The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘apps’

Business to business software can be a tough sell. Online B2B can be even a harder sell. While there is certainly money to be made, unless you’re one of the big players, the likelihood you’re going to succeed is pretty small. Starting today, Google is taking their roll as one of the big players and extending a platform to boost some smaller players.

Tonight, Google has unveiled their Google Apps Marketplace. This is an app store for enterprise apps in the cloud. Using a set of APIs, these third-party apps can deeply integrate their products within Google Apps, which already some 25 million people are using. And that also includes over 2 million businesses ranging from startups, to small businesses, to Fortune 500 companies.

For customers, this means a one-stop shop for a variety of applications that their business or organization can use. And it’s extremely simple to get started with apps in the marketplace — it just takes 4 clicks, Google says (though that initial click will have to come from your domain admin to approve the use of the app). For developers, particularly small startup developers, it means instant access to more users than they can likely imagine. It also potentially means something more important: money.

Like the popular mobile app stores (Apple’s App Store and Google’s own Android Market), Google is allowing developers to sell their apps through this Marketplace. And they’re actually offering a better deal: Google will keep just 20% of the revenue, while the developers keep the other 80% (compared to a 30/70 split with the Android Market). The reason for this better split is that Google believes the B2B market is a bit different, and they want to entice developers to join on board. And instead of Apple’s App Store, which charges a $100 yearly fee to developers, Google is charging a one-time fee of $100 to enroll in the program — and that’s for as many apps as you want to create.

As for what Google will do with their 20% share, they’re not entirely sure. “We don’t know what will happen with the revenue, but we think it’s a very fair rev share for the value we’re providing,” Google Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra says.

As you might expect, in the Marketplace, Google will feature certain apps on a rotating basis. And each will have a star rating system and reviews written by people who have used the app. Apps will be grouped into different categories to make it easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. Once they do, the four steps alluded to above are:

1. Click “Add it now”
2. Agree to the vendor’s Terms of Service
3. Grant access to the data that the app is requesting.  Some apps require data access, some don’t – only grant access to apps you trust.
4. Turn it on and start enjoying your increased productivity

So how does this all work? Google connection points for integration into Apps are actually done through open protocols such as OAuth. And while signing-in may seem like a pain across different apps, Google has streamlined that as well thanks to another open protocol: OpenID.

Once an app is hooked in to Google Apps, it will appear on your main Apps Dashboard alongside the other Google-made apps you use. It will even appear in the “more” drop down that Google uses in the toolbar across its properties. And because these apps are so tightly woven into Google Apps, they can take advantage of the built-in Google Apps such as Gmail and Gtalk to easily communicate within the third-party apps.

And there’s more. While it’s not quite ready to launch just yet, in the second half of 2010, Google plans to launch flexible billing options for third-parties using their services. Basically, this will allow companies to use Google Checkout to handle complicated billings, such as subscriptions. This could mean trouble for startups specifically in this space, such as Recurly. Also coming later will be detailed analytics for transactions, we’re told. For now, developers are free to hook up their data to their own analytic programs to run their numbers.

While Google’s options for this Marketplace sound nice and open, there’s actually something even better: you don’t have to build your apps on their platform. Whereas a big player like Salesforce wants to keep the apps it works with in the Force.com ecosystem, Google doesn’t care where you build it — it can be on App Engine, or on anything else. You simply hook your app up to the APIs and you’re ready to go. It’s a model so enticing that even a big Google competitor in this space, Zoho, is ready to work with them, and is launching as an initial partner. All told, there are more than 50 companies partnering up at launch, including a winner of the audience award at this year’s TechCrunch50, Socialwok.

As to whether Google could eventually roll this app store model out to the more consumer facing apps they offer, Gundotra gave me the old, “We have nothing to announce at this time.” That reads suspiciously to me like a “yes,” provided this is the hit it seems like it should be.

Zoho, a web-based productivity suite that was called a “fake Office” by a Microsoft VP, is announcing a significant partnership with Google today. The startup will be a launch partner for Google’s recently launched Google Apps Marketplace, which allows vendors to sell applications that compliment Google Apps. Here are our notes from the announcement. Zoho will be integrating two of its over 20 business applications – Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects with Google Apps.

So starting today, Google Apps users will be able to add on-demand CRM app Zoho CRM and project management software Zoho Projects into Google Apps. While Zoho has previously rolled out the ability log-in to its applications via your Google Apps IDs, the two applications have been specially formatted for further immersion into Google Apps with App’s extended APIs. IT admins will now have an option to add Zoho Apps to their domains through Google Apps Marketplace. Once the IT admin adds a Zoho application to their domain, all users within the domain will have access to the Zoho Application through Google universal navigation.

In the version of Zoho CRM for Google Apps, Zoho will allow Google Apps domain admins choose the users he or she wants to provide access to Zoho CRM and can import users from Google Apps contacts. And if you have Mail Add-on enabled in Zoho CRM, you can POP your email from Google Apps to Zoho CRM. These emails will show up in the CRM system automatically for each contact. Emails sent from Zoho CRM will also show up in Gmail in Google Apps.

Zoho CRM and Projects will also be integrated with Google Apps Calendar. Google Apps users will now be able to subscribe and view their CRM and Projects events right within Google Calendar. Additionally, Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM allows you to attach documents directly from Google Apps.

The fact that Zoho was chosen as a pilot partner for this program isn’t surprising. Although some of Zoho’s applications compete with Google apps products, the startup has consistently pushed interoperability with Google Apps. Over the past two years, the startup launched a deeper integration with Google Docs; and the ability to log-in with Google and Yahoo IDs. And according to our latest stats, Zoho has definitely reached over 2 million users, and has a loyal follower base.

When Chomp launched eight weeks ago in the iTunes store, it launched as an app for reviewing other iPhone apps. The app shows you a stream of realtime reviews, which you can filter by everyone or just your Facebook freinds. The app is showing some traction and should hit 300,000 active monthly users sometime tomorrow, according to co-founder Ben Keighran.

While it started out as an app, today Chomp launched a complimentary Website with full app search capabilities and links for each app. There, users can also see the stream of reviews, as well as dedicated pages for each app and vanity URLs for each reviewer. Developers can now link to the Chomp reviews directly from inside their apps using Chomp Connect, which also launched today in private beta. Chomp Connect lets developers add Chomp review buttons right inside their apps without forcing to go anywhere else.

Keighran contends that reviews on iTunes tend to have a more negative bias because people are prompted to submit a review every time they delete an app. With Chomp Connect, developers can ask their most engaged users to submit reviews.

He hopes to make Chomp a social alternative to iTunes reviews. By driving reviews straight from their apps, developers can promote their apps in the Chomp review stream. The more reviews, the more often it appears in the stream.

Uh oh.

On at least a few occasions, Android developers have mentioned to me that the multi-touch sensors on certain Android handsets — especially the Nexus One — seemed a bit.. flaky. I’d had nothing but solid experiences while dabbling with multi-touch in all of the apps I could find that support it, so I chalked it up as a coding error on the developer’s part until something a bit more solid came forward.

Well, something a bit more solid has just come forward.

Social gaming company Playdom has acquired Facebook game developer Offbeat Creations. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Offbeat Creations has developed several popular apps on Facebook including Super Farkle. The acquisition will obviously boost Playdom’s presence on Facebook. The gaming company has largely been known as dominant on social network MySpace. Playdom’s lineup of games included Sorority Life, Mobsters 2, Lil Farm Life, Tiki Farm, Tiki Resort, Wild Ones and Poker Palace.

Offbeat Creations’ founders will join Playdom in leadership roles in Playdom’s Seattle offices. In November, Playdom raised a massive $43 million at a $260 million valuation. As we reported at that time, Playdom’s presence on MySpace was strong. Their Mob Wars game has 14 million or so users there, and the company was likely pulling in $60 million or more in revenue at that time.

According to our stats from November, Playdom has 28 million monthly game users. 60% of traffic is from MySpace v. 40% from Facebook. They have twelve MySpace apps and 6 Facebook Apps. This acquisition should boost their number of Facebook apps. Offbeat Creations says that its games on Facebook currently exceed one million monthly users. Playdom’s main competitor is gaming giant Zynga, which is a leading game developer on Facebook.

Chomp, the iPhone app recommendation and discovery service that launched last month, is off to a good start. In its first 31 days, the company has gotten 150,000 users who have left a total of 1 million reviews. And today it’s launching Chomp Connect, a new feature that lets iPhone app developers integrate Chomp directly into their applications with a minimum amount of work.

Chomp invites users to leave reviews about the apps they’re using, and also features a ‘follow’ system where you can keep tabs on what your friends or Internet celebrities like Kevin Rose, who is on the service, are recommending. There’s also a recommendation feature that suggests more apps based on what you’ve liked in the past, similar to the way Netflix handles recommendations.

Until now users would leave their Chomp reviews in a standalone Chomp application (iTunes Link). WIth Chomp Connect, developers will be able to integrate Chomp’s review form into their apps with a few lines of code.  You can see what one of these integrated forms look like in the shot above.

CEO Ben Keighran says that this is appealing to developers because it allows them to prompt users to leave an app review while they’re actually using and hopefully enjoying an application — iTunes only prompts users to review an app when they’re uninstalling it, which probably isn’t the most opportune time from the developer’s perspective. The catch is that Chomp reviews don’t get syndicated to iTunes, so only other users on Chomp get to see them. That said, the more Chomp reviews an app gets, the more exposure it is given to other Chomp members.

Aside from Chomp, there are many other services looking to improve on Apple’s iPhone app discovery process, including Appolicious, AppsFire, and Chorus.

Google released a new beta of its Chrome browser for Macs today. The two new main features are the addition of extensions, something that already came out on the dev channel for Mac last month, and on the Windows version in December. (Google releases new versions of Chrome across different channels, the beta channel available today is the most fully baked)

There are 2,200 extensions now available for Chrome, including ones from Aviary, Brizzly, Google Voice, and there is even an unoffical TechCrunch extension. Extensions are like add-ons on FireFox, they extend the browser’s capabilities with new features.

The new Mac beta also allows you to sync your bookmarks across different computers. Handy. You can download it here.

Palm’s App Store has reached a milestone. According to WebOS School, Palm now offers 1000 apps to its mobile users on its App Catalog. Of course, this number has to be taken with a grain of salt. Apple’s App Store has over 100,000 apps and the Android market has over 16,000 apps, making Palm’s achievement a little less thrilling.

The relatively small amount of apps for Palm isn’t surprising; Palm has had a lag in adding apps to its store for some time now and has not been able to match the speed or breadth of Apple’s App ecosystem. But it’s safe to assume that Palm may be adding apps more quickly now, after the company announced an easier approval process for apps and the ability to allow developers to fully distribute their apps via the web. What this means is that developers can simply submit their apps to Palm, and Palm will return to them a URL that they can then blog, tweet, do whatever they want to share it. When a person then clicks on that URL they can easily install the app, bypassing any kind of store. Palm realizes that it has to play nice with developers in order to get them to build on top of its software.

Will the App Catalog ever catch up to Apple’s App Store? Probably not, but Palm’s strategy could definitely still make the mobile device company a player in the mobile device world.

Here’s a list of the most downloaded apps from Palm’s App Catalog (they are all free) and a breakdown by type of app:

1. The Weather Channel
2. AccuWeather
3. Backgrounds
4. Topple Ball Mini
5. Pandora Radio
6. WHERE
7. Bubbles!
8. Card Ace: Hold ‘Em
9. Bubble Level
10. Trapster

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Between the presents, family time and the eggnog, iPhone users will be hitting their device for competitive entertainment, says gaming community platform PlayHaven and mobile ad exchange Mobclix. According to data released today, the two companies predict that iPhone game usage is likely to set record in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, called a “Game Rush,” with usage 28 times greater than the same weekly period last year.

PlayHaven says as the number of games on the App Store increases (there are currently more than 15,000 games available), consumers can turn to their iPhone for entertainment vs. consoles. PlayHaven also predicted that in the coming year, discovery of games and applications is increasingly going to originate outside the App Store. By the end of 2010, PlayHaven’s founder and CEO, Raymond Lau, said up to 25 percent of iPhone app purchases may originate at some location other than iTunes or the App Store as companies like PlayHaven seek to capitalize on the increasing complexity of app discovery in a universe of more than 125,000 titles.

Lau may be right. More and more app directories have emerged to help users make sense of the 100,000 plus Apps on the App store. Appolicious, mPlayit, Chorus, Sidebar, and many others not only provide customized recommendations for your application tastes and interests, but also lead users directly to the App Store to purchase and or download the apps. Many of these directories also allow you to share your apps on Twitter and Facebook.

Mobclix and PlayHaven’s “Game Rush” forecast is based on analysis from Mobclix’s mobile ad exchange. Mobclix used historical app download data and calculated a projection based on the increased number of Apple mobile devices sold during the year.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Chorus, the recently launched iPhone app that helps you discover other apps, is revealing the most recommended apps from their community. Developed by envIO Networks, Chorus is sort of like a mobile social network based around the apps that your friends have downloaded and lets you tap into your existing social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to share with your friends. The app features real-time feeds from your designated friends (those who have also downloaded Chorus and whom you have friended) displaying the apps they are downloading, and what they are saying about them in the app.

Chorus’ technology will match your favorite apps against those your friends use, building a personalized and relevant list of recommended apps. Chorus will also ask your a series of questions to determine the types of apps your like. And you can share your favorite apps through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and also invite them to test out Chorus.

envIO is now releasing the most popular and recommended paid and free apps in its community over the past month out of mote than 25,000 purchase and download attempts.

Top 10 Most Recommended Apps Among Chorus Community:

1. Eliminate Pro (free)
2. Shazam (free)
3. Gowalla (free)
4. Loopt (free)
5. WhatsApp Messenger ($0.99)
6. Google Earth (free)
7. PocketMoney ($4.99)
8. iFitness ($1.99)
9. WebMD Mobile (free)
10. Photoshop.com Mobile

Top 10 Free Apps for November 2009 based on buy attempts:

1. FunMail
2. AccuWeather.com
3. redbox
4. ShopSavvy
5. HD Radio
6. Black Friday
7. Stain Brain
8. Waze
9. Nearest
10. TowerMadness Zero: 3D Tower Defense

Top 10 Paid Apps for November 2009 based on buy attempts:

1. Touch DJ
2. Ravensword: The Fallen King
3. AppButler – App Organizer
4. Garters & Ghouls
5. Trillian
6. Park’n Find
7. Mail Notifier
8. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies
9. MindMeister (mind mapping)
10. Big Buck Hunter Pro

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.