The Online Magazine Focused on App Design, Branding & Marketing

This has been a busy week for mobile app/internet companies. Earnings came out from two internet giants: Amazon and Facebook; Netflix takes a more aggressive stance on developing its own shows; Blackberry repositions itself in the smartphone world; and Elon Musk comments on something he is intimately familiar with: batteries. Since I think it would be a disservice to my readers to neglect any of the above stories, I’m going to briefly hit on the highlights of each.

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At $7.99 a month, Netflix is a steal. For a measly eight bucks, you pay for thirty days worth of seemingly unlimited entertainment. Of course, it has some pretty direct competition in the form of Hulu Plus, which, for an identical price, offers comparable entertainment (in my experience, Netflix has the better film selection while Hulu has the edge on TV). In this little war of streaming entertainment, Amazon has always been on the sidelines, with its streaming service only available to its Prime members. However, a new payment plan for Prime members may change all of that and make Amazon a major player in this market.

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What is the future of the Apple Store? The answer is directly tied to another question: what is the future of mobile app technology? Put on your imagination cap for a moment. Imagine an Apple Store that doesn’t sell only tablets, computers and smartphones, but an Apple Store that sells appliances that will interact with your iPhone and iPad through apps tailored to those objects. This may sound a little nutty, but we’re closer than you think. Apple stores will soon start carrying a unique brand of lightbulb called Hue. These LED powered bulbs will not only last for 15 years, but they will allow you to change their brightness, intensity and color from your mobile device. We’re quickly heading for a future where you wil adjust your lights, air conditioner and washing machine from your tablet…and Apple is leading the charge.

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Amazon is definitely one of the more interesting players in the web world today. Often called the world’s largest online retailer (well, because it is), Amazon generates over $1.5 billion in revenue and ships to over 10 countries around the world. Amazon’s stock and has returned over 12,878% to its investors since its IPO back in 1998. In a word: wow!

Apart from its main storefront at Amazon.com, the company also owns Zappos, IMDB and a major stake in LivingSocial, just to name a few. Also included in Amazon’s main business is AWS or Amazon Web Services, an IaaS (infrastructure as a service) giant that even hosted Borders’ retail website until 2008. Amazon also recently got into the movie/TV streaming business (they have even produced a film themselves) that rivals Netflix’s online selection. With that said…What does this mean to the mobile app world?

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Our friends at Film School Rejects posted an interesting bit of news earlier today — Apple and Warner Brothers are launching “App Editions” of popular feature films.

According to the site, the movie-specific apps will stream the film from its start for five minutes before prompting you to purchase the rest.  Users will also be treated to limited bonus content that can be unlocked in full upon purchase.  The first titles released will be Christopher Nolan’s blockbusters ‘Inception’ ($11.99) and ‘The Dark Knight’ ($9.99). More after the JUMP…