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Looks like Nokia are back to what they do best – innovating to make great hardware. Check out the videos of their prototype demo of a flexible user interface … yes, really! They’re introducing some neat gestures which might just be the future. What do you think?

Click here to read the article and see the videos on Mashable.

As part of the twofour54 family, AppsArabia is proud to extend this special invitation to you. Please click on the invitation for more information and to RSVP.

• Date: Wednesday 21 Sept 2011
• Time: 10am to 1pm
• Venue: twofour54 campus in Abu Dhabi

Please be sure to click on the invitation to RSVP.

As you know, AppsArabia is part of the twofour54 family. Well, twofour54 is supporting a very exciting new web-series called Peeta Planet. The people behind Peeta Planet (the same people behind Wild Peeta) are exploring how apps could fit into their strategy and they would like to invite AppsArabia members to an open discussion / brainstorm in Dubai.

• When: Wednesday 3rd August 2011 from 4pm to 6pm
• Where: Wild Peeta Open Space restaurant at DIFC, outside the World Trade Center Metro Station (for directions, please Google-Map Wild Peeta or call 800-WILD)
• Why: Your input is valued (and there will be free Iftar shawarmas & peetas!)

What is Peeta Planet?

Peeta Planet is a web-series about two ex-corporate Emirati executives, turned social-restauranteurs, turned modern-day bedouins. Their journey takes them from the UAE to five trend-setting countries with the highest penetration of social media users. Then, through a series of social-media votes, are sent on a global adventure to meet amazing social-media communities across the world. Season One will be filmed in the UAE, Japan, Australia, US, UK, & Brazil.

What sets Peeta Planet apart from other shows?

Peeta Planet is building its content from bottom up through crowd-sourced social-media suggestions and voting. This ensures the highest level of content relevance and ownership by the community who will ultimately champion Peeta Planet amongst their own peers.

It will also be the first show that will continuously operate on three time-lines:

1. Social Media: The conversations related to voting, debating, gaming, and creating content, etc.
2. Web-TV: Watching what the social media community helped create
3. Traditional TV: Using previously unseen content for regional and international channels

Weeks before the pilot episode starts shooting, community members are thinking, conversing, building, and sharing Peeta Planet content. This is happening both on and off-line. On social media sites, in offices, schools, and homes. Brands are taking notice because they want to become more social (media) and organically connect with the social-media generation in innovative ways.

How could apps fit in?

App developers are seeing it as an opportunity to create new social apps by tapping into the Peeta Planet socialsphere. Welcome to Content Democracy.

Think of Twitter when it started. Then imagine the diverse range of apps that were developed by external developers over time. Would you have imagined that they would turn a simple thing like “running” into a social-media activity linked to Twitter followers? Similarly, we anticipate app developers will create equally imaginative apps that will feed off the Peeta Planet socialsphere. Peeta Planet intends to provide an open-API platform and work with community app developers to develop Peeta Planet apps for viewers. There are opportunities for app entrepreneurs to make money through the Peeta Planet ecosystem – depending on value added to consumers, sponsorships, etc. Apps could include functionality such as voting, chatting, sharing, gaming, checking-in, etc.

If you are able to attend then please send your name, Twitter username and mobile number to us at this email address: welisten@wildpeeta.com. And be sure to follow @WildPeeta and @AppsArabia on Twitter.

Click here for more details on Peeta Planet (use the password followus).

Business Insider featured an article by this dude, Brian Akaka from Appular, which is well worth reading.

The tips are basically:

1. design a beautiful app icon
2. don’t ask for ratings too early
3. try hard to get Apple to feature you
4. focus on impressing users quickly
5. keep it simple
6. ensure it looks gorgeous
7. know your market & set your price accordingly
8. or produce an uber app if you can afford to worry about commercials later
9. a great app description is critical
10. ask for a fresh perspective & act on it
11. consider old ad techniques too

But you should read the full article.

We at AppsArabia are interested in providing investment for app projects that are commercially viable. This means they have to generate revenue and, for them to generate revenue, they have to add value to consumers by meeting a demand. So some tips from us are:

• do a simple focus group to test that people are going to want your app & that they are going to be prepared to pay for it (how much?)
• consider how you will get your app to the target market (the appropriate App Store)
• how will people pay for your app (are you relying on them having a credit card)?

And, obviously, the cost of creating the app (i.e. the level of funding from AppsArabia) should be sensibly modest. As a rough guide, we expect the app to have a realistic revenue forecast which can pay back the cost of development within 3 to 6 months of net revenue.

Mashable provided this great infographic about Apple’s product design from day 1 to now – can you believe that is 35 years!?!?

Click here for more.

The fabulous Technology For Marketing & Advertising blog posted a nice piece recommending 5 articles on mCommerce. I think these could be interesting reading for all app entrepreneurs and developers:

1. Mobile Web: the game changed
2. Understanding and tackling consumers’ high expectations of mobile
3. What do users want from mCommerce sites?
4. ASOS voted as the best mCommerce site… what are they doing so right?
5. Mobile marketing: stop thinking sales and start thinking experience

Click here to read the TFMA article.

I was delighted when Integrated Applications, a Saudi app development company, asked if AppsArabia would be interested in taking part in a promotional campaign they wanted to run …

Great initiative guys Thanks!

Here’s the first edition of a digital magazine called Technode from Shiny Media. It is 36 pages long and has features like …

• the top 20 gadgets of summer 2011
• the three key gadget trends for the year (3D, in car gadgetry & tablets)
• 4G mobile phones
• how technology is changing art
• … and much more!

Click here to download the first edition of Technode.

Got an iPad or iPhone? Then click here to download an interactive version with video & extra features.

I recommend you subscribe to Technode. Just email them.

The Heist has to be the latest and biggest success story – marketing genius!

We can all learn a lot from this and all entrepreneurs we invest in will surely benefit from following similar tactics

Click here to read the full article.

Edge Magazine interviewed four successful indie app entrepreneurs/developers and I respect their advice on how to find success in developing your own iOS games.

Click here to read the article.

I thought I would share this recent article I read in The National because it addresses the big challenge we have in the region for monetizing apps: people with smartphones in this region do not necessarily have credit/debit cards or else they don’t want to use them. Premium SMS is not attractive because the telcos charge too much and we’re all still waiting for operator billing across all platforms and all telcos.

But the next big opportunity is Near Field Communication and this article provides a nice intro …

We had a lot of fun as guests on James Piecowye’s Nightline radio show on Dubai Eye.

Joining us on the show were:

• Sueraya Shaheen (one of the entrepreneurs from The Finjan app which will be launched soon)
• Danish Farhan, CEO of Xische (designers/developers of The Finjan app)
• Ali Hamedi, CTO of Piranha Byte (designers/developers of the Kalimat app which is now live)
• Waleed Kharma, CEO of Piranha Byte (designers/developers of the Kalimat app)
• Mohamed Kotait, intern at AppsArabia and UX/UI designer of the MusicFn app which will be launched soon)

Click here to hear the podcast.

Thanks very much to Dr James Piecowye @ Dubai Eye for having us on the Nightline show.

James has provided a series of podcasts which cover the live-on-air chat with AppsArabia’s David Ashford.

Click here to listen to the podcasts.

James has kindly invited us back on his show – with the entrepreneurs & developers of some of our current projects – so we hope to organise this for early in the new year.

PC World Middle East asked AppsArabia to write an article about what it takes to become an app entrepreneur in the middle east and how to succeed.

The 10 steps detailed in the article are:

1. What value will you provide?
2. Keep it simple
3. Who are you targeting?
4. Select your platform
5. Consider all revenue streams, pricing, forecast
6. Understand the costs & risks
7. Choose the right development partner
8. Quality, quality, quality
9. Plan the promotion
10. Launch, learn & evolve

Click here to read the article.

Here’s an informal interview with David Ashford, GM @ AppsArabia, recorded live at GITEX 2010 in Dubai. Magnus Nystedt, Group Editor Consumer Technology @ CPI Dubai, asks David what app developers should consider when forming their app idea and what role AppsArabia plays in the apps development ecosystem.

Do you have anything to add? Please join in the dialogue by posting your comments.

UPDATE: Research in Motion have recently announced that BlackBerry App World will be coming to the MENA region. Hooray! So there are now three viable platforms in this region … AppsArabia will consider investing in app projects for Nokia, Apple or BlackBerry.

I’m a big fan of casual gaming on mobile devices and I think there’s a big opportunity for entrepreneurs & developers here in MENA region. I’m sure you all know about the success of independent games like Doodle Jump and Angry Birds. Remember, these games are not brought to us by big firms like Electronic Arts – they are created by independent developers … who are making a lot of money out of them

Check out this article from Daniel Emery, Technology reporter @ BBC News.

Qualcomm’s new vision-based augmented reality platform will knock your block off. Check it out in this video:

Click here to read the full article on MobileCrunch.

This is a nice little video of Alistair Crane, CEO of Grapple Mobile, being interviewed about the future of apps.

He specifically mentions Android, BlackBerry and Nokia when saying it’s not all about Apple anymore. And I particularly like his advice … “do something!”

Click here to watch the video.

This is pretty cool … Apple just approved two hardware accessories for the iPhone which means you can now take payments directly on your iPhone by swiping credit cards and you can also use your iPhone as a universal remote for controlling your TV, DVD, etc.

Read the article on the San Francisco Chronicle web site.

Great article by Dean Takahashi @ GamesBeat where Brian Reynolds, chief designer at Zynga, talks about designing a hit social game.

Click here to read the article.