Airtel Launches App Store

Apple's App Store phenomenon has slowly made it to India with the announcement of its launch in the country. While it is the mobile phone manufacturers that usually get in to the App Store business, it seems mobile operators too find this another way of earning revenue. Little wonder why almost all major cellular networks have their own customised app stores.

Apart from Airtel, Aircel too has announced a partnership with Infosys to launch a mobile app store. As of today, Reliance too joined the fray and said it would be coming with an App Store called RWorld 2.0 of its own as well. The Reliance App Store will have a GSM and a CDMA version. It will go live on GSM handsets later this month.

Airtel, in India, has launched its own app store for its customers with over 1,250 apps. The Airtel App Store will be known as "App Central" and will feature apps across 25 categories for business, games, books and social networking Being an operator, you don't need to separately purchase an app. Any charges would be added to your monthly bill or if you are a prepaid user, it would be reflected in your balance. The cheapest app available costs Rs. 5.

All you need to use the Airtel App Central is a GPRS enabled handset and an Airtel connection. To access the App Central, head to the Airtel Live homepage or send an SMS with the text "app" to 54321 to receive the direct URL.

American Family Insurance Launches Cell Phone Applications to Expand Customer Self-Service

American Family Insurance is making it much easier for its customers to conduct insurance business using their cell phones.

The company has unveiled new cell phone applications customers can use to file a claim, pay insurance bills, check their accounts and locate the nearest American Family agent.

The new applications are designed for Apple iPhone and Blackberry Storm users. A new, streamlined version of the company’s Web site is also available to all mobile phone users.

“Our customers are doing more from Web-enabled phones and other portable communication devices,” says Bill Simon, American Family Insurance’s digital marketing director. “People rely on mobile technology so they can do business with us from virtually anywhere at any time.”

The new applications and mobile Web site deliver a better user experience on mobile devices with smaller screens and potentially slower Internet connections. By eliminating much of the graphic and multimedia extras, the clean interface quickly links users to business functions.

The iPhone and BlackBerry applications are downloadable programs that allow the user to quickly access commonly used functions of the company’s Internet site. For example, the new applications will allow customers to immediately report a claim from the scene of an accident and even locate nearby vendors that can help repair their vehicle.

The iPhone application is now available for download from the iPhone App Store and amfam.com. The BlackBerry application (for the Storm model only) will soon be available from amfam.com and from the Built for BlackBerry store.

Many mobile phone users access the Internet on a mobile device other than an iPhone or BlackBerry. Like the iPhone and BlackBerry applications, the American Family mobile site will have fewer graphics and multimedia, making it easier for users to navigate it on a small screen. It will be optimized to display the site correctly on any mobile device making the request.

Based in Madison, Wis., American Family Insurance offers auto, homeowners, life, health, commercial and farm/ranch insurance in 19 states. American Family ranks 388th on the Fortune 500 list and is the nation’s third-largest mutual property/casualty insurance company.

Vodafone launches social networking service 360

Sync all your contacts from mobile and PC.

So, looks like this social networking thing is popular and stuff. Vodafone launched Vodafone 360 today, a social network aggregator that syncs contacts from your phone, email and social networks, and also includes an app store.

There's Vodafone People, which is essentially a giant, cloud-based address book that will be open to customers on any network, on over 100 mobiles, and will sync contacts from phone, Facebook, Windows Messenger and Google Talk. Twitter, Hyves and studiVZ to follow.

Speaking of, Samsung will be launching two handsets specially for the Vodafone 360, which means the mystery of the rumoured Samsung high-end handset is solved - it'll be sold as the Vodafone 360 H1, which boasts a 3.5-inch multi-touch, high-def OLED screen, a five-meg snapper and a whopping 16GB of onboard storage. There's also the M1, which will have a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 1GB storage, push email, a 3-megapixel camera. Both phones are high-techy marvels packing the usual HSDPA/Wi-Fi/GPS specs.

The service will also come preloaded on four Nokia Symbian smartphones too, and at launch, at least part of Vodafone 360 will be downloadable to other phones. Vodafone are working on making 360 available to as many mobiles and networks as possible.

An app store will open at launch with over 1000 apps. Vodafone 360 launches in eight European countries including the UK by Christmas.

Nokia Launches Development Tools For Ovi Platform

Finland's Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, Thursday said it is launching a set of tools to make it easier for external developers to create applications for its Internet service platform, Ovi, as it aims catch up on the success of iPhone maker Apple Inc.'s App Store.

"Our goal is clear, and that is to make it effortless for our partners to create highly appealing, context-relevant applications," said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President Services at Nokia.

The Espoo, Finland-based company said it will progressively roll out new Application Program Interfaces, or APIs, for its services, starting Thursday with the Ovi Maps Player and Ovi Navigation Player.

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on Wednesday put location-based applications at the heart of the company's focus on mobile services.

The company, currently staging its Nokia World showcase in Stuttgart, Germany, is also launching a slew of new devices, including a mini-laptop, to expand its business as revenue from mobile handsets falls.

Nokia also said Thursday it will launch the Ovi Software Development Kit Beta, providing developers with a set of tools to create applications for the Internet and for its Symbian and Maemo mobile operating systems.

Applications created with Ovi SDK and Ovi APIs will be available for consumers through the Ovi Store in 2010, the company said.

Ovi Store, which was launched by Nokia in May this year, allows users to download applications to their phones, much like Apple's App Store, which opened in July 2008.

Nokia doesn't disclose the number of applications available on Ovi Store or the number of downloads made.

However, press spokesperson Eija-Riitta Huovinen said there are around 5,500 content items available, which can include applications and more basic content such as ringtones and wallpapers.

Apple's App Store in July had around 65,000 applications from which users had made over 1.5 billion downloads.

Ovi has had a difficult start and is still far smaller in scope than the App Store, but giving developers the right tools may be a step in the right direction, said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

Nokia Wednesday highlighted its Lifecasting with Ovi service, which will allows users to integrate with their accounts on social-networking Web site Facebook, which it said it will launch on a mini version of its N97 smartphone in October.

iPhone Pushes Mobile Gaming To $5.4 Billion

Apple's smartphone is leading the pack, as developers and mobile gamers are attracted to the App Store and its business model, according to one research firm.


Mobile gaming was once simple games like "Snake" that were meant to kill time, but the market is rapidly becoming a lucrative business. Thanks to smartphones like Apple's iPhone 3G, mobile gaming rose 20% and hit $5.4 billion in 2008, according to a new report from JupiterResearch.

The report said overall game downloads were flat in the U.S. and Western European markets, but volumes rose in developing markets like India and China. While Java-based games saw a steep decline, those volumes were offset by a sharp increase of iPhone game downloads.

"The combination of iPhone and the Apple App Store has galvanized the mobile games industry," said report author Dr. Windsor Holden in a statement.

"Apple has provided an innovative device which enables developers to create smooth, compelling, visually attractive games for the mobile users, together with a business model offering a highly competitive revenue share for developers."

The touch input, robust hardware, and graphics capabilities have given the iPhone an advantage over its rivals on the mobile gaming front. Users of the iPhone also download apps at a higher rate than other phone users, and the platform has drawn high-profile developers like Electronic Arts and Sega.

One of the advantages the iPhone has over its competitors is the tight integration of the App Store. This makes browsing, buying, downloading, and installing games over the air easier than on most rival platforms. Additionally, users with an iTunes account already have a credit card on file, which makes buying games easier than on other platforms. For example, Google's Android Market uses Google Checkout, and Research In Motion will use PayPal for its BlackBerry App World.

The report also said that more than half of games downloaded by 2012 will be funded by advertising. This could drive additional business opportunities for the likes of Medialets, which has a rich media ad platform for iPhone apps.