Posted by Walter on Oct 9, 2012 in
Mobile Apps
(* but were afraid to ask)
How loyal are Android owners? Is spam a significant problem? How does the average person find out about new apps?
In search of answers, we reached out to more than 10,000 active Mr. Number users to learn more about their mysterious habits and compiled their answers into the infographic below; let us know if our findings surprised you!
(Click to enlarge)
Posted by Walter on Mar 14, 2012 in
Mobile Apps
The following is an excerpt from an article by Mr. Number CEO Jason Devitt; read the complete text on TechZone360.
“Over-The-Top” messaging apps like Viber and WhatsApp are dominating the app store charts. They disrupt mobile operators by offering low-cost, feature-rich voice and text services over the data channel. Some industry executives think that SMS revenue could drop 40 percent by 2015 and one report claims operators lost $14 billion in 2011 alone. The reality is more complex – and more promising for operators.
Skype, AIM, and eBuddy have offered OTT mobile apps for years, but they’re really mobile versions of their desktop clients. They never did a good job of telling you which of your phone contacts were using their apps, so they didn’t take a big bite out of voice and text. Since they haven’t asked users for their phone numbers from day one, they may not even know that “cyberwarrior” in their namespace is the same person as “555-234-5678” in your phonebook.
Read the rest of the article.
Posted by jason on Feb 24, 2012 in
Mobile Apps
The team at FierceDeveloper recently invited me to write a post about how to choose the right platform for your mobile app. (Thank you!) In it I explain why Mr. Number is focusing on Android today and why other companies make different choices. Here’s an extract:
Selecting the right platform for your app
Every new company has to decide which mobile platforms to support and how to prioritize the work, but the mobile battlefield is littered with dead platforms and startups that bet on them. There are lots of great articles online about the technical differences among the major platforms–iOS, Android, and mobile Web–but there are also some important business differences that affect product strategy, distribution and monetization. I want to share some of the lessons we’ve learned at Mr. Number.
Freedom to Innovate
Five years ago you couldn’t bring a mobile app to market without permission from a carrier. Those days are gone, but there are still big differences among the three major platforms. You cannot launch an iOS app without Apple’s approval. You can’t sell a better music player, and you can’t replace the core dialer, which hobbles apps like Google Voice. Mr. Number can’t offer Caller ID or call blocking services on the iPhone. Rigid enforcement of the human interface guidelines makes the iPhone UX seamless for consumers but limits innovation. And you will tear your hair out every couple of weeks because your users are clamoring for a bug fix or feature enhancement that’s finished but is “waiting for approval” …
Read the rest of the article at FierceDeveloper.
