Mobile App Maker Pro

Mobile Apps and More on the Web

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Fake Shopping Apps

Online shopping has been growing nearly exponentially in the past number of years.  As you well know, mobile devices are replacing computers for the shopping experience.  This has lead to the rapid rise and use of mobile devices being used for shopping.  However, being in the thick of the Christmas shopping season in the United States, customers are now falling prey to the scam of fake apps.  The normally stringent app review process has been compromised, leading to a proliferation of fake shopping apps. 

This is a problem that has affected Apple and Google.  Here’s a screen shot showing fake apps provided by the NY Times:

 

This is a knock off of Footlocker.  What do you notice?  Here are some things.  Although it has an official name, it is not “Footlocker” but “Footlocke.”  What makes things harder is the fact that the app icons mimic official brands that exist. 

You well know what can happen once an app is installed and gets permission to the most personal information.  You are at significant risk of having personal information compromised.  This can lead to a multitude of headaches.  The longest lasting impact could be financial. 

The question become then, how to prevent yourself or your clients from becoming a victim.  I would suggest going to the official website to find a link that will lead you to the right store for a download link.  That is less likely to get hacked as there are a multitude of websites.  The Apple App Store and Google Play Store, although they are generally safe, is an easier point of access since they are sole providers of the apps themselves and easier to get into.  With that, be safe and we are looking forward to helping you out.  Using the Mobile App Maker Pro platform will give you direct access to link from our website (if you don't have one) to the respective App Store.  This will be the best way to safeguard your mobile device and those of your clients.

 

 

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Mobile Collaboration Benefits

Businesses in many industries have converted from being driven from the top levels of management to a model where the workers are generating ideas.  The significant advantage here is many more ideas to improve the business are generated by those who are involved with the daily tasks opposed to management who may not be involved daily. Apps dedicated for business operations or enterprise apps are a natural extension.

One of the most significant savings is for companies regarding hardware investments for software integration. The systems that are normally upgraded may be obsolete until they are deployed across the company for the employees.  Let’s look at hardware for this task.

The tablet is best suited for manipulation of data.  This is due to the larger screen size that permits annotating information.  Depending upon the app utilized, it is possible for employees to work on reports in real time working remotely and not in the same physical location. 

There are a number of activities that can now be performed on apps that are accessible to the employees regularly.  These activities will shorten the time used for new skill set acquisition.  Additionally, depending upon the way information is retained, it is easy to build upon prior knowledge. 

The software side can be accomplished via a number of software applications.  When it comes to a wide variety of activities, the Mobile App Maker Pro software can handle many of the tasks necessary. 

Specific types of pages one may wish to incorporate:

Custom Page: Use for attaching various documents. 

Form: Perform a survey to elicit a wide range of responses or other types of employee feedback. 

In-app Messages: Deliver a specific message to all users simultaneously. 

Job: Post positions internally first so current employees are aware of new opportunities that arise prior to public posting. 


Padlock: Add employee information so they can access the portions of the app.  When an employee leaves, they can have their information deleted so they no longer have access. 

News Wall: Use for encouraging dialogue with employees.

Video:  If you have followed this series at all, you know it is no more difficult than using presentation software and saving it.  Adding a link then creates a video that can be used for employee development. 

Information can then be responded to creating dialogue to elicit employee feedback.  This will give the employees a greater opportunity for “buy in” to take greater responsibility within the organization.  This is also an avenue that opens the opportunity for junior employees to express ideas that may not come forth when in a meeting with more senior personnel. 

The question is then, how does a company get invoked in this?  Apple and Google both have avenues to make this possible. 

The Apple App Store has an Enterprise portal: https://developer.apple.com/programs/enterprise/

The Google Play Store link can be found here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2494992?hl=en

Each one allows distribution through private channels not present for regular public consumption.  

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How to Podcast

The podcast is one of the newest formats of taking in information in the audio form.  Some people refer to it as “online or internet radio.”  What started as something small in 2004 has exploded now.  For some, this is the preferred way of taking in audio.  Like many things within the field of technology, what was once difficult to get involved with is no longer difficult.  Prior to getting into how to create a podcast, I wish to cover some of the benefits.   

The first major aspect is portability.  If you have a smartphone, you have access to it.  Individuals with iOS devices have a native Podcast App.  If you utilize the Android platform, there are a number of options available for you to utilize. 

What comes with portability is also consumed conveniently as an individual sees fit.  They can be listened to while an individual is occupied in an other activity.  Listening while traveling, working, or exercising are some of the ways that people can listen to them. 

With that in mind, let’s create an audio podcast (you can create a video podcast and extract the audio).

Before going anywhere, you MUST ask this question: Who is your perfect listener?  If you believe you’re going to “target everyone” and expect massive results, you’re in for a shock.  Keep this in mind, targeting everyone will be listened to by no one.  Once you have the demographics of your person:

Male/Female

Married/Single

Kids/No kids

Rural/suburban/urban living environment

Age Range

Income

Employment field

Education level

Political views

Religious views

Activities

Hobbies

Once you have those demographics in mind, choose your topic.  Whatever your topic is going to be, I’d suggest doing some background research if it’s something you’re not overly familiar with. 

With that in mind, here’s what you will need to get a podcast started. 

You will need a way to capture audio.  It’s recommended that you get a microphone.  In a pinch, you could possibly use a bluetooth headset.  However, if you do this, you may not get much in the way of great sound quality. 

Next, we need a program to capture the audio you’ve created.  These two programs are completely free as well.  The first one I suggest is Audacity compatible with Mac and PC programs.   

 

 

The next program is GarageBand, specific only to Macs. 

 

Once the audio is recorded, export this file as an MP3 file.  Here is how you want to export it as: 44100 Hz 16 bit, 64 kbps in CBR mono format.  You will want to add some other information as well. This is tagging where you will add cover art, naming information, and podcast description. This site is a source that you can utilize to help with these final stages.  

If you are looking at doing this in the long term, you do not want to utilize your WordPress website.  The website will be bogged down if it takes off due to all the data that will take the time to load.  If you are just starting out, you can get away with it.  However, you will want to monitor your website and switch over if ti’s getting bogged down too much. 

Thankfully, there is a solution for you that you can utilize.  Libsyn is a site that you can utilize at a low cost depending upon the plan you wish to select.  Side benefit of Libsyn is it will be aded to the various podcasting directories.

Schedule your podcast and publish.  You are done and have created your first podcast!  What you may wish to do is batch your podcasts and produce a number in advance so if something happens, you have built in leeway. 

With all that in mind, you have the option of adding a podcast you create or any other podcast into the app as well.  When you log into the Mobile App Maker Pro app builder, it is accessible via the “audio” page feature.  Any podcast that you create will stream from within the app itself.   

 

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Naming Mobile Apps and Websites

I was browsing on the internet for mobile application information.  I came across this line for Your Story: “Also, even if you want to establish a website now, all you can do is name it on your own nick name or business name since the catchy-funky-famous keywords are already booked and others which are not, are either purchased or priced very high.”

This is something that I honestly hadn’t considered before.  That lead me on a quick little research path to find out how much it can cost to get domain names purchased.  I came across this site: https://sedo.com/us/.  From there, I saw that some sites are listed for thousands of dollars.  Let’s contrast that with the App Store for mobile.  If you elect to not utilize the Mobile App Maker Pro app accounts for Apple and Google, you’re looking at approximately $99 per year with Apple and $25 one time for Google.  This will allow you to add in as many apps as you wish.  Since there is far less competition, you have much more flexibility for naming.  However, you will need to check both Apple and Google to make sure the name is available.  Also, since everything is centrally located in each respective App Store, you can further tailor things with a specific physical description to eliminate confusion.  Example: There are multiple “Smith’s Pizzerias” available.  To make yours separate from the other one, all that you need to do is add in a specific location such as “located in Philadelphia on XXX Market Street.” 

 

This is necessary to stand out since there are nearly 1 billion websites that exist currently according to The Atlantic.  When we look at the Google Play and Apple App Store apps you can see how they’ve grown:

 

As you can see, Google and Apple account for over 4 million apps available.  It’s safe to say, there is duplication to some extent of the apps.  Looking at competition, if one is trying so set themselves apart, it’s easier considering 4 million versus 1 billion.


When you come with the Mobile App Maker Pro platform, you will have access to the simplest app builder provided you can cut and paste material.  From there, you can create as many apps as you wish with no limit at all. Insert information once, create an app for both Apple and Google.  You will also have the advantage of skipping the naming service as well.  Come on it and we are looking forward to getting you started today.

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Single Page App

Data is a consideration that mobile device users consider that traditional computer users do no.  Website pages that taking longer to load are more likely to be navigated from rather than the user staying for.  Traditional computer users are more “forgiving” in that they are more patient when it comes to website loading times.  For the person who is looking to build an app that emphasizes quality over quantity the “Custom Page” feature is the one that you would wish to employ.    

The Custom Page is the most flexible feature type to add into the app.  There are seven types of content that can be added:

Text

Images

Video

Address

Button

Attachment

Slider

 

 

This page can be used in lieu of a traditional website that has attachments. 


The text is the easiest one to address.  Typing is one of the fundamental activities associated with performing electronic activities.  Once you insert your words, the software has an editing suite similar to popular word processing programs that you may have on your computer. 

The adage, “an image is worth a thousand words” can be integrated easily as well.  This can be done to solidify/expand any understanding of text delivered.

Videos as discussed previously, are powerful in and of themselves.  There are three types of video that you can add: YouTube, Podcast, or your own video so long as in ends in the suffix “.mp4.” 


The address for integration can be useful for physically locating a particular location.


The button feature is useful is you either wish to have someone make direct contact via telephone, email contact, or have the user visit a particular website address.

Attachments are useful for adding anything that you may want to have people view or viewers download. 

The slider as well can be useful for increasing engagement so viewers can have a rotating view of images to view.  This makes the page feel “alive” and isn’t stale nor stagnant.   

What does this all mean?  If you are looking for an all in one solution for building an mobile application page, you have everything you need here.  You can deliver communication via multiple methods.  The consumer has the ability to engage you multiple ways as well.  You’ve won and the consumer has as well.  When you download the Mobile App Maker Pro app builder, you will be able to see this has been incorporated.