The Localytics Blog

Best Practices: Measuring App Sessions on iOS 4

Before Apple iOS 4, tracking mobile app sessions on iPhone was very straightforward. Only one app could run at a time and every app had a clearly defined starting and ending point. With the introduction of multitasking in iOS 4, apps are no longer terminated when a user exits but are instead moved to the background and resumed when the user returns. In fact, many apps such as music players and messaging clients are intended to persist in the background indefinitely without any defined stopping point. As a result, the old way of tracking app sessions no longer accurately reflects the users’ behavior.

Localytics SDK Supports iPhone 4

Our engineers have jumped on each Apple developer release and ensured that our open source SDK is fully compatible with Apple's latest creations, iOS 4 and the iPhone 4. With people queued up around the world last night to be among the first to sport Apple's hot new device, mobile app publishers using Localytics are already gaining anonymous, valuable and accurate insight into iPhone 4 usage.

Localytics Has Always Put Privacy First

Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the D8 Conference on Tuesday said that Apple was "pissed off" at Flurry for publishing sensitive data in violation of Apple's privacy policy and without notifying end users that data were being collected. In response, Apple changed the language in its iPhone (iOS) developer agreement to reflect those concerns, which Localytics shares and has addressed from the beginning.

Localytics Launches Enterprise Analytics for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Apps

Localytics announced today the release of its Enterprise Mobile Analytics service for Android, BlackBerry, iPad and iPhone applications. Localytics Enterprise service is available as a fully-hosted or first-party solution. Large brands and publishers already using Localytics Enterprise service include CardStar and KAYAK. Localytics also announced a partnership with Semphonic and participation in Coremetrics Connect, Omniture Genesis and WebTrends Open Exchange.

BlackBerry Analytics Show App Usage Higher During Workday Than iPhone

Apple is sharpening its focus on businesses with new enterprise features in iPhone OS 4, but BlackBerry usage of mobile apps is still more concentrated and higher during the workday than iPhone. Localytics also reports that BlackBerry app usage on the weekend is statistically identical to workweek usage. In contrast, iPhone owners use mobile apps more frequently on the weekend with the greatest difference at 2:00 pm EST when weekend usage is 40% higher than the same time Monday through Friday.

New iPad Owners Explore Apps on Opening Weekend

With the much anticipated launch of the iPad this past weekend, how did users spend time on their new devices? Localytics reports that iPad usage began shortly after East Coast Apple and Best Buy stores opened at 10 am EDT.

iPhone Analytics Show Peak Mobile App Usage on Nights & Weekends

Applications dominate how content and data services are used on the iPhone and those apps are primarily used in the evening and on the weekend. In the first hourly study of iPhone app analytics data, Localytics reports that mobile app usage in the US and Canada peaked at 9:00 pm EST during the week and maintained peak usage throughout weekend afternoons and nights.

Developing For Smartphones: Setting Up Your Environment

Previously, we examined the business and technology concerns around building applications for each smartphone platform. Here we investigate the options for application development on each platform and what tools are are necessary to build them. 

Unfortunately there is no universal tool for app development.  For example, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile Development require a Windows Environment, where iPhone requires OSX.  The closest thing to a consistent application model supported on all the smartphones is a Webapp but these take completely different forms on a BlackBerry than on a Palm Pre.  Java developers with Eclipse experience have a bit of an edge because this covers BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, and JavaME.  Similarly, if the iPhone is not the target device then Windows is the operating system of choice because it allows some form of development on every other platform.

Smartphone OS Wars: What platforms to develop for? Part II (Technology perspective)

Deciding which platform to develop on is not only a business decision (as described in Part 1) but also a matter of what technology is right for the project. Each platform provides a different set of tools and development concerns for the application programmer.  Below is a brief discussion of the major technology differences between the platforms which are relevant to a developer:

Smartphone OS Wars: What platforms to develop for? Part I (Business perspective)

As the smartphone wars rage on, mobile application developers regularly face a common dilemma: what platforms should I develop on? After some research and our own analysis we’ve deconstructed the answer into business (Part I) and technology perspectives (Part II).

Notes - MassMobile Software Devs’ Meetup (4/21/09)

Thanks to everyone who came out to last week’s MassMobile Software Developers meetup; we had nearly 30 people attend and had a very strong technology-focused discussion.  Here are our notes from the meeting: