Rob Woodbridge dot com

My front screen – the mobile apps I use everyday

Rob — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:59:30 +0000

I get asked a lot about the mobile applications that I use regularly so thought I’d put this down in a post. This will be fun to look back on in a few months to see how many are still in use but, for now, here are my first screen apps and why.Tweetbot
This Twitter application for iPhone is perfect. I’m a UI snob and I find myself using this simple little application (that packs an incredible number of features that aren’t in your face) on my iPhone over the iPad, the web and even the desktop versions of other Twitter software. This app made me love Twitter again.

Instagram
This has become the way I share photos and I’m not sure why! Whatever the reason, I have set this app up so when I publish photos it goes (optionally) to Facebook, Twitter and my own Tumblr for archive purposes (http://robwoodbridge.tumblr.com). I highly recommend that last piece – great way to archive your photos and have them in one spot online.

Boxcar
Not sure that this app will survive when the new iOS is rolled out but for now I love it. I turn all notifications off (from Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and funnel them through Boxcar. It offers a simple, no frills universal inbox for all notifications. Simple but very worthy.

Week Cal
I was never a fan of the built in calendar app on the iPhone so I went looking for a replacement and found one that resembled the way Apple should have done it – Week Cal. Things that were omitted in the native version like swipe to change days, drag and move events and even hold to edit/delete convinced me to replace the original as my goto calendar app.

Camera+
I haven’t found a better app for simply taking great photos. I’m a point and shoot guy and need an idiot proof way of taking lots of shots at a time and then choosing the ones (or one) I want to keep. There are other great features of this app but that’s the reason I use it – quick, bursting photos that trumps the default app.

MLB At Bat
I love baseball and this app is it for me. Every single baseball game streamed to my mobile wherever I am – what else does a baseball freak need? I buy this every year without fail.

Fit Builder
I hit the gym every day and this app has been my companion every one of those days for 18 months. This is an insane application for tracking your workout, learning new exercises or even finding new workouts to do based on your goals. It’s got timers, video demonstrations, log sharing and much more. There are cheaper apps out there but I’ve tried them all and this one wins for me.

Sleep
I bought one of those iHome bedside clocks that is powered by the iPhone and this is the companion app for that clock. It extends the “normal” clock radio and tracks sleep patterns (avg number of hours slept for example), gives me access to radio stations off the dial, let’s me fall asleep to the Yankees playing ball, music or podcasts and allows me to set multiple alarms (for some reason). Buggy but I bought into it. Can’t wait for them to make a cranial adapter that will monitor my dreams…

Day One
This is a simple journaling application that allows me to quickly enter some information somewhere and process it when I have the chance. I’m not a fan of the default notes app that comes with the iPhone so this replaced it. It has cloud sync between the iPhone/iPad and desktop version – having a version on all platforms and keeping those up to date is killer.

Do It Tomorrow
I hate todo lists but I struggle with finding something that allows me to quickly write down an action for quick follow-up and this app seemed to fit that description. Cloud sync across iPhone/iPad but no desktop offering which will probably kill it for me. Still looking for that great to do app…

That’s it – these are my current front-screen, go to apps. What are some of yours?

Quipster: How to differentiate in the crowded location-based checkin market – with founder Krating Poonpol

Rob — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:01:57 +0000

Is there enough room for the incredible number of companies playing in the location and check-in space? How do companies differentiate enough across features to carve out a niche? How important is the user interface experience in reaching and retaining users?

In search of the answers to these questions and more I found Krating Poonpol, CEO and founder of Quipster, a hyper-local micro sharing application. Krating hails from Thailand, resides in San Francisco and brings with him the international mobile perspective that is needed to compete in this space.

Along with the questions above, we dive deep into business models, the difference between the Asian and North American mobile markets (and their appetites for services like this), location gamification, what characteristics a city should have for a service like Quipster and how his company tests revenue models and new features rapidly and iteratively.

Enjoy!

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About Krating Poonpol

Krating Poonpol is the CEO/Founder of Mobilitz Inc., the creator of Quipster, an instant micro sharing app for your city. Mobilitz is also the creator of Heaven’s Diner, a location-based social game which won the top ten most innovative iPhone app in 2010 along side Word Lens , Twitter as ranked by 148Apps. Prior to founding Mobilitz with his friends from Yahoo! and Oracle, Krating worked at Google as Product Marketing Manager of Google Earth/Ocean/Moon/Mars and Quantitative Marketing Manager for Google Asia Pacific team. Krating graduated with an MBA from Stanford University and is on leave from his graduate degree in Computational Engineering and Mathematics @ Stanford too. Prior to Google, Krating worked at McKinsey, Navis Private Equity and P&G.

Fun Fact: I won the Gold medal in Physics Olympics and Bronze medal in Mathematics Olympics in my country. I had eight speed tickets in US ( not so fun ). I also authored 2 best selling business books in Thailand.

This episode is brought to you by:

Appcelerator
How do you build native cross-platform mobile applications quickly without having to rewrite code and hire consultants at a huge cost? Titanium from Appcelerator. Called the “easy button” for mobile development it allows you to focus more on what is important – getting product out the door. Join the more than 1.5 million active developers who have created over 13,000 apps at www.appcelerator.com

Macadamian
When my company needed to develop a key mobile product, one that I was counting on as a new source of revenue I knew exactly who to turn to – Macadamian. They delivered on time, with incredible attention to detail and I was able to get product into customers hands faster than I thought possible. I’ve personally known them for 10 years and they do make great products even better.

Pontiflex
Pontiflex powers a new category of mobile advertising called signup ads. So you’ve taken some of the advice that has come from UNTETHER.tv guests, built an app and now you are turning your attention to generating some hard earned revenue. Then you should be looking at Pontiflex AppLeads. Some of your peers who are using AppLeads are earning CPMs 100X the industry average. You can run signup ads from top brands and it won’t take your precious users out of your app.

NeoMedia: How the QR code has emerged as the perfect gateway for mobile marketing – with CEO Laura Marriott

Rob — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:01:39 +0000

There has been so much talk about QR codes and 2D barcodes and how they can help market your product or service and then effectively track activity based on those codes. I’ve also seen some great and not-so-great implementations but what really does work?

I set out to find an expert to finally answer that question and the name that kept resurfacing was Laura Marriott, CEO of NeoMedia.

This episode focuses on those simple, powerful and misunderstood codes – how and when to use them, why use them and some of the simple ways that you can bring them into your marketing campaigns. We also dive down into the long-term impact of putting this kind of power into the consumer’s hands.

Enjoy!

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About Laura Marriott

Ms. Marriott has been Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Board Chairperson (acting) since October 2010. Prior to this she served as NeoMedia’s Chief Marketing Officer and has been an active member of the NeoMedia Board of Directors since January 2009. Before joining NeoMedia, Ms. Marriott ran her own mobile consultancy helping companies engage the mobile channel in their day to day business. Ms. Marriott has also served as President of the Mobile Marketing Association (“MMA”) from 2005 – 2009 and, earlier, as Director of Marketing for Intrado, Inc. During her tenure at the MMA, the organization’s membership experienced substantial growth, established global headquarters and regional chapters throughout the world, and developed guidelines for the industry. Named one of the industry’s Mobile Women to Watch 2010 by Mobile Marketer, Top 50 US Executives by Mobile Entertainment and Top 10 Women in Wireless by FierceMarkets, Marriott is highly regarded for her global voice and expertise on mobile marketing. Marriott is published in industry publications and quoted in broadcast, print, and radio world-wide.

This episode is brought to you by:

Fooducate: How mobile is the first step to better eating – with co-founder Hemi Weingarten

Rob — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:01:16 +0000

The promise of mobile is all the information we could possibly need or want accessible in context to where we are and what we are doing. No other industry is as rich an opportunity than the food industry – in particular, food shopping and how to eat a healthy, balanced diet. How do you know if a product is “good” for you or really good for you while holding it in your hand? What alternatives are available that may be a better choice?

Enter Hemi Weingarten and his talented team that brought you Fooducate.

This is the story of that app but it doesn’t end there. It is about going beyond the app and changing the way people eat and read labels. It is also the story of a company gaining notoriety is a very competitive and crowded niche, how they market, how they partner and how they ended up being in the top 10 health apps on iTunes since they launched.

There is an incredible amount of insight in this session that goes beyond the health and food industry and will help you build your business in the mobile app space and beyond.

Enjoy!

Download the audio version

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About Hemi Weingarten

Hemi Weingarten is a father, foodie, and tech entrepreneur. He started Fooducate to get the next generation back to eating real food.

This episode is brought to you by:

This Week in Location Based Marketing – Episode 33: PayPal bags Zong, SCVNGR takes Sasquatch green and we heart Roamler

Rob — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:00:58 +0000

Episode 33

recorded July 8, 2011

Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing where we rehash the news that matters in the location based marketing world.

Hosts: Rob Woodbridge & Asif Khan

This week:

Show highlights:
1. Point Inside launches Interact
2. Tata invades the enterprise location based services space
3. Foursquare (finally) launches on Windows Phone 7 and makes iOS and Android users jealous
4. CardFlick goes into beta
5. SCVNGR teams with Esurance and adds green games to the Sasquatch Music FestivalFunding News
1. PayPal acquires Zong for $250 million
2. Dealised raises $5.3 million

Tool of the Week
Roamler

Resource of the Week
Using Location-Based Services to Get Customers by BJ Emerson

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How mobile has changed the way I read

Rob — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:48:41 +0000

I am was a voracious reader – upwards of 1000 pages per month of mixed content be that books, magazines, newspapers or blog posts. I read a lot, all the time, without stop.

Today, I barely read a book a month, I rarely pick up a newspaper and I haven’t bought a magazine in months – all thanks to the print-killing combination of my iPad and iPhone.Don’t get me wrong, I still consume an inhuman amount of content, I’ve simply shifted the way I jam it into my brain by taking a mobile-first approach and by breaking down my consumption into two categories: Immediate (need to know now) and Continual (want to know soon). Here’s how I work mobile to help consume relevant content:

Podcasts

This is the obvious first step and for people who haven’t started bringing these into your daily routine you now have no excuse. The personalities and content is (more often than not) better than the stuff you get on the radio these days – in fact, they have completely eliminated news radio for me as well. I get through 10-15 technology podcasts per week but I do it at times where I would simply not be productive – driving or at the gym mostly.

I prioritize my podcast consumption by the same consumption categories. For example, I listen to Tech News Today daily (immediate, need to know content) and listen to ThisIsMyNextPodcast between the cracks (continual, want to know).

Audiobooks

I have been an Audible.com subscriber for about 10 years now and get through 2 books a month. These books aren’t the second-rate books that used to be available for audio, they are first run and are often available the day the print editions hit the shelves – except for Gary Vaynerchuk’s latest which is an anomaly. I will typically listen to these while driving or at the gym as well and I focus on non-fiction or biographies – the books you’d love to read but can’t quite find the time to do so.

FlipBoard/Zite/Pulse News Reader

My morning ritual involves picking up my iPad instead of my newspaper. When I do that, I use a combination of Flipboard, Pulse Newsreader and Zite. Each provides customized news the way that I want to read it. I use Flipboard to stay on top of my social sphere in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as a mashup of a number of blogs that I read regularly (Scoble, GigaOm, Techcrunch, Mashable, etc.). I use Pulse to do deeper dives in the mobile space – I do most of my story curation and sharing through Pulse.

These social newsreaders have also eliminated work-related magazines. I still love Fast Company and their focus on longer-form, deeper dive articles on the impact of technology around the world but they feed into my newsreaders and I read and share them from there.

Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr

Leo Laporte over at the Twit Network talks about Twitter being the nervous system of the Internet and for me this is true. Breaking news happens there, trends happen there, virtual versions of real events with real commentary happens there. I can’t think a news item, large or small, that I learned about outside of Twitter – from the earthquake in Japan to the death of Clarence Clemons – they all break first on Twitter and usually while I am away from my computer.

Consuming the content in real time while waiting in line or driving or at the gym isn’t for everyone – yet. However, being there and giving readers those options while removing the shackles that almost always constrain content will attract and retain readers.

Two Guys on Mobile – Episode 22: Mobile’s place in the GDP

Rob — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:00:41 +0000

Episode 22

recorded July 10 2011
Running time: 40 minutes

Welcome to Two Guys on Mobile. A weekly web show that focuses on the key stories that are driving our industry. Your hosts are Jeff Bacon and Rob Woodbridge – two mobile industry veterans who bring insight, perspective and expertise to the show each and every week.

Hosts:
Rob Woodbridge
Jeff Bacon

This week:

Story No. 1 – the only story!
We dive into the report that the mobile industry is now generating $1.6 trillion in revenue and accounts for nearly 2% of the global GDP. This isn’t a surprise to us and we anticipate it to grow even more but even though we are moving at an incredible clip, this industry is only just begun. Jeff and I dive into a few of the numbers behind this report and offer some ideas about where a few segments of the industry are going.

The full report can be found here.

All this and much much more – with a few detours of course.Download the audio version

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This episode of 2 Guys on Mobile is brought to you by:

Pontiflex AppLeads
Pontiflex powers a new category of mobile advertising called signup ads. So you’ve taken some of the advice that has come from UNTETHER.tv guests, built an app and now you are turning your attention to generating some hard earned revenue. Then you should be looking at Pontiflex AppLeads. Some of your peers who are using AppLeads are earning CPMs 100X the industry average. You can run signup ads from top brands and it won’t take your precious users out of your app.

SpotOn: How they are creating the Netflix of mobile recommendation engines for restaurants, bars and coffee houses – with co-founder Gauri Manglik

Rob — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:12:43 +0000

The next new thing these days are recommendation engines – tools that help you make decisions about places to visit, restaurants to eat at, shows to see or movies to watch. This is where SpotOn lives and works – at the intersection of your social sphere and location history – and they are aiming to be the Netflix for food, beverages and coffee.

This is a sweeping conversation with co-founder Gauri Manglik – from their listing in the top 25 startups to watch in New York, to their placement at TechCrunch Disrupt, to Gauri’s inspirational class on entrepreneurship that convinced her to take this path, to the challenges of building a recommendation engine and finding their place in a now crowded market.

What I loved about this episode was the thought process that went into deciding to get into this business and how SpotOn makes product development decisions based on user feedback and how they balance that against their vision.

This is a great glimpse into a growing market and how one startup is building as the industry does.

Enjoy!

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About Gauri Manglik

Gauri Manglik is the CEO and Co-Founder of SpotOn.
SpotOn is the easiest way to go to new places with your friends. SpotOn learns about where you like to go and then delivers actionable recommendations that are tailored to your tastes. Before founding SpotOn, Gauri worked as a developer at BlackRock and at the NYU Stern Center for Research Computing. She graduated from NYU in 2010 with a BA in Computer Science.

This episode is brought to you by:

Appcelerator: How to develop your mobile strategy – with VP Marketing Scott Schwarzhoff

Rob — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:12:03 +0000

We (should) all know that mobile is of growing importance to individuals and companies around the world but where and how do you start? What does a mobile strategy look like? What is the first step you need to take and how do you know it is the proper first step?

These questions – and many more – are the reason I asked Scott Schwarzhoff, VP Marketing of Appcelerator, to come on for another episode of UNTETHER.tv. Scott has been on once previously and is still to this day the most watched episode I’ve done (found here). This time around we tackle the need to develop a solid mobile strategy, the steps to take to build the strategy and things to consider while nailing the strategy down. Lots of tactics you can use right now.

Scott and his team also put together a great whitepaper primer for mobile strategy for free entitled 4 Steps to creating a mobile development strategy.

As usual, when you get a couple of kindred spirits together to talk about something they are passionate about there are detours and deeper conversations around relevant mobile trends, discussion on growth opportunities and the future of this great industry.

Enjoy!

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About Scott Schwarzhoff

Scott leads marketing strategy and go-to-market execution at Appcelerator. Prior to joining the company, Scott was VP of Marketing at Adeze, a leading online rich media advertising platform for small and medium-sized businesses and he led the launch of ISV and reseller partner marketing at SpikeSource. Scott started his career at Hewlett-Packard and later Microsoft, where he drove the launch of Windows Server 2003 to the enterprise and was awarded Microsoft’s Circle of Excellence award for top 1% performance. Scott holds an MBA with honors from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a BA from UC San Diego.

This episode is brought to you by:

This Week in Location Based Marketing – Episode 32: Augmenting your here and now with Vidappe and Lokadot

Rob — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:11:20 +0000

Episode 32

recorded July 3, 2011

Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing where we rehash the news that matters in the location based marketing world.

Hosts: Rob Woodbridge & Asif Khan

This week:

Show highlights:
1. Vidappe reminds you of eligible discounts
2. Lokadot launches in Philadelphia
3. Google + launches and invites a few people to their Pool Party
4. Poynt hits 7 million users – almost 3X growth in 1.5 years
5. HTC partners with Chalkboard in MalaysiaFunding News
1. LikeALittle raises $5M
2. Square brings in $100M, valued at $1B
3. LivingSocial set to IPO with $10-15 billion valuation (Rob & Asif gasp)

Tool of the Week
Crowdmap from Ushahidi

Resource of the Week
Juniper Research on mobile payments

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Download the audio version

Can’t see the video? Click here

Listen to the audio version now: [audio:http://blip.tv/file/get/Untether-TWiLBMEpisode32673.mp3]