How many application launches this year have made you genuinely excited? How many have you followed from conception to pre-deployment with such a fanatical energy that if it were an iPhone launch, you’d be queuing up outside your nearest Apple store right now?

My guess is not many.

Well for me, there has been, and tomorrow (October 20th 2011) marks it’s mass market launch. Whale Trail by ustwo has been in development for some time now (6 months), and thanks to their CHIEF WONKA Mills, its journey from conception to launch has been very public. Now Mills is not known as a marketer, but this launch is supported by an intelligent marketing and promotional strategy. We have had a chance to glimpse at everything from character design to first play videos; understanding every twist and turn along it’s development path as if we are part of the team.

What this has done is establish an emotional attachment between a select number of people and the game. You feel as though you have watched a child grow, and are now excited to see the next stage of its progression. It’s first day at school if you will.

By using Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook to name but a few, ustwo has harnessed the power of social platforms to do what many believed only video could do: emotive communication. Ultimately, even though Mills has been reaching out to just under 5000 followers, and the 100+ people fortunate enough to play test the game before release, he now has an army of fanatics who will gladly spread the word and advocate Whale Trail to the respective social circles. And you know what, even if the game was shit, people probably still would tell their friends to download it.

The problem is…Whale Trail is actually brilliant. Using the well adopted endless runner format, and taking it to an even more premium level, alongside with a fantastic soundtrack (by SFA legend Gruff Rhys), and gameplay that’s guaranteed to drag you back in with, dare I say it, an Angry Birds-esque addiction.

Whale Trail is an utter delight for the senses, and have complete confidence that this could be the next major phase in an incredible journey for the app development and user interface studio.

So as if you were ever in doubt, if there is one thing you need to do once it is live, is head to the app store, search ‘Whale Trail’, part with your disposable income, and spend the next few months indulging in a love in with Willow the Whale.

I promise you…you will not regret it.

Besides, an angry bird ain’t got shit on a flying whale…

Links

Whale Trail demo video
Whale Trail by Gruff Rhys music video
CHIEF WONKA mills Twitter

Well we did see the next generation, but maybe it isn’t as significant of a jump from the current generation as many wanted. The iPhone 4S is almost exactly the same form factor as it’s predecessor, but the emphasis from Apple has been made on what’s inside as apposed to some beautiful new aesthetic.

Now I have seen some ridiculous comments made on Twitter and blogs that I would like to address first. Firstly, the insinuation that this is ‘Tim Cook’s fault’ is nonsense. This handset would have been in planning for a LONG time, and Steve Jobs would have been well involved in it’s development. This handset is no accident or slip up from Apple. Its a conscious decision! Secondly, the claim that Steve Jobs quit because he was too embarrassed about this iPhone launch is utter utter bollocks. Seriously.

Anyway, so Apple launch the 4S and not the 5. Why is this do we think? Well here is what I think.

Apple is well aware of what is happening in the smartphone market. Android has demonstrated that smartphones are no longer the niche proposition only available as toys for the affluent consumer. EVERYONE now wants touch screens, app stores and decent mobile web browsing. Smartphones will soon become the mass market proposition, and handset manufacturers will be challenged to produce the next generation of ‘super’ smartphones to re-create the divide.

So how does Apple adapt to this environment? They have the likes of HTC and Samsung snapping at their heels with increasingly great hardware, and brilliant exploitation of the Android platform. Well let us not forget that the iPhone 4 continues to be the world’s best smartphone, that still has nothing getting too close to make Apple uncomfortable.

With handset upgrades more often than not dictated by the network operator/carrier, the 18-24 month cycle is becoming increasingly common around the world. Now this isn’t a major worry for Apple, who never struggle shifting handsets, but surely their sales could improve even more if they aligned themselves with the natural renewal cycle? Makes sense to me.

Alongside this, many people touted an iPhone ‘Lite/Nano’ which would be a cheaper version to appeal to the mass market. Well ya know what, Apple will NEVER release a cheaper product, when they can extend the shelf life of their preceding products. The iPhone 3GS is a fantastic handset, supporting a decent version of iOS. Now that the gap doesn’t seem as large between itself and the iPhone 4S, the 3GS suddenly becomes a valid, affordable alternative iPhone. There is your iPhone ‘Lite’ right here. I have seen it here in the UK for free on a £15 a month contract. How much more affordable and mass market do you want?!

So although the tech press and pundits aren’t happy, the people are. And regardless of who moans and complains, people will talk with their feet and their wallets. I personally believe the iPhone 5 is ready and waiting. NFC, wallet and all. But is the consumer ready for it yet? No. Apple will wait for the rest of the industry to show its hand before sending it to market. You just watch.

The mind still boggles at how people can moan about a phone which now essentially makes your camera redundant, and GIVES you a personal assistant. Demanding bunch aren’t we…

It combines an iPhone, a remote control car, an on board microphone, a Virtual Reality headset, Wifi and an Arduino board to create a top driving experience for its user! Gavin is currently developing the project as his major for his degree in Interactive Media Production, and invited me along with his course mates to beta test in the University sports hall (which made the test even better with its slippery surface!).

He has two key objectives for the project:

• WiDrive’s primary objective is to allow a user to control a remote control car using a mobile device, currently this is an iPhone. The user is able to steer the car by tilting the phone using the iPhone’s accelerometer to measure the amount inertia being exerted at each axis of the iPhone. This is then translated to an integer value of which the car can respond to. This data is sent to a third party module on the car using a wireless socket connection, this module takes the place of the standard remote control receiver and sends a pulse width modulation signal to the car’s onboard servo which steers the car from the left to the right. This same method is used to increase and decrease the acceleration of the car.

• WiDrive’s secondary objective is one of immersion. A driver can be mentally transported into the car using a combination of an onboard wireless camera and a pair of video glasses. The aim of this is two fold. It allows the driver to drive out of line of sight and covertly into areas of interest. The second aim is to immerse the user within the driving experience offering something not currently found on the market today.

Having had a play with the it myself, I can say I have not experienced anything quite like it! Initially, I had a go without the headset, but found that I was a little heavy handed with the turning and speed. Once I had the headset on, I found that I was much more aware of the sensitivity of both the acceleration and of the turning.

After a bit of practice and getting comfortable, you become well immersed in the experience and despite crashing it twice (on one occasion the camera flew out like a passenger not wearing a seatbelt), it was still a hell of a lot of fun too!

Gavin Williams is an extremely talented developer on the Interactive Media Production Course at Bournemouth University, a course which continues to produce some truly brilliant design and development talent. I have an array of students I can recommend for placements, grad schemes and internships, so get in touch and I will try and put you in touch with some quality candidates.

In the meantime, check out the awesome video of WiDrive in action below, and pictures of the project in development in Flickr!!

WiDrive Open Beta from Gavin Williams on Vimeo.

I have rapidly established a reputation for ‘iPhone bashing’, which is nothing to do with not owning a suite of Apple Products or disliking Steve Job’s hair. Oh no. For those of you that are not aware, my main ‘beef’ is with brands who do not consider other platforms simply because its a) too hard, b) too expensive/not as cheap as iPhone or c) just want to tick a box that says ‘We have an iPhone app’.

There is a wealth and breadth of great (and some not so great) operating systems out there that can offer brilliant, rich and engaging experiences for their users, that despite having a substantially larger market share than Apple, continue to be overlooked. For a long time I have wanted to put together a presentation to demonstrate this very point, but Ewan MacLeod of Mobile Industry Review has pulled it out of the bag.

When it comes down to offering consumer utilities or CRM extensions, it is important to closely consider which platform to employ, but whether you should even consider the mobile web before apps! The iPhone is just 4% of the UK mobile handset share, so can you really justify spending a vast amount of your marketing budget on an app that might reach only 4% of your target audience (assuming your brand is a national brand with a fair reflection of the British population). The most likely scenario is that you cannot.

As mobile moves from ‘bit-part’ to mainstream, the importance of understanding this audience, their handsets and how they interact with brands via their mobile will be of the utmost importance. Mobile ‘strategists’ and planners will, like social media this year, start cropping up at agencies all over the world, and become an integral part of the planning and creative process. And this here, this is your first free piece of advice, condensed into a succinct yet effective presentation from Ewan. Enjoy.

p.s. still need more convincing? Martin Wilson and Tomi Ahonen can offer further support

After the recent iPhone OS4 announcement, I felt a strange sense of excitement which I had never had after previous announcement by Apple (mainly because it was bollocks like ‘we’ve now got MMS!’). This was very very different indeed, and had nothing to do with the long awaited introduction of multitasking. No, for me, the real excitement was relating to the mobile advertising platform ‘iAd’ that comes pre installed in the OS. So whats the big deal? And who will it benefit? Its a big deal because it is approaching mobile advertising in a format yet to be experienced by the average mobile user, and by embracing the rich content ability of the platform, allows for some real cool creative to be employed. This means happy Apple, happy agencies, happy brands, and most importantly, happy users! Here is why I think it is so good:

• Emotion and Interactivity…together – Apple have recognised that digital display advertising in its inherent form allows for a degree of interactivity, without evoking much of an emotional response, whereas TV advertising can make a significant emotional connection with its audience without much interaction (ok, maybe a call to action but no direct interaction). The iAd platform appears to allow for a substantial dollop of both. Gaming, content and utilities are crammed into what should be a direct link to a web page, but in essence, its an app within an app. This allows for a broad spectrum of interactivity, as well as the ability to make an emotional connection through video support.
• Ads keep you where you want to be – So you are served an ad within an application, and for once you are ever so slightly interested/intrigued by what the ad is offering (surely it isn’t a RELEVANT ad?!). However, you know that if you click it you will be removed from the application you were originally intending to use, and are then dumped on some random usability nightmare of a web page in Safari. Not with iAd. The ads remain within the application, which means you can engage with the ad and its key messages, before returning to exactly the same place you were before. No more re-navigating back to your ex-girlfriends facebook page, or having to work your way back to Level 34 on Paper Toss!
• 60% of revenues into developers pockets – If your App opts to host some ads, you get a cut of 60% of the revenue – Brucey’s Bonus!  And knowing the ads will be interactive and engaging, it can only encourage developers to consider there inclusion. And we knew Apple had to make some money out of it somewhere, so as well as Apple selling and hosting the ad space, they take the reasonable 40% cut.

I believe that this has been well thought through by Apple, with a view to making a bit of pocket money, but by also offering a proposition that is attractive to developers, advertisers and consumers. Very clever indeed. The key challenge facing Apple, who are selling and hosting the ads, is to ensure the quality of the ads is maintained to a high standard, and to make sure all the ads that they serve are RELEVANT to the users. This relevancy, where it can, must be focussed not on the specific app that the ad is served in, but take a deeper look at the variation of apps loaded on the users device in order to create their ‘preference profile’. I don’t believe this challenges privacy too much, but as long as it is well executed all will be fine. Take a look at the iAd section of Mr Jobs presentation in the videos below.

There are a few noticeable and obvious trends (namely rise of RIM, Apple and Android, fall of Windows and Linux), but I honestly believe this year will throw up several more surprise. Keep an eye out for:

• The rebirth of Windows Phone – This will depend on the time of its official launch, but after the positive reception at and post MWC, it is clear that it will start to reclaim some of that last market share. This may not be too evident until 2011 however, with a proposed Q4 2010 launch.
• The Android explosion continues – 2009 was very much a testing the water year fro Android, with the high profile Motorola Droid, Nexus One and HTC Hero all contributing to a jump in share, however 2010 will be the year when Android is a success based on the broad range of other handsets it will feature on. I expect an even more significant leap this year.
• Symbian stability – Despite receiving several body blows in the form of the iPhone and Blackberry, I still expect due to their huge huge sales figures for Symbian not to make its fall from grace just yet. It will take a lot more than a few rivals to bring down this behemoth.

Have brand managers and marketers completely forgotten the reasoning behind communicating with their audience, and the fundamentals of marketing?

I get furious when I see pointless applications hit the market from short sighted brands, with no consideration for market segmentation or consumer base, and the latest is no exception.

The Conservative party has just launched its iPhone application which will supposedly “help both existing supporters and floating voters learn more about their policies, connect with them on social networks and share political news with their friends.”

So the dramatic insinuation is that all (or a large proportion of) their existing supporters and the supposed ‘floating voters’ have iPhones. Utter morons.

As Paul Lomax, CTO at Dennis Publishing kindly argued “The Conservatives *are* a short sighted brand”.

With an increasing number of emerging and established mobile operating systems and app platforms now available, the invalidity of this application becomes even more apparent.

I am not just angry that they have done what so many brands have done and just jump at the chance of exhibiting on the platform; the anger is more directed at the complete disregard for the people they are trying to win over in order to ensure that they can run this country.

As far as I am concerned, if they can waste valuable donations on an app that segregates and isolates their voters, what will they do when it’s our/your money they are using?

So if anyone from the Conservative team in charge of this application should read this, I would love you to share all your research which showed that you needed to develop an iPhone application, and ignore the other platforms.

Don’t get me wrong, by even looking at mobile I agree it’s a step in the right direction, but this is without a doubt a box-ticker, and no real thought has gone into the parties objectives and how they can harness mobile to achieve those goals.

Any alternative views gratefully received.

Some smart alec Apple fan boy has replied with their very own take on the Droid Does viral.

The iPhone/Android battle is heating up, and with analysts predicting the open source OS to overtake Apples 2nd place slot behind Symbian on OS market share, its going to get very interesting over the next few months!