Amazon's Appstore is Proving to Be a Success

According to data that was recently released by Flurry, an analysis firm, Amazon made a smart decision to open its own app store because it is bringing in more Android app revenues than Google.

Flurry decided to look at a “basket of top apps” that were available at Apple’s App Store, the Android Market/Google Play Store and Amazon’s Appstore over 45 days during January and February this year. It found that for every dollar that was spent on iOS apps, 89 cents was spent on apps in the Amazon Appstore and only 23 cents was spent on apps from the Google Play app store.

"Amazon's bet to fork Android in order to put consumers into their own shopping experience on Kindle Fire appears to be paying off," Flurry said in a blog post. "Showing its commerce strength, Amazon already delivers more than three times the revenue in its app store compared to what Google generates for developers."

"For some possible insight, let's consider the DNA of each company. Apple runs the highest revenue-per-square foot generating retail store on the planet as well as the successful iTunes store," it said. "Amazon, who invented the one-click purchase, perfected online shopping with data, efficiency and customer service. Google's strength is in scalable online search engine and advertising technology. Running a store, retail or digital, has not been Google's traditional core competency."

It will be interesting to see if Amazon continues to be successful in the Android app sales business. Right now, it sure looks like they have a leg up on Google, and it will stay that way for awhile.

Sources: PCMag - Study: Amazon Trouncing Google in Android App Revenue and Flurry Blog - For Generating App Revenue, Amazon Shows Google How to Play

Google Announces New "Bouncer" Security

On Thursday, February 2 Google announced that it was adding some new security for its Android Market. This new security is being called the Bouncer. It will scan Android apps for any possible malware.

Google went on to say that Bouncer will scan all new and existing apps as well as the developer’s accounts. All of this will be done "without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process," said Google's vice president of engineering, Hiroshi Lockheimer.

"Here's how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans," Lockheimer wrote in a blog post. "It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags."

Google will run every single app through the scanning process and alert users to anything that might be a potential issue. Developers' accounts will also be examined to make sure that any banned individuals do not try to come back.

Android malware issues were a big topic last year. Google does not have a particularly strict app approval process for the Android Market, which does make it a much more open environment; however, unlike the Apple App Store, the store is much more susceptible to malicious apps.

"We've chosen not to be the gatekeeper," said Alan Davidson, the former director of public policy at Google. "We don't generally go back and try to make sure that every app does what it says it's going to do. [Google is] really trying to maximize the ability of small app developers to get online."

According to data that was released by Juniper Networks, the number of malware issues from the Android Market jumped 472 percent just between July and November 2011. However, Google’s report was very different than Juniper Networks' report. Google said recently that in the second half of 2011 it saw a 40 percent decline in the downloading of potentially malicious apps on the Android Market.

"This drop occurred at the same time that companies who market and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that malicious applications are on the rise," Lockheimer wrote. "We know the rate is declining significantly."

Sources: Google Blog - Android and Security and PCMag - Google 'Bouncer' Now Scanning Android Market for Malware

SMBnow.com is news of, for and by SMBs!
SMBnow.com... The Small & Medium Business Magazine!

Updated Google Maps Navigation App Avoids Traffic

GPS systems that hook into your car can be very helpful most of the time, but what do you do when your GPS takes you on a route straight into the middle of a traffic jam? A new update to Google’s navigation app now allows you to avoid that mess though.

In a blog post on Monday, March 7, Google said that its Google Maps Navigation for Android phones will now automatically route you away from and around all traffic issues. Before the latest update, the Google app would simply choose the fastest route without any consideration of the traffic conditions at the time. It did feature the option of choosing the shortest route or the route that used the highway instead of side roads.

"Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates," wrote Roy Williams, a software engineer with the Google Maps team. "That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route, given the current traffic conditions."

Google went on to say that they could not necessarily guarantee a faster route with the new updated Google Maps Navigation, but they said "it will always try to get you where you're going as fast as possible."

The new and improved app from Google is now available in North America and Europe.

It was first released in 2009 as a part of the Android 2.0-powered Motorola Droid. It was the very first free GPS app that featured voice prompts. Later on, a version of the app was created for Android 1.6 devices as well. The Google Maps app is available via the Android Market.

Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World.



What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions?

What other companies have joined and what do they do?

How do I join the
Tech Army Organization ?