FriendCaller Blog

I’m actually happy that Google has taken over Motorola. At least, now we can expect Motorola phones getting regular Android updates. Also, they won’t be putting up with proprietary user interfaces that absolutely ruin Android experience. The release of Android 3.0 only to device makers, who will be shipping the simple Vanilla version is a very smart move for sure.

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about forceful sign-ups with Samsung only to find out no updates in the end on  Samsung Galaxy S Plus. Can it get any worse? Well, the answer is yes. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 too that resembles an iPod touch with 5’’ screen. Features include a front face camera that we need for our FriendCaller Android Video Chat App. But here’s the catch! The device came with an Android 2.2 installed in it whereas front face camera feature is supported only by Android 2.3 version. Now, that’s disturbing, isn’t it?

One bad experience led to another. I could not find any ‘System Update’ option, which should have been above status on about section. Great! What’s going on here?

It dawned on me after searching Samsung website and going through this that a special software installation is required on my MAC, (Hurray, they offer a MAC version).  This looks almost similar to iTunes with its own Android market place. So, this explains why Samsung forces the user so much into ‘Kies’. Yes, you either sign up and buy your music and apps or get ready to receive no updates. Ouch!

Did I have a choice? No, so I downloaded and installed the software, updated the new download and connected my Galaxy S5. Wondering what did I get? A pop-up that ‘this device is not supported by Kies 2.0’! Are you kidding me???

Android has certainly taken 2 steps back here, losing enough credibility. I frankly don’t care if they sell half a million Android a day or 1 million. If they cannot control these major issues like fragmentation or bad user experience just because they ignore these device makers’ proprietary stunts, this is not going to work. What’s in it for me if I spend a cool thousand bucks on 2 Samsung devices that turned out to be an epic fail right from the beginning?

So, I am back to my Nexus S, a pure Android inside out. Ironically, it’s also manufactured by Samsung but it works like a pro, always updated and does not limit my mobile freedom.

What is your Android experience?

P.S  I fancy the name ‘Kies’. The German meaning of this word is a kind of loose gravel. Hmm, a perfect description I must say based on the kind of user experience it offers which is totally built up on loose grounds.

There goes the Web OS. Another defeat for the ‘other’ category as HP abandons WebOS.

Is it shocking for me? Certainly not! Having spent most of my summers in our Sunnyvale Office at PlugAndPlay Tech Center, I have seen full page WebOS Touchpad ads popping up literally in newspapers, on billboards and on 101 covering the whole nine yards. Surprised? Well, that’s true.

So, what’s the history? Let’s take a recap. It all started when HP bought Palm for 1.2 billion and then gave WebOS the status of a ‘building block’ as a part of their strategy. Moreover, HP spent a whopping 50 million dollars or more or less near to that on introducing the new range of WebOS devices.

But when the HP Touchpad finally came out; you could get practically close to none apps for it. Disappointing isn’t it? And who bothered buying a Touchpad anyways? Yes, Nobody. Guess who was left all surprised? Hmm, well maybe HP top management. Wondering what these guys were thinking seriously? What made them believe that somebody will go for a mobile device, even as nice as HP Touchpad but without loaded with any cool apps?

My advice for the next technology giant whoever wants to push its ‘other’ mobile platform (Microsoft, are you still there?) is to take a note from this dumping of WebOS by HP. From a developer’s point of view, it’s pretty difficult to make a decent living just from creating different apps. Even though FriendCaller was the Top grossing Social App and iTunes last year, we still struggle for every dollar. So, I guess it’s better if we don’t talk about the TOP 20 guy’s takings as it is all pro bono.

Here’s the solution. Simply offer every TOP 25 iTunes developer 10,000 USD to get the app ported to WebOS. iTunes consists of 20 app categories, so it would make about 5 million USD. Then, provide every developer with free advertising of USD 10,000 value. Make sure there is an inbuilt app payment mechanism installed.

Still thinking why the developers won’t come? They will. Rest in Peace WebOS. You will not be missed by us. We never developed an app for you and had a solid reason for that!

These days, everyone is a critic. Tools like Yelp! make it possible to instantly rant or rave about an experience you had with a restaurant, retailer or service provider. For casting a wider net with your rant or rave, simply update your Twitter or Facebook status. So powerful are some of these tools, that a single comment, regardless of whether or not it is legitimate, can make or break a business.

The same holds true for apps available through the iTunes Store or the Android Market. Some apps, especially the more popular ones, can have hundreds of reviews. However, not all of the reviews are constructive, and many can be misleading and a waste of time.

It amazes us that people will spend between $200 and $400 for the latest and greatest smartphone, an additional $75 to $150 per month for service, and then spend their time griping unnecessarily over a 99 cent app!

So, when it comes to user reviews, how much weight do you think a review should carry when deciding to purchase an app? As a user, is it easy for you to discern between a simple rant, and a legitimate issue that the reviewer had with the app? Do you even take user reviews into consideration when purchasing an app?

I would love to hear your thoughts that value of user reviews for apps, as well as any tips you may have for cutting through the clutter of useless reviews that plague both the iTunes Store and the Android Market.

At Google I/O 2011 last month in San Francisco, it was announced that the Android Market has more than 200,000 downloadable applications and several analyst predict the number of Android apps bypassing iTunes soon.

The truth is, however, that the Android Market is growing rapidly, yet at the same time it has a much higher attrition rate than the iTunes Store. Recently, Appsfire reports that 32% of Android apps have disappeared from the Android Market since they were introduced. In contrast, the attrition rate for iTunes Store is half, at only 16%.

So, why is the attrition rate higher for Android? Appsfire points out that Android developers are more creative, and therefore are using the Android Market as a testing ground for new ideas. With the Android Market, virtually anyone can publish an app. In fact it only costs a $25 on-time fee to open a developer account, and there is no approval process. In contrast, Apple requires developers to pay an annual fee and imposes strict developer guidelines.

So is it a matter of low cost and convenience that is driving the high attrition rate for Android Apps? Easy come, easy go, as they say? Creativity vs. conformity? Quantity vs. quality? Are developers simply pulling their own apps? Google rarely removes apps from the market, and it limits its intervention to removal of malicious apps.

Personally, I am not fully convinced that it is the lack of an approval process that creates a higher attrition rate. Published apps can be updated immediately, and once published there is no cost involved to keep them in the store. For example, we have been updating our FriendCaller Android VoIP app on a regular basis, and it has been fun since we can react to user feedback at the Android Market much faster that on the iTunes Store.

Some of our latest updates to the FriendCaller Android version make it easier to build your friend list using Web email or Outlook contacts, and comes with an extended offer wall that presents opportunities to get more free call credits. On the other hand, our FriendCaller iPhone VoIP app has not been updated since Apple requested fundamental changes in the way offer walls work.

What do you think? Is it simply easy come, easy go? Are there other reasons that one third of all Android apps have disappeared from the Android Market? Please share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment or re-tweeting this post.

Today, we removed the FriendCaller OS2 version of FriendCaller Instant VoIP from the iTunes store. We did this primarily because it no longer makes sense for us to support OS2 devices, as the number of these devices is quickly dwindling, and OS2 lacks many of the cool features that make FriendCaller so addictive. Furthermore, our latest FriendCaller iOS apps are no longer able to support OS2.

While FriendCaller Instant VoIP was pre push-notification, pre-multitask, pre-almost every cool iPhone OS feature, it was indeed a solid VoIP app. Removing it from iTunes is bittersweet for us because this version was the beginning of the FriendCaller success story. Beating Skype to the punch, FriendCaller Instant Voice was released one week prior to the Skype iPhone app. In fact, FriendCaller was responsible for helping to initiate VoIP functionality for the iPhone, as we were one of the earliest VoIP apps, if not the first full-featured app with both VoIP to VoIP calling capabilities and super cheap calls to direct dial phone numbers.

Early on, FriendCaller clearly demonstrated its capabilities to use the iPhone’s state-of-the-art audio hardware to support crystal clear calls via the Internet. This feature alone was a key selling point for our end-users, since at that time the voice quality of AT&T’s network was suffering due to the iPhone’s rapid success. Suddenly, VoIP calls over WiFi made with FriendCaller delivered much better voice quality than networks calls.

When we launched FriendCaller, we could never have anticipated that the app would become so popular, achieving millions of downloads after it was first approve for sale via the iTunes store. That was in March 2009, when a couple of hundred downloads per day were considered a huge success. If someone would have told us back then that within one year, FriendCaller would become the most successful Social Networking app on iTunes, with only four others apps (all games) grossing more than FriendCaller, we would have told you to dream on!

This dream did come true for us, and in 2010 FriendCaller ranked number five on the iTunes Store’s “Top Grossing Overall” list. Now, two major iOS updates later, it is time to say goodbye to the good old OS2 version, and send it off for a well-deserved retirement. The FriendCaller success story will continue, not only through our iPhone apps, but also through FriendCaller for Android. When searching for VoIP in the Android Market, you find that FriendCaller regularly appears on its list of top ranking apps.