Monthly Archives: December 2013

Make Your New Year Resolutions Count With These Mobile Apps!

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Less than 8 hours remain till the arrival of the New Year, and all of you probably already have your resolutions in place. If you are indeed sincere about your new year resolutions, the following mobile apps will help you stay true to your promises.

It’s the last day of the year – and all of us are busy making, and announcing, our grand New Year resolutions. However, somewhere down in our hearts – we are also aware that, like most other years, these resolutions would be rather short-lived, and our lifestyles won’t improve as we want them to. There is no need to despair though – for as 2014 zooms in, these mobile apps can indeed ensure that you stay true to the resolutions you take:

 

  1. Livifi – Forget having one goal to attain in 2014, you can set as many as forty objectives for yourself, during the upcoming year – through this iphone application. The app would reiterate the importance of your goals from time to time, ensuring that you stay motivated enough. You can also get handy pointers from Livifi, on how to attain your self-imposed life targets.

  2. Cozi Family – If spending more quality time with your family-members is one of your new year resolutions, this app would help you out. Cozi Family is one of the best custom mobile applications, on which you can create and maintain to-do lists, journal entries, and shopping schedules. Life at office will remain hectic, but you will not miss out on family fun!

  3. Joe’s Goals – How about keeping track of whether you are meeting each of your goals on a daily basis? Joe’s Goals lets you do exactly that. You can set small targets for yourself in the morning, and tick them off as you complete them during the course of the day. The mobile application development framework used in this app has a touch of innovativeness about it, and you can give yourself positive/negative points – on the basis of whether you have been able to meet all your daily goals or not.

  4. Goodreads – Thanks to the remarkable evolution in Android and iphone app development in India, you can improve your reading habits in 2014 – by referring to your mobile handset as well. Via Goodreads, you will gets updates on what books/journals your friends are reading up, and can even get recommendations from them. You also have the option of posting comments about what you are reading on your social media profile.

  5. Goalscape – You will have to spend a few bucks to get the yearly subscription of the Goalscape app, but it would be well worth the expense – if you are really serious about your resolutions. Apart from general goal-setting and progress-tracking, business-style reports can be generated via Goalscape. You can prioritize the various targets you have set for yourself, by color-coding them. A systematic way to a better year – that’s what this smartphone application promises!

  6. Livestrong MyQuit Coach – What can probably be a better time than New Year’s Eve, to make a determined attempt to stay away from the deadly smoking habit? The mobile application development company in charge of creating the Livestrong app ensures that you get convenient and completely customized plans to control your urges to have a puff anytime. All the advice that you will get through Livestrong are medically approved, and they would set you on your way to a healthier, tobacco-free life.

  7. My Fitness Pal – Worried about that slightly bulging tummy and the few extra kilos you have put on? Get My Fitness Pal on your mobile handset, follow all the exercising and food tips that you get through it, and get back to your slim, fit self within a matter of weeks. This new year, you can keep a tab on your daily calorie intake requirements – thanks to this imaginatively designed application.

  8. Chains.cc – Foster your good habits in the new year, by recording every nice deed that you do each day, on the Chains.cc app. All your records are maintained in the form of a chain (‘the chain of good habits’) – and the onus is on you to avoid doing anything rash, that might break the chain and ruin all your previous hard work. As the chain grows longer, you will definitely experience a feel-good factor about you!

  9. Stress Check – Unless you are retiring or something, there  is no way of staying away from workplace-related tensions and stresses. With the Stress Check app, you can manage such stress levels though, via clinically proven methods. Promoted by almost every iphone application development company in India and abroad, Stress Check also helps you identify the factors that put excessive mental stresses on you.

  10. 43 Things – Peer pressure spurs on many people to do apparently unattainable things, and that’s the underlying principle behind this goal-setting app. Once you have decided upon your new year resolutions, you can share them through social media via the 43 Things application. There are options to send invitations to your buddies too, for participative goal-realization. Since others would be able to track your progress, you will automatically get the necessary motivation to stay true to your resolutions.

 

Stikk, Mindbloom and CheckMark Goals are some of the other mobile apps that you can consider downloading on your phone, to get the requisite guidance for maintaining your new year resolutions. If 2014 is the year you wish to bid adieu to heavy drinking habits, the hypnotherapy tips and advice available on the Stop Drinking app would be of help. Get the Mint application, if you want to manage your finances in a better manner. Your resolutions for 2014 need not die an untimely death – there are plenty of advanced mobile applications to see you through the apparently challenging tasks!

 

Factors To Consider While Choosing A Mobile App Development Platform

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Several important factors have to be taken into account, to determine which of the mobile application development platforms currently available would be the best for a new app. The following discourse presents a few of these factors that app developers have to pay heed to.

The ultimate success of a mobile app depends a lot on choosing the correct development platform for it. There are several alternative platforms (ranging from the market leader iOS, Blackberry and Android, to the fast-improving Windows, Symbian and Titanium platforms), and several things need to be factored in, while deciding the right one for your new applications. Any professional mobile app developer would emphasize the importance of the following points:

 

  1. Popularity among users – You cannot possibly get into the business of mobile app development, without gauging the potential market size of the apps you would be creating. An in-depth research survey would reveal the most preferred models of smartphones among users, and the platform/OS they operate on. The results can vary according to your target markets – although creating apps for the Apple Play Store is almost always a good idea.

  2. The required costs – Financial viability assurance is essential, before you get down to the actual app-creation process. Executives from any established mobile application development company would first prepare a budget plan – with calculations for all the mobile application development tools and general maintenance and marketing expenses. Apps for certain platforms offer high initial returns, but their profitability fizzles out later – and you should stay away from them.

  3. Profile of the intended buyers – You also need to ensure that the smartphone application(s) you create actually appeal to the targeted group of people. For instance, Blackberry apps enjoy maximum popularity for business purposes – while iphone applications for kids are deemed to be the best. Study the demographics of your target market carefully, determine the primary purpose of your app – and choose a mobile application development platform accordingly.

  4. Carrier availability – This is, once again, vital in determining whether new apps would manage to get adequate visibility. If you are into iphone app development in India, you have to consider whether there are enough reliable carrier networks to support the platform. In general, iphones operate on the AT&T network (in the US), while T-Mobile is the most popular carrier for Android phones.

  5. Tools and coding support – When you are preparing high-end smartphone apps, it is of essence that you get comprehensive app development graphics, coding and API support from the platform you select. There should also be multiple options for you to prepare the concerned app. From Objective C and C++, to Java ME – each platform has its own set of proprietary coding support, and you need to decide which one would be most suitable for your application.

  6. Prospective return on investment – You might be offering some free smartphone apps to start with – but, at the end of the day, advanced mobile applications have to yield sufficient revenue. Depending on whether you wish to create an app for a mass or a niche audience, you have to set your target ROI – and find out which of the platforms is most likely to help you achieve it. Apart from the potential customer base, preferences for free apps versus paid apps also have to be considered.

  7. Stability – If you have an exclusive Blackberry, Android or iphone application development company in India, you won’t probably have to worry much about this factor. However, before creating mobile apps for any other platform – you have to make sure that its backend architecture and technical features are robust enough. Hosting a high-quality application on a sub-standard platform can lead to lengthy system downtimes, and you can start losing clients as a result.

  8. Promotional support – Thanks to the presence of the iTunes store, the iOS platform probably has an edge over the other ones on this count. The process of getting apps approved on the Apple Store can be slightly time-consuming, however. You should get in touch with representatives from all the online app stores, to find out the sort of promotional support they would provide to your products. Once your new app gets featured on the Android store, the Apple store, or the Blackberry App World – the download figures would automatically show a significant growth.

  9. Accessibility – The web stores of most app development platforms (with the notable exception of iphones) are accessible only across certain select countries across the world. Hence, it is important to select a platform which would allow you to market your app in the country(ies) where the majority of your clients are based. In case you are developing an enterprise app (not targeted to general buyers), you have to make your choice of platform accordingly.

 

For developers involved in creating smartphone apps with cross-platform compatibility, it is of essence to find out the modifications that have to be made – to ensure that they run perfectly well on all the platforms. Review your initial choice of platform once, to check whether it might pose any problems in your mobile application development processes in future. Select the right platform for your custom mobile applications, and boost their chances of success manifold!

Do You Know How To Monetize Your Mobile Apps?

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Along with maintaining a high quality standard for the mobile apps you create, having viable monetization plans for them is also of essence. We will here take you through some important pointers for monetizing new smartphone applications.

Mobile application development can potentially be a highly profitable business. Well-designed, user-friendly custom mobile applications typically boast of high download figures – resulting in handsome revenues to their developers. However, in the absence of a smart monetization strategy, even a qualitatively excellent app can fail to make any significant amount of money. Over here, we would discuss some important factors to consider, for monetizing your smartphone apps:

 

  1. Set realistic targets – Not all apps can earn equal money, and looking for an unrealistically high profit figure from any of them would be rather naive. On the basis of the type of your app, its prime user-group, the mobile application development platform used, and the geographical area where you would promote it – determine an approximate revenue figure from it. Factor in the promotional/registration costs you would have to incur as well.

  2. Choose an ad strategy – A mobile application development company generally prefers to launch a free version of new apps (for a limited span of time), and release the paid version after the former has become relatively popular. During these initial stages, it is of essence to choose a viable ad sponsorship scheme for your mobile apps, to earn a steady stream of income from them. Apart from the conventional push-notification advertisements, you can integrate icon ads, smartwall ads and information on special deals in your apps. Make sure that the ads never hamper user-experience though.

  3. Use different strategies for separate web platforms – iPhone apps are different from Android apps – and the general preferences of app-users also vary across every mobile application development platform. Free applications are generally more popular among Android users, making it important for you to have a good sponsorship plan in place. Paid iphone apps, on the other hand, find greater acceptance – and you need to have a flat download fee/pay-per-download scheme for them.

  4. Monitor the eCPM levels – This is where the importance of testing alternative sets of app advertisements come into the picture. Any established iphone application development company in India would have multiple test ads running on their recently launched apps – with executives tracking the eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mile) figures. In broad terms, this metric refers to the number of impressions each ad gets. Make sure that advertisements are displayed adequate number of times (without causing disturbance to the end-user), to ensure a high revenue.

  5. Make monetization a part of the app marketing strategy – Right from the prototype creation and mobile application development cost determination stages, to getting apps approved at online App Stores – you need to include monetization as a part of the overall marketing and promotional strategy. Unless you have a clear idea about how you would go about publicizing a new app – setting an arbitrary price on it is not going to help.

  6. Keep your ads in sync with the overall layout of your app – If the in-app ads you choose stick out like a sore thumb, users would soon start getting distracted – and might get rid of the troublesome applications from their phones altogether. Irrespective of whether you are involved in Android, Blackberry or iphone app development in India, you have to chalk out plans for custom mobile applications – where the ads would seamlessly blend with the app user interface. There are several professional advertising networks, who can help you to come up with attractive and creative ads for mobile apps.

  7. Create a buzz about your app – This one is pretty much elementary – unless people are made aware of the application you have recently launched/planning to launch soon, its download figures would remain low, and all the smartly-laid monetization plans would go to waste. Start promoting your apps through social media sites, online press releases and banners, and your business website. The higher the initial sales of an app would be, the greater would be the amount of money it’ll start to make from the very outset.

  8. Provide subscription offers – Within your smartphone apps, you can also integrate offers to users, for subscribing to e-newsletters, app-badges, and other such material. Make sure that the stuff you provide for subscription would actually be of value to people, and have a nominal price on all such additional downloads. In particular, if you have a news or a gaming application, such subscription deals can prove to be really successful.

  9. Balance the app download charges with your advertisement plans – It is only natural that when a person downloads a paid mobile application, (s)he is likely to be less tolerant about multimedia advertisements in it – than when (s)he is using a free app. You can afford to be a bit more aggressive with your ad strategies on free applications, while sticking to a much more minimalistic plan for your paid apps.

 

Take a cue from the strategies that are being implemented by the top players in the field of mobile application development, and try incorporating some of their methods to monetize your apps. You should ideally hire the services of an experienced, reliable mobile ad network agency as well. With increasing popularity, the potential revenues from a smartphone application can rise rapidly – you only need to have a good monetization plan for it in place!

Pay Attention To These 11 Security Guidelines For Smartphone Apps!

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Do you use smartphone applications for mobile banking and other personalized, official purposes? If yes, you should always keep in mind the app security tips discussed below.

Over the last couple of years or so, mobile apps have emerged as one of the most viable ways for marketers to promote their products/brands to prospective customers. While the increasing availability of user-friendly, easy-to-operate and engaging applications has been much to the liking of general smartphone-owners, risks of confidential personal data getting compromised have also gone up. That, in turn, has brought to light the importance of abiding by certain basic security norms, while using mobile applications. Here are eleven such critical tips:

 

  1. Do not use finance-related apps on public networks – Launching a gaming application in an wireless network environment is all very fine – but when you are using a banking or mortgaging app, you need to ensure that the connection is secure and encrypted. In general, using the network provided by your mobile service provider (via VPN) would be advisable.

  2. Avoid storing too much of data in phone apps – Security consultants from the domain of Android and iphone app development in India keep advising people to not use smartphone apps as virtual databases. Unless it is absolutely necessary, you should never store sensitive data (account numbers, passwords, etc.) in a mobile application. To protect the data that has been stored, don’t forget to use key-chains.

  3. Regularly check your handset for viruses – Presence of virus or malware in your phone can corrupt valuable data, and even make it accessible to others using the same network. You should have a reliable anti-spyware system installed in your phone, to stay safe from such threats. Make sure that the anti-virus settings are updated on a regular basis.

  4. Be careful during data transfer – You need to take a call about the type of data you are comfortable with, for sending along to others via smartphone apps. Most business and financial software come with secure app development graphics and encryption options – to rule out chances of unauthorized data access. Even so, it won’t be a good idea to transmit sensitive personal information via mobile applications.

  5. Stay aware of the latest security upgrades – To handle the data integrity requirements of users, every customer-oriented Blackberry, Android and iphone application development company in India comes up with regular security upgrades. Keep a tab on the releases of such advanced data protection software, and install the new versions – as and when they become available. If you are not sure about how the security software has to be set up, get in touch with a professional immediately.

  6. Be wary of mails seeking personal information – Unfortunately, there is no dearth of fraudsters going around in the mobile app markets – and they are invariably on the prowl to take advantage of the unsuspecting public, to gather their bank information and other such confidential data. If you get an email from an untrusted source, asking for your account details or balance information – delete it as soon as possible. Notify the app development company about it too, and unsubscribe from all unnecessary promotional offers. You don’t want to end up getting swindled!

  7. Use only tested mobile apps – Apart from the probable threats that can surface on the user-interface, an app can have bugs in its basic framework and backend architecture too. It is of essence that you download, install and use only such applications that have been thoroughly tested, and have valid security certifications. Apps with non-robust backend data protection systems should always be avoided.

  8. Do not lend your handset to unreliable persons – It might be on the pretext of one urgent phone call, that someone can steal valuable data stored in your apps. In case you do lend your handset to anyone else, make sure that all the applications are closed and locked first. If you are planning to sell off your old smartphone, uninstall all apps and erase the stored phone history.

  9. Log out from apps after every session – Even if no one else uses your phone, do not forget to actually log out/sign out of your user account on mobile apps after each session. Several contemporary mobile application development companies do offer applications with auto-logout systems – meaning that you will have to sign in with your username and password every time. It might take a few extra seconds, but you will be kept safe from undue data losses.

  10. Be alert about unusual activities – If someone does manage to breach through the security features of an app, you should be able to detect it at the earliest. While making credit card transactions via mobile, or accessing your banking app – keep an eye out for any unusual activity (in the nature of debits or credits). In case you do happen to identify any such unscheduled activity, report to the developers, and remove the concerned application from your phone.

  11. Have an idea about who can actually access your app-stored data – This is particularly important, if the app(s) you mostly use has backend data-storage facilities. If you know who can access/view your personal data, you will be at a better position to identify the culprit – in case there is any shady activity in your account. While transmitting data too, keep a list of the people/organizations with whom you are sharing such vital information.

 

While it sounds rather obvious, it would not be out of place to reiterate the importance of locking your phone – whenever you are not using it. Remember, each version of Android apps or iphone apps has its own list of security add-ons and requirements – and you need to upgrade your handset accordingly. Smartphone apps have, undoubtedly, made life a lot easier for people – but you can ignore the above guidelines only at your own peril!

 

Be Wary Of These Mistakes While Creating Mobile Apps!

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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All set to develop your very first mobile application? Make sure that you do not fall prey to any of these mistakes!

If you are not thorough in your mobile application development plans – chances are high that some mistakes will crop up during the app-creation stages. That, in turn, would adversely affect the final performance and usability of the app, and, in all likelihood, it would get lost in obscurity – particularly with the huge number of smartphone applications that are launched every quarter. If you are among the budding app developers in Kolkata, make sure you do not commit these follies:

 

  1. Creating the same app for all platforms – Developing mobile apps that have seamless cross-platform operability calls for a high level of professional expertise, and a decent amount of practical experience in this field. To start off with, it is always a better option to create separate sets of applications for iphones, Blackberry sets and Android phones. Custom mobile applications, in any case, are always likely to perform better.

  2. Trying to excessively cut down on costs – Sure, you need to monitor the mobile application development cost levels at all stages – but that should not, in any way, compromise the quality of the app that is being created. Make sure that advanced, pre-tested tools are being used create user-friendly app interfaces and layout. A poorly designed app would not be able to generate significant download figures, no matter how cheap it might be.

  3. Putting in too many functionalities – Simplicity is a major virtue, as far as development of mobile applications in concerned. According to professionals related to iphone app development in India, applications that pack in too many functionalities inevitably end up confusing the end-users, resulting in diminished popularity. While chalking up the app prototype, you should focus on it having one principal objective. Further features can always be added in later versions/upgrades.

  4. Not studying the mobile market – This is the point where the value of having a dedicated research team at your mobile application development company comes to the fore. Before deciding on the type of apps you would be creating, you have to find out the type of mobile handsets and OS that enjoy maximum popularity. At present, iphones are ahead in terms of total number of users than Android or Blackberry phones – and starting off with an iphone app won’t be a bad idea.

  5. Ignoring the need for tracking analytics – You create mobile apps and send them off to the online Play Store for user-downloads. Is that all you need to do? Far from it – for unless you know how your applications are performing (both in terms of download figures AND actual usage in handsets), you will never get an idea about whether it is being liked by your target audience. Consequently, the app upgrades you release can also turn out to be unsatisfactory.

  6. Not monetizing the app – Unless you are in the mobile application development business solely for the fun of it, this mistake would be inexcusable. Even if you intend to offer free download offers (limited period) on your apps, you need to know how you can earn money through them, from advertisements and sponsorships. As the applications start becoming popular, you need to determine an appropriate pricing model as well.

  7. Considering all users to have same levels of technical expertise – Remember, the people who will be using your apps are only interested in having more features in their smartphones – you cannot expect them to have top-level technical knowledge and ideas on the back-end coding of the applications. In case your Android or iphone application development company in India is creating a multi-touch, highly evolved app, you should also include a detailed user-instruction manual with it. People should never face any problems while installing and/or using the application.

  8. Glossing over the need for social media integration – Everyone (at least, every smartphone user!) is present on social media, and mobile apps that do not have integrated Facebook and Twitter-sharing features are bound to be looked upon as slightly backward. Irrespective of whether it is a gaming application or a news-based app you are developing, make sure that users can share the items that they like on their social media profiles. Of course, these networking sites are also great avenues for promoting your app.

  9. Not testing the app properly – In the fiercely competitive mobile app markets, profitability is often equated with being able to gain a first-mover’s advantage. However, you should never be in a tearing hurry to release your app – cutting down on the required time for app-testing in the process. You need to perform beta-testing with a focus group of testers, as well as allott some time for automated testing and tests conducted in the cloud network. An undetected bug/virus in the final version of the application would surely make buyers stay well away from it!

  10. Not promoting your app well – Even the best mobile apps are likely to fail, if the parent companies fail to publicize them properly. Through online press releases, web banners, relevant blog posts, social media updates and even small teasers on your website – you need to build up the curiosity levels of people about the upcoming mobile application. You can also consider distributing flyers and handouts at IT events. Greater awareness can easily translate to higher sales!

 

You need to be careful while recruiting the team of app developers in Kolkata, who would be in charge of creating the app. Make sure that the dashboard of the application never becomes too cluttered. Test the speed of the app too. Even the smallest of errors can result in the development of a problematic app – and that would be a big-time loss of time, effort, and of course, money!

 

11 iPhone Apps That Have Not Been Up To The Mark!

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Not all the mobile apps for iphones have been equally successful and popular among end-users. Some applications have had technical glitches, while there have been quite a few absolutely pointless ones too. Let us here focus on some such poorly-reviewed iphone applications.

According to common consensus, the Apple Play Store is more well-stacked than the Blackberry App World or the online store for Android apps. That, however, does not indicate that each and every one of iphone applications have managed to match the expectations of general users. In fact, there have been quite a few rather disappointing apps for iphones – some of which are:

 

  1. Maps on iPhone – Often unreliable and almost always vague, the map application on iphones have come in for some harsh criticism from users. The GPS tracker is, at many times, not accurate – and the road directions and the time-estimation for a journey cannot really be trusted either. Thankfully, Apple has been monitoring the negative feedback, and the map application is likely to be upgraded soon.

  2. SunTrust – When a banking application receives nearly 80 per cent of negative votes, it can be safely concluded that the app has been a failure. The mobile application framework and the user-interface of SunTrust were far from satisfactory, with the cluttered dashboard being a major concern. The fact that it took a fairly long time to load did not help matters either.

  3. Notes – With the constant evolution in the domain of iphone app development in India and overseas, you hardly expect problems in a basic note-taking application – but the Notes app has indeed been a shocker. Present by default in every iphone, Notes uses an almost illegible font (called ‘Marker Felt’) – which makes it a burden for users to read even small portions of text on it. In terms of data syncing features too, Notes does not perform well at all.

  4. Facebook – Who wishes to be sent push-notifications about their Facebook activities from several weeks back? The FB app for iphones often does exactly that, and has a tendency of frequently crashing too – particularly if you click two or more tabs rather quickly. Using Facebook for a stretch on iphones can cause excessive battery drains too.

  5. iFart Mobile – The name itself is cringeworthy, and the actual application is hardly any better. Regarded to be one of the most annoying mobile apps for iphones, iFart emits…you guessed it…a wide gamut of crude farting sounds (each of them has fancy names too!). What’s even more remarkable, this app is not free to download either. Understandably, people have stayed well away from iFart.

  6. Birth Buddy – Why any mobile application development company would want to release an app that is supposed to help pregnant ladies at the time of delivery would forever remain a question – and that’s exactly why everyone wonders about the purpose of Birth Buddy. The features are pretty well-advanced, the interface is bright and lively – but there is one big problem. While in labor, you might simply not be in the mood to tap on your iphone!

  7. Gmail – Mobile Gmail is one of the finest Android apps, but on iphones – the app loses a lot of its overall efficiency. There is no way to access multiple accounts simultaneously, while inherent server problems might even cause inordinate delays in the arrival of important mails. Saving online data can also pose to be a problem.

  8. Sword of Fargoal Legends app – Apple has, at times, lost its way with gaming apps too – and this one would serve as a classic example. The strong backstory and the interesting gameplay options in Sword of Fargoal Legends have been offset by the horribly low screen resolution levels and poor quality of the app development graphics used. While you can still derive some fun while playing it on your iphone, the game is a downright flop on iPads.

  9. Reminders – To be fair, Reminders is far from being the worst app to be marketed by any iphone application development company in India, or anywhere else, for that matter. The issue with this app is that, it is rather unnecessary – with most people preferring to use other organizer applications (including even the disappointing Notes) on their phones. Hardly anyone uses Reminders, making its existence on iphones a rather superfluous one!

  10. Baby Shaker – Everyone loves to cuddle infants, but who (in their right state of mind, at least) would try to irritate a baby by constantly shaking it? Well, the Baby Shaker iphone app told users to do exactly that to the animated crying infant that was displayed onscreen. The reviews for this application were overwhelmingly negative, and it had to be pulled out from the Play Store pretty soon. Meant to be amusing, Baby Shaker represented the height of twisted mentality.

  11. iTC Mobile – Unless you happen to be one of the expert iphone app developers in Kolkata, you will not have any use for this one. Strikingly, iTC Mobile has not managed to satisfy its primary target audience as well, with app creators and marketers often complaining about the inaccuracies in the sales trends that it generated.

 

The eShaver app, which emits shaving sounds when the handset is rubbed on your face and was supposed to be funny, fell flat on its face as well. The Weather Channel app for iphones is inaccurate and is often detected with bugs too. The Bump app (meant for data exchange across phones) has not been able to generate much popularity either. Most of the iPhone apps available at the Play Store are really cool, but there are also a few stinkers!

 

9 Handy Finance-Related Smartphone Apps

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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With the advent of a series of innovative and advanced mobile apps for personal and business finance management, such tasks have become a lot easier than before. In what follows, some of the top finance-related smartphone applications have been discussed upon.

Managing personal finances and tracking budgets have become easier than ever before – thanks to the emergence of a large number of finance-related mobile apps. You can now get important financial data and stock market updates real-time, right on your mobile screen, only via a few clicks (or touches, depending on the type of handset you use). Let us here focus on some of the most useful finance apps that you can consider having on your phone:

 

  1. Pageonce – Once you install Pageonce in your phone, you will never have to worry about forgetting bill payment dates and other financial deadlines ever again. You can set up alerts with ease, and the app also generates push-notifications, to remind you about pending payments. Detailed real-time reports on your regular expenses can also be generated. Enhanced compatibility with practically every mobile application development platform is yet another advantage.

  2. MyLoanCalculator – In terms of user-friendly app development graphics and range of options, this one definitely ranks at par with the best loan and mortgaging apps for smartphones. Interest payments can be accurately calculated, and the loan repayment schedules chalked up.Calculations for as many as three loans can be done on the MyLoanCalculator app simultaneously.

  3. Money – Right from making investments in foreign markets, to managing personal finances while on an international tour – this app proves to be useful under several scenarios. Consultants from the field of iphone app development in India point out the neatly categorized cash, savings and budget account displays on Money, as its major highlight. There is a separate tab to get in-depth transaction reports, while debit a/c details can also be accessed. The app retains all its functionality in the cloud network too.

  4. Mint – Much like the Mint website, this smartphone app also offers all-in-one personal finance management services to users. Along with providing information on recurring expenses and account balances, the Mint app has a series of high-clarity graphs and charts, for pictorial depiction of vital financial data. There are provisions for setting alerts for bill payments too. Data security issues are handled by the app through a four-digit personal PIN, ruling out chances of unauthorized information access.

  5. Koku – If you wish to constantly monitor the source/account from which you are making your everyday expenses, Koku would be a ‘must-have’ mobile app. Available at a nominal price on the online store of every leading iphone application development company in India, Koku clearly identifies between expenses from savings and current (checking) accounts. You can also track your credit card payments. The app is indeed instrumental in mapping out your overall spending pattern!

  6. Grocery Gadget – While the download price of this app is relatively on the higher side, there is no room for questioning its utility as a household budget manager. Customized lists of the grocery items you need to buy can be stored in the app, and corresponding prices can be entered either manually, or via the in-built bar code scanner (available only on phones with 3GS facilities). The sound underlying mobile application development framework rules out chances of sudden software crashes.

  7. ProOnGo – Almost every top-billed mobile application development company offers a range of business finance apps – and ProOnGo is a classic example of such applications. With this app, you can make tax calculations, chalk up corporate expenditure plans, and prepare detailed reports. Two alternative packages of ProOnGo are available, with the more advanced one also having the provision of custom spreadsheets for data entry and storage. If you have an Amex card, you can keep its data synced on the ProOnGo app too.

  8. Coinkeeper – If you thought that finance-related mobile apps were all about plenty of figures and mundane reports, the features of Coinkeeper would come as a nice surprise. You only have to feed your budgetary preferences in the app – and you will get colorful stars and shiny coins, whenever you manage to keep up with the financial targets. Of course, if you have overspent, that would be shown too. Personal finance can definitely co-exist with a dash of fun – as this app clearly demonstrates!

  9. Debt Tracker Pro – Creating and following debt repayment plans become a lot easier, when you use the Debt Tracker Pro application. You can check out alternative scenarios with varying interest payments – to determine which payoff period tenure would be the most suitable for you. In case the amount you owe has a line of credit, the app also helps you to keep track of it. The layout and user dashboard of the Debt Tracker Pro is elegant and uncluttered, ensuring optimal user-experience.

 

Among the other popular smartphone apps related to finance, Pocket Money, Spending Tracker and MoneyWise are worth a separate mention. For calculating brokerage fees and mortgage payments, the Mortagage Calculator Pro is ideal. There is no dearth of efficient finance-related apps on the Play Store – select the ones you need, and bid adieu to all those complicated, time-consuming calculations!

App Testing For Mobiles – Follow These Tips!

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
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Wondering about how you should go about testing new mobile apps, before releasing them for users? Go through the following discourse, and follow the pointers mentioned therein!

A smartphone app with a gamut of seemingly useful features and cool design styles can turn out to be a flop amongst users, if it ranks low on the reliability count. The presence of errors and bugs in an application (which might slow it down and/or crash frequently) is likely to show up your app development agency in pretty unfavorable light as well. Before the full launch of any new app, you need to get it thoroughly tested. You will find the following tips helpful for the purpose:

  1. Decide upon the things to test – Make a list of the app features that actually need to be tested (installation, speed, display options, presence of bugs/virus, etc.) at first. During the actual testing phase, do not try to check out whether all these factors are working fine all at once. Instead, divide the application tests into different modules – and test a single feature during each of them.

  2. Choose the device on which testing is to be done – A leading mobile application development company will be into creating apps for multiple platforms – and the testing processes have to be customized accordingly too. Test every app on the device, and with the same system settings – for which it has been created. Certain applications have to be checked for cross-platform functionality as well. This will also help you to specify the ideal system requirements for the applications to buyers.

  3. Test the internal memory and bandwidth usage – Over time, professionals have started to come up with mobile apps that have ample memory space, and do not take up much of the available bandwidth on the handsets of end-users. If your app does not have these properties, it would be likely to adversely affect the performance of the mobile phones on which they have been installed. Ensure that the app loads quickly, and offers glitch-free user-experience.

  4. Monitor performance via cloud computing – If your iphone application development company in India is coming out with a dynamic, multi-functional new app – testing it on the cloud environment would be advisable. Assess the scalability features of the app, and make sure that the correct network architecture is being used for testing the application. Problems (if any) should be identified on a real-time basis, so that they can be rectified without delays.

  5. Check the graphics and layout – Customized app development graphics, keeping under consideration the general preferences and demographics of targeted users, have to be implemented in each smartphone app. To cite an instance, an educational app for toddlers needs to have simple, visually appealing, child-friendly features. Create a small focus group, ask the members to use the app on their handsets for a certain period, and find out whether they feel it is user-friendly enough.

  6. Prepare a prototype and seek feedback from potential buyers – If you do this at multiple stages during the app development stage, chances of the final software coming out to be unsatisfactory would be reduced manifold. Highlight the chief features of the app that is being created to prospective clients, and pay attention to the opinions/recommendations they share. You can even present two or more alternative prototypes, to find out which one would find greater acceptance among users.

  7. Select the right network connectivity options for testing – Depending on the type of Android or iphone app development in India you are involved in, you will have to simulate internet network settings to test the applications. Find out how your apps perform in low-strength networks, and under weak signals. If you wish the app to remain functional offline as well, you will need to perform additional tests.

  8. Use open-source coding in your apps – An app can do very well during the testing stage, and yet get stuck after being downloaded on the users’ smartphones. That’s precisely why you should use open-source code sets in the applications, so that probable future problems can be fixed by people – as and when they crop up. The overall mobile application development framework should be such that, all developers can easily understand it.

  9. Monitor the analytics features of the app – If the in-built analytics tools in your app are not functioning properly, you won’t be able to gauge its performance in the market, and determine the type of upgrades/improvements required. Hence, you need to keep aside a testing module for finding out whether these features are working in the desired manner. Make sure that the download counter and the other fields are getting updated automatically.

  10. Have automated testing plans as well – This is vital for determining whether mobile apps are functioning properly, when being used in reiterative loops. For bulk testing too, you need to have such automated arrangements. Regression testing (generally required before releasing an upgrade) is a classic example of automated app testing procedures that have to be used.

While not a part of the technical performance features of the app, setting the correct price also has to be done during the testing phase. Provide a virtual instruction manual with the applications, to ensure that new users do not face any difficulties while using it. Remember, the more thoroughly you check your smartphone applications before release – the less time you would have to spend handling customer queries and complaints!

Mobile Application Development – Things To Know

Hussain Fakhruddin
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Hussain Fakhruddin

CEO at Teknowledge Software
Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
Hussain Fakhruddin
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Planning to develop mobile apps for users? Go through the following factors first – they are likely to help you in your application development endeavors.

 

The popularity of the various categories of mobile apps is on a steep upward trend. According to research reports, more people worldwide used their smartphones to download and use multi-utility applications, than those simply accessing mobile web. Not surprisingly, mobile app development has also grown into a profitable niche market segment. If you too are planning to enter this field, here are a few basic things you should be aware of:

 

  1. Mobile application platforms – There are several alternative platforms, for which you can develop apps for. Unless you are a pro in app creation and development, cross-platform compatibility is not something you should try to provide in your applications. Instead, have specially customized apps for Blackberry sets, Android phones and iphones.

  2. Need for the app – A mobile application – however creative it might be – is destined to fail, if it does not fulfil a precise requirement/need of the targeted users. Before getting down to the development stage, find out about the features that people actually want on their smartphones, and determine whether such apps can indeed be developed. Make sure similar applications are not already present in the market.

  3. Native app or web app? – If you are looking to get into the exclusive domains of Android or iphone development in India, you should ideally plan for creating a native app first. These apps can be directly installed in the intended smartphone models, and often, can be used offline as well. On the other hand, web apps have to be created, if you wish your applications to be launched and used via mobile web browsers.

  4. The app development budget – Like any project, you need to have a pre-planned budget for this too. Monitor the app development cost at all stages, and cut out unnecessary expenditures. You also need to decide whether you need to hire additional app developers in Kolkata (whom you would have to pay) – or whether you have the necessary expertise to handle all the development tasks on your own.

  5. The importance of mobile-friendly apps – No person would like an app that eats up the bulk of their smartphone’s bandwidth while being used, slowing down the device in the process. This is why professionals from every well-known mobile application development company focus on creating apps that require minimal bandwidth-usage. The overall mobile application development framework and layout have to be simple and user-friendly as well.

  6. Be careful about the app development graphics used – This is, in a sense, an extension of the earlier point. Remember, the visual and graphic features for a kids’ app should be almost completely different from that meant for delivering stock market updates to investors, or location information to elderly people. Make the graphics of your app customized – so that it appeals to the group of users you intend to target.

  7. Make it scalable – Simply preparing separate sets of apps for the different platforms is not enough – you need to make your apps scalable too. There is no way to predict the screen size of the handheld device that users would be using mobile apps – and the visual properties of your application must not get distorted under any circumstance. Be it a Blackberry Curve, or an iPad – your apps should always appear nice and elegant!

  8. Creating a micro-description for the app – To get the prospective buyers interested in the app you develop, you need to make them aware of its basic features and functionalities – in an engaging manner. At any Android or iphone application development company in India, due importance is placed on creating ‘micro-descriptions’ for their apps, providing a brief overview of the software, its price, compatibility and functionalities. This description should be displayed, whenever users click on your app at the Play Store.

  9. Beta-testing – Never make the mistake of glossing over this stage – for smartphone apps with bugs and/or other usability problems can spell doom for your business. Form a focused group of testers (including yourself), and ask them to use the app on a trial basis for a specified period of time. If any unfavorable feedback comes in, rectify the underlying problems immediately, before the full app launch.

  10. Pricing techniques – If you had managed to keep the mobile application development cost under manageable levels, you should not have troubles to fix competitive prices for your apps. As your business grows, consider offering free apps as well. On special occasions, you can offer special discounts on the downloading of the applications you have developed.

 

Before planning an app upgrade, study the analytics reports to find out how the original version is doing. Make sure that the icon of your app is attractive enough, and the installation process is simple and straightforward. Do not enter the field of smartphone app development with the sole objective of earning hefty profits. Increase your familiarity with the topic, pay heed to the above factors, and create a smart, interesting, useful application. Revenues will automatically start to be generated!