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Have you also noticed that 2011 has seen a drastic reduction in the numbers of predictions?

When this time of year is usually full of "Top 10 things that will happen next year in mobile" ... In 2011 pre-dictators (those doing predictions) seem to have disappeared or seem to be more quiet than usual!

What should we read in this?

Optimistic view
2011 has seen mobile finally booming (despite a slow economy) and people usually predicting at this time of the year are too  busy doing! (or resting from a long hard year)

Pessimistic view
2012 looks so muddy that most people do not want to venture in what could be a very very dangerous territory

Even more pessimistic view
The major mobile devices and mobile platforms (Android and Apple) have reached a stage of maturity where the rhythm of innovation inside and outside the platform is slowing down. There is no exciting future for 2012 just consolidation over existing technologies.

Realistic view
This is the end of...

Yesterday was a big day for Apple. The company announced iOS 5 at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, and it said it had paid out $2.5 billion to developers for apps they've sold to iOS users. 

Apple's lawyers also sent WIP a letter yesterday, asking that we cease and desist from using the term "App Store" in the title of the App Store Catalog and App Store Reports we provide for developers here on our site. Apple has trademarked the term "App Store" in the US and many other countries, and the letter says our use of the term "improperly suggests to U.S. consumers that numerous companies offer an APP STORE mobile download service, when in fact the term APP STORE refers exclusively to Apple's groundbreaking download service."

Apparently Steve Jobs hasn't gotten a similar letter, since even he uses the term generically to refer to any of what the lawyers suggest we call "mobile download services" or "application download services".

We provide the App Store...

We’ve know for a while that that apps are the key driver in the mobile industry today, driving the demand for devices and network time.  The big players in the industry recognize that too, so are constantly on the lookout for new mobile applications that meet the requirements and imagination of their customers.

There are a variety of entry points to get you and your app noticed, including the AT&T Open Call Contest whose deadline for entry is Tuesday, March 8, 2011.  Get your app in now so you don’t miss out on this opportunity.  

Here’s why we like this contest. Not only is it a great way to get noticed in front of the right decision makers at AT&T, they and some of their partners who participate in the judging (I was a judge last year and will be  again this year), offer alot of advice and connections.  So even just getting a judging/pitch time is a big win!  There are over 100 spots open – so lots of opportunity!

We had an opportunity to speak with Andrea Morton the...

A few days ago Amazon opened the doors to their Amazon Appstore Developer Portal.

As we have seen before that adding your app to any appstore can be a painful process. WIP has run Android appstore submitting competitions to see which appstores make it easiest and fastest for developers to submit and WIP has also experienced some bad forms and error messages in a lot of appstores. Well I wanted to take a closer look to see if Amazon has made this process any easier as they are predicted to be another big player in the appstore world.  Some Seattle based bloggers are saying Amazon has done a marvelous job of creating a Super-Slick Android Appstore, but I want to go through the whole process and submit WIP's own Appstore Wiki App.

Walk through
For starters Amazon is certainly getting the ball rolling by waiving the $99 yearly fee for developers who want to submit their app. Their layout is sleek, and it has the classic amazon feel. Their FAQ has lots of questions with straight...

As I peer into my crystal ball I see a year of more growth coupled with higher expectations for mobile along with a few upsets along the way.

The Growth

If you didn’t rest over the holidays, don’t expect to relax anytime soon no matter where you fit in the industry.  We will continue to see more devices, more demand for apps, and more demand for developers. 

It was March when we declared 2010 The Year of the Mobile Developer.  Developers were in hot demand and were finally being embraced publically and vocally as a key piece of the mobile ecosystem.   

With that, we will continue to see huge growth in the number of mobile developers entering the scene.  I do think we will see a combination of really newbie/webby developers, given the rise in toolssuch as AppMobi.   As mobile has now become ‘mainstream’ we will also see more traditional software folks entering mobile.  Expect more development tools and enablers (analytics, advertising etc) on the scene too.  Choice...

The latest edition of the WIP App Store Report is now available for download. It's a PDF version of the listings from our App Store Catalog, and also features some current analysis on the app store market.

This month, the Catalog passed a significant milestone: the 100-store mark. While growth in the number of app stores has slowed somewhat in the second half of the year, the numbers are still swelling, with more and more stores competing for developer attention and consumer eyeballs. But how many app stores do we really need? There are already plenty of them, in some sense -- but many of them still have significant issues for both developers and users that hamper sales and downloads. So there is still room in the market for better, but not necessarily more, app stores.

Check out the full analysis in the report, and then share your comments here. What are some of the big problems with current app stores, and what changes would you like to see made? How many app stores do you...

We released the latest edition of the WIP App Store Report last week, and in it, we take a closer look at the role aggregators are playing in driving up the number of app stores in the marketplace. We counted 94 app stores when we released the report, but the number in the wiki has already grown by one!

Aggregators play a huge role in the marketplace by supporting app store providers with a number of different models and services. From offering affiliate-based white-label web sites to end-to-end developer support and delivery, there's an aggregation model to suit almost anybody who wants to distribute apps. This may seem daunting for developers, but aggregators are also able to offer a wide reach through a single point of contact. For instance, through its Brew Distribution System, Qualcomm allows developers to potentially reach more than 50 operators with a single submission. On a smaller scale, other aggregators offer white-label web stores that reach across content niches...

On Monday for our WIPJam @ Mobile Day & Night in Marseille  we ran the 2nd round of our Android appstore competition  If you missed the first installment have a look here to see the results.

The Android appstore competition v1 (follow up)

A quick summary of this first round was "no public vote winner" , the mark of a slight disappointment with the offering...But a great learning experience for all. Interestingly enough Sony Ericsson Playnow who were the only one not to have published the app have since "shut down" submissions to the appstore while they're fixing their processes! Not an easy job, so good luck to the team!

The Android appstore competition v2 - The process

For this second round, the principles was similar as for the first round at Droidcon Berlin:

• Take the kick-ass WIP Appstore wiki app by OpenIntents (available in an Android appstore near you)
• Place it in a series of France based/operating Android appstores :
  • Appcity
  • Appoke
  • ...

The July edition of the WIP App Store Report is now available for download. Based on data from the WIP App Store Wiki, the report this month takes a look at the growth over time of the number of app stores in the mobile ecosystem. The wiki now tracks 79 app stores; while that's up just 2 from June, it brings the total number of stores launched during the first half of the year to 36. So can we expect the number of launches to continue to grow so rapidly? Check out the report to find out our predictions.

The May edition of the WIP App Store Report is now available for download. The WIP App Store Wiki now lists 75 stores, up from 68 in April. The new entrants included:

• AndroidAppShop
• R-World
• TomTom App Store
• LePhone App Store
• Softwareload
• android.pdassi.de

The announcement of the TomTom App Store, which will sell apps for the company's new PNDs running a WebKit-based platform, brought up an interesting trend: we're starting to see more and more App Stores for devices that aren't phones (at least not in the traditional sense), but are open to mobile developers. For example, there's AutoLinQ from car parts maker Continental. The company is working on an in-car computing system that will run Android, and it will eventually open the system up for outside developers. Android's being used in several different ways beyond phones, including on web tablets and even televisions.

We decided to take a look at the App Stores we're tracking the wiki by the type of...