Take those numbers with a few dozen grains of salt, however: the stats come from a survey conducted by analysts at Appsfire who surveyed “over 1,000 [iOS] devices registered and synchronized with the Appsfire service.”

Seeing as how Apple has sold over 160 million iOS devices, such a small sampling doesn’t provide data hearty enough to take to the bank. Also, Appsfire’s data comes only from iOS users who have registered for its apps-listing service, so an argument could be made that users whom Appsfire is tracking are more apps-hungry than your average fanboi.

That said, there is some interesting information in the Appsfire survey, as long as you keep in mind from whom the data was gleaned.

For one, native apps soundly thrash web-based content viewing when it comes to the amount of time spent by the users surveyed by Appsfire. Out of the 84 minutes per day that those users spend with their device, only 10 minutes (12 per cent) is spent on the web or using web-based apps.

The other 74 minutes are spent using native apps (40 minutes, or 47 per cent); telephony apps such as the Phone app, Skype, and the like (27 minutes, 32 per cent); and the Mail app (seven minutes, nine per cent).

Out of those 40 minutes of native-app usage, users are playing games 32 per cent of the time. Of the 88 downloaded apps, 63 were free, and 25 were purchased.

Appsfire’s numbers contrast with those in a recently published survey conducted by the “market intelligence” group Asymco, which put the average – mean, not median – number of apps per iOS device at “over 60.”

Asymco’s survey also points out that the rate of app downloads per device is rising faster than did songs-per-device back when the iTunes Music Store debuted.

“In the fall of 2008,” Asymco’s report says, “there were about 10 apps downloaded for every iPhone/iPod touch.” Now that number is 60 in Asympco’s estimate and 88 in Appsfire’s. No matter how you slice it, that’s a stunning growth rate. “Growth like this is hard to get one’s mind around,” Asympco says. “Not only are downloads increasing, but the rate of increase is increasing.”

Or, as Appsfire puts it: “‘Apps everywhere’…we told you so.” ®

Still, TechCrunch says that Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos are “secretly working on the project,” which is being kept tightly under wraps; even Facebook employees are in the dark about the plan. Hewitt and Papakipos have certainly both worked in this space: the former created the Facebook iPhone app, and the latter was head of Google’s Chrome OS team until June. But the article strangely leaves out what could be the most telling piece of the puzzle — the departure of Android’s lead project manager, Erick Tseng. After leaving the company in May, he went directly to Facebook to take on the job of head of mobile products. Keep in mind, Erick was high-up enough at Android to act as a spokesperson for the brand — even appearing on the Engadget Show to talk about the platform.

But does this make for a Facebook Phone in our future? That’s not so clear — the idea that the company would see an opportunity in an already overcrowded smartphone marketplace is questionable, and if it’s truly worried about the major players, it wouldn’t be targeting a low end handset. We also may be giving the company a little too much credit to think that it can pull off being a heavy hitter in the social networking space (platform and all), and make a dent in the hardware and services game (remember, the competition is Microsoft, Apple, Google, RIM, and Nokia). Like all rumor and speculation in the gadget world, take it with a grain of salt, but you can be sure we’ll be putting our feelers out to get a concrete answer on this one.

Update: Facebook wasted no time today shooting the idea down: “The story, which originated in Techcrunch, is not accurate,” a spokesperson told Mashable. “Facebook is not building a phone.” The company told the publication that it’s focusing on “deep integration” with existing mobile platforms, but that “building phones is just not what we do.”

Netflix originally launched the app for the iPad-only and later revealed that the App would come for all iOS devices.

The popular app allows iOS device owners to stream video directly from Netflix. The service does require a Netflix subscription which starts at $8.99/month. The iPhone App seems to support streaming over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Anecdotal evidence from developer David Smith of Cross Forward Consulting (via Silicon Alley Insider) suggests, however, that the program may not be cost-effective for developers, as a test ad campaign resulted in low click-through and conversion rates for an app priced at only $0.99.
From August 19 through August 25 I ran a campaign on the newly released iAd for Developers platform for our Audiobooks Premium app. The results were, to say the least, disappointing. For all the promise of selling your apps directly within an advertisement, it appears that so far this is not a viable way to drive traffic and create an economically sustainable promotion. For $1,251.75, my campaign generated a total of 84 downloads, thus a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) of ~$15. For a $0.99 app, those economics just can’t work out.

The remainder of the post details the process of signing up for an monitoring the iAd for Developers, and while Smith was pleased with the professionalism of Apple’s iAd staff and the ease with which he could monitor his campaign, the return on investment was simply nowhere near what would be required to be viable. While an application carrying a higher price tag or significant in-app purchasing content might stand a better chance of seeing a profitable ad campaign, conversion rates would likely be even lower for a more expensive application.
Given that the cost for the campaign is entirely based on clicks, we designed our banner to try and provide the audience with all the basic information they need to understand what Audiobooks is and whether they might be interested in purchasing it. This lead to a more textual treatment than a graphical one. Since we don’t pay for impressions we only wanted truly interested people clicking on the advertisement.
Apple’s iAd program utilizes a “targeting system” that helps identify which users might be most likely to respond to and purchase a given application, and for that reason, Apple’s staff encouraged Smith to continue the campaign beyond the first few unsuccessful days in hopes of refining that targeting and boosting yields. Improvement was non-existent, however, and the campaign was canceled after six days and only 84 downloads on over 2 million impressions.
Smith also performed a comparison campaign using the same banner ad on AdMob’s network, finding a click-through rate over five times higher than that for iAd, and with AdMob’s cheaper cost structure, Smith’s cost-per-click was over six times cheaper on AdMob than on iAd. The reason for the significant difference in click-through rates between the platforms is unclear, especially considering the widely-held belief that the iAd program would offer a “premium” branding that would be more enticing to users than traditional banner ads.

OmniFocus offers a way to create to-do lists on steroids. You can brainstorm out ideas, then start organizing and classifying them into separate projects, tasks, and “contexts”; contexts allow you to make tasks relevant to where and when you are working on things. Items related to working at home will not intrude into your “Office” context, for example.

As you organize your to-do elements, your data can used locally, be synced to your local desktop, over the air to Mobile Me, and so forth. So if you’re progressing with your work on multiple devices, your task completion and ideas can move with you. That means if you’re used to working with OmniFocus on your personal computer or iPhone, that data can now integrate with your iPad using a native app that takes advantage of the iPad’s extended geometry and native features.

As with the previous Omni products I’ve looked at, OmniFocus has really thought about the new user. Like Omni’s other iPad apps, OmniFocus immediately draws you into the application and teaches you how to use it from the ground up. Their “Welcome to OmniFocus for iPad” series of Inbox items describes how to use their product and get help along the way. You’ll quickly start adding new inbox items, assigning due dates, and attaching items to projects.

The GUI has been very well built. This really feels like a proper iPad application with an expansive workspace that doesn’t need to cramp or fold itself to fit onto an iPhone screen. I had a few very minor quibbles with the design (for example, why does the “create new item” button look like it’s a toggle that’s paired with the Inbox, when it’s not?) but for the most part everything seemed solidly laid out and, if you excuse the pun, focused on getting the job done.

OmniFocus is not going to be a tool for everyone, especially with its high price tag. It’s clearly aimed at serious business users who need a fully-realized task management tool that allow you to build, manage, and visualize projects. Although I have not spent a lot of time using this application yet, my initial reaction is positive. Features like the calendar-driven Forecast screen where you can explore your due dates and the beautiful collapse and show grouping elements in the Projects and Contexts tables highlight how much work and thought has gone into this app. So, in a nutshell: expensive? Yes. Worth it? Very possibly, especially if you are Omni’s core business user demographic.

You can now purchase iAd advertising to promote your app to millions of users across the iAd Network. With iAd for Developers, users can download apps from the App Store without leaving the app they’re in. It’s easy to get started, contact us today and learn how you can drive more downloads of your app with iAd for Developers.

Apple’s iAd program launched at the beginning of this month with ad campaigns from major brands such as Nissan and Dove, with the company reportedly charging as much as $1 million for placements in the program. But now the door appears to opening for smaller developers, as the company broadens its offerings to include app developers wishing to promote their applications, something we’ve seen for quite some time on existing ad networks

1. Mileage Counter
   An easy replacement from writing down your mileage in your car, this allows you to calculate your vehicles fuel consumption, handy for anyone who needs a report on vehicle milage for their business.
2. VAT Calculator
   A list of countries is available for you to instantly calculate VAT in a variety of countries, Handy for the frequent business traveller.
3. SugarSync
   Access your PC or Mac from anywhere, allowing to share a variety of files and backup unlimited number of computers
4. Airport Flight Delays
   Get the latest flight info to your phone to see if you can sleep in a little longer before waiting in the airport lounge!
5. Stockwatch
   Watch the stock market right on your mobile for quick updates on your gains, and hopefully not your losses.
6. Worldwatchr
   Allows you to view webcams of your choice directly on your iPhone, this is great for local traffic cams and weather information too.

Let us know what your favourite Business application is. There’s new ones being developed all the time!

Barclaycard launched a free ‘waterslide extreme’ application last month which went into the top 10 free applications instantly. The application allows users to speed through 3D cityscape backgrounds and ride in 1st or 3rd person view.
The application was tied in nicely to it’s recent advertising campaign on it’s Oyster style credit card (Barclaycard touch). The iPhone marketing campaign seems to have been a great success and provided great brand awareness for the company.

Yell has recently launched it’s Yell.com as a free application to keep the public searching locally. No doubt they will be selling advertising to it’s customers as a new revenue stream. When was the last time you picked up the yellow pages?

Sky has joined the app store too with it’s ‘Sky News’ application and ‘Sky Sports Live’, both of which are currently in the top 10 free downloads.

These marketing tools help customers raise their brand awareness in the new age, it’s no longer viral campaigns, it seems it’s all about iPhone applications, with over 12 million iphones in the UK alone companies need to get on this waggon of successful marketing.

If you’re looking for an iPhone application to be developed, contact us for a free quote.