ComScore , a leading Web statistics provider, has joined with Flurry Analytics to provide a more complete picture on the who, what, when, where and how of our use of mobile media. Founded just over a year ago, Flurry has grown immensely and this move will only serve to boost its popularity. Flurry announced the partnership on the heels of its merger with Pinch Media last month. The service boasts a nearly ubiquitous presence in the mobile market and will add a host of real-time data to comScore’s reports. Sponsor Flurry collects mobile application data from approximately two out of every three iPhone and Android devices. Each month, the company aggregates application usage data from over 1 billion end-user sessions across more than 50 million unique handsets from more than 200 countries. Over 10,000 developers have chosen to integrate Flurry Analytics within their applications. That’s 9,700 developers more than the company started with just a year ago. Using Flurry’s data, comScore will add “real-time consumption data, including frequency of use, length of use, user geographic location, new vs. repeat usage and Wi-Fi vs. carrier network usage” to its mobile application data. Flurry provides a variety of information including what types of applications users are most likely to continue using over time and return to frequently, as shown in the following graphic. This data can then be used by companies to lure potential advertisers or by advertisers looking for potential targets. In a market that’s only going to see growth, some, like Om Malik, are already predicting Flurry’s acquisition by a big-time player in the near future. Analytics remains hot, as evidenced further by this morning’s news of a $27.5 million investment in comScore-competitor Quantcast by Cisco and Polaris Ventures . Discuss

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ComScore Ups the Ante in Mobile Analytics

Apple has just booted a major iPhone developer out of the iTunes App Store along with their catalog of 1,000+ apps, a number so high it represented almost 1% of all the apps in the store. The developer, Molinker Inc., has been accused of attempting to game the ratings system where application users are allowed to review the various programs using a 5-star system. As discovered by an unnamed internet user and a reader of the iPhoneography blog , the ratings scam involved a set of iPhone application reviewers who only rated Molinker apps, giving them each a five-star review. Most of the apps in question ended up with 50 or so of these five-star reviews, representing what was clearly an attempt to boost sales by pumping up ratings through artificial means. Sponsor According to the user who unearthed the scam , the highly ranked reviews were poorly written and the reviewers in question had only rated applications from Molinker. Despite this fact, one of the applications (“ColorMagic”), had made it to the front page of the App Store where it was featured under the App Store “Staff Favorites” section. (On a side note, this makes us wonder whether those “Staff Favorites” are genuine picks from Apple employees or if there’s some sort of automated algorithm that simply highlights high-rated applications.) In a detailed letter to Phil Schiller , Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, the accuser noted that the developer was likely using their promo codes (every developer receives 50 per app) on 50 of their own accounts to create the reviews. Shortly after receiving the letter, Schiller confirmed that this was indeed a scam and the developer apps “have been removed from the App Store and their ratings no longer appear either.” Cheating Won’t Get You Ahead, But What Will? While obviously we don’t support unscrupulous developers who attempt to game the system in order to get ahead, we do understand the temptation. At present, the Apple iTunes Store houses over 100,000 applications and development shows no sign of slowing down. Developers who have invested their time, energy and money into building an iPhone application business are becoming desperate for ways to make sure their apps get noticed. The problem has become so bad that an entire ecosystem of “app discovery” services and websites has risen up to fill the void. Although Apple recently launched an ” Apps for Everything ” section on their website to allow for category-based discovery and extended their “genius” recommendation technology to include the App Store back in September, none of these solutions have really addressed the discoverability problem. For some developers, it has become a case of “desperate times call for desperate measures,” apparently. We wouldn’t doubt for a second that this ratings scam is the only one of its kind. It probably won’t be the last one either – developers will just be more careful to not be as obvious as Molinker was. Unfortunately, the real losers here aren’t the cheating developers, but iPhone owners. Without a trustworthy ratings system in place, it’s harder than ever to pick out the best app from a handful of similar applications. Can you count on the stars as an indicator? Are the reviews out-of-date? Are the complaints referring to problems fixed ages ago through updates? Is the download count a true indicator of popularity? As more and more applications filled the virtual shelves, users will need a better ranking system than what’s currently in place. We hope the geniuses at Apple are working on something like this right now. Discuss

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Apple Kicks Cheating Developer Out of the App Store

Mobile technology, virtualization, the social web, cloud computing – a think tank study has all our good friends on a hit list. The study, which shows primary security and privacy concerns of U.S. government IT leaders, is making the rounds among military and government bloggers. Policy makers are being told that the applications we know and love are dangerous and pose gaping security loopholes for cyberterrorism. Is a Big Brother overprotective meltdown? Or are our advances really causing greater risks for all users? Sponsor The infosec-focused Ponemon Institute polled 217 senior-level IT executives located in various federal organizations. They called out these as the top 5 trends in Internet technologies that – at least from their POVs – put businesses, governments, and users at risk: 79% Unstructured data 71% Cyber terrorism 63% Mobility 52% Web 2.0 44% Virtualization Some of these trends are quite longstanding; however, they still cause a great deal of concern among our friends in infosec. Data breach (40%), cyber crime (40%), cloud computing (39%), outsourcing (34%) and open source applications (18%) also top the study’s list of security vulnerabilities as seen through the eyes of government IT pros. However, Vivek Kundra, a 2.0 champion and federal CIO, said in a recent post , “Our policies lag behind new trends, causing unnecessary restrictions on the use of new technology… ‘This technology supports every mission our government performs – from defending our borders to protecting the environment. IT is essential for the government to do its work, and it is essential that we have access to the latest and most innovative technologies.” It’s sad and frightening to see mobile tech, social networks, and cloud computing called out alongside cyber crime and cyberterrorism as perceived threats to data security. But how much validity do U.S. leaders’ fears carry? The Ponemon Institute reports, “IT operations and IT security professionals identified cloud computing, outsourcing of sensitive information to third parties, external threat of organized cyber criminal syndicates, cyber terrorism, and a mobile workforce… We believe the findings from this study provide government organizations with guidance on which threats are more critical than others to address.” What do you think about the assessment of these high-profile and popular trends being identified as threats by IT execs in government? Is this a case of out-of-touch government bigwigs cracking down on the social web when black hat hackers are truly to blame? Or are so-called social media experts remiss in their duties to ensure that any products they roll out are secure enough for across-the-board use? Or is it a little bit of both? Most importantly, how do we solve the problem of ensuring that government and corporate sensitive information remains secure while users get to enjoy the benefits of Internet-based applications? We welcome your comments below. Discuss

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Think Tank Study Shows Top Web Trends Are Security Risks

Between Skype, chat, texts, push news notifications and three screens of scrolling feeds, it’s easy to get distracted while writing an email or post. If you’ve misspelled names, forgotten words or hit send prematurely on numerous occasions, then you probably just need to slow down. Rather than resorting to a life in the woods of hermit-like solitude, you could just take a few moments to think with Ommwriter . Sponsor Built by Barcelona-based design agency Herraiz Soto & Co. , Ommwriter is a gorgeous Mac download that allows users to block out other applications and focus on their writing. The company originally created Ommwriter for their own internal use but quickly realized the service’s consumer appeal. Ommwriter from Herraiz Soto on Vimeo . Similar to WriteRoom , users download the writing tool and install it on their desktop. Upon opening it, you receive a distraction-free environment with just a few spartan font choices and an export feature. While WriteRoom offers a CRT monitor-style interface, Ommwriter offers a white Zen-like experience. Keystroke sounds can be replaced by plinking water or what sound like soft footsteps in snow and users can choose to play ambient music or keep their writing space dead silent. If you’re the type of person who is married to iPhone editing and a large feature set for word processors, then this is not your tool. But if you just want a few moments to collect your thoughts, then this is a great way to do it. To register for this free service visit ommwriter.com . Discuss

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Ommwriter: Be Alone with Your Thoughts

In his keynote this morning, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff continued his critique on software companies for their lack of development and sense of entitlement. And not surprisingly, the full-on pitch continued for cloud computing with a parade of executives showing the applications they developed on Force.com . About 19,000 people attended Dreamforce, the annual Salesforce.com event. Partners lined up to get on stage. David Girouard of Google showed a map with all their customers around the globe. He recounted a story with Eric Schmidt, who was astounded by the frustrations that CIO’s expressed about the architecture they inherited. An Accenture executive said that cloud computing is here to stay. He showed the company’s applications on Force.com . The Black Crowes performed last night. The pitch is fever high. Sponsor What does this all say about the market? Is this an event that marks the point where cloud computing goes mainstream? Have we reached the apex of cloud computing hype? I asked the question on Twitter: Gartner sees the hype this way: Regardless, this has been a monumental week for cloud computing. The long established software companies have now lined up with their offering. Microsoft launched Azure . Salesforce.com unveiled Salesforce Chatter , Sales Cloud 2 and Service Cloud 2. IBM announced a cloud analytics platform that leverages Cognos, its business intelligence suite. The more established companies carry the benefit of long established customer channels. IBM and Microsoft fit into this camp. Additionally, Microsoft appears to get it. The Azure platform integrates some open-source components. These companies face their own challenges as much internally as from the customer world. But their presence also means that cloud computing is close to being accepted in the enterprise mainstream. Salesforce.com is a more interesting animal. Benioff is a very aggressive CEO. Business Week is calling him ” The King of the Cloud.” He is never shy to lampoon the established software companies in the market. He calls out his competitors like Sugar CRM , which is fighting right back with its own campaign: Behind The Smokescreen , a play on Benioff’s new book: “Behind The Cloud.” Benioff has to show off his partners. He never misses an opportunity to tell you how many customers he has. In a way, he has to play this role. He has the big players running. He has to keep them running, on the defensive, so he can move in with Chatter across the enterprise. That’s the trick right now for Benioff. Moving as fast as he possibly can to gain that permanent traction. The hype is peaking. It’s a different game for the entire market. It’s a race now to win the mainstream. Discuss

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Cloud Computing: Where to Next?

Sharepoint is the big giant in the enterprise collaboration space. Salesforce.com is now in the market with Salesforce Chatter , a service that embraces Facebook, Twitter and the applications within Force.com. MindTouch has the potential to compete with the large market players. Today they are announcing MindTouch Cloud , an open-source, SaaS service that integrates business data from any number of sources, including Oracle, Sugar CRM and Salesforce.com. Sponsor MindTouch Cloud is meant for a business community to create their own dashboards. It allows users to collaborate with a familiar wiki environment with the capabilities of an enterprise platform. It’s also another example of how enterprise technologies are increasingly designed so the average business user may perform tasks that have traditionally been the domain of the IT department. What differentiates MindTouch from Sharepoint and other services is its emphasis on the data. Users may collaborate across multiple enterprise systems and web applications. MindTouch Cloud is an enterprise mashup service. Business critical information can be exported from enterprise systems and mashed up to create reports and build applications. It has the requirements for the enterprise, including authentication using LDAP, single-sign on security. Role management is built into the service with the capability to create new users, roles and groups. Compare that to Salesforce Chatter and you see some similarities in how applications can be integrated to create an intelligent dashboard environment that fits into an enterprise environment. MindTouch does need some work on its user interface. But it has all the features that can make it a valuable service for a business looking to build dashboards that can mashup enterprise data and external applications. This is MindTouch’s first cloud computing effort. Pricing starts at $7 per user per month. Discuss

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MindTouch Cloud: The Open Source Alternative to Sharepoint and Salesforce.com?

It’s rare to look at a bookmarking tool and feel convinced that it’s going to win a design award. Pearltrees is such a product. The French site offers us a new way to explore and contextualize the web. In what looks like a mind map structure, users collect “pearls” (links to articles, videos and web pages) and drag and drop them to form a body of knowledge that folds and expands upon itself. In an interview with Pearltrees CEO Patrice Lamothe, ReadWriteWeb found that company already has a loyal user base including our friends at ReadWriteFrance. Sponsor Said Lamothe, “We wanted a type of game play that was playful to use and map the web…and the fact that you can group and ungroup content easily means that you can re-catalogue it and keep it current.” Rather than looking at the web as a series of linear pages, this service lets us build tree graphs of connecting arguments, share them and then break them at any time. Using a browser bookmarking tool, we can add and connect related pearls or ideas, place them within other pearls or start a new pearl tree (or train of thought). Rather than displaying a list of items, your pearls connect to your profile. You are literally the center of the universe and your thoughts follow you wherever you go. Naturally, as a newly anointed God of information, other great thinkers will gravitate towards you. Shared pearls connect you to others and allow you to view their collections. From here you can choose your favorite content and omit the noise. From here you can email your pearls, embed them in your blog or broadcast them to Twitter and Facebook. The Future of Touch Interfaces Given the unique user interface of Pearltrees, Lamothe expects that the company will roll out feature releases and enhancements on an ongoing basis. Says the CEO, “Once we’ve launched the web interface, the potential of a touch product will be very exciting.” At this point, I almost fell out of my chair thinking about the possibilities. Using Pearltrees in conjunction with a touch interface would be extremely practical. Rather than swiping down long lists of links to find articles, images or videos, users could tap on their desired pearl and follow the connectors to the information they wanted. Not only would this greatly improve the research experience, but it could also change device design. For some reason, many touch interfaces mimic the experience of the first personal computers. We are offered a series of boxes from which to start our applications with little room for reorganization or prioritization. The Pearltrees model may prove to be the most efficient way to navigate period. To try the product register at pearltrees.com or click on ReadWriteFrance’s pearl below.