Lookout mobile blog
The Race Book has arrived
October 26th, 2009 by Patrick Fitzgerald
The Race Book is a daily schedule of Victorian Racing fixtures over the 23 major events in the October and November Spring Racing Carnival Calendar.
The Race Book is a daily schedule of Victorian Racing fixtures over the 23 major events in the October and November Spring Racing Carnival Calendar. Race book provides daily race information (at 7.30am on race days) ensuring you have the latest scratching and barrier information to assist you in following the day’s action. Research the form of your selections, with last five starts, jockey, trainer, weight and barrier information. Features: - Form and field information from 23 race meetings over the duration of the Spring Racing Carnival. - Over 185 individual races - Tips and Suggestions and horses to watch - Up to the minute race track rating and weather information, and its effects on track speed and pattern Click here to read about our write up in The Age or head to Lookout Mobiles Media Section!!! Click the thumbnails below to view more screens
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Your Brand App Hit Parade – Oh Yeah
October 21st, 2009 by Daniel Kagan
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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Net Magazine Top 30 Mobile Companies in Australia
October 15th, 2009 by Patrick Fitzgerald
Nett Magazine has selected Lookout Mobile in their top 30 mobile companies. The list was segmented into categories with Lookout being in ‘news information and utilities’ section. Its always great to be recognised for your hard work, so thank you Nett 30 for including us in your list. 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 boundaries of our work.
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Augmented Reality Applications
October 6th, 2009 by Daniel Kagan
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 Daniel Kagan
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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