Lookout mobile blog
Our first few weeks with the iPad
May 26th, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
Next was working out what do with the device and this has been an ongoing adventure. For example, I spent the last week up north and found that I would use my iPad for reading the newspaper, checking emails, downloading and watching Mad Men season 3 (best series of all time) and playing Real Racing. The device just works, especially when you are lying back, sipping on your coffee and looking out at the view. Coupled with my home and office use of the device, I have come to one clear conclusion. The device is truly a content device and I cannot see myself using it for any other purpose than to read, watch and play. I tried sending emails but found it a little frustrating and i tried writing documents via Pages and lost interest after 5 minutes. However, as soon as I opened the web, explored ‘The Age” or just surfed, I found the experience seamless and instant. In addition, I found myself downloading a heap of podcasts and TED talks (www.ted.com/)and found the viewing experience to be a delight. The iPad App Store: I have not been too excited on this front. There is a long way to go and for the success of the device, the App Store needs to improve. I have found a lot of the newspaper apps to be underwhelming with the New York Times disappointing me most. The app as Steve Smith describes ‘just curates a few sections of the newspaper/Web site and pastes select stories into a nondescript pair of screens for four main sections’. To me, the app is confusing. On the flip side, AP News and BBC news, caters to the iPad touch interface with a set of clear, animated and floating rectangular tiles for easy access to articles – they have done a great job utilising the native interface the iPad offers. It will be interesting to see which design formula works but I have no doubt that a user friendly newspaper app will be achieved with a lot of trial and error with a heap of effort and time. From here it will be very interesting to see how succssful the iPad will be. Frank McPherson cited a few relevant metrics to go by (http://bit.ly/a2ldU7). Firstly, will the iPad impacts personal computer sales…? ‘If there are significant decreases in PC sales and high iPad (and other tablet computer) sales, then clearly the iPad will have had an impact on redefining personal computing’. The second measure will be, ‘how many people buy an iPad or other tablets who never had, nor will, buy a personal computer’. This measure will illustrate whether the device draws ‘people to personal computing in a way that actual PCs were not able to achieve’. In anycase, I have had not received one negative comment from family, friends and clients when I hand over the device to them for a play. In fact, everyone has been blown away. 
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The iPad and Arcade Table have arrived at Lookout Mobile
April 27th, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
The last week was an exciting week for Lookout Mobile. Firstly, we employed Rafif, our new iPhone developer who will be starting next week. We look forward to introducing him to you all. Secondly, we purchased an amazing arcade table that includes 1200 of the very latest 1980 games including, Golden Axe, Gallaga, Wonder Boy, Double Dragon, Street Fighter and the list goes on. We have an open door policy for all clients and friends, so feel free to pop in when you are in Prahran. However, the most exciting part of the week was getting our hands on our first iPad (second iPad coming later this week). What a device! More thoughts to come in a future blog post but here are a few photos of the team having a little fun with our new toys. AFL & NRL Sponsorship Rationale
March 12th, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
We have received a few comments regarding the use of the carsales.com.au sponsorship model and wanted to explain our point of view. Firstly, the 2009 AFL and NRL apps were purchased for that season only – any new update would of been charged for in 2010 - we apologise if this has caused some confusion and frustrations. Our 2010 objective was to deliver more value and footy content to the user by offering an improved product with the objective of delivering a free app. We felt that the user had the right to free footy content via their iPhone. That’s why we have got the sponsor on board – to fund these imporvements, plus our time and energy. When incorporating the sponsors brand we have been very minfdul of the delicate balance required in serving the needs of users and the sponsor. We believe we have struck a good balance but are open to suggestions. Please email all suggestions to info@lookoutmobile.com
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Alice in iPhoneland
February 15th, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
 Alice in your iPhone I came across an interested article about how Disney has released a free, stand-alone “Alice in Wonderland” iPhone app, plugging both the movie and an upcoming game based on the film for the Nintendo Wii. What’s interesting is the iPhone-centric mobile push and how much faith movie studio’s are putting in this device when promoting their movies. What about Nokia? Or Google Android based phones? Well, who can blame them with 50 million units to target (not including iPod Touch devices), its becoming a smart choice for a distributional channel when planning for media. For example, the studio has a fair idea of the user demographic and location of the iPhone user. Its common knowledge that the majority of iPhones have been purchased in developed countries, with around 65% of users aged between 25 – 54 years who have a higher than average income. Alice in Wonderland isn’t the first movie that has utilized the iPhone as a distribution channel with Saw 5, Star Wars, Terminator and Star Trek producing top quality iPhone apps to support its movie release. Saw 5 deserves a special mention with their ‘jigsaw your voice’ app. The ’jigsaw your voice’ app cleverly morph’s the users voice, with the aim of sounding like the game master in Saw. Once the user has morphed their voice, they are then given the option to their ‘morphed voice’ to their contacts – viral marketing at its best. The idea sounds spooky but its been downloaded a heap of times with a valuable fan base who keep using the app and sending their morphed voice to their contacts. Furthermore, the power of the iPhone allows movie studios to push out exclusive content, behind the scenes info, characters profile, release dates and even giveaways. Even if the movie was ordinary and failed at the box-office, at least the studio has the opportunity to blow the public away with a relevant iPhone app that the user will hopefully absorb and connect with well after the movie has gone to DVD release.
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Lookout Mobile’s iPad Thoughts
February 3rd, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
Our first impressions was ‘what type of name is the iPad?’  Homescreen From a device perspective it looks great and will offer the user a clean and quick user experience when it comes to surfing the net, reading e-books, checking and responding to emails, watching movies and viewing pictures. The slickness is typical of Apple and once people start playing with it, and seeing it in the ‘real world’ the buzz will only intensify and people will probably start banging down on Apple’s door to get one. The epicenter of this device is the iBookStore and to a lesser extent iTunes (movies). The ability to purchase eBooks, magazines, newspapers and uni/school material will serve as another massive revenues stream for Apple. While, having a 9.7 inch LED-backlit screen, will give the user a great movie watching experience. It kind of feels like the auxiliary features like the web, iPod, email etc are just icing on the cake; the iPad is focused on the iBookStore. Hence, what they have created is purely an e-Reader on steroids. There is no doubt that the extra features will be the ‘hooks for the general immediate users’, but for the power users, business users, medical industries and educational areas, there are enormous potential markets that could open up with just the right applications.  Newspaper app From a more technical perspective, Apple’s purchase of the company PA Semiconductors a little while ago has shown to be a great move. It would seem that PA Semiconductors work on developing specialized chips that ran on very little power has enabled Apple to engineer a custom chip to run this amazing new device. This helps Apple to also keep things in house and under their very black hat. There is no doubt that its a massive opportunity for app developers and we are excited about seeing our apps on the iPad but the real commerce and advancements will be seen in the iBookStore and rightly so. The monetization of good, relevant and unique content is the future for the sustainability of digital content and there is a good chance that the public will be in for a massive surprise when they commence viewing newspapers and books via the iPad. Regarding the price of content: give it time and one would hope that the iPad’s seamless user interface, and simple and convenient delivery of content would justify the cost of content. Take the iTunes Store as an example: people thought charging for music would fail but to-date, Apple have sold more than 6 billion songs via the iTunes Store since it opened in 2003, making it the world’s largest music retailer. Regarding the ‘missing in action’ features – who really cares if there’s no camera or flash support? The only real missing feature (that will be corrected) is multi-tasking. The iPad is an e-reader with sublime features, (as agreed by Michael – head programmer) the reason there is no camera is because of relevance and price. What purpose will a camera serve? Can you imagine people lugging their 9.7-inch screen in front of a friend, whilst positioning them for the perfect shot? Use a real camera with a decent lens or use a toy camera in a phone for un-important photos. Don’t try to take a decent shot with a two handed hold on 2/3’s of an A4 page. Finally, the price point is a real winner for the consumer and ultimately Apple. Its essentially suggestive selling on Apple’s behalf – give the shaver away for free and make money on the blade. It will be really interesting in the uptake of the iPad. I doubt it will sell like the iPhone or iPod; nearly 50 million iPhones have been sold since its launch in June 2007 and the world’s iPod population is now more than 250 million and still growing. Where the iPad will have instant success will be within education. The education sector has been looking for a good portable device with good battery life, well priced, hooked in to the network and easy to interact with. However, the real test will be how it competes with the Kindle and other competitors and how they will price its content. Only time will tell… Update: click here to read Garry Barkers (The Age) thoughts on the iPad…  iPad Flat display
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The Travelling iPhone
January 21st, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
I am sure there a lot of other great apps for travellers, but here are a few of my favourite applications over the last 6 weeks:
I tried a few of the more popular iPhone guide books… Lonely Planet, Wallpaper etc… but to be honest i found them to be pretty average, especially for the hefty price tag. There is a whole travel category in the app store so its certainly worth browsing before your next trip.
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iPod Touch Downloads Explode on Christmas Day, Surpassing iPhone for the First Time
January 18th, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
A shock to some and certainly a shock to me was the news from Flurry about the significance of iPod Touch downloads in comparison to iPhone downloads. Out of the estimated 58 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices in the market at the time, Flurry estimated that around 40% of those, or 24 million, were iPod Touch devices. The influx is most likely correlated to the Christmas season, as iPod Touches was Santas number 1 gift, while these users, primarily pre-teen and teen audiences, are voracious downloaders leading to the increase increase in downloads. Here are some stats :
The chart below sets demonstrates the increase (and comparison) to iPod Touch vs iPhone app downloads:  Flurry Holiday 2009 Report iPodTouch vs iPhone Downloaded apps still keep soldiering on: November app downloads set previous download volume records, growing by 15% over October. And App Store download growth increased by more than 50% in December* over November. Its worth noting that Android market growth increased by over 20% in December over November.  Flurry App Store vs Android Market Nov-Dec Growth To hypothesis about app download growth during the Christmas period would be quite straightforward, however, to suggest the figure it would increase by is no easy task. Flurry predicted a 20% which was more than half and if I was to guess I would of expected a 30-35% increase. But 50% is mind blowing. With all the new mobile phone entries, including Googles Nexus one, Apple App downloads are still aggressively increasing, while the its competitors app store is growing at a underwhelming rate. As a development company, the questions we start to ask is when is it worthwhile to start creating apps for other devices? To me, Nokia is still the only device that is worth considering. With its massive customer base, we are seeing a stable increase in Nokia app downloads for its nSeries devices. Furthermore, the marketing machine that is Apple, and its loyal following, I cannot see their market share dissipating. Especially with iPod Touch downloads exceeding 40% in December, which suggests more people are becoming familiar with the device and app store. My guess is that a large % of these iPod users will commence shifting to the iPhone in the coming year. I know i did.
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Move over Black Friday and Cyber Monday: the App Store is Here
December 18th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
I just read a really interesting stat about Black Friday and the comparison to iPhone app downloads. Firstly, Black Friday is an extremely important factor when predicting the U.S. economies health. Whilst Cyber Monday, the tracking of online sales of websites like amazon.com on the first Monday after Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November),has become a second important barometer. As we enter the holiday season, downloads in the iPhone App Store can also serve as an indicator of consumer spending. Why? Well, App Store sales are small relative to online and retail but Apple’s September announcement that the App Store surpassed two billion downloads demonstrates how quickly this digital market is growing, having doubled in just the last four months (Flurry & Techcrunchies). Further, according to Admob, the App Store is already generating over one billion USD in annual sales. Furthermore, Flurry estimates that (to date), more than 34 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices have been sold in the U.S. through the end of September 2009. This equates to roughly 10% of the U.S. population. Interesting findings:
Its worth noting that October downloads exceeded September by 30%, and November further grew over October by an additional 16%  Obvious increase during the holidays Additional point: Historically, the week after Christmas has been the strongest for data downloads to mobile phones, since consumers load up after receiving new handsets as holiday gifts. With download growth at its current rate, its predicated that that December downloads will exceed November by at least 20%, making it a strong season for Apple. I feel that the above stats are relevant to the app development market place – it gives us direction to launch or test the marketplace. To know when downloads are going to peak give us the opportunity to plan for a release or update of an application. Or it could work well as a pricing model – when demand is up you could possibly charge more, or charge less depending on your goals. Its important to understand your market place and I believe the above stats give us a great insight into user buying behaviors that cannot be overlooked. Thoughts?
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Global App Retention: A Tale of Two Economies
December 4th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
One of my favorite iPhone analyic’s company is Flurry (www.flurry.com), due to their relevant studies focusing on the smartphone market. The study has demonstrated that retention rates are very low for developed countries compared to developing countries. In actual fact, retention rates are low in general. This supports Lookout Mobiles credo that content must be relevant, timely and updatable (uniqueness of content also plays a major role). This credo was established for retention; to encourage the user to revisit and engage with the app. For example, Aussie Rules Live and Rugby League Live have a retention rate of 99%. The reason here is due to the relevance of the application and the need for the user to keep checking the app for ‘timely’ score updates. However, if you’re a brand and wanting this type of retention, I would recommend you brainstorm on how to encourage users to come back to your app. Or in other words, give them a compelling reason to return. You might want to trickle content on a weekly basis or seed ideas or concepts that require the user to revisit the application. Or you might want to constantly give them a value add by updating unique or exclusive content and/or a special or discount (if its a product or service) into the app . A great example is an application developed for Swedish customers that allowed users to obtain coupons for free biscuits and coffee at local 7-Eleven outlets. The Study: In October 09, Flurry looked at user retention by international territory. As the App Store expands internationally, studying differences between user behavior across territories / states / countries is becoming more important. Increasingly, app developers are faced with international market expansion decisions, and need to consider the cost of localising and promoting an app in a new territory against the value of capturing those new users. Developers forget the importance of promotion and the cost invloved. So hitting the right territories / states / countries is a must. The data – captured by location from January 09 through August 09. The total data set contains data from approximately one billion tracked user session, ranging between millions to hundreds of millions per geographic territory represented. Flurry measures user retention by the number of users who downloaded an application, at any time in the past, and used that app within the last seven days. The global average for user retention is 14.8%.
 iPhone app retention by geography Findings: It was hypothesized that users in developing economies, which have less wire-line infrastructure and use phones more as PC-substitutes, would demonstrate higher app retention rates. This hypothesis held true. Regions that can be characterized as developing economies have above average retention rates: Africa (21%), Central America (16%), the Middle East (15%) and South America (15%). Whereas more developed economies show lower-than-average retention rates: North America (12%), Europe (12%), Asia (13%) and Australia (14%). In particular, we find that North America and Europe have the lowest retention rates. Because these two markets represent iPhone’s home-base, which comprises a large part of our sample, with the rationale being that the sheer number of available apps in the App Store generates more churn as consumers are presented with increasingly more choices. In another report by Flurry that discussed the relationship between consumer choice and retention in which iPhone vs. Android app retention was compared, it was found that Android users demonstrate higher app loyalty, but also have far fewer choices in the Android Market compared to that of the App Store. Furthermore, it’s probably fair to state that higher disposable income levels in developed economies allow consumers to try and abandon (paid) apps more freely.
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Android growth is here & units
November 27th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
You read a heap articles about Android devices and how they are gaining market share and how Apple should watch out. Well, I can’t imagine Apple loosing too much sleep but there is definately an increase in Android powered handsets. AdMob just released a report that includes some great stats that gives a rough breakdown on the success of various different Android devices. Its important to note that the HTC and Motorola Droid phones have not penetrated the Australian market place yet. It will be interesting to see how the Australian marketplace responds to Android based software phones.
Its important to note that the iPhone and iPod Touch collectively accounted for about 33 percent of total requests up 6.9 percent for October / November. In US, the total share of Apple is about 35 percent, up 7.5 percent for the month. Graphs:
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Apple Smartphone Sales Grew 49.2% in 1 Year
November 16th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
Here’s a stat for you- in less than two and a half years on the market, Apple’s iPhone has managed nearly a fifth of the total global smartphone market, thanks to nearly 50 percent year-over-year growth in sales in the third quarter of 2009. Who would have thought that it would take only 2 1/2 years for Apple’s iPhone to capture 17% of the smartphone market and reinvent the way third party software is priced, marketed and sold. 17% of the marketplace is a staggering figure. New data released by research firm Gartner (12th Nov 2009) showed that the iPhone has taken a 17.1 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market in the three-month period ending in September. The report said Apple’s share is only expected to grow, with even stronger anticipated sales in the fourth quarter, thanks to expansion into China and the addition of new carriers in multiple countries. It should be noted that other manufacturers are growing quite well compared to Apple’s 49.2% growth from the 3rd quarter of 2008 to the 3rd quarter of 2009. RIM matched nearly matched pace with 46.9% growth and 20.8% of the market. HTC (makers of Windows Mobile and Android phones) grew at a blistering 60.6% pace. The losers are Nokia with an anemic 4.4% growth and a loss of marketshare (down from 42.3% to 39.3%). Its worth noting that ‘other’ mobile companies have slipped well behind the pack by dropping 8.2% to 13.1% in 3Q09. The big 5 mobile companies are racing ahead.
 Smartphone Percentages Sources: Appleinsider & Gartner
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Google buy AdMob
November 10th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
“Google Inc. has shown which way it believes the winds are blowing by forking over $750 million (in stock) for mobile advertising firm AdMob, one of the Web giant’s largest acquisitions to date”. To me this demonstrates how quickly the mobile ad space has grown and As AdMob itself has described, the volume and effectiveness of mobile advertising has been skyrocketing over the last several years as more advanced smartphones have caught on, making it easier to deliver more kinds of graphical and text-based advertising to phone-toting consumers. In a recent report, AdMob said that the number of mobile ads it served had increased nearly 540% from September 2007, to 10.2 billion per month from 1.6 billion. And as mobile phones morph further into pocket Internet devices, and consumers grow accustomed to performing online functions like search, gaming and instant messaging on their handsets, opportunities for advertising companies like Google will grow rapidly, analysts expect. Google says the number of searches performed by smartphone users has increased by a factor of five over the last two years, led primarily by iPhone users and owners of Google Android phones. At least a dozen new Google-powered phones, such as last week’s launch of Verizon’s Droid, are expected to be released in the coming year. Google have just stretched their powerful ad distribution network to new lengths. Again, this is a massive development in the mobile space and all I can say is “HOW EXCITING”. Sources: LA Times, AdMob and Google
 Google and AdMob Mobile Advertising Reach
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Its no laughing matter!
November 9th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
Lookout Mobile are proud to announce that it will be building the 2010 International Comedy Festival iPhone application. We are looking forward to getting our teeth stuck into this project and can’t wait to work with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival team.
 2010 MICF Title The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is one of the three largest comedy festivals in the world, alongside Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival. An annual event, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival literally takes over Australia’s comedy capital, Melbourne, each autumn with an enormous program of stand-up comedy, cabaret, theatre, street performance, film, television, radio and visual arts. The Festival was launched in 1987 by Barry Humphries and Peter Cook. Twenty festivals later, with attendances of over 400,000, it has grown to be Australia’s largest cultural event. The Comedy Festival is not only a hugely popular event but an extremely accessible one. When the Melbourne Town Hall precinct is converted into a giant comedy hub, there is something for every comedy lover, from the very best local and international comedy acts in venues of all shapes and sizes. Source – www.comedyfestival.com.au
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AFTRS iPhone Presentation
November 2nd, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
 AFTRS - Aust Film, Television and Radio School On Saturday (31st October) Lookout Mobile were invited by the Australian Film, TV and Radio School (AFTRS) to talk about our experiences with developing iPhone applications. Both Pat and I participating in a 2 hour presentation walking the audience through our various iPhone app’s and thoughts about how to best plan and execute a successful application. The day was organised by Tim Patterson (Prime Productions) and consisted of film and tv producers, journalists and a few digital media planners. The course was aimed at teaching particpats the technology of the iPhone and how it is changing the world of mobile media, to explore the business model that exists with Apple for developers and to learn about project management, personnel, costing and workflow. We were really excited to be presenting about what we love doing and hope that everyone had fun learning about this amazing device and economy.
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Your Brand App Hit Parade – Oh Yeah
October 21st, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
When I first set eyes on my first iPhone I thought to myself that this ‘puppy will change the way marketers look at mobile’. The functionality, usability and interface was a marketers dream. Sexy, easy to use and functional. I was eagerly waiting for the day that branded applications would rain down via the iTunes App Store like choc-chip sprinkles to my nieces ice-cream. Over the last 6 months brands like Coke, Nike, Coles, Lasoo and eBay have started to upload branded applications to the App Store. By last count, there have been in excess of 300+ branded Apps to chose from and by the looks of it, most are ‘underwhelming’. What’s going on? Freelancer Johnny Makkar’s has compiled an enormous Google Spreadsheet of 211 apps that include their user ratings, number of ratings, category, etc. This spreadsheet can be found here. Well done mate! Johnny points out in his blog that branded apps are not floating to the top of the ratings charts, with only 15 of the group hitting 4 stars or above. Other findings include:
A brief search in Australia reveals a similiar story:
It must be noted that Domain and Hamish and Andy have created fantastic branded apps. So what do bad reviews mean to the brand? Does it tarnish the brand in anyway? Will I now go to Safeway because the Coles App annoyed me? Maybe brands need to take a leaf out of commercial radio in which play-lists are selected based around non-offensive songs, songs that don’t give the listener reason to change radio stations. That’s boring! The question that should be asked is what happens when a brand gets it right? And what are the consequences? Look at Facebook, with 420,946 votes for 4 stars, this app has given the brand a massive media extension and opportunity to constantly engage with their audience. On a personal level, I have found myself using Domain’s actual website as their brilliant App drew me in and now their website offering seems more relevant to my needs. I beleive Facebook and Domain Apps are just the tip of the iceberg – with the iPhone being jam packed with amazing native functions, the potential to blew your audience away and create a viral market effect is massive. Engage with your audience and give them reason to come back to your App. In addition, given that its a mobile device, the opportunity is even greater. For example, based on our research of 2000 Aussie Rules Live users, our app was downloaded via a recommendation by 1100 times. A free branded App gets downloaded in the tens of thousands and with a market place of 50 million devices, you can now start to imagine the potential. A little creativity and planning will go a long way.
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Augmented Reality Applications
October 6th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
The buzz term for the last 12 months has been around augmented reality (AR) applications. Lookout Mobile was first introduced to AR capabilities and marketing opportunities by our good friend Anthony from Leo Burnett and since that initial discussion, AR has taken off! Rumors of AR related iPhone apps and concepts centered around how to incorporate AR into iPhone applications swept through blogs and forums like a breath of fresh air – and for good reason. The concept of augmented reality as described on Wikipedia, is a’ live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with or augmented by virtual computer generated imagery – creating a mixed reality. In other words, morphing ones reality in real time with environmental elements via a device – in this case, mobile device. AR has become a reality with the iPhone 3GS due to the compass feature – now the phone can pick up your exact co-ordinates with the use of the compass and GPS features to show virtual items in the real world. Augmented reality examples: a good example is Acrossair, who have taken the AR concept and developed a full suite of apps that include ‘Nearest Tube’, ‘Nearest Metro’ & ‘Nearest Subway’ – these apps allow the user to visually see where the nearest train station via visual arrows and distance. Another great iPhone AR app is Wikitude – combining Wikipedia and geo-tagged information from its users and places it in the users phone when pointed at a relevant monument, landmark, location etc. In addition, Yelp (US), a local directory that helps people find great local businesses like dentists, hair stylists and mechanics has utilized AR to visualize restaurants, cafes and local business with visual reviews. For me, the best indication of things to come is an application for the iPhone 3GS that uses the GPS, compass and camera to show where Tweets are coming from. The application is not available via the App Store but you can view the below clip to see a video demonstration of the App displaying Tweets that are overlaid on the landscape, augmenting your view of the world. With Apple finally opening the door to AR apps and the consequence release of several great AR apps, I feel that the App Store has stepped up a level. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
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CNN Launching Pay iPhone App; Live Streaming For $2 Plus Ads
October 1st, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
The fact that CNN are charging for news via a mobile device is a fascinating development in the pay for content debate – I would of expected Rupert Murdoch to make this type of move. However, Time Warner have taken the plunge and have unveiled their new iPhone News Application at a $2.00 price tag plus advertising. They have already secured Lexus and Chevron as major banner sponsors. The App itself looks pretty hot with a ’standard’ blend of constantly updated headlines, sharing, alerts—plus CNN iReport uploads/management and live streaming. There is also on-demand access to video clips etc – Screenshots and demo here. What I love most about this app is the iReports. Essentially iReports is a function that allows for user generated content to be viewed and, with the iPhone 3GS, recorded, then uploaded directly to the users phone. In America, this isn’t a first; CBS News Mobile has a dedicated, free user-gen report app called CBS EyeMobile but its certainly a sign of things to come. What better way of spreading the word, especially news, via first hand encounters by the user. I really wish Australian news broadcasters got their act together and started to engage in this type of dialogue with technology. To charge for the application is a brave and correct move by CNN. A once off fee of $2.00 is minimal as compared to buying a newspaper and/or purchasing a pay TV subscription. People need to be conditioned to want to pay for good, timely and relevant content, in order to facilitate good journalistic practices in the field of photo, video, editorial and opinion-based journalism. In addition, the incorporation of technology and the uses of technology need to be rewarded – I haven’t downloaded (US only) the application but by all accounts, CNN are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the mobile space and I think this needs to be financially rewarded… What do you think?
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Lookout Mobile named in the top 30 mobile companies.
September 28th, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
We would also thank you, the users of our applications, especially our devoted fans of Aussie Rules Live & Rugby League Live iPhone applications. The success of these apps have opened many doors and given us the motivation and inspiration to keep on improving and pushing the boundries of our work.
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Kiva lenders
September 1st, 2009 by Lookout Mobile
See some of our Kiva loans here.
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Its been a few weeks now since Pat and I received our brands spanken over inflated (thanks to eBay) iPads. My first thought was, ‘where are the instructions’? It quickly dawned to me that Apple elected not to include instructions in the box. All you receive is an iPad and a charger – this one act sums up the functionality of the iPad. Simple and intuitive. As cheesy as it sounds, the device really does direct you to how it should be used.
Yesterday i returned from a nice holiday break overseas. Instead of posting a hundred pictures of me standing in front of various churches (available on request though), I thought it might be useful to post some details on how my iPhone fit into my holiday experience. Firstly, data is crazy expensive overseas > which meant no email > a good start. Apart from the usual games and random entertainment, offline Maps was really the key app for me. Data will cost you a 
for Google to pay $750 mill in stock, further demonstrates this progress.
We are proud to be associated with Kiva, a non-for-profit organisation that allows everyday people the opportunity to connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. Kiva which means “agreement” or “unity” in Swahili, strives to assist the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence.