News

Chick-fil-A launches new mobile app

Chick-fil-A on Wednesday launched a new mobile app that allows customers to make custom orders and pay on the go.

The new app, called Chick-fil-A One, is “the customer’s remote control for how they interact with Chick-fil-A,” said Michael Lage, the Atlanta-based company’s senior manager of digital experience. The app, available on iPhone and Android-enabled devices, will let customers skip the line and pick up orders after checking in on a smartphone.

Lage said customers order, pay and check-in once they arrive through the app. The check-in signals the kitchen to prepare meals. Chick-fil-A staffers also will address app users by name, Lage said, as part of the chain’s commitment to customer service. 

Chick-fil-A One has a membership structure that allows users of the app to earn free food. As part of the app’s launch, customers who download the app or upgrade from the old version before June 11 can received a free Chick-fil-A original, spicy or grilled sandwich.

Chick-fil-A One replaces the chicken chain’s current app and can be upgraded through the Apple App Store or Google Play, Lage said.

Starbucks launches mobile app in Japan

Starbucks expanded its digital ecosystem with the launch of its mobile app in Japan, which introduced mobile payment and eGifting to the company's fourth largest market.

With the app, customers can pay for their in-store purchases at more than 1,100 stores across the market simply by scanning a bar code linked to their registered Starbucks card.

The app also provides customers with information on the latest products, redeem special offers and send eGifts in a few easy steps.

Starbucks has a rapidly expanding portfolio of digital innovations across the Asia-Pacific region, including the opening of its first online store on Tmall in China in December 2015, which connects the online Chinese customers with the Starbucks in-store experience.

In 2014, Starbucks also introduced the first mobile ordering service of its kind in the industry with Siren Order in Korea, an app which allows customers to order and pay with their mobile device.

This was followed by the launch of the first Starbucks   app on a wearable device in Asia, which allows customers in Korea to track their My Starbucks Rewards status and pay for Starbucks purchases directly from the wearable device.

"Starbucks is committed to exploring new ways to leverage digital innovations to delight customers and unlock growth opportunities across the country," said John Culver, group president, Starbucks China/Asia-Pacific region.

Nearly 1 in 4 people abandon mobile apps after only one use

Apple’s iTunes App Store is home to over 1.5 million apps and Google Play hosts over 2 million, but the number of apps that actually get installed and used on consumers’ devices is still quite small. We already knew that people only interacted with a small handful of third-party apps on a regular basis, and now, according to a new study on mobile app usage, we learn that about one in four mobile users only use an app once.

Based on data from analytics firm Localytics, and its user base of 37,000 applications, user retention has seen a slight increase year-over-year from 34 percent in 2015 to 38 percent in 2016.

However, just because this figure has recovered a bit, that doesn’t mean the numbers are good. Instead, what this indicates is that 62 percent of users will use an app less than 11 times.

Says the report, “this is not a sustainable business model.”

App-Abandonment

New filters coming to the YouTube mobile app?

According to some code discovered by XDA on the most recent version of the YouTube mobile app(version 11.20.54), some of the filters used to search on the desktop version of YouTube will be coming to the mobile version of the video streamer. The strings discovered by XDA point to the ability of the mobile YouTube app user to be able to search for videos by rating, relevance and view count.

These filters have yet to show up in the mobile app. Considering that over half of all YouTube views come from a mobile device, it behooves Google to build up the mobile app as much as it can. Improving the capabilities of the mobile search tool would be a great step toward that goal.
 
XDA says that "it is anyone's guess" as to when, or even if, these new filters are added to the app. XDA's detective work would seem to indicate that the filters will be coming soon, so if you've been hoping for improvements to search on the YouTube mobile app, you're wish could soon be granted.

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal’s son Kavin betting big on mobile app Hike

The popularity of mobile applications may be waning overseas but they remain relevant in India, the CEO of an Indian messaging app provider told CNBC on Tuesday.

Speaking at the sidelines of the RISE 2016, a technology conference in Hong Kong, Kavin Bharti Mittal of messaging platform Hike said in a market such as India, where data usage remained relatively expensive, companies that could combine multiple services into a single app can make a big difference.

"This is very powerful because one more app becomes one more contact in your address book," said Mittal.

Founded in 2012, Hike offers a range of services on its app — users can send messages, share photos, videos and music and have an interactive timeline. Other features include sending stickers, a compact feed of the latest news and a hidden mode to protect privacy.

Dice's mobile app aims to add value to your job search

There’s no shortage of apps to help you find a job, but Dice says it wanted to offer something that provided more than job listings and a quick way to apply to postings. It's recently released Dice Careers mobile app is designed specifically for the tech industry to help job seekers feel more in control of the process.

Dice Careers takes a lot of the guess work out of job searching, showing competitive job listings in your area, salary data and even the market value that your tech skills and experience bring to the table. The goal is to give job seekers data will result in more qualified people applying for jobs -- knowing they’re a good fit -- rather than applying to jobs either above or below their pay grade and position.

How Dice Careers works

Once you download the app and register for an account, you can choose different skills that you want to list on your profile. You can also choose your work authorization type as well as whether you are looking for full-time, part-time, contract or third-party work. Under the skills section, you can also adjust a slider bar to indicate how many years of experience you have with each skill listed on your account.

You can also note on your profile what position you are currently seeking, your desired location and years of experience in that area. The app will then automatically generate your estimated salary under the “market value” tab, and below that you will find different skills that you can acquire to boost your net worth. For example, you might see Oracle UPK can net you an additional $18,714 per year, or that Web content management might just boost your overall worth by $575. This is one of the most unique aspects of the Dice Careers app, considering most job board sites don’t offer up this type of information.

Mobile App Ad Blocking Skyrocketing, Forcing Brands To Rethink Advertising

At least 419 million people are blocking ads on smartphones -- including Facebook, but excluding content-blocking apps, in-app ad blockers, and opt-in browser ad blockers, according to a study released Tuesday.

The move will have app makers rethink how they will address search and advertising with mobile applications. PageFair has released a report titled Adblocking Goes Mobile, which estimates there are twice as many mobile ad blockers as desktop ad blockers. Twenty-two percent of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users block ads on the mobile Web.

Mobile ad blocking is more popular in emerging markets such as China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia, where 36% of smartphone users in Asia-Pacific block ads on the mobile Web.

The biggest issue for search marketers is that browsers can now block in-app ads.

Mobile ad blocking is less developed in North America and Europe. In March 2016 there were 14 million monthly active users of ad-blocking browsers in Europe and North America, where 4.9 million content blocking and in-app ad-blocking apps were downloaded from app stores since September 2014.

How to Monetize a Mobile App Using In-App Surveys

Money makes the world go round and this could not be truer in the mobile app world. Every day, app developers seek more efficient ways to monetize their apps. And the go-to resource for this is advertising. The past year has been a busy one for mobile app marketing with the growth of video advertising and the arrival of rewarded advertising. But what does the future hold for mobile app developers looking to monetize their apps?

So you are an app developer. You have done the easy part: build your app. Now comes the hard bit: turning it into a solid source of revenue. Mobile is a big deal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be a big deal for you. You need to create a sustainable mobile business and think well before you chose which monetization strategy to use. There are a number of bankable app monetization strategies to choose from, and here we will aim to present another option to add to your arsenal.

In-app advertising is the model most frequently used by developers. But over half a decade after the release of the first iPhone and the revolution in mobile hardware and software that followed, the mobile ad world is still stuck with the dreaded, ugly banner ads. Surely there must be something better than that out there. After all, like Steve Jobs said, “Mobile ads suck”! And there are not many that disagree; in fact, it is widely accepted by big brands as true. But since advertising is what was working, this is what most app developers were offered: banner ads, interstitials, video ads, offer walls and such. Developers are usually confused on which to use, but at the end of the day their aim is to strike a balance between their need to retain users with their need to earn revenue.


Read more at http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/monetize-mobile-app-using-app-surveys-01548530#EYByp77c3BbBhC2J.99

What Is the Future of Mobile App Development?

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With the smartphone sales explosion in recent years and smartphones becoming cheap and more affordable, the number of persons on the Internet has been increased exponentially. The increase in volume has resulted in making the mobile app industry very big. By the end of 2016, it is expected that there would be over 10 billion devices on the Internet. There are a few things which developers need to know about future of mobile app development to be up-to-date on the latest trends.

Cross-Platform and Cross-Device Development

Apps are no longer limited to single platforms. Android, due to its pricing, will rule the platform business in terms of sales, and iOS will rule the high-end market. In time, applications will no longer be confined to specific platforms. With the evolution of HTML5, the future of mobile application will see hybrid mobile applications and will work for all platforms.

IoT Applications

Technology has made us all very lazy but the best is still to come. The IoT (Internet of Things) will help us control things around us via applications. Google Glass, Apple Watches, and others are just the beginning. These days we are seeing some great models of IoT Applications such as self driving cars, fridges that read your tweets, and rings that control everything, etc. In time, we will see more of these being used in our daily lives.

1st Minute Mobile App

What is it?

The 1st Minute mobile app allows EMS providers to more easily communicate with patients when a language barrier exists. The app allows providers to communicate with the patient by using translation technology in order to reduce guessing by first responders, which simplifies the process of getting basic details form a foreign language speaker. The app is available for both Android and iOS systems.

How do I use it?

When a language barrier is present between provider and patient, the provider can use the 1st Minute mobile app to help communicate. After downloading the app, providers can give the device to the patient to select a language. Once the language is selected, the patient answers questions in that language including what symptoms they are experiencing, selecting pain location and entering essential medical information. Once that information has been provided, the app translates it back into the language of the provider.

What are the benefits?

The app allows for quick and easy assessment even when a language barrier is present. Because the app has a pre-populated language database, no internet connection is required for use. The goal of the app is to facilitate the entire conversation in less than 60 seconds, so patient care isn’t compromised by clunky conversation. The combination of mobile technology and patient care is forward thinking for the future of EMS.