One of my biggest passions as a child was running around, shooting short videos. The pain was always in uploading the video to a PC, spending time editing it only to share it with a limited audience, mainly friends and family.

While winter isn’t usually the optimal time to take videos outside, there’s usually more than enough family antics happening indoors that you might want to treasure. To save you time and cut straight to the action, here are five video creation apps for iPhone you will find handy. Bad script writing not included.

Viddy

Fands of Instagram will love this one; Viddy is a simple way for anyone to capture, produce, and share beautiful videos with the world. Record a moment of your life, give it that cinematic look with our production packs, and share it with those who matter most.

The app offers free visual effects, music, transitions and themes, plus one click sharing to your favorite social networks.

Cost: Free

BlipSnips

BlipSnips is truly unique as it lets you tag your Facebook friends and location, turning your video creations into a social experience. The BlipSnips team recently added features such as, an activity feed to track activity on your videos.

Cost: Free

Movie360

If Movie360 doesn’t spark your creative juices, I don’t know what will. Let’s start with the fact that it’s free, now add the fact that it comes jam packed with 13 visual effects and you get where I’m going. Unlike iMovie, you can’t edit video, but you can pause and record, so there’s no editing needed really. The app’s interface is fluid and to-the-point. Select an effect from below and tap the record button to start shooting. The app allows you to switch to another effect in the middle of a recording.

Cost: Free

iMovie

The user interface is beautiful and offers numerous options from the editing screen; assign a theme, shoot video on the fly, choose a clip from the camera roll or play the video. Video clips, images from the photo gallery and audio from the music library can all be inserted within a project.  The pre-selection screen is really handy for quickly finding clips.

Cost: $4.99

Vimeo

I’ve been a long time fan of Vimeo‘s professional video hosting service. For one, the Vimeo community of students, artists, and amateur filmmakers is thriving. The official Vimeo app enables you to not only watch high-quality videos that are hosted on Vimeo, but it also delivers an easy-to-use video editor that rivals iMovie. Once you’re done editing a video, you can upload it to Vimeo from within the app itself or export it to your camera roll. The only thing that would make this app better, is if there was an iPad version.

Cost: Free

In conclusion – There’s no lack of options when it comes to creating great videos, using nothing more than your iPhone or iPod Touch. Everyone from music videos producers to big budget productions are turning to the low alternative of shooting directly from the iPhone.

Already have your video work of art shared online? We’d love to see it. Share it with us in the comments or let us know about it on Twitter – @W3i and @OrenTodoros

Over the course of the last year we have seen considerable growth in smartphone ownership, apps and mobile app sites. With the new year right around the corner, now would be a good time to look ahead and make some fact-based predictions on how the mobile industry as a whole will evolve over the next few months.

First, here’s where things currently stand. According to analytics firm Distimo in its year-end report for 2011, there are now over a million mobile applications available across the top seven major app stores. And, as I mentioned in my previous post, the iTunes App Store still reigns supreme, especially if you’re a developer looking to make a profit.

The iPhone App Store generates about four times the revenue that is generated by the Google Android Market, the report finds, in terms of total revenue generated by the 200 highest grossing apps. Meanwhile, the App Store for iPad generates more than double the revenue of the Android Market.

To add to Distimo’s report, Neilsen’s State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report highlights the potential of mobile commerce in the near future.

Report’s Key Findings

The majority of 25-34 and 18-24 year olds now own smartphones (64% and 53% respectively);

The majority of smartphone owners (62%) have downloaded apps on their devices and games are the top application category used in the past 30 days;

The number of smartphone subscribers using the mobile internet has grown 45% in 2010.

87 percent of app downloaders (those who have downloaded an app in the past 30 days) have used deal-of-the-day websites like Groupon or Living Social.

Apps are Growing Up

Taking the facts above into consideration, here’s how I see the mobile and app industry grow over the course of the next 6 to 12 months.

The rise of the mobile web will continue to grow, specifically with retailers and businesses. Given the ubiquity of the web cross platform, the costs associated with cross platform development and the experiences which can be provided via mobile Web, developers will shift away from platform specific apps towards developing rich, mobile Web experiences.

Amazon will acquire RIM. No facts to back this one up, it’s just a hunch.

While QR codes are a hot trend right now (usage of QR codes jumped up 9,840% in the second quarter of the year 2011,) the user experience is clunky and uninviting. I don’t see this trend continuing into 2012. We’re already starting to see the emergence of more advanced and appealing technologies.

Businesses will get smarter about developing lead-based app marketing campaigns. Business-to-business companies will be leading the charge, but everyone will be on board soon. Year 2012 is set to be the year of lead-based app marketing.

In Conclusion - 2012 promises to bring us more progress in the mobile space thanks to increased attention to user experience, better development tools and increased opportunities for mobile advertisers and publishers. Mobile media  is the future, and the future has officially arrived.

On March 14, 2011, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). The look and feel changed with the information bar moving to the bottom of the browser and the search bar being integrated into the address bar. But overall, the change in user functionality is what affected add-ons the most. This change also created a very different experience for the user in terms of what they have to do to use add-ons after they install them.

IE9 asks for the user’s consent to enable newly installed add-ons, instead of automatically enabling them from the start:

IE9 Asks for User Consent to Enable Add-ons

When the user clicks Enable, they are shown this screen:

User Must Now Enable Add-Ons

This could lessen the chance of the user actually being able to use the add-on that they installed. They may click Don’t enable or they may just X out of the message completely because they don’t understand what it is or they are annoyed by the messaging.

IE9 also gives the user information on what is slowing down their browser and messages them on a regular basis asking them to speed up their browser by disabling add-ons:

Users Asked to Disable Add-Ons to Speed Up Startup

When the user clicks Disable add-ons, they are shown this screen:

Screen Shown to User When They Click Disable Add-ons

If the add-ons the user has installed and enabled total a load time of more than .2 seconds, the add-ons will show up on this list and the user may choose to disable them. This new functionality helps speed up the user’s browser, but it can also cause the user to want to uninstall all add-ons listed whether or not they really contribute to slowing down their browser.

On November 8, 2011, Mozilla released Firefox 8 (FF8).   This new version adds a new confirmation prompt for add-ons.  This prompt is different depending on whether or not the add-on is installed via an XPI or an EXE.

When an add-on is installed via an XPI, FF8 displays a modal dialog box with an Install Now button:

Modal Dialog Box with an Install Now Button

The user has to click Install Now to enable the add-on(s).  If they click cancel, the add-on(s) will not be enabled for use.

When an add-on is installed via an EXE, FF8 opens a new tab with a checkbox confirmation screen:

Add-on Installed via EXE, FF8 Opens Checkbox Confirmation Screen

By default, the checkbox is not checked, so the user has to check the box next to Allow this installation and then click Continue to be able to use the add-on.  If the user doesn’t check the box and clicks Continue, the add-on will not be enabled.

With the changes these new browser versions bring, it seems that the ultimate goal is speed. Each browser wants to be the fastest. These changes can be seen as both positive and negative for users.  As a positive, users may have a faster browser and not have to wait as long for load times.  As a negative, they have to take additional steps to “enable” add-ons that they have already agreed to install and in some cases, they have agreed multiple times through certain processes that confirm the user is installing what they want to install.

These changes can also be seen as both negative and somewhat positive for add-on developers. As a negative, these changes make it harder for an add-on developer because users have to take additional steps to be able to actually interact with their add-ons.  As a positive, with survival becoming harder and harder for add-ons, it encourages developers to make sure their add-on has a fast load time and it creates enough value so the user will want to take the necessary steps to enable the add-on for use.  However, even with those changes, it doesn’t ensure that the user will “enable” their add-on.  Another alternative for add-on developers might be exploring the options of building out a desktop version of the add-on so the application isn’t affected by any of these changes.

Overall, sometimes change is good and sometimes it’s not so good.  As things change though, we have to roll with those changes and allow ourselves to make the best of them.  We will just have to wait and see what comes next! Do you have any tactics to deal with browser changes?  If so, add them to the comments.

Nicole Virnig, Account Development Manager, W3i, LLC
Nicole focuses on growing W3i business relationships, making sure the  client has what they need to make them successful. If they aren’t  happy, she isn’t happy.

W3i had a rockin’ year in 2011–doubling sales.  You could say…W3i’s on Fire!  Thanks to all our partners, employees and the tech community in the Twin Cities, San Francisco and St. Cloud.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

Team W3i

It’s becoming evident that when it comes to mobile devices and their operating systems, their success strongly depends on the apps they run.

At the moment, all App Stores follow the same business model, in which 30 percent stake of all downloads go directly to the brand, while the developer/publisher of the app gets 70 percent. That includes hosting and credit card fees, as well as “marketing” for the app.

Before we dive deep into the clash of the app stores facts and figures, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat; Apple is king supreme when it comes to leading the app race. To make sense of it all, it’s far more important to understand how they achieved such massive success and set the standard for the way apps are downloaded today.

Apple’s App Store

From day one Apple worked extensively with developers and kept a close eye on all apps submitted to the app store. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its share of gimmicky, single-use-only apps, but for the most part, they leaned heavily on quality as opposed to quantity.

According to 148Apps.biz as of November 2011, the App Store hosts 518,601 approved applications with over 85,000 registered developers creating apps for the platform. The iPad alone has over 150 thousand native applications available for download. Let’s not forget the over 80 thousand Mac apps also available for download.  You you can see why no other app store even comes close.

For any budding app developer, the place you should strive to be is on the App Store’s home page. Make it there and your app is gold. Of course, getting there relies on how well your app is received by iOS users. Rarely will Apple feature an app that has yet to make a significant impact in terms of installs.

Google’s Android Market

When it come’s to Google’s Android Market, their mantra has always been “we’re open!” Whether that’s a good thing or not, is up to you to decide.

Unlike Apple, for example, there’s absolutely no lengthy or draconian app submission process. Got an app!? Come on down, it’s as simple as that.  All that Google asks is that developers do no evil. That means; no malware, no porn, no funny business. The problem is that some app developers clearly didn’t get the memo, as sneaky Android apps are on the rise. Regardless, have a clean, mainstream app? Boom! It’s available for download almost instantaneously.

Google recently announce that worldwide Android Market app downloads now exceed one billion per month.  Compared to iOS, which surpassed 18 billion total downloads in October. Another interesting fact to point out is that  the Android Market recently surpassed 10 billion total downloads in total.  This comes on the heels of comScore’s latest MobiLens report, showing that, for the three months ending in October, Android devices now account for 46.3% of U.S. smartphone subscribers versus 28.1% for Apple.

Taking into consideration how prevalent third-party app stores are on the Android platform, particularly in countries like China but also elsewhere, that’s a remarkable achievement.

Windows Phone Marketplace

Developers are already eyeing the opportunities that the Windows Phone Marketplace offers, and there are at least 6 reasons why.

In terms of raw numbers, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace has gone from a few thousand apps to a milestone 40,000 in just over a year. This leaves it well behind the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace (both are quoted at around the 500,000 applications mark).

When asked why developers are more interested in Windows Phone 7 now than a year ago, a plurality (48%) said it was the Microsoft/Nokia partnership. Nokia also received high marks from its new Lumia Windows Phone 7 smartphone announcement last month, with 28% of developers saying they are ‘very interested’ in developing for the device.

But Wait, There’s More!

So far we’ve looked at Apple’s leading App Store, Google’s “open” Android Market and Microsoft’s up and coming Marketplace, but that’s only part of the story. A clash of the app stores pose wouldn’t be complete without including Nokia’s OVI store which holds roughly 35,000 apps. Although it’s particularly interesting to see how the OVI store will evolve considering Nokia’s attention is shifting almost entirely towards Microsoft’s Windows Phone. That being said, Symbian still retains, by far, the highest potential user base. Even though its users are incomparably less active than iOS’s heavy downloaders, it still generates significant download volumes to Symbian publishers.  This is largely because whilst Apple boasts of its 500,000+ apps, the OVI store contains less than a tenth of that number.

The Takeaway

At this point, it truly sounds like it’s Apple vs. the world, but as we’ve seen so far, the app industry is changing at a rapid pace. Every app environment has its pros and cons, both for consumers and developers alike. Ultimately, it’s up to you, the end user to decide what best suits your lifestyle and budget. Turning it back over to you. How do you see the App Store Battle being played out over the next year? Share your thoughts in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter at @W3i and @OrenTodors.

The Olympia Center in London England was host to this year’s Apps World Event where a who’s who of the mobile app world came together to discuss both the challenges and opportunities of the flourishing app industry.

Apps World, which doubled in floor space since 2010, is quite telling of how the mobile industry as a whole is expanding exponentially and is estimated to be worth over $17b by 2012 according to GetJar.

Global brands such as Vodafone, Telefonica, Nokia and Spotify were out in full force to demonstrate their view-point and strategies.

One of the clearest indications that the mobile industry is in transition is the ever growing demand for content on the customers’ terms. This is very evident in News and Media publications. Steve Wing, head of digital marketing, consumer media at Guardian News and Media, shared that it’s still too early to tell exactly what impact The Guardian’s new iPad app is having on print sales.

“From our research, a large proportion of iPad people are non-newspaper buying – they’re new digital people,” he said, while pointing out that access to the iPad app is also being bundled with the newspaper’s six and seven-day print subscriptions. “To date, that level of cannibalization has not been there.”

Apps World Highlights and Takeaways

Throughout the event, there were nuggets of information both on stage and through the Twitter-sphere.  Here’s a roundup of app trends that’s not to be missed.

25% of Smartphone owners scan QR codes” Alex Kozloff – Senior Mobile Manager, IAB.

Multi-language apps – I see this as a must for apps in the future – @kirstymca

App downloads are a little like valuing monthly website visitors. How many of them convert?

Apple’s App Store is by far the biggest app distributer; dominating distribution similarly to how iTunes dominates digital music sales. Apple takes a 30% cut of all sales, enough to run at a break even, only making profit on hardware says Javier Lorente of Telefonica. Lorente also highlighted the strength of the Apple ecosystem which will drive HTML5 growth.

If you attended the event, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Share them in the comments below or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros

(credit: image by apps-world.net)

Know the Market

It used to be that Internet Explorer was by far the dominant web browser, but these days several other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome have increased market share significantly. Statistics vary and you may find different results depending on your audience, but the top 3 browsers are growing closer in market share, as Internet Explorer continues to lose users to Firefox, Chrome and even Safari. In October, 2011, technology site ars technica recently reported that Internet Explorer dropped below the 50% mark across all operating systems.

Browser Stats According to ars technica

Other sites such as w3schools.com  and Wikipedia give Internet Explorer an even smaller share so it is a good idea to track and monitor which browsers are more common among your users. A low reading with a particular browser can also indicate a problem with your add-on.

Usage is even more splintered when taking browser version into account. Internet Explorer remains split between the last 4 major versions while Firefox is even more spread out.  By contrast, most Chrome users are using the latest version because Chrome updates automatically.

Some of the top browser makers are increasing the frequency of updates. Mozilla announced earlier this year that it will move to a rapid release cycle, with new versions coming every 6 weeks. This is similar to Google’s release cycle for
Chrome. Meanwhile Microsoft appears to be sticking with a longer release cycle for Internet Explorer, with version 10 expected early in 2012.

Recent Browser Changes

Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 8 both introduced new confirmation prompts when add-ons are installed. This change raises a barrier for add-on distributors such as W3i’s InstallIQ. Although users go through the process and consent to install an add-on, they must consent again to accept the add-on the next time they use their browser.

IE9 displays an information bar at the bottom of the screen, and it may not be apparent to the user that it is there. Some users may miss it and after a few times IE will stop showing the bar and simply disable the add-ons. IE9 also added an Add-on Performance Advisor, which alerts the user when add-on load times exceed a certain threshold.

New Add-On Confirmation bar in IE 9

Firefox 8 has two types of add-on confirmation depending on how the add-on is installed. If you install your add-on using the common method of copying files into the Firefox extensions folder, then the confirmation prompt will open in a new tab when the browser is restarted. This prompt includes a checkbox which is unchecked by default, and is easily skipped by the user. Even worse, if multiple add-ons have been installed, Firefox will open multiple tabs, but as soon as one add-on is accepted, Firefox prompts the user to restart. Upon restarting, Firefox loses the other pending add-ons. This is a
significant barrier to installation processes that may install more than one add-on, such as InstallIQ.

New Checkbox Confirmation Tab in Firefox 8

Fortunately there is another method you can use, which should yield a higher rate of add-on enablement. You can package your add-on in an XPI file and install it on the Firefox command line. An XPI file is a Zip file containing the add-on components and an XML manifest. When add-ons are installed using the XPI method, Firefox displays a modal dialog with an “Install Now” button which is much more likely to be accepted by the user. In addition, multiple add-ons can be combined into a single install, with a single prompt to enable all of them.

New Add-on Confirmation in Firefox 8 for Add-Ons Distributed via XPI

InstallIQ now requires add-on partners to package their add-ons in XPI files so we can better manage the installation process. InstallIQ will automatically combine multiple XPI’s and install them by launching Firefox.

Looking Ahead

With browser updates coming at a faster rate and add-on installations becoming increasingly difficult for the user, it is important to keep an eye on forthcoming changes and be prepared to adjust your products.  Mozilla makes future Firefox releases available as they are being developed. They have a Beta channel for the next scheduled release, and the Aurora channel for changes that are further out.

Similarly, Google has multiple release channels which you can install for various platforms.

Meanwhile Microsoft is providing a preview of Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft has said that the Metro version of IE10 will not allow any add-ons, although the desktop version will.

Regardless of the nature of your add-on, it is more important than ever to streamline your development process and be ready to quickly make changes to adapt to the ever-changing browser platform.

Bill Zitomer, Software
Development Team Lead, W3i, LLC

Bill uses his over twenty years’ experience to build W3i’s core desktop products as well as back-end technologies.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 30, 2011–W3i® (www.W3i.com), a leader in monetization and user acquisition services for mobile apps, announced today the launch of the $10 Million AppX Game Developer Marketing Fund.  The goal of the marketing fund is to accelerate user growth for up-and- coming mobile social game developers by aiding in their user acquisition financing.

W3i's AppX - Resources to Accelerate Game Profitability

iOS™ and Android™ game developers’ goal is to drive user acquisition of mobile games accelerating the growth of active users.

This fund reinforces W3i’s commitment to iOS and Android game developers to help them compete with AAA competitors thus accelerating their path to profitability.

W3i is known for its extensive experience in partnering with mobile and desktop app developers to grow their app  businesses.  All developers who qualify for the AppX Game Developer Marketing Fund receive adept production support, actionable insight to optimize their game business and profitable user acquisition with funding to speed up growth.  The AppX suite of services is provided without charge and with no, long-term revenue share.
Using AppX does not require the developer to give up their IP rights allowing them to focus on actual game design and development.

“W3i has proven to be a valued partner in marketing our game, My Pet Zombie. Not only did we quickly become  profitable with our app, W3i helped increase the lifetime value of our users by three times. We would highly recommend using W3i to market your mobile game,” comments Brian Robbins, Founder of Riptide Games.

“We continue to develop tools that add value for mobile game developer partners,” said Andy Johnson, CEO. “Our road map continues to focus on improving monetization and user acquisition tools to optimize ROI using a decade of experience doing the same for our desktop app partners.  The rollout continues with AppX.”  For more information contact W3i AppX.

About W3i: W3i is a leader in monetization and user acquisition services for mobile and desktop apps.  Utilize an experienced team of app-savvy marketers with deep technical know-how and many years of industry experience to grow your app business. We are ready to collaborate with app developers to execute programs that quickly deliver revenue and quality users. To learn more, visit www.W3i.com with offices in San Francisco, Minneapolis and Sartell, MN. 

Press Contact:

Deborah Manthei

Director of Marketing Communications

320-257-7571 (office)

deborah.manthei@W3i.com

The names of companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

First impressions matter. In fact, 90% of people form an opinion about an interface in 1/20th of a second, which will impact the likelihood of someone interacting with your app or website. Astounding!

Don't Compromise on App Aesthetics for Higher Conversions

What can someone possibly absorb in that amount of time? Likely, things that are not always front and center when one thinks about creating an app or service. Elements like colors, shapes, layout, balance and white-space among others – the look and feel of whatever interface they are looking at. These aspects create emotions such as trust, joy, comfort and so on (or the inverse). Certainly, these emotions can and will influence the way users explore and interact with an interface, if they chose to do so at all.

Still think you don’t need to worry about aesthetics? Think again. A plethora of research was conducted that supports the notion that aesthetics play an integral part in the user experience – in short, attractive things work better. Investing in aesthetics increases the likelihood of a user choosing to interact with your product and also increases the chances that your user will return to use it again, and tell their friends about it. Aesthetics increase the perceived value and usability of your product.

So what goes into creating a successful, visually pleasing design – something that is aesthetic? There is no magic formula, but there are general guidelines. We call them design principles. Principles that deal with many of the elements mentioned earlier in this post. Talking about each could easily take up a number of subsequent posts. Instead, I will point you to a decent collection of resources that noupe has put together recently: 45 Free Lessons in Graphic Design Theory.

What apps or sites can you think of that are visually appealing and invite usage?

David May, Director of Creative Services; W3i, LLC
David has been working in the design industry for over 9 years and carries a fancy B.F.A. with focus in Graphic Design. He’s a native of Germany and loves peanut m&m’s. about everything related to the web and design in general.