To Copy Or Not To Copy Is Not The Question For Mobile Developers

It isn’t just the software industry facing a dilemma post Apple-Samsung case, but the lawmakers are just as muddled, especially when it comes to patent infringement over app development. No sooner was the verdict passed, with Apple awarded USD 1 billion dollars by Samsung for patent infringement – comes another gigantic clash. This time from Electronic Arts (EA) Inc have recently sued Zynga for plagiarizing their game ‘The Sims Social’ and creating ‘The Ville’ as replica. Zynga has imitated the “game design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions” Fox News reported.

Plagiarism in mobile gaming is all too common. Zynga is reputed to be ‘a highly competitive company’ that invests heavily on tracking their progress, so it’s unlikely how they overlooked this major aspect. Also, this wasn’t the first time they were accused either; some cases were settled out of court.

Drawing inspiration is one thing, downright copying is another. That’s as much of black and white as it gets. In between are they grey areas, especially for app developers. When an RPG game concept becomes popular, other developers vie their way into doing the same, sometimes unaware. Considering the vast quantity of mobile apps in the market, it can become hard to assess the originality.

When giant corporations such as Samsung and Zynga could not hide from the law, do small-time developers think they stand a chance? Some of those whose conscience pricked withdrew their apps during the course of the Apple-Samsung trial. But that does not protect their apps from being sued. Not with the increasing number of patent trolls who are out looking for vulnerable companies to attack. There are many companies out there looking to buy patents, especially from those who are bankrupt.

A year ago, BBC reported an infamous practice by Lodsys who sues app developers for infringement, including Apple and Android. Apple and Google are no legal experts either when it comes to facing Lodsys and so far have ignored the company thus far. One Android app developer who was Lodsys’s victim took a long while to figure exactly what he did wrong, among the large volume of legal documents and diction. He is now pretty discouraged about creating any more apps. Not because he copies, but because of the legal intricacies he is unsure of treading over.

So the question is no longer about what is fair. Because in such cases the patent is not with the rightful owner, but the one with enough time and money and who would rather spend them looking to frame inventors than invent something themselves.

Right now, the only recommendation for mobile app developers is to change the way they develop future apps. In best practices guides on mobile app development, there is rarely a mention of plagiarism check. Just as writing requires tools to detect plagiarism prior to publishing, so should app developers be provided with software to determine the app’s legitimacy, prior to its release in app stores.

Finally, despite the time consumption, it is worth gaining legal awareness that is becoming a priority in the technology sector. Because someone out there may be copying an app right now.

Seemi Munir Originally Found this Post on SocialJitney

Seemi Munir was Born leader,Inspires others to work to their highest potential.Seemi is Expert at Business Development,Financial Strategic Planning, and Profit growth.

Celebrities Score With Apps

If you think all celebrities do is take home their winnings, you’re wrong — they have taken the plunge into the tech world to do more than sing and play—they are letting you do the playing…

A celebrity’s popularity is directly related to the app’s popularity. That is the newest strategy that mobile application developers in USA have lately adopted to market their apps.

By working with celebrities during the development process, developers create celebrity-centered apps. ‘Bolt!’ stars the fastest runner in the world. Two-time Olympics gold medalist Usain Bolt aka Lightning Bolt helped develop and launch the game app. It was intentionally set to coincide with his triumphant win at the London 2012 event. The game now ranks as the 25^th most popular app.

Other celebrities have also previously left their imprint on the app stores. These include famed boxer’s ‘Mike Tyson: Main Event,’ Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco’s ‘Mad Chad’ and Portuguese soccer player’s ‘Heads Up with Cristiano Ronaldo.’ Companies too have invested in mobile platforms for sports and entertainment. Mobile content developer Babelgum offers free ad-based video content on iTunes through which they have recently launched a game app featuring musical band Coldplay on the iOS. The app also contains newsfeed, catalogue and contests for fans where winners get free tickets to Coldplay’s concerts.  ESPN runs their own ‘Developer Center’ to connect with other platforms. In house as well as third party developers can use their APIs to build sports apps. This open up new avenues for sports fans and celebrities to come together, just as their motto relays “Where geeks and jocks stand united.”

Another initiative involved singer/actor Jon Bon Jovi pitched in on the government’s cause to provide care to homeless veterans. The joint project Reach (Real-time Electronic Access for Caregivers and the Homeless) invited software developers to an open challenge to create “an online and web application that would provide real-time info to connect service providers who aid the homeless” from which five finalists were selected.

Why celebrities? Applications are also an excellent tool for fan engagement and celebrities consider mobile platform a way through which they can gain a wider international audience. Users prefer real-life personalities more than they do imaginary ones whom they can relate to, or pretend to be! For developers, besides successful marketing, it has opened a window of job opportunities. As one website rightly confirmed “This could be the start of a big trend on iPhone, and a big new source of income for developers.”

Seemi Munir Originally Found this Post on SocialJitney

Seemi Munir was Born leader; inspires others to work to their highest potential.Seemi is Expert at business development, financial strategic planning, and profit growth.

Can A Beautiful App Commit To User Privacy?

Interesting times we live in, Conan O’Brien repeatedly remarks on his daily show. Anything is possible. While social networks are switching from desktops to mobiles, mobile services in turn are attempting to be more social. Google+ is up and running as an android application and is receiving rave reviews since. Not that it’s a new app. It was earlier launched as an iPhone app too. But feeling more at home with their own cellular device, they have gone a step further in their latest release android application released on Google Play.

As Google themselves boasted, ‘it is a simpler, more beautiful’ app, with improved image size and navigation far superior to the former version. Its most distinctive feature is the multi-functional social ‘Hang out’ and exclusively for Android. With a simple click to start, the app offers live video calling with upto nine friends all together on Messenger. It is also location-based, where you can check out your outer circle within your neighborhood. Another great asset is its photo service, in quality and capacity that can post upto 250 photo uploads. What is more important to the user, however is that he or she can choose privacy options so they are not accessible to all.

Mentioning photos will probably bring out an unpleasant reminder when The New York Times reported two months earlier how Android apps, like iOS apps were copying users’ photographs from their private collection through location based data without the user being aware. What followed in the news was a disturbing revelation when Google confirmed that they do not require seeking user permission to access their information. Google, by way of explanation, stated that the former Android devices that used SD cards for backup would have made restrictions to data access difficult even for the user to backup and so Google simply continued with the open for all system to date, where just any app developer could gain access and upload it on any site they wished. This was strongly criticized, since users are not aware of technical workings behind the apps for them to even report to the company.

But some things need to be clearly spelled out rather than provide a verbal assurance which Google did. The state of California addressed the issue and pressed developers to ‘strengthen privacy protection for Smartphone owners who download mobile applications.’ So with Hangout, here’s hoping that Google’s excellence in user experience clears the air on the privacy aspect as well.

Seemi Munir Originally Found this Post on SocialJitney

Seemi Munir was Born leader; inspires others to work to their highest potential.Seemi is Expert at business development, financial strategic planning, and profit growth.

Lost? Let Android Find You

Android applications have been using 3D technology for sometime now and, like other 3D smartphones, have caught the attention of users on the mobile platform compared with others. The main reason is because they do not require wearing any special glasses to view, as is needed for 3D tablets and bigger screens such as 3D television. This advantage has resulted in enhanced user experience, especially in game applications. Very soon, it is location based applications such as Google Earth and Google Maps that will be viewed in 3D. Lately, Google Maps is also available offline on Android phones, which comes as a blessing when present in areas where connectivity is either weak or absent.

The aerial photography of Street View on Google Maps and Goggle Earth requires taking pictures from air and land, transport that include car mounted cameras to tricycles, then walking with backpacks–all around the globe– in narrow lanes, down ski slopes on snowmobiles and trekking over mountains  and valleys. The photographs are then intrinsically ‘stitched’ to appear as connected paths. The camera lens turns in nine different directions to capture various angle shots.

A few months ago, Google initiated underwater photography as well, and now intends to cover beneath all five oceans. To ensure that no human faces appeared accidentally in their photographs, they used face-blurring technology before they featured the view. The features keep improving with high quality imagery and now, 3D visuals.

Considering the investment that went into creating one of the world’s most popular technology applications, namely a high level of expertise, millions of dollars in cost, over five years duration and immeasurable amount of effort, instead of appreciating this invaluable service, it is the second time media has targeted their mapping applications.  It is very unfortunate indeed. Is it so that their competitors can monetize through the exact services? Maybe.
But while obtaining passwords via Wi-Fi from their Street View cars are proven as deliberate attempt accidental remains to be seen, it is not stopping them in their path as they continue to venture forth and spanning every corner of the world.

Seemi Munir found this Post on SocialJitney.Com

Seemi Munir is a Client Service Manager at SocialJitney INC.Aspiring to work with a team of professionals in a challenging environment, where My skills are utilized and honed further.I am a Expert at business development, financial strategic planning, and profit growth.Born leader; inspires others to work to their highest potential.

Can Brands Trend On Twitter?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact they can. There are certain things we need to keep in mind while planning our social media strategy for Twitter. And it all starts with how well you have managed your company’s profile and how often you interact with your followers. As we all know, this platform caters to a niche with an element of personalization so it’s better to hire a person who would spend all day interacting with the people on Twitter.


 Once you have established a decent fan base for your brand, here is what you can do:

1 – Find the most influential Twitter users who are not any real life celebrities but have managed to become famous on Twitter with their micro-blogging skills.

2 – Get in touch with those influential users on Twitter and try to get them to follow you without actually asking them to flow you back. You can do that by regularly replying to their tweets and posting interesting stuff on your own Twitter.

3 – When you are working on a campaign, get these important users involved and tell them you’ll need their help to lift the Hashtag. Also discuss with them before finagling the hash tag.

4 – Ask some of your friends who are on twitter to support your hashtag and post random-funny tweets with that hashtag. It doesn’t matter if the tweets are not completely relevant. You just need to make people start talking about it. They should know something is going on.

5 – Go to the hashtag and reply to peoples tweets with that Hashtag. Tell them what it means and what the campaign all about. Keep a semi-formal tone with a little touch of wit, if you can.

Next time when you plan to setup a Twitter profile for a brand or an organization, keep these easy steps in mind. I hope these 5 easy steps help you get people talking about your brand.

Play It Right With Video Games

It is common knowledge that video games, like any other form of entertainment, have both positive and negative influences. But the effect depends to an extent on the inherent traits of the player and is not as easily determined.  Sometimes, this realization comes tragically late. As with the Norwegian ‘mass murderer,’ Anders Behring Breivik, who spent 16 hours learning to use the rifle through video games. And who subsequently shot dead a total of 77 people a year ago. While Breivik is currently undergoing trial and psychiatric evaluation, the outside world has been deeply affected. In addition to the suffering caused to grieving families of the victims, the games industry is facing a round of backlash by media and public for being the root cause of the incident.

Incidentally one of the games that Breivik played most often happens to be the world’s most popular MMORPG game by the Guinness World Records, World of Warcraft.  And not everyone is going around causing mayhem.

To look for an outlet is understandable. But misdirected blame means taking the responsibility away from the criminal act. A person with a disturbed personality will use any medium to draw inspiration. History shows how suicides and murder have been triggered by music, movies and even books.

What should it be then–control content or control people? Ideally, it should be a blend of both. You may use child-lock controls for the younger age group but how can you possibly prevent a seemingly normal 33-year-old like Breivik, who calculatingly spent a decade in planning to kill?

Games that heal

On the brighter side, video games improve mental and physical well-being. Certain game mechanics improve skills such as strategic thinking, problem solving, hand and eye coordination, research and creativity. They help discipline through good sportsmanship and strengthens social bond when playing multiplayer games with friends and family.

With the mobile platform increasingly more popular than the PC, app developers are working hard to reduce the tarnished reputation of video games by bringing in wholesome and healthy content. For instance, recent news reports have been raving about a new mobile game application SuperBetter launched on the iOS platform. The game was created during the game developer’s personal experience while suffering an illness and thus created the game as a means to heal. The game is recommended to help counter against general health problems.

The gist of the issue is: self-awareness and self control play a crucial role in gaming. Whatever the platform one chooses, effects of video games are conditional to what I call the ‘3 Rights’: Right games, Right amount of time and Right environment. The ‘right’ factor is situational as well as individualistic and depends on personality type as mentioned earlier.

If you are prone to any form of addiction, avoid highly engaging games that will take you away from your regular routine and the resultant effects could cause social withdrawal, improper sleep and even job instability.

So if you know when to draw the line, then the very same games that another misuses, you could put to good use.

Originally Posted By SocialJitney.Com

The Innovation Connection

The way Apple Inc’s Q3 financial report has been announced brings to mind those school overachievers crying over an A-. Their revenue this quarter is USD 35 billion with a net profit of USD 8.8 billion, according to their press release. They still surpass all other competitors in terms of revenue. Yet not ‘enough’ according to their own and Wall Street’s expectations.



Could it be the creative destruction by other competitors that contributes to their ‘limited’ sales? Maybe. Competition is sky high and the added pressure comes from the fast pace of innovation in the software industry. This means that businesses like Apple’s cannot afford maintaining a steady pace of success. It is crucial for them to keep climbing up and quickly before someone else passes them by.

Innovation can either be a process, a product or both, as in the case of software technology. Mostly innovation will either bring about a whole new technology or improve on existing products. It doesn’t always have to be breakthrough technology but more a creative process. It may be big or small, simple or complex. R&D is a major driving force in innovation projects and requires investing plenty of time and money. And it’s equally important to remember that as there are rewards there are risks.



So while mobile devices serve as basic utility, it is the user experience that adds value in the product. Apple has adhered to their high standards in quality devices.

So what can they work on? For starters, on their iPhone applications. Why? The World Bank’s IC4D 2012 report discusses the global effects of the ‘app economy.’ With three quarters of the world’s population who possess mobiles, there are 30 billion mobile application downloads. These numbers are a clear direction of exactly where technology processes must head.

The report aptly communicates: “Mobile applications not only empower individual users, they enrich their lifestyles and livelihoods, and boost the economy as a whole. Indeed, mobile applications now make phones immensely powerful as portals to the online world. A new wave of ‘apps,’ or smartphone applications, and ‘mashups’ of services, driven by high-speed networks, social networking, online crowdsourcing, and innovation, is helping mobile phones transform the lives of people in developed and developing countries alike.”

This is significant to technology industry to understand that innovation is not the end product, but what is within the product that carries more weight. If Apple gets the message, perhaps their Q4 and future results may meet or exceed expectations.

Originally Posted By SocialJitney