Why is this exciting? It’s the first platform of its kind in the world, situated in a rapidly growing and dynamic market sector. We’re proud to have been the first in this space and now we’re seeing some competition in Parse and Cocoafish. Here in Scotland we have a proud tradition of creating innovative stuff and the mobile apps space is no different.

We started building the platform because we were pissed off trying to build database driven apps for iOS and Android. Kumulos was designed to make this process less painful. So having eaten our own dog food on a number of projects, we decided to open the platform up to other developers. Since it launched, the platform has attracted app and game developers from all over the world and Kumulos now serves over 1 billion API calls every month.

We want to start sharing our story with other iOS and Android developers in Scotland and throughout the UK. At Waracle, we have a 20 strong team churning out super cool apps and games every day. We use Kumulos to power the backend of our iOS and Android apps and games and it helps us to think about how we bill our customers differently. We all want to make great apps, but Kumulos is about making cool apps that make money and help your business to grow.

If you’re an iOS or Android developer looking to turbo charge your development projects, you can now use Kumulos to host, access and manage all your customers’ data via the cloud. It’s totally scalable, secure and enables you to bill your customers for your services. Our customers are using Kumulos to turn coffee, into code, into cash by developing and hosting apps in the cloud. If you’re an Android or iOS developer looking to make serious monthly cash from your customers development projects, check out www.kumulos.com

Winning the hearts and minds of your customers is about making them feel special. One thing that binds people universally is their need to feel important and wanted. Customers need to feel valued and you must show that you appreciate them. If you can create a tribe of people who share your common values and beliefs, it enables them to evangelise your brand and help attract more customers.

The social media revolution has underpinned the importance of making your tribe feel special and wanted. The desire for social status, bragging rights and the ability to share experiences continues to highlight this fact; we are all deeply concerned about what other people think and do. The ability to share in these everyday experiences with friends via the social web provides reassurance and comfort. It helps us through the difficult times.

A well-developed game makes people feel special. The term ‘gamification’ may be new, but the idea of using game mechanics and theory to solve problems and engage audiences is not a new phenomenon. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, the military has pioneered the use of games and simulations in the art of training and engagement. It was Scottish philosopher David Hume that created the blueprint we use today for understanding player motivation with his views on the primacy of the irrational self. Since the cultural and social revolution of the 1960’s, authors have been writing books that explore the relationship between gaming and psychology.

People love playing games. Play and games have been enshrined together throughout the ages. The modern business must understand that as people, we are hard-coded to play games. We can now understand the link between our brains neural systems and game play. Play and games actually help to make your customers smarter, faster. There’s even evidence to suggest that playing games can help you live longer by helping improve general health and staving off dementia.

It therefore comes as little surprise that marketers and brand managers are embracing the concept of gamification. Our society is obsessed with playing games and much of our conventional thought and approach to consumer marketing is becoming rapidly obsolete. To create deeper engagement with your customers, we must consider reward structures, reinforce positive behaviour, create subtle feedback loops alongside general game mechanics such as levels, challenges, leaderboards, badges and points systems.

When executed correctly developing games helps align your business goals and interests with the deeply rooted motivations of your customers. Gamification mechanics and reward systems can help you to acquire new customers, tell their friends and keep them all coming back for more. In order to develop social games that stick, we must first unravel and deconstruct your customers’ emotions and desires. Only through gamification can we make your customers experience repeatable, predictable and rewarding financially.

Waracle Social Game Developers UK is currently working on a number of exciting gamification projects for the social and mobile web. If you are interested in developing a social or mobile game for your business or brand, please contact us today. Waracle UK specialise in the development and gamification of your brand to engage customers, enhance brand loyalty and generate new sources of revenue.

January 11th 2012 saw the launch of the new Waracle website, with a new emphasis on developing social and online games. In late 2011, Waracle began work on a Facebook game for The European Nature Trust. The European Nature Trust (TENT) has embarked upon an exciting new project with Waracle to design, develop and support a unique and innovative Facebook game that promotes conservation.

TENT leverage funding into conservation projects across Europe and are using the development of their Facebook game to help raise awareness of their cause and to generate revenue to re-invest in conservation activities. This is a great example of how brands and businesses can establish a presence on the world’s largest social networking platform to raise brand awareness, engage end users and create new revenue streams. Waracle is delighted to be working in collaboration with TENT on such an exciting project.

Waracle are focused on developing high quality social and online games, with a particular emphasis in 2012 on Facebook game development. In difficult economic times, businesses and brands must look to harness the power of the mobile and social web, by developing apps and games to create deeper engagement with end users and generate new sources of income. The Waracle team of game developers, artists and designers are currently busy working in collaboration with major global brands on another two top secret Facebook games. Please watch this space for further details.

Whilst Waracle developers UK are busy developing great Facebook games and apps, there are also a bunch of hugely exciting iPhone, Google Android and web projects to launch in 2012. Waracle are delighted to be working in collaboration with so many great customers and would like to thank you all for your loyal and continued support. If you’re a business or brand looking to utilise the mobile and social web, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Based in the Scotland, UK, Waracle developers create apps and games for the mobile and social web, specialising in Facebook game and app development and developing mobile app software for iPhone, iPad (iOS), Mac (OSX), Google Android, Windows and Blackberry.

We are privileged to announce the release of the Scottish National Teams iPhone app. The new application allows users to keep up-to-date with the latest news, videos, fixtures and results. Also, the app provides current player profiles and a historical archive of the team’s history. Last but certainly not least, users can ‘Scotify’ themselves – a feature of the SFA app allows users to upload a picture of their face, select from an array of iconic haircuts and strips and once you’re done, save the picture, email it to friend or upload it to Facebook.

Waracle are delighted to have worked with the SFA in the development, publishing and ongoing support of this app.

Waracle develop apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. If you would like to develop an app then drop us a line on 01382 529 528 or use the contact form, we’d be delighted to hear from you

We pitched at Hampden last week with Take That sound-checking in the background. I took Barlow aside afterwards and had a word…….

The contents of the app are under wraps until its launch prior to our next Euro qualifiers in September, but what we can say is that the SFA iPhone app will deliver lot’s of fun features and will be updated over the course of the year.

This is a really exciting commission for Waracle so watch this space for further updates!

D

Waracle develop apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry. If you would like to develop an app then drop us a line on 01382 529 528 or use the contact form, we’d be delighted to hear from you!

So here it is. Bookmark it, save it, memorise it, link to it. A simple resource that comes in handy.

Keep it simple. When considering the development of your app, strip it back to the essentials for Version 1. You can always add bells and whistles later on. In the first instance, you’re trying to validate your concept in the market place. In this case, the app store. Far too often, people have great ideas, but fail to distill them into their purest and most useful form. The best apps do one thing, really well. They serve to enhance our every day lives in a purposeful and meaningful way. This is the only way to create long-term value for you and your customers. For your project, the aim is to come in on time and within your allocated budget. The fewer moving parts and components you create, the smaller the scope will be for uncovering nasty bugs and breaks. You should aim to hit the market early, gather user feedback and aggregate this information to create a bigger and better Version2.

Get the funding and commit. Very often people who have great ideas for iPhone app development approach us. In many cases, the prospective customer wants us to develop the app for free in exchange for a share of the revenue. This is not a model we use and I’ll explain why. To develop the simplest of apps costs thousands of pounds. If you believe in your idea and the fruit of your creativity, you must have the confidence to back it financially. To develop an app requires highly skilled developers, designers, project management and marketing. Having an idea is only the first step in a very long and intensive process of design, development, testing and eventual polishing and deployment to the app store. A good idea is important, in fact it’s essential, but it’s just the start. You have to begin somewhere and that involves a certain degree of commercial and technical risk. If you’ve got the next big idea, you should be prepared to back it whatever the cost. If you don’t have the cash, ask friends, fools and family. You can’t expect us to invest thousands of pounds in your idea, if you cant commit to it yourself.

Work on your value proposition. What is it you’re building? Why should people be interested? There’s a great book called ‘Tribes’ by web marketing guru Seth Godin, if you’re thinking of building an app, check it out. It explains that using the web; anyone can create a tribe of followers who believe in a common purpose or value set. Think about this in the context of your app and try to understand why it’s valuable to others. It’s an exercise in understanding your customer, getting inside their heads and working out what makes them tick. If you can crack that and understand their motivation for using your app, that’s half the battle. A good value proposition should clearly and concisely demonstrate the features and benefits of your technology.

Think about your business model. Everyone has a smart phone these days, be it an iPhone, Blackberry or a Google Android device. We’ve all used apps and reckon we have the next great idea to conquer the app store. The chances are you’ve been seduced by the story of the makers of Angry Birds and want a slice of the action. If you’re bored of your day job, a smash hit on the app store seems like a great way to generate another income stream? Well, possibly. But you have to get the basics right. There are three main reasons why people build apps: to raise the awareness of an existing or new brand, to engage users in some meaningful fashion and to make money. If the latter is your motivation, you need to consider how you’re going to generate some cash. Are you going to sell it for 59p or £5.99? Are you going to distribute it for free and charge people a monthly subscription? Are you going to rely on micro-transactions to make your money? If you expect your app to create revenue, you need to think hard about your business model.

Document your plans and get the right support. We’ve all seen it. When good apps go bad. It starts when the guy who built the original software heads to the beach in Australia for a gap year. In order to maintain or enhance the app, you must understand what the original developer was trying to achieve. You must have a clear idea of the fundamental design, the data structure, the methodologies and technologies that have been utilised. This is a huge part of any project irrespective of the size. Whoever is building the app should clearly demonstrate their workings. That way if they do decide to take an extended holiday or get hit by an articulated lorry, another developer can pick up the ball and carry on regardless. You should ensure that whoever develops your app, is able to support your commercial and technical requirements in the long term. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Click here to download the application from the Google Android Marketplace.

The Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) is a mobile service that was created by Apple in 2009. Push notifications are like text messages, they allow notifications to be sent to iPhones, iPads and iTouches. Push Notification enabled iPhone apps will have a corresponding web control panel whereby a message will be entered and sent. Crucially, push notifications are free and instant. See below for a visual example of what push notifications look like:

So, what we have with Push Notifications is a free and instant messaging service. But how are Push Notifications currently being used by businesses?

Real time updates – whether your’e a publisher breaking the latest news update, or a travel provider making commuters aware of a delay, real time updates provide an invaluable means of communicating information with your customers. In any business things change from day to day, with Push Notifications the customer can be kept informed of these changes and will ultimately appreciate the heads up!

Promotions – many businesses, specifically bars, clubs and restaurants use Push Notifications to promote special offers. Say for example a restaurant has excess stock it wishes to sell, they can create an offer and send it out as a Push Notification. The same principle can be applied to virtually any business.

Links – links can be embedded into the Push Notification service so when an app user views your Push Notification they are directed via safari to a URL. Businesses often employ this strategy to generate more hits on their website.

As seasoned iPhone app developers, Waracle have significant experience in not only integrating Push Notifications into apps but helping businesses get the most out of them.

Waracle develop for iPhone, iPad, Mac OS X, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia. If you would like to find out how apps can benefit your business get in touch with Waracle on 01382 529528 or d.romilly@waracle.com

Since the release of the Apple iPhone and app store back in 2008 apps have become the medium by which people access information on the move. Most businesses have probably asked themselves ‘do I need an app?’ but without fully understanding the benefits it’s hard to make a decision. Whether its iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or Nokia, an app can benefit your business for the following reasons:

Generate revenue – develop an app that will generate your business revenue. Whether you’re a retailer or a publisher, you can charge at point of sale or used a subscription based model. Either way, the top mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry) make the payment process simple and will help your business sell more products.

Embrace social media – most apps use Facebook Connect functionality allowing app users to post to Facebook through your app e.g. “David has purchased a lawnmower using the Argos app” Facebook will open up your business and your products to a network of over half a billion users.

Raise brand awareness – as the market is still very much in the ascendancy, apps generate publicity for your business and extend your brand’s presence to the ever growing mobile platform. Be seen, be heard and most importantly show your customers that you want to make their lives easier.

Increase user engagement –the touch screen functionality and intuitive design can offer a more engaging experience than traditional web browsing which means you are more likely to get your customers attention and engage with them on a deeper level.

Recent stats reveal that in Scotland alone there are nearly 1 million iPhone users. The rest of Scotland is made up of Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices.

Waracle develop apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia.

If you have an idea for an app or would like to now how an app can benefit your business specifically, give Waracle a ring on 01382 529528 or email d.romilly@waracle.com