How many types of iphone / iPad apps are there?

There are thousands of iPhone applications listed in the App store. In general, these applications can be listed in one of ten different iPhone application categories listed below:

Calculate / Utilities Apps – These apps can show you how much your mortgage payment will be, how to convert temperatures, how to calculate square footage, estimate your auto loan monthly payments, find international calling codes for each country and more. Mobile utility applications can make your life so much easier!

Entertainment Apps – Okay, if you have time to kill, you will find apps that update you with the latest celebrity gossip, show you how to play a variety of drinking games and even make sounds like a whoopie cushion. Mobile Entertainment applications can keep you occupied for hours.

Games Apps – These are what make the iPhone fun! Play Sudoku, shoot helicopters, jump over craters, or experience the world’s first story-driven drink mixing video game – Nimble Strong: Bartender in Training. These mobile gaming apps are simply incredible.

Recruit the best Mobile App Developers at FoneGigs.com

News Apps– Interested in receiving the latest information about a certain subject you are interested in? Whether its the latest environmental and green news, military headlines, or the latest news about Apple, this is the application category where you can get delivered the news you want in real time.

Productivity Apps – Want to track your spending and manage your bank accounts? Would you like to apply a personalized signature to use in your email? Maybe find the times and locations where you can donate blood? Be more productive using these mobile productivity applications.

Search Tool Apps – Need to do a reverse phone number lookup? Find country info like currency, international phone code and capital? Want to find a good cooking recipe? No problem using mobile search tool applications.

Social Networking Apps – Want to chat with users all over the world or share mobile videos? Perhaps you need a city guide that tells you what bars, restaurants and other fun things to check out in your city. If so, take a look at some of the social networking applications that are available.

Sports Apps – Want all the latest news from the NFL or NBA? Need to find all the public ping pong tables available worldwide? Or you just want to know how many calories you burned during your last workout. Mobile sports applications are for you.

Travel Apps – Find the best restaurants in Paris, learn the Mexico City bus network, download a London tourist guide that includes commentary. Mobile Travel applications are perfect if you are getting away.

Weather Apps – Receive your daily weather forecast via text or find out what the weather will be like over the next 4 days for any city. Mobile Weather Apps are convenient!

And there you go, the 10 different categories of iPhone and iPad apps in the market. To find the latest mobile application developer jobs and mobile marketing careers, go to FoneGigs.com!

Thanks!

Eric Melchor

Mobile Marketer’s top 10 holiday mobile apps

The holiday shopping season is here and many marketers are launching applications to beef up their mobile presence.

So which applications have really nailed it this holiday season? Mobile Marketer consulted some industry experts regarding which applications they feel have really nailed it.

“I think it’s important that retailers and brands be present in holiday mobile apps,” said Scott Dunlap, CEO of NearbyNow, Mountain View, CA. “But it’s important to note that you don’t have to have your own app to participate – DealNews can log your sales, NearbyNow can put your catalog in the gift guide and etcetera.

“But [an app] is a great way to reach out to a number of mobile users who may want to continue the dialog,” Mr. Dunlap said.

Based on industry expert opinions, here is Mobile Marketer’s top 10 holiday mobile applications in no particular order:

• Target - The Target application simplifies and streamlines consumers’ shopping experience at Target stores and on Target.com. The application connects consumers to great savings, store hours and the perfect gift. Putting the power to save money and shop more conveniently into people’s hands is part of Target’s “Expect More. Pay Less.” promise.
• EBay Deals application – Available as a free download in the App Store, the Deals application features intuitive navigation, customizable search features and PayPal integration enabling mobile check-out. The application also lists holiday bargains.
• SnapTell - SnapTell is revolutionizing the way consumers and marketers connect. Using a camera phone and SnapTell’s image-recognition technology, users can easily and instantly access requested information and content. Marketers can effortlessly create campaigns using existing collateral and can alter their messaging on the fly in response to SnapTell-provided actionable metrics.

read full article here.

Discovery’s HowStuffWorks.com launches ad-supported iPhone app

Discovery Communications’ HowStuffWorks.com has launched the Stuff to Rattle Your Brain, a free, ad-supported iPhone application.

Consumers shake the device to select from more than a dozen question categories such as 20 Random Questions, Keep Going ‘til I’m Wrong and Practice, Practice, Practice. The application draws its content from the PC Web site.

“Being digital natives, we recognized that HowStuffWorks.com brings a unique value to the mobile space,” said Kathryn Kelly, vice president of media and marketing at HowStuffWorks.com, Atlanta.

“Our strategy is to encourage smart consumers that are on the go, by bringing the compelling content from HowStuffWorks.com to mobile in a way that best takes advantage of the platform,” she said.

HowStuffWorks.com is an award-winning Web site that provides information and explanations for thousands of topics. HowStuffWorks.com was acquired by Discovery Communications in 2007.

read full article here.

Greystripe, the company which is arguably the main competitor to AdMob (recently acquired by Google), announced that it has delivered ads into over 300 million ad-supported games and applications on the iPhone and Java platforms. This fact in turn makes Greystripe the largest mobile ad network for downloadable apps and games in the world.

In addition, the company also announced that it is bringing its full-screen ad format to the Android platform, and that it already has some partners on board to use it – The Casual Games Network, Adam Schmelzle and Jump Games.

The press release continues saying that Greystripe’s new Android SDK supports pre-roll, interstitial and post-roll inventory.
Read more: http://www.intomobile.com/2009/12/11/greystripe-with-300-million-downloads-we-are-the-largest-mobile-ad-network-for-downloadable-apps-and-games-out-there-were-also-bringing-full-screen-ads-to-android.html#ixzz0ZUsaepTL

Directory of iPhone application and Android app developer groups

If you are trying to find out where mobile application developers hangout, check out some of these groups. Furthermore, if you’d like to recommend a group that is not listed here, please email me at eric@fonegigs.com and I will include it in this post. Thanks.

FoneGigs.com – the FIRST job board dedicated to Mobile Application Developer jobs. Find and recruit experienced iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and Nokia App Developers in the market. FoneGigs also provides jobs for Mobile Marketing Professionals, UX Interface Jobs, and Mobile Ad Sales Reps. Mobile App Developers can also post their resumes and have advertisers and recruiters find you!

The Android Developers community is a great forum for both new and experienced android developers. You can get help with the first steps of Android development – your first User Interface, your first permission, your first file on the Android filesystem, your first app on the Android Market.

The iPhone Web Development community is a great source for general, development, page display, browsing and more questions.

iDev Games has a great forum that provides tips for Mac and iPhone game developers. Learn about game programming fundamentals, graphics and audio programming, programming languages & scripts and more.

The community of Atlanta iPhone Designers and Developers. Okay, maybe you don’t live in Atlanta, but you can still search Meetup.com to see if there are any iPhone or Android developer groups where you live.

Check out LinkedIn for Mobile Application groups. There are quite a few, some that specialize in iPhone, in Android, and both.

General responsibilities of a Mobile Application Developer:

- Architect, design and build scalable and usable mobile client applications from the ground up.
- Ability to work with multiple mobile client application frameworks such as Android, Cocoa Touch, and J2ME.
- Self-starting side projects are massively encouraged.

Hear about Mobile App Developer Jobs at FoneGigs.com!

What are the usual qualifications of a Mobile Application Developer?

- Great coder, motivated, fearless, self-starter, and quick learner.
- Proficiency with UI frameworks, and/or related languages/technologies.
- Strong understanding of user experience/UI design and networked mobile application development.
- Proven track record designing, implementing, deploying, and shipping high-volume and scalable software.
- Experience with these server-side technologies a plus: Java, C++/PHP, Ruby, MySQL, Apache, or Python.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related discipline (Math, EE, etc.); MS or PhD always a plus.

Are there any certification programs for Mobile Application Developers?

Sun Microsystems offers a program for those who use Java. You can read more here.

Where can I read more about Mobile App Development?

Wikipedia offers a great description about the foundation of Mobile Application Development. Check out here.