Here is video shot from the App we did for Blackberry. Noce asynchronous image galleries with iPhone like picture navigation.

We have been developing our “App5″ news app and experimenting with numerous development frameworks like JQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch and the likes. The App5 project will be initially targeted for publishers but we are looking to build plug-ins to popular blog platforms like Wordpress, Tumblr and Typepad.

But enough talk, check out the demos. NOTE: these news sites showing as examples are just that, examples. We use their feeds just to show case different GUIs.

Built with Glam Media Feeds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Aodrz58zw

Kauppalehti GUI

Aamulehti GUI

If your news site is interested in prototyping with us iPad and tablet optimized HTML5, please contact us.

So if you would be asked: “do you think people use their phones more for calling or for apps” – well I would definitely say for calling. Wrong. At least according to Zokem Research. They use apps! Apps account for 667 minutes usage per month. Messaging was only 4 minutes more. Voice calling only 531 minutes and browsing internet 422 minutes.

So if you are serious about marketing on mobile, then Apps should be definitely be on your roadmap. Especially interesting was the finding that in entertainment category, user added apps outweigh pre-installed.

We at Geniem are serious at helping you define the strategy how to get on the “apps-play”.

Part of the Mobile World Congress 2011 was an App Contest. Developers were invited to build apps for pre-selected Brands and Bands. Mobile Backstage started some time ago as cooperation project of Geniem and local Finnish independent record label. After winning a business plan competition in Silicon Valley and some tons of sweat, Mobile Backstage saw finally light and the company Steam Republic was formed to commercialize it. This video explains what Mobile Backstage is.

We at Geniem salute Jussi, Paavo, Olli, Petri and the whole team for achieving yet another win

GSMA World Congress Press Releases can be read here.

The App is now available in App Store Canada. The new app features Foursquare/Gowalla like check-ins to pubs and bars that service Captain Morgan rum. Users can also create “expeditions” e.g. pub crawls, and invite friends to join. Users are awarded with points and badges based on activity.

But that is not all, Blackberry is in the tests and Android breathing down on our neck. Ay ay, Captain!

The service is implemented by our Canadian Agency partner EBR Interactive. App pages are found here.

Developing good looking functional apps for Android is significantly more difficult than for iPhone apps. iPhone SDK has great looking default UI components that allow building sleek looking apps without extensive UI design experience or mobile development expertise. Android is designed for more experienced Java developers, and does not offer similar components. This mean that more is required from graphics, UI design and experience of mobile app development.

This can be seen if we compare simple apps found in Apple App Store and Android Market. The average quality in App Store is significantly better. This means Developing Android app is bit more expensive than iPhone. Industry price for simple iPhone app is around 10-20 k€ and for Android 15-25 k€. Android also has J2ME like fragmentation issues as there are 10 handset manufacturers, over 80 devices in use, 4 screen resolutions and different form factors with or without keyboard. This means QA is usually 1-2 weeks longer than for iPhone.

AppEver Advantage

Appever brings sleek design paradigm, an easy and fast way to build great looking apps. A similar simple app that costs 15-25 k€ coded natively, costs around 7-15k€ built with AppEver and boasts more impressive UI and works more reliably in multiple handsets. Even though main language to develop for Android is Java, AppEver Engine is built mainly with C to have better performance.

This does not mean we don’t code for Android natively if the case requires, but it does mean that simpler apps benefit definitely being built with AppEver.

At 19-20 October, Frederic Thuard from Geniem will be on the “Cross platform development” panel discussing the trends in fragmented app world.

Let us know if you want to meet us to discuss app development. Contact sales (at) geniem (dot) com and we will schedule a meet-up.

Our partner Bluetalk has been busy. With apps for Nokia, Audi and now Netlog, they have been busy producing nice apps for multiple platforms. Now the Netlog App has been finally published. Netlog did their own native iPhone and Android app, but decided to use Bluetalk to build the rest of the handsets.

Now the app is available in Ovi Store and soon embedded in selected LG devices. If you have Nokia device, try it out (i know it’ll cost 2 €, but hey, we need to do a living here ). Regarding the LG version, we did nice on-screen keyboard in it, which is even better than the native keyboard in the device itself.