The Android marketplace, Google Play, may now be catching up with the Apple App Store in terms of sheer number of applications available, but finding the better-quality apps outside of the big names is still something of a challenge. Today, an app discovery service called Appreciate has launched on the Android app store to address this problem. → Read More
After booting out app discovery and promotion platform, AppGratis, from the App Store earlier this month for violating two clauses of its developer T&Cs, Apple has now followed up with a second blow to the business — by killing its ability to send push notifications to existing users of its app. AppGratis has claimed it has some 12 million users of its app. (<1 million of whom have so far… → Read More
Research firm Forrester has put out a new report exploring best practices for developers trying to get their apps noticed. Its findings include that word of mouth and social discovery play a key role in new apps finding loyal users, at least in Europe. The research also underlines the dominant role that mainline app stores continue to play in app discovery on the iOS and Android platforms. → Read More
Appolicious, the app search and discovery portal which helps users find new mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, and Android, is today launching a new service today aimed at parents, teachers and others in search of the best educational apps for children: appoLearning. This new resource is Appolicious’ attempt solving the inherent problems with app search today, starting with a focus on apps… → Read More
AppGratis, the French app promotion and discovery platform startup that was recently ejected from the App Store on the grounds that it violates Apple’s developer T&Cs, is protesting the ban by petitioning its users to send supportive emails on its behalf. The petition has apparently garnered close to half a million emails so far but criticisms of its paid promotion business model are mounting. → Read More
Ooomf, a startup which raised half a million in seed funding last fall for an app discovery platform, is already closing that service down and pivoting to become a marketplace to connect developers, designers and copywriters with web and mobile projects. The new service will operate under the same name, and founder Mikael Cho tells us that during its private beta last month, ooomf has already… → Read More
No one wants to read thousands of reviews. You just want answers. Luckily there’s TipSense, a new startup whose algorithm sorts big messy data sets. TipSense’s site DishTip tells you what to order at restaurants, for example, while its AppCrawlr deduces an app’s best and worst features and lays them out with competitors on a comparison chart. TipSense is so smart I bet it gets acquired. → Read More
Hubbl, the app discovery service built by former TechCrunch Disrupt finalists, has introduced an interesting new feature today for users of its iPhone version: Passbook integration. To get started, you simply visit a link (hubbl.io/passbook) from mobile Safari, in order to add a pass to Apple’s Passbook which will then send you a new app deal every day. The Passbook feature will also be added to a… → Read More
Quixey, the app search startup that signed a deal to power app search results on Ask.com this December, is today announcing another high-profile partnership, this time with U.S. mobile carrier Sprint. The operator will use Quixey’s technology in its Sprint Zone and Sprint Digital Lounge, the former its branded app and media store, and the latter a portal for finding similar content via the web… → Read More
Paris-based AppGratis has been in operation for a few years now, but it has only recently started targeting the U.S. market in earnest. Now, the app discovery tool for Apple’s iOS mobile ecosystem is announcing its first round of institutional funding, in the form of a $13.5M Series A round led by Iris Capital and including Orange Publicis Fund. The money will be used to help AppGratis capitalize… → Read More
It looks like Apple is planning to make some improvements to app discovery in iOS 6, but for the time being, app discovery remains broken on virtually every mobile platform available today. Ooomf wants to change this. The Montreal-based startup, which graduated from FounderFuel‘s spring 2012 accelerator program, is launching its app discovery platform today meant to help users and developers… → Read More
The makers of Hmmm, the TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2012 finalist which had a different take on social networking, is taking their company in a new direction. I guess you could even call it a pivot, but as usual, “pivot” is too vague a term here. Hmmm is not being shut down, it’s just not getting the team’s development attention while they focus on their new thing. Or rather, it’s not really a “new”… → Read More
Well that was quick or just well timed PR: HitFox Game Ventures, the games distribution incubator that launched last month, has given birth to two new startups already.
AppLift, co-founded and managed by Kaya Taner, who was an early employee at HitFox, promises to be an affiliate network that will focus solely on mobile games. App Discovery, also co-founded and run by another HitFox manager… → Read More
AppFlow, a beautifully designed app that helps users discover new apps and games for their mobile phone, is making the big leap from Windows Phone to iOS today. Yes, there are a lot of these types of apps out there, but AppFlow’s attention and focus on design really makes it stand out from the pack. It’s attractive, fluid, makes interesting use of gestures, and most importantly, it can actually… → Read More
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