workers to create that value.
This should come as no surprise. It takes a lot more people to build a car than to build an app.
We thought it might be interesting to parse all these billions in relation to the actual people who work for these companies. How much money and value is being pulled in per employee? And which tech companies are getting the biggest bang for their payroll buck?
Our friends at research and analysis firm Statista have put together these handy charts to show which companies are maximizing employee return.

We have been involved with the Enterprise Mobile Apps scene from its early days, and its amazing to see the growth in this space as more and more companies embrace mobile technology to empower and mobilise its systems (and people).

Either as a cost-saving or as a sales-acceleration, the enterprise mobile apps story is getting interesting. Just look at some of these news blurbs below that we have been tracking:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces 92% of Fortune 500 are trying out the iPad.

Adoption by sector:
Financial service firms are the most likely to adopt the iPad – 36.8% of its customers iPad deployments are in financial services companies. Technology clocks in at 11.4%, and the healthcare industry lands at 10.5%.

Here’s a useful chart from Good Technology explaining iPad usage by industry:

Other interesting trends around devices (its mostly iPads!):

While iPad has been the clear leader in the Enterprise Mobile Apps game so far (estimates suggest over 96% market share), there are a couple issues that make other Android (or WP8) powered tablets also interesting. Most important issues with the iPad:

1. Cost — its still an expensive device compared to base level Android tablets like Amazon Fire or the Nook

2. Limited customisation — Apple has strict rules about what can and cannot be done on the iPad, so Enterprises sometimes cannot overwrite or rebrand core features. In that sense Android again has an advantage

3. Still a personal device — Many argue that the iPad is still a consumer focussed device with entertainment and fun apps. While these can be turned off (Configuration Profile), the other tablets (especially WP8) are going to be more “corporate” in their approach. This almost is going back to the Mac vs. Windows argument for enterprise where as we know Microsoft is the clear winner.

In summary, dont write off Android tablets or WP8 tablets when they launch. No one knows the Enterprise game better than Microsoft and their recent WP8 offering is very good and many would argue, its ideal for enterprise.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or pop us a visit if your company is considering enterprise mobile apps and need a sounding board. FabriQate is a dedicated mobile technology company and we have deep expertise in enterprise mobile apps for several Fortune 500 clients including handling the essential security issues.

Finally, the infographic that says it all:

The one that amazes us is that 66% of the people check their favourite app atleast once a day… wonder how many people have Facebook as their favourite app!

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

We gave Mikey, one of our designers, one working week with an iPad and the task to find his favourite apps, judging them on usability, interface design and function…

Deja

First up is Deja, designed and developed by Nimrod Ram this delightful little app utilises existing media streams tailored to you, that presents everything that’s happening in your digital world in the most entertaining and visual of ways. Flipboard? I hear you murmur, well no actually the interface uses videos as it’s key content and the manner it delivers them to you is quite charming. Despite it’s initially confusing appearance once you get into the app it is easy to use and the UX is pleasant. Although I do think it would have benefited from an initial “How to use” frame. Despite this its useful, cool and very pretty. 8/10

Flipboard

Yeah I know it revolutionised the way we view our digital but I’ve got beef with Flipboard. While I think it’s beautiful and I appreciate gestures are the future of mobile device UX’s, in my view it isn’t quite there yet.

Admittedly it is one if the apps I initially used most but the UI is difficult to learn, and this taints the experience with a feeling it could do more. The iPad by nature is so fantastically intuitive, it’s the reason you can give it to an 8 year old and watch them work out how to use it. Give them Flipboard and it would end up joining stretch Armstrong in the toy graveyard. Overall this app is like a budget airline, an incredible idea and it’s almost there but you’ll still need a 50 euro cab to get to your hotel. 9/10

Soundy Thingie

As an electronic music aficionado I couldn’t leave this little gem out. Following in the wake of a whole host of tone pad copycats I can almost hear your eyeballs rolling back into your head but stay with me. While it may not be the most original idea the way it delivers the concept is fantastically innovative.

You have an option of 5 unique electronic sounds and you can change the BPM of these individually. The reason I love it so much is the ability to change the type of sounds dependant of the speed and aggression of your movements/gestures. You can throw your whole hand down and set multiple strands of electronic delight, and all this for less than a pint of shandy. It does have some setbacks, while you can save your work it does lack the ability to export your masterpieces meaning it needs an update to make me tell my friends about it. 6/10

Radio Soulwax

Another musical application this time from one of my favourite bands/DJ’s/musical gods, Soulwax. It acts as a platform to showcase the various mixes the band have specifically created for the app. What I love about the UI is how simple it is, you have very few options to select and you can go from the main dashboard to download/stream/play mixes in 3 clicks. Secondly, the mixes have bespoke visuals which play alongside them, this isn’t your standard iTunes visualizer these are the real deal, direct from Soulwax’s Live show. It’s is a great free app for anyone who likes music, visuals and pretty interfaces, but be warned you will end up throwing a house party just to show this beauty off! 7/10

CNN

This App makes news about as beautiful as it can be, I love the grids which this App uses. It’s so simple but amazing what a low opacity banner over an image can do. I ended up reading articles about US foreign policy, a title I certainly wouldn’t have picked out of a text menu and is a great advert for how to increase media consumption through a pleasant UI. I guess my main gripe would be the flip side to my favourite part, you need a really stable connection to fully use this App as articles take a while to render out, and in airplane mode only the front images are cached. So you can’t use it unless you have 3G, this meant I had a great UX while on the overground but the minute I hit the tunnels I had to switch to Flipboard… Great UX and interface but with its connection limitations its only getting 7/10.

5 days, 5 apps just another 90,131 to go…

So Google has started testing a wonder wheel on certain results (see screenshot below).

It came up a couple times on various searches, but it still looks like a testing feature as it was a bit erratic (and confusing) in functionality. One can see the similarity to YouTube’s video nodes, which was a great way to discover related content.

Seems like everyone is aiming for new and better ways of content discovery.

Nearly everyone respects and love the Apple Design .. but here are the original 10 guidelines from Dieter Rams (of Braun, Germany) from whom Apple’s lead designer Jony Ives takes his inspiration.

At FabriQate our design studio pays our respect to Rams as well for this.

Good Design…

Is innovative – Rams states that possibilities for innovation in design are unlikely to be exhausted since technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. He also highlights that innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology and can never be an end in and of itself.

Makes a product useful - A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Is aesthetic - Only well-executed objects can be beautiful. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products used every day have an effect on people and their well-being.

Makes a product understandable – It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Is unobtrusive – Products and their design should be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression. Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools and are neither decorative objects nor works of art.

Is honest – Honest design should not attempt to make a product seem more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It should not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Is long-lasting - It should avoid being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even when the trend may be in favor for disposable products.

Is thorough down to the last detail – Dieter Rams states that nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance in the design of a product since care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Is environmentally friendly - Good design should make an important contribution to the preservation of the environment by conserving resources and minimizing physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Is as little design as possible - Dieter Rams makes the distinction between the common “Less is more” and his strongly advised “Less, but better” highlighting the fact that this approach focuses on the essential aspects thus, the products are not burdened with non-essentials. The desirable result would then be purer and simpler.

We often get asked to give presentations and educate other clients about mobile usability and experience design. So we have put down our top 10 tips to give your mobile app design the right finish:

1.      Respect the user environment and design based on lighting, holding style, noise levels etc

Mobile User Experience and interface design is centered around understanding the environment in which the mobile device is being used. For example if the mobile device is primarily being used in an outdoors environment (ie: buses, trains) we know that the lighting will vary and noise based alerts will be difficult for the user to hear. Similarly, if being used in a bus/train while the user is standing and holding the rails – it is important to design the app for one-handed use rather than both hands.
The aspect of the UI should be friendly: delicate, warm colours and soft curves, it must give the sensation of a quiet, private, kind and comfortable environment. The user experience must follow this criteria by having a clear and well defined user flow, allowing him to keep track of his position inside the process, and should give a sort of calm and relaxed sensation. We don’t want to scare or confuse the user. It may happen that the app will give bad news to the user, this is a very delicate task and the whole environment must help the user to maintain a certain level of comfort.
2.       Mobile not miniature web – and therefore it is important not to create a solution like a website.

Mobile is its own unique medium that requires thorough testing to ensure smooth usage without complexities like its web-counterpart. Mobile devices offer additional sensors as well that can help improve our solution such as GPS, camera and recently gyroscopes and such — these often allow a mobile app solution to be much more adapted to the user than a web-solution.
3.       Mobile is a very personal device – be ready to adapt your app to various user customisations and settings.

Unlike a PC / Laptop which is often shared, a mobile is a very personal device and people often run many more customisations on it (themes, colours) compared to PCs (where people rarely change their default Windows colours). Therefore it is vital that our design layout be simple with high contrast to ensure that regardless of user settings on the device, the app still is easy to understand and to navigate.
4.       The mobile user is in a rush – 3 taps or less to all features

Typically a mobile user is looking for specific need when using the service, so its important to minimise (or hide away) additional unrelated information (such as legal disclaimers, notices and introductions). The user needs to be able to get to most features of the app within 3 buttons
5.       Content on top, Controls at bottom

This is one of the key design guidelines for mobile devices where our holding style determines that the buttons should be at the bottom ensuring maximum screen space to display content.The Thumb is a key control for most users – so add the key action buttons in the “thumb-hotzone”
6.     User like to scroll sideways, not top-down

Avoid Scroll down, encourage swipe over (especially touch-screen). It has been observed that users tend to prefer scrolling panels to the side on mobile devices unlike the PC/Laptop where we are accustomed to scrolling down
7.  Think Big, Design Small

The Finger on the screen issue – With a touch-screen interface, it is important to consider that the control method (the user’s finger) can also obstruct the button and screen below it. While the finger seems like a small thing, it has a big impact as relative the proportion of the screen size, the finger occupies a larger space (compared to other touch screen such as ATMs and ticket machines)
8.   Use effective error messages

Short, exact and provides a resolution. Should be easy to dismiss and resolve – rather than requiring and additional inputs.

9. Depth in the Button design

On Touchscreen devices should involve a 3D button style rather than flat graphic. This gives the user the sensation of pressing to get required action (including feedback while pressing).

10.  Minimal text – more symbols.

The text and written content should be reduced to the minimum, even though we assume that the user base of this app is english speaking, we can build a graphic UI top level for the menus and main interactions with minimised text which will, on the contrary, be prominent inside the specific sections. This process will help to create a UI that wont be an obstacle in case of future multi-language development, even though is a test app it’s a good practice not to lock any door behind you during the development.

The tech industry has been hailed as a boon for growth and job creation.

But upon closer inspection of multi-billion dollar valuations and scrappy startups on their way to profitability, you might notice that the revenues these companies command are wildly disproportionate to the number of people they employ.

Facebook, which some have valued at $100 billion after filing for an IPO last week, employs a mere 3,000 people. Compare that with General Motors, which raised the biggest IPO in history in 2010. Its estimated market cap at the time of this writing is only $41.4 billion, and they employ a whopping 202,000 workers to create that value.
This should come as no surprise. It takes a lot more people to build a car than to build an app.
We thought it might be interesting to parse all these billions in relation to the actual people who work for these companies. How much money and value is being pulled in per employee? And which tech companies are getting the biggest bang for their payroll buck?
Our friends at research and analysis firm Statista have put together these handy charts to show which companies are maximizing employee return.

We have been involved with the Enterprise Mobile Apps scene from its early days, and its amazing to see the growth in this space as more and more companies embrace mobile technology to empower and mobilise its systems (and people).

Either as a cost-saving or as a sales-acceleration, the enterprise mobile apps story is getting interesting. Just look at some of these news blurbs below that we have been tracking:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces 92% of Fortune 500 are trying out the iPad.

Adoption by sector:
Financial service firms are the most likely to adopt the iPad – 36.8% of its customers iPad deployments are in financial services companies. Technology clocks in at 11.4%, and the healthcare industry lands at 10.5%.

Here’s a useful chart from Good Technology explaining iPad usage by industry:

Other interesting trends around devices (its mostly iPads!):

While iPad has been the clear leader in the Enterprise Mobile Apps game so far (estimates suggest over 96% market share), there are a couple issues that make other Android (or WP8) powered tablets also interesting. Most important issues with the iPad:

1. Cost — its still an expensive device compared to base level Android tablets like Amazon Fire or the Nook

2. Limited customisation — Apple has strict rules about what can and cannot be done on the iPad, so Enterprises sometimes cannot overwrite or rebrand core features. In that sense Android again has an advantage

3. Still a personal device — Many argue that the iPad is still a consumer focussed device with entertainment and fun apps. While these can be turned off (Configuration Profile), the other tablets (especially WP8) are going to be more “corporate” in their approach. This almost is going back to the Mac vs. Windows argument for enterprise where as we know Microsoft is the clear winner.

In summary, dont write off Android tablets or WP8 tablets when they launch. No one knows the Enterprise game better than Microsoft and their recent WP8 offering is very good and many would argue, its ideal for enterprise.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or pop us a visit if your company is considering enterprise mobile apps and need a sounding board. FabriQate is a dedicated mobile technology company and we have deep expertise in enterprise mobile apps for several Fortune 500 clients including handling the essential security issues.

Finally, the infographic that says it all:

So the team at FabriQate thought it’s best to discuss the real potential of Mobile Payments. Is it truly going to lead to the rise of the “Superphone” or does it just become another 10-year story that goes nowhere?

As teenagers, the founders of FabriQate saw the endless potential of mobile phones while growing up in Japan. They both knew that mobile technology would soon be our end-all be-all gadget. And Japan has made leaps and bounds here with the popular M-Mode. However barring the exception of M-Pesa (Kenya) and M-Chek (India) there aren’t that many success stories around.

The media and marketing industry has spent the last couple of years in anticipation of the full-scale launch of mobile payments. This year seemed to get us closer, with news of Orange and Barclaycard’s UK JV to deliver mobile payments, Google wallet’s launch in the US and O2’s impending wallet system. Another UK company called Monetise (whose Chairman, we recently met) also has been making some progress here.

Despite this progress, mobile payment is still limited in the UK due to the spend limits imposed (£15 on Orange and talks of £30 on O2), as well as lack of scale and too many different stakeholders and services in the market. All this was slowing progress but more importantly, it was inevitable that all these products were going to confuse consumers.

So FabriQate asks the question, what do consumers really want?

- Convenience
- Effortless (and natural)
- Consumers want to be able to replace their physical wallet with a secure mobile wallet (possibly using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to pay for goods and services)
- Benefit from relevant offers and coupons, delivered direct to their phone

The latest YouGov mobile wallet survey backs this up, with the majority of surveyed consumers saying they would only use their phone for smaller ticket purchases. Also the operators recognised the need to invest in mobile payments infrastructure and had to face up to the threat of being overtaken by companies like Facebook, Square and Google in the mobile payments space if they didn’t react and work in a collaborative way.

In all – we think the wave is now. After 10 years + of deliberation, the mobile payments wave is finally arriving .. however the solution still needs to be refined or this wave will dissipate on the wave breakers!

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

Read the full article on Venture Beat here or view a large version of the AppsGeyser graphic here

While Silicon Valley gets all the attention as the hotbed for idea-generation in mobile software, AppsGeyser’s Estuardo Robles begs to differ.  By next year, the mobile application industry will be a 17 billion dollar industry globally and it will have more than a handful of innovative hotspots around the world to thank.

For the industry itself, this is intriguing and assuring information. It refutes the notion that the majority of mobile application idea generation comes solely from developed countries and Silicon Valley in particular while programming and grunt work is outsourced elsewhere.  The study makes it very clear that wherever ideas can be had, Android applications can result.  But the chances that your idea will turn into reality are of course much more likely were you to be in the top cities and countries listed in the graphic.

Also interesting is that the study validates FabriQate’s current and future presence across the globe.  Our engineering team is stationed in Guangzhou and Mumbai.  According to the AppsGeyser graphic, the highest percentage of Android app generation in China comes from South China (probably including Hong Kong as well), not Beijing or Shanghai.  FabriQate also has a client service team in Hong Kong and has an extensive sales network there to feed work back to its Guangzhou hub.  Likewise, FabriQate’s strong presence in Singapore (the leader among Southeast Asian countries according to the graphic) and Southeast Asia has also been strategically planned and meticulously developed in the last three years.

In addition, London ranks second on a list of the top five cities where Android app ideas are born. FabriQate’s headquarters in London takes care of creative, design, and client services throughout the region.  More often, idea generation has taken place in our Guangzhou office as well, but it never hurts to have the input of our team in the UK (2nd after the United States in terms of the top 5 countries where app ideas are born).  London has the highest number of apps created of any city outside the U.S.

FabriQate has plans to open client service offices in New York City where we already have a sales presence (#1 on the cities list), and Sao Paolo (Brazil has the highest percentage of idea generation in South America).

The study looks only at idea generation for Android apps from the period June 2011 to August 2011.  Had the study included the iOS (iPhone and iPad) platform and a larger sample, we wonder if the results would skew more toward the United States as the nation does house the behemoths Apple and Google and perhaps the most highly educated students in the world.

Ideas for mobile apps are generated everywhere but experienced, talented, and versatile coders are in short supply.  If supply and demand can’t match bountiful ideas with skilled software engineers, companies may have to table some of their ideas in lieu of hiring more expensive coders, or take a risk and wait until the  next generation of programmers enter the workforce from college.  Of course, there’s also the option of setting up shop where the most ideas are generated.  Silicon Valley, New York, and London are expensive but perhaps necessary.  Eastern Europe, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), India (Bangalore), and Mexico all look like attractive second options.

Download the McKinsey report here

McKinsey’s recent report on tablets illustrated how owners use their tablets, why they love their tablets, and where tablets miss the mark.

After downloading and pouring through hundreds of apps for the iPhone and iPad, we’ve discovered a variety of ways that consumers can use their tablets throughout the day. In the morning, a glut of recipe apps allow you to cook your favorite breakfast items while streaming CNN in the background. While eating breakfast, you can use your tablet to read the local newspaper or listen to a local radio channel. As the McKinsey article explained, people who love reading love reading on tablets.

As you leave for work, the tablet can be used for multiple purposes en route, especially if you commute by bus or train. Many public transportation options throughout the world allow Wi-Fi access, enabling you to begin work-related tasks on the go. At work, tablets for enterprise use are becoming more prevalent, especially in the areas of presentation, multi-tasking, and collaboration. If your tablet is low on power, it can be charged during lunch breaks or downtime.

Check out 11 essential tablet productivity apps here

Back at home, the tablet can still be used extensively. Children and spouses can use the tablet for a variety of activities from homework help to cooking, entertainment, and online shopping. Some families disconnect the internet after a certain hour to minimize distractions before bed. Even so, you can still use the tablet to read or better yet, test all the apps you’ve downloaded but haven’t gotten a chance to play with.

Still don’t have a tablet? Or want another one? They’re getting cheaper!

View Mary Meeker’s presentation on Business Insider:

The mobile industry ecosystem is now self-sustainable. Silicon Valley superstars Apple and Google’s iOS and Android mobile operating systems have created spaces for developers to reap enormous profits on applications. Aside from well known manufacturers of handsets and tablets, industry titans that had previously only sold PCs, phones, televisions or white goods are vying for footholds in the expanding tablet market. HP, Blackberry, Huawei, HTC, Lenovo, even Amazon hope their tablets and pricing will beat out the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab in mature markets like the US/EU and new ones from India to Brazil and China.

Whole industries, FMCG, automobile, finance, publishing, and many others have had to adapt their brand and marketing strategy to a new SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) phenomenon and most are struggling to do so. Moreover, even though the relative efficacy of mobile ads far outstrips other traditional media, it has been difficult for companies to build consistent mobile ad revenue despite the fact that users are spending more time on the internet versus print, radio, and TV. If mobile ad revenue can’t pick up the pace, developers will have three options: charging for their apps upfront, allowing in-app purchasing, or even offering virtual goods. Meeker’s report establishes virtual goods as a 2 billion dollar industry in the US though it’s gaining plenty of popularity in China as well.

Read more on China’s PapayaMobile, here and here: Android’s leading social gaming network that as of July 2011 has 300 third-party developers.

Deloitte suggests that brands build actual functionality into their apps that solve problems for the consumer instead of merely showcasing multiple apps purely for marketing purposes. Simple functionalities like social sharing, maps, games, and location sharing are enough to please the consumer, provided the app is bug-free and easy to use. More advanced functionalities like augmented reality and NFC eCommerce will become mainstream in the near future but if brands think they can forgo basic functionality, they will join the other 80% of branded apps in Deloitte’s research (healthcare and consumer brands) that weren’t even downloaded more than 1000 times.

Read Deloitte’s recent article: Branded Apps Flopping.

Finally, we would be remiss not to comment on a couple on Meeker’s trends for the future: HTML5 versus native apps and enterprise adoption of tablets for productivity.

In the near term, hybrid apps, native downloadable apps which run all or some of their user interface in an embedded browser component, will be more widespread. They will utilize the newest HTML5 and CSS3 standards to deliver more and more features that are currently restricted to native apps: i.e. the camera, microphone, address book, and hardcore graphics for gaming.

Read VentureBeat’s July 2011 article for the rest of the debate.

Finally, enterprises are putting tablets to use around the world and it comes as no surprise to us that the iPad is leading the way as 95% of tablets in the enterprise setting are the iPad , according to a recent survey from Good Technology. Our office has an order of ten times more iOS-run devices than Android devices but as far as tablet computing is concerned, both allow our employees to be infinitely more efficient on the job, as they are able to multitask from their desktops, tablets, and phones to finish tasks much faster than with one screen alone.

I don’t even open email, the news, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on my desktop anymore. That space is reserved for Microsoft Office, certain Adobe documents, Dropbox, and many more powerful software tools.

So here are some of the most interesting trends and graphs we came across in the later part of 2011 (therefore showing trends of 2011). They are from a variety of sources and we have tried to include the relevant credit at the bottom of each.

We will be adding a couple more as this is a useful repository of mobile stats and trends in the industry (and globally).

Enterprise Mobile Apps - 2011 Stats

Some-interesting-Smartphone-Stats-2011

Smartphone - Penetration - various countries

Number of apps installed per user (avearge) various countries

Operating systems in China - Mobile - 2011

India - type of Smartphone Usage

India - Smartphone Apps per user

UK - Smartphone OS - 2011

 

Smartphones in India - 2011

 

HTML5 capabilities of UK Devices - 2011

FeaturePhones are still in majority - 2011

Most of the sessions so far are talking about how the Asian scene (Emerging market driven) requires different business models for Apps Stores and even Device makers.

Talking about huge opportunity as mobile screens being the main screen for content consumption. Tablets are got to become a major screen that replaces the laptop (CEO, Vidiator). Turner APAC talking about Content Everywhere that also syncs with this concept.

Airtel India presented about India market where you can’t ignore the feature phones.

Sessions from Rovio coming up later. Also more about FabriQate presentation shortly.

(updates to follow through the day). Some images below:

We have been involved with the Enterprise Mobile Apps scene from its early days, and its amazing to see the growth in this space as more and more companies embrace mobile technology to empower and mobilise its systems (and people).

Either as a cost-saving or as a sales-acceleration, the enterprise mobile apps story is getting interesting. Just look at some of these news blurbs below that we have been tracking:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces 92% of Fortune 500 are trying out the iPad.

Adoption by sector:
Financial service firms are the most likely to adopt the iPad – 36.8% of its customers iPad deployments are in financial services companies. Technology clocks in at 11.4%, and the healthcare industry lands at 10.5%.

Here’s a useful chart from Good Technology explaining iPad usage by industry:

Other interesting trends around devices (its mostly iPads!):

While iPad has been the clear leader in the Enterprise Mobile Apps game so far (estimates suggest over 96% market share), there are a couple issues that make other Android (or WP8) powered tablets also interesting. Most important issues with the iPad:

1. Cost — its still an expensive device compared to base level Android tablets like Amazon Fire or the Nook

2. Limited customisation — Apple has strict rules about what can and cannot be done on the iPad, so Enterprises sometimes cannot overwrite or rebrand core features. In that sense Android again has an advantage

3. Still a personal device — Many argue that the iPad is still a consumer focussed device with entertainment and fun apps. While these can be turned off (Configuration Profile), the other tablets (especially WP8) are going to be more “corporate” in their approach. This almost is going back to the Mac vs. Windows argument for enterprise where as we know Microsoft is the clear winner.

In summary, dont write off Android tablets or WP8 tablets when they launch. No one knows the Enterprise game better than Microsoft and their recent WP8 offering is very good and many would argue, its ideal for enterprise.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or pop us a visit if your company is considering enterprise mobile apps and need a sounding board. FabriQate is a dedicated mobile technology company and we have deep expertise in enterprise mobile apps for several Fortune 500 clients including handling the essential security issues.

Finally, the infographic that says it all:

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

View the full infographic here or read the full article here

Guohe Ad, China’s largest mobile ad mediation platform, has recently released an infographic on mobile advertising in China.

The most interesting tidbit from the infographic was a comparison of ad impressions between the iOS and Android platforms.  iOS ad impressions accounted for 58% of the mobile market compared to 42% for Android.  Guohe Ad explains the iOS advantage came from having a larger mobile app store which has higher quality apps with the ability to  attract more user interaction.

According to PaidContent, a firm specializing in paid content business models, the market for in-app advertising in China is comparatively small but growing quickly. By the end of 2011, in-app advertising revenue in China should reach almost 50 million dollars, which amounts to approximately 350% growth in only one year.

In stark contrast to the revenues made from in-app advertising via mobile, Chinese mobile ad spending will double in 2011 to nearly $500 million, according to eMarketer, fueled by the trend towards mobile internet in China this year.  According to Bloomberg, ad spending in China will double to $1.16 billion in 2014, matching the U.S.’s current total.

370 million Chinese, half the number of mobile handset owners in China, are expected to access the mobile internet at least once a month by the end of 2011.  Mobile ad spending has followed suit in the areas of mobile search, display and text message ads.

The challenge for mobile app developers is to attract a larger chunk of the advertising spending on mobile web into their mobile apps.  As Chinese are notorious for not paying for mobile software, app developers have already chased freemium business models to procure revenue.  Additional revenue from in-app advertising is a win-win for all parties involved.  Hopefully, advertising experts and mobile specialists working on the Android platform can find a way to catch up and even surpass the iPhone on ad impressions.

In the meantime, all other platforms will try to chip away at the iPad’s control of a ridiculous 98% of ad impressions versus all other tablets on the market.

Technode asserts that as of 2011, there are over 30 mobile ads platforms operating in China. Phone manufacturers or Telecom (Apple, Google, China Telecom), traditional web ads platform (iMocha, AdChina etc), new mobile ads platform (MadHouse, CASEE, Wooboo, AdWo, Domob etc) and ads mediation platforms (Guohead, AdMob etc).

Read the full article on Venture Beat here or view a large version of the AppsGeyser graphic here

While Silicon Valley gets all the attention as the hotbed for idea-generation in mobile software, AppsGeyser’s Estuardo Robles begs to differ.  By next year, the mobile application industry will be a 17 billion dollar industry globally and it will have more than a handful of innovative hotspots around the world to thank.

For the industry itself, this is intriguing and assuring information. It refutes the notion that the majority of mobile application idea generation comes solely from developed countries and Silicon Valley in particular while programming and grunt work is outsourced elsewhere.  The study makes it very clear that wherever ideas can be had, Android applications can result.  But the chances that your idea will turn into reality are of course much more likely were you to be in the top cities and countries listed in the graphic.

Also interesting is that the study validates FabriQate’s current and future presence across the globe.  Our engineering team is stationed in Guangzhou and Mumbai.  According to the AppsGeyser graphic, the highest percentage of Android app generation in China comes from South China (probably including Hong Kong as well), not Beijing or Shanghai.  FabriQate also has a client service team in Hong Kong and has an extensive sales network there to feed work back to its Guangzhou hub.  Likewise, FabriQate’s strong presence in Singapore (the leader among Southeast Asian countries according to the graphic) and Southeast Asia has also been strategically planned and meticulously developed in the last three years.

In addition, London ranks second on a list of the top five cities where Android app ideas are born. FabriQate’s headquarters in London takes care of creative, design, and client services throughout the region.  More often, idea generation has taken place in our Guangzhou office as well, but it never hurts to have the input of our team in the UK (2nd after the United States in terms of the top 5 countries where app ideas are born).  London has the highest number of apps created of any city outside the U.S.

FabriQate has plans to open client service offices in New York City where we already have a sales presence (#1 on the cities list), and Sao Paolo (Brazil has the highest percentage of idea generation in South America).

The study looks only at idea generation for Android apps from the period June 2011 to August 2011.  Had the study included the iOS (iPhone and iPad) platform and a larger sample, we wonder if the results would skew more toward the United States as the nation does house the behemoths Apple and Google and perhaps the most highly educated students in the world.

Ideas for mobile apps are generated everywhere but experienced, talented, and versatile coders are in short supply.  If supply and demand can’t match bountiful ideas with skilled software engineers, companies may have to table some of their ideas in lieu of hiring more expensive coders, or take a risk and wait until the  next generation of programmers enter the workforce from college.  Of course, there’s also the option of setting up shop where the most ideas are generated.  Silicon Valley, New York, and London are expensive but perhaps necessary.  Eastern Europe, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), India (Bangalore), and Mexico all look like attractive second options.

So we knew this day was coming (and FabriQate has also played its part in getting Apple there!).

On 24th May 2011, Apple approved its 500,000th app. The number itself is startling. It’s also indicative of just how far behind some of Apple’s competitors really are. For example, Google, Apple’s top competitor on apps, announced at this month’s Google I/O conference it had reached 200,000 Android apps. And Nokia’s Ovi Store is the only other app market to have cracked 50,000.
Although the number of active iTunes App Store applications is currently around 400,000 due to removals and replacements, reaching half a million apps is a milestone Apple, its developers and fans, will want to celebrate.

Our friends over at Chomp,  148apps and Chillingo have put together a fantastic new infographic memorializes this moment, showing the app ecosystem breakdown today, its future growth projections and more.

- It would cost $891,982.24 and over 7 terabytes to get all available applications.

- Approximately 36% of all apps are free and paid apps have an average price of $3.64

- Angry Birds released by Chillingo and developed by Rovio has held the number 1 paid spot more than any other app at 275 days total.

- It also includes more practical data, like the average price for a paid app ($3.64), number of iOS developers (85,569) and percentage of free apps (37%).

AppStore hits 500,000 apps

Tomi Ahonen (blogger, author) has done a lot of work and pored through financial statements and has come up with the world’s largest companies in mobile, having removed and eliminated away other revenues. We start by appreciating his work.

So Oatmeal has become one of our favourite comics about web stuff.. here is the Winter Edition. You can find out a lot more about this from Oatmeal

The tech industry has been hailed as a boon for growth and job creation.

But upon closer inspection of multi-billion dollar valuations and scrappy startups on their way to profitability, you might notice that the revenues these companies command are wildly disproportionate to the number of people they employ.

Facebook, which some have valued at $100 billion after filing for an IPO last week, employs a mere 3,000 people. Compare that with General Motors, which raised the biggest IPO in history in 2010. Its estimated market cap at the time of this writing is only $41.4 billion, and they employ a whopping 202,000 workers to create that value.
This should come as no surprise. It takes a lot more people to build a car than to build an app.
We thought it might be interesting to parse all these billions in relation to the actual people who work for these companies. How much money and value is being pulled in per employee? And which tech companies are getting the biggest bang for their payroll buck?
Our friends at research and analysis firm Statista have put together these handy charts to show which companies are maximizing employee return.

So here are some of the most interesting trends and graphs we came across in the later part of 2011 (therefore showing trends of 2011). They are from a variety of sources and we have tried to include the relevant credit at the bottom of each.

We will be adding a couple more as this is a useful repository of mobile stats and trends in the industry (and globally).

Enterprise Mobile Apps - 2011 Stats

Some-interesting-Smartphone-Stats-2011

Smartphone - Penetration - various countries

Number of apps installed per user (avearge) various countries

Operating systems in China - Mobile - 2011

India - type of Smartphone Usage

India - Smartphone Apps per user

UK - Smartphone OS - 2011

 

Smartphones in India - 2011

 

HTML5 capabilities of UK Devices - 2011

FeaturePhones are still in majority - 2011

Most of the sessions so far are talking about how the Asian scene (Emerging market driven) requires different business models for Apps Stores and even Device makers.

Talking about huge opportunity as mobile screens being the main screen for content consumption. Tablets are got to become a major screen that replaces the laptop (CEO, Vidiator). Turner APAC talking about Content Everywhere that also syncs with this concept.

Airtel India presented about India market where you can’t ignore the feature phones.

Sessions from Rovio coming up later. Also more about FabriQate presentation shortly.

(updates to follow through the day). Some images below:

We have been involved with the Enterprise Mobile Apps scene from its early days, and its amazing to see the growth in this space as more and more companies embrace mobile technology to empower and mobilise its systems (and people).

Either as a cost-saving or as a sales-acceleration, the enterprise mobile apps story is getting interesting. Just look at some of these news blurbs below that we have been tracking:

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces 92% of Fortune 500 are trying out the iPad.

Adoption by sector:
Financial service firms are the most likely to adopt the iPad – 36.8% of its customers iPad deployments are in financial services companies. Technology clocks in at 11.4%, and the healthcare industry lands at 10.5%.

Here’s a useful chart from Good Technology explaining iPad usage by industry:

Other interesting trends around devices (its mostly iPads!):

While iPad has been the clear leader in the Enterprise Mobile Apps game so far (estimates suggest over 96% market share), there are a couple issues that make other Android (or WP8) powered tablets also interesting. Most important issues with the iPad:

1. Cost — its still an expensive device compared to base level Android tablets like Amazon Fire or the Nook

2. Limited customisation — Apple has strict rules about what can and cannot be done on the iPad, so Enterprises sometimes cannot overwrite or rebrand core features. In that sense Android again has an advantage

3. Still a personal device — Many argue that the iPad is still a consumer focussed device with entertainment and fun apps. While these can be turned off (Configuration Profile), the other tablets (especially WP8) are going to be more “corporate” in their approach. This almost is going back to the Mac vs. Windows argument for enterprise where as we know Microsoft is the clear winner.

In summary, dont write off Android tablets or WP8 tablets when they launch. No one knows the Enterprise game better than Microsoft and their recent WP8 offering is very good and many would argue, its ideal for enterprise.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or pop us a visit if your company is considering enterprise mobile apps and need a sounding board. FabriQate is a dedicated mobile technology company and we have deep expertise in enterprise mobile apps for several Fortune 500 clients including handling the essential security issues.

Finally, the infographic that says it all:

The one that amazes us is that 66% of the people check their favourite app atleast once a day… wonder how many people have Facebook as their favourite app!

Just been informed that Nokia Retail stores in Asia have chosen the FabriQate Ideas app as a demo on the devices. See picture:

FabriQate Ideas app as demo in Nokia Retail in Asia

Yesterday was a special day: it saw the formalization of a dynamic new partnership with the world’s largest self-service app platform, Mobile Roadie, and the much anticipated China launch of our joint product, Q Mobao, all at a sparkling press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Guangzhou.

Among the audience of 50+ was a contingent of friends and existing clients, new and soon-t0-be partners and distributors, and the full gamut of local and national press/media.  They were treated to two rousing speeches by the partnership’s CEOs, a live demonstration of the Madonna “麦当娜” app by FabriQate’s Q Mobao lead Daniel Dong, a networking and group-interview session, and a live Q&A session, conducted by FabriQate’s BD Manager Roban Chen, to conclude.  By the time the conference was underway, the news had already reached TechCrunch, and today the Washington Post, Sohu, and many more.

Manav Gupta, FabriQate China Managing Director, announced FabriQate as Mobile Roadie’s strategic and exclusive partner, as well as its business expansion in China and around the globe.

Michael Schneider, CEO of Mobile Roadie, elaborated on its global presence as well, its broader impact to Chinese consumers, and its future plans in China.

Q Mobao, the localized version of Mobile Roadie’s successful DIY solution, allows iPhone and Android apps to be created in hours instead of months and at a fraction of the cost of custom development, with features such as music,video, and social-sharing to popular Chinese SNS, as well as data management to monitor user behavior.  Pricing can be found on the Q Mobao website.

Through a local partner, apps made on the Q Mobao platform will be accessible to China Unicom and China Mobile’s combined 900 million mobile users.

“With a web-based platform, Q Mobao aims to bring businesses and individuals custom-made iOS and Android apps that can promote their brands more effectively,” stated Gupta.  “We have a strong local R&D and Operations team that deeply understands China market’s needs. Moreover, with our global network, we are best positioned to further ease any and all strategy and creative ideation, set-up, development, and post-launch processes.”

Mobile Roadie has already amassed more than 10 million end users worldwide.  With the release of Q Mobao, FabriQate’s goal is to add a couple more zeros to that number in China as the decade progresses.

Stay tuned for additional updates and photos from the event!

So the team at FabriQate thought it’s best to discuss the real potential of Mobile Payments. Is it truly going to lead to the rise of the “Superphone” or does it just become another 10-year story that goes nowhere?

As teenagers, the founders of FabriQate saw the endless potential of mobile phones while growing up in Japan. They both knew that mobile technology would soon be our end-all be-all gadget. And Japan has made leaps and bounds here with the popular M-Mode. However barring the exception of M-Pesa (Kenya) and M-Chek (India) there aren’t that many success stories around.

The media and marketing industry has spent the last couple of years in anticipation of the full-scale launch of mobile payments. This year seemed to get us closer, with news of Orange and Barclaycard’s UK JV to deliver mobile payments, Google wallet’s launch in the US and O2’s impending wallet system. Another UK company called Monetise (whose Chairman, we recently met) also has been making some progress here.

Despite this progress, mobile payment is still limited in the UK due to the spend limits imposed (£15 on Orange and talks of £30 on O2), as well as lack of scale and too many different stakeholders and services in the market. All this was slowing progress but more importantly, it was inevitable that all these products were going to confuse consumers.

So FabriQate asks the question, what do consumers really want?

- Convenience
- Effortless (and natural)
- Consumers want to be able to replace their physical wallet with a secure mobile wallet (possibly using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to pay for goods and services)
- Benefit from relevant offers and coupons, delivered direct to their phone

The latest YouGov mobile wallet survey backs this up, with the majority of surveyed consumers saying they would only use their phone for smaller ticket purchases. Also the operators recognised the need to invest in mobile payments infrastructure and had to face up to the threat of being overtaken by companies like Facebook, Square and Google in the mobile payments space if they didn’t react and work in a collaborative way.

In all – we think the wave is now. After 10 years + of deliberation, the mobile payments wave is finally arriving .. however the solution still needs to be refined or this wave will dissipate on the wave breakers!

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

View the full infographic here or read the full article here

Guohe Ad, China’s largest mobile ad mediation platform, has recently released an infographic on mobile advertising in China.

The most interesting tidbit from the infographic was a comparison of ad impressions between the iOS and Android platforms.  iOS ad impressions accounted for 58% of the mobile market compared to 42% for Android.  Guohe Ad explains the iOS advantage came from having a larger mobile app store which has higher quality apps with the ability to  attract more user interaction.

According to PaidContent, a firm specializing in paid content business models, the market for in-app advertising in China is comparatively small but growing quickly. By the end of 2011, in-app advertising revenue in China should reach almost 50 million dollars, which amounts to approximately 350% growth in only one year.

In stark contrast to the revenues made from in-app advertising via mobile, Chinese mobile ad spending will double in 2011 to nearly $500 million, according to eMarketer, fueled by the trend towards mobile internet in China this year.  According to Bloomberg, ad spending in China will double to $1.16 billion in 2014, matching the U.S.’s current total.

370 million Chinese, half the number of mobile handset owners in China, are expected to access the mobile internet at least once a month by the end of 2011.  Mobile ad spending has followed suit in the areas of mobile search, display and text message ads.

The challenge for mobile app developers is to attract a larger chunk of the advertising spending on mobile web into their mobile apps.  As Chinese are notorious for not paying for mobile software, app developers have already chased freemium business models to procure revenue.  Additional revenue from in-app advertising is a win-win for all parties involved.  Hopefully, advertising experts and mobile specialists working on the Android platform can find a way to catch up and even surpass the iPhone on ad impressions.

In the meantime, all other platforms will try to chip away at the iPad’s control of a ridiculous 98% of ad impressions versus all other tablets on the market.

Technode asserts that as of 2011, there are over 30 mobile ads platforms operating in China. Phone manufacturers or Telecom (Apple, Google, China Telecom), traditional web ads platform (iMocha, AdChina etc), new mobile ads platform (MadHouse, CASEE, Wooboo, AdWo, Domob etc) and ads mediation platforms (Guohead, AdMob etc).

Most of the sessions so far are talking about how the Asian scene (Emerging market driven) requires different business models for Apps Stores and even Device makers.

Talking about huge opportunity as mobile screens being the main screen for content consumption. Tablets are got to become a major screen that replaces the laptop (CEO, Vidiator). Turner APAC talking about Content Everywhere that also syncs with this concept.

Airtel India presented about India market where you can’t ignore the feature phones.

Sessions from Rovio coming up later. Also more about FabriQate presentation shortly.

(updates to follow through the day). Some images below:

The last few weeks have been packed with releases, acquisitions and rumours in the mobile industry (as usual), so we decided to post an end-of-August update post to keep you updated:

Windows Phone 7 Mango Update has been announced to be with us in September 1st week, so only a few days to wait. The Mango update is big news for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developers as it introduces over 500 new or improved features. Perhaps one of the most interesting updates is mobile IE 9 which is included with Mango, this will provide better HTML5 support. The update also adds Twitter and LinkedIn integrated services.  Nokia is rumoured to release its flagship Windows Phone device in October at the Nokia World Conference. We expect Windows Phone 7 to have a strong response.

Nvidia hopes that cheap mobile chip sales will boom, the chips maker well known for graphics chips is forecasting continued revenue growth thanks to their Tegra smartphone processor. The company has developed revenues to $1.02bn and improved on a loss in Q2 2010 of $175m to a profit in Q2 2011 of $174m. The Tegra powers both the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Droid X2. Nvidia are not sitting ideal as they already have a quad core mobiel processor on the way currently code named Kal-El.

Blackberry Colt leaked, revealing RIM’s holy grail their QNX operating system. Recent news and statistics have shown that RIM has been losing market share to iPhone and Android over the last 24 months. The company has put a lot behind their new QNX OS. However, a heap of RIM’s USPs such as BES are rumoured to not be ready for launch of the Colt! The answer suggested all over the web is that it has taken RIM much longer to re-write their BES services on QNX than RIM expected. However, what does sound very good is rumours that the Colt and other QXN devices will soon support Android based applications!

USA Adults Like QR Codes according to ComScore’s report 14m US adults used a QR code in June. Magazines and Newspapers represented nearly 50% of all the QR scanning which is interesting when we read various reports telling us “Newspapers are dead”.. not yet.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS leaked, so we can all take a look at the new Android smartphone OS screens and compare them to current Android screens and to iOS5? As well as an improved look there is apparently panorama mode fo the camera, and an app launcher. Also strong talk about Chrome being the browser on Android now.
And the two other pieces of information that just about everyone knows now:
Google buys Motorola, for $12.5bn – The purchase includes over 17,000 patents as well the manufacturing capabilities to output nearly 7m devices a quarter.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple – The share price took a bit of a dip (erasing $25 billion from the market value) and the fans showed their love, but Steve Jobs is no longer CEO of Apple for the second time round.

Download the McKinsey report here

McKinsey’s recent report on tablets illustrated how owners use their tablets, why they love their tablets, and where tablets miss the mark.

After downloading and pouring through hundreds of apps for the iPhone and iPad, we’ve discovered a variety of ways that consumers can use their tablets throughout the day. In the morning, a glut of recipe apps allow you to cook your favorite breakfast items while streaming CNN in the background. While eating breakfast, you can use your tablet to read the local newspaper or listen to a local radio channel. As the McKinsey article explained, people who love reading love reading on tablets.

As you leave for work, the tablet can be used for multiple purposes en route, especially if you commute by bus or train. Many public transportation options throughout the world allow Wi-Fi access, enabling you to begin work-related tasks on the go. At work, tablets for enterprise use are becoming more prevalent, especially in the areas of presentation, multi-tasking, and collaboration. If your tablet is low on power, it can be charged during lunch breaks or downtime.

Check out 11 essential tablet productivity apps here

Back at home, the tablet can still be used extensively. Children and spouses can use the tablet for a variety of activities from homework help to cooking, entertainment, and online shopping. Some families disconnect the internet after a certain hour to minimize distractions before bed. Even so, you can still use the tablet to read or better yet, test all the apps you’ve downloaded but haven’t gotten a chance to play with.

Still don’t have a tablet? Or want another one? They’re getting cheaper!