Must-have Irish Apps for iPhone
I went on a bit of an iPhone App download frenzy last night after reading about Apps.ie on Twitter. I noticed people tweeting about it on Friday I think but only last night did I have the time to check it out.
It’s a directory of iPhone Apps created by Irish developers. It was created by a group called XCake which is a loose affiliation of Cocoa developers (those who develop for Mac & iPhone) throughout the island of Ireland. You can find out more about them and even (and I like this) request an app on their Ning network.
Purely as a personal choice (rather than representing the IIA!) I downloaded Speed and AlphaBattle which is just impossible! (Okay maybe not a frenzy!) Previously I had installed Eirtext, Dublin Bikes, (created by IIA member company Fusio), Ireland’s Phone Book and ever hopeful crature that I am, the Lotto Results App. One thing I would say about that last one is that it is very basic and would be great, albeit generally a disappointment, if you could type in your numbers and find out if you won. I’m sure if you were a bus traveller in Dublin, the Dublin bus app could be good. There are tons more useful, fun and informative apps available so check it out. I was surprised not to see Pocket Universe there which is a great app (if only I could escape the sodium glare!) but my guess is that as more people hear about Apps.ie we’ll start seeing more apps listed. You can also see that I have the Bitbuzz
I also notice a few businesses have their apps listed too and I imagine we will see more of these coming online especially with the recent data reported about mobile internet by AMAS in the latest State of the Net. I would be interested in seeing more business oriented apps there too e.g. IIA Member Company Mobiun’s mCredit.
I’m looking forward to seeing many more apps coming online there and I’m glad that I found a place where I can post my random ideas for Irish apps in the future! Anyone for a best places to have a business meeting app?
State of the Net Issue 14 now available
The latest edition of the ever popular State of the Net is available in the Resources section of the IIA Website. Those of you attending Bizcamp tomorrow – I will have some with me if you would like to peruse a hard copy.
This month’s edition includes information and statistics about:
- Mobile Internet,
- Broadband uptake,
- Ireland’s Personas,
- Internet Use by age,
- Trust Online in Internet Transactions,
- eReadiness,
- and IIA Member Stats.
If you would like to download any of the graphs for reuse please visit the AMAS blog where they are available for download.
Facebook and our eyeballs
This post started as a comment on Krishna De’s blog post about the recent enormous growth that Facebook have seen but I felt it was getting a little long-winded! In the last six months Facebook report that they have seen an extra 100 million users joining the service, bringing their total to 300 million active users. Krishna has posted a video of Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg talking about what this growth means for Facebook. This video is well worth a look as Sandberg talks about how Facebook has seen constant growth not only in users but in cash flow through a recession, partly because of their strategy for creating engaging advertising and promotional models so head back over there to check it out.
What struck me about the information in this video and in Krishna’s post was the figure of 55 million users acessing Facebook via mobile. In the most recent State of the Net (available online later today) Three Mobile report that 43% of the mobile internet usage o ntheir network is to Facebook and Bebo. While I have not accessed Bebo from my mobile I do access Facebook on my iPhone. Their newest app is a vast improvement but I notice that there is no advertising! So I fail to see what it means to businesses that 55 million users are accessing Facebook via mobile when they’re not getting any of those eyeballs!
Then I wonder if Facebook is training me to get used to their app while they perfect it (because let’s be honest the previous incarnation of the app was as good as useless). While I’m getting used to and, I admit it, mildly addicted to this app, are they, in a similar way to how they rolled out and improved the functionality of their advertising online, working out the best, most social and engaging way to display advertising to their mobile users? No doubt those of us in Apps Anonymous will be the first to know!
Whatever their plans for our eyeballs there is no doubt that there is a place for business on Facebook now and I think that Facebook’s recent changes and developments in the way organisations can get involved in Facebook has had some hand in their recent growth. I’ve certainly been using Facebook more, including advertising and promoting upcoming IIA events from the IIA’s Facebook page. I’ll keep you posted on how that works for us but I know Puddleducks, an IIA Member, have been posting their progress with Facebook ads on their blog. Let me know if you have any further information about your organisation’s experience with Facebook ads. We’d love to roll it out as a Social Media Case Study.
BOI Business advice show, Cork
I’m just packing my toothbrush before getting the 6pm train to Cork for tomorrow’s Bank of Ireland Business Advice Show. The IIA took part in this show as part of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise Week earlier this year. Unfortunately, we were unable to make it to the Galway show as our annual Congress was taking place around the same time.
As usual I would like to extend a welcome to any members of the IIA to come and join me at our stand to meet potential members and help me advise them. Obviously I could tell them in my sleep what the benefits of IIA membership are but sometimes living proof is good too. That’s where you come in!
Also representing the IIA I get asked all sorts of question about anything from Wifi to email to ecommerce to SEO to blogging. The latter two I can usually handle to varying degrees of success but I often wish there was an expert in web dev or design here to respond to these questions about developing a site, finding a good designer or eCommerce. So come along, you never know, you might drum up some business! So if you’re near the Maryborough House Hotel tomorrow from 2pm to 5pm pop in and say hello! This is your Association!
If you prefer reading
A while ago now myself and Damien Mulley participated in a podcast for Enterprise Ireland about blogging for business. The interview was conducted by Ralph Averbuch who was shortlisted in the Best Business Podcaster category in the Net Visionary Awards earlier this year.
However podcasts aren’t to everyone’s taste and the good people in Enterprise Ireland have transcribed the whole interview for those who prefer to read. You can access a PDF via their site here.
I hope you find it useful.
Special offer for IIA Members
Enterprise Ireland are offering IIA Members 50% off the registration fee for their New Software Economy event on Thursday Sept 10th from 10.30am – 1pm in The Radisson, Golden Lane. It costs €50.00 at full price so it’s a steal at €25.00 to hear the following speakers:
- Chris Hoffman, Mozilla Foundation
- Fergus Gloster, ex-VP of SalesForce.com
- Joe Drumgole, CEO of Putplace.com
Please email me at members at iia dot ie for details and discount code if you are interested.
Get social on IIA.ie
Link your company profile with Twitter, IGOPeople, Facebook and more!
We’ve been doing some work in IIA.ie over the summer including moving the site to a managed server and improving the voting system to allow members more say in an easier manner in the running of the association but I think our latest update is going to appeal much more than all that!
Every member company in the IIA has a company profile and a number of users. The primary user is the user responsible for keeping the company profile up to date. This user can now add all the social networking sites where your company has a presence. Some are predefined to get you going but you’ll see from the IIA profile that we have added for example our YouTube page and our Pix.ie profile too. Other possibilities are RateMyArea company profiles, WhoseView company profiles, company Ning networks, Speakerrate profiles, Flickr pages, Google Reader Shared Items – the list goes on!
Each individual user within a company can also choose whether to display their name and role on the company profile. There is also an option for users to include a LinkedIn profile. You can see mine and Fergal’s displayed towards the end of the IIA Company profile.
All users can also continue to add news, feeds, appointments, and vacancies. If your company is a member I would strongly recommend that you take the time to update the site. We are regularly contacted by businesses seeking contractors and partners in a range of areas and while we cannot recommend one company over another we always suggest they search the Members Directory. So it’s imperative that your profile is updated. Adding feeds and other social sites will allow a potential client or partner get a better idea of your latest news, views and crew.
So what are you waiting for? Get updating!
(Have you forgotten your login details? Has your primary user gone on to pastures new? Other login problems? Email me, Roseanne, and I’ll try to sort you out.)
IIA announce new board members
Five new board members have been voted to the IIA board by the members. The new board members will join the seven sitting members.
The new board members are:
- Peter Callan – Digitalworx
- Gary Conroy – Realex Payments
- Claire Dillon – Microsoft Ireland
- Donal McGuinness – Zapa Technology
- Jason Roe - Jason Roe
A special thanks to all the members who took the time to vote in the recent elections. The new Board will hold its first meeting directly after next week’s AGM.
I would like to take this opportunity to personally welcome them all and say that I am really looking forward to the opportunity to working with them. Mind you, it’s a pity all the candidates couldn’t be elected. Members really had a top class group to choose from – I’d say there were some tough choices made!
Peter Callan is managing director of DigitalworX limited, the digital division of The Irish Times Ltd which runs Ireland.com, MyHome.ie, irishracing.com and its interest in entertainment.ie and Electric Media.
Peter joined The Irish Times in 2004 and previously held the role of group financial controller.
He qualified as a chartered accountant with BDO before spending four years with the Techrete group as financial controller. He also held a number of senior roles over a five-year period at electro mechanical group APW, including vice-president of finance for Europe Asia and South America, and general manager and finance director of its Dublin operation.
Gary Conroy is the Chief Operating Officer of Realex Payments, having been with the company since 2005.
Gary has over ten years experience in International Financial Services. Prior to joining Realex Payments, Gary managed Commodity Operations with London-based investment banking giants Goldman Sachs International, and delivered Banking Software Implementation projects around the globe for MISYS / Kindle Banking Systems.
In his work with Realex Payments, Gary helps Irish Internet businesses to optimise their online revenue potential. To this effect, Gary has authored White Papers on the area of Online Payments Strategy.
As the Chief Operating Officer of a Software as a Service (SaaS) organisation, Gary is ideally placed to facilitate sharing and developing best practice for Cloud Computing and SaaS organisations.
Clare Dillon joined Microsoft in 2003 and currently heads up Microsoft Ireland’s Developer and Platform Group. The Developer and Platform Group works with Microsoft’s customers, partners, local software companies and particularly the broad developer community to help them get the most out of Microsoft’s latest technologies.
Before joining Microsoft, Clare was product manager with Havok, the market-leading games software provider and prior to that worked as a product manager for five years with IONA technologies. Clare holds an honours degree in Pure Mathematics and a Higher Diploma in Education, both from Trinity College Dublin.
Donal Mc Guinness is Business Development Director of Zapa Technology. A former winner of the Mobile Internet Net Visionary Award, Donal was a co-founder of Itsmobile back in 1999.
Itsmobile developed and and sold award winning mobile payment and eCommerce products and services on a global basis. Payzone acquired Itsmobile in 2004 and Donal’s attention turned to offering online payment processing and fraud management solutions in Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Germany.
Donal currently sits on the board of a film distribution company, Dublin Film Distributors, and is responsible for their new content acquisition.
Donal is particularly interested in joining the Board of the IIA to help champion the area of Content 360; essentially enabling businesses to reap the benefits of using content across all media; internet, mobile and TV.
Jason Roe is an Internet Consultant who specialises in web development, search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media. He has been working in the Internet and Technology sector for the last six years and was previously involved in a number of high profile projects such as CRO.ie, Independent.ie, Herald.ie and more recently in social media innovations by Enterprise Ireland.
Jason is a strong advocate of blogging, coworking and the development of regional events, networking and training opportunities. He is active at the grassroots level and is involved in organising BTW meetups and Bizcamp.ie.
‘Scuse us for a moment – we’ll be right back
We’re doing a little bit of updating on our main site www.IIA.ie so the site and it services will be unavailable for a couple of hours. I’ll keep you posted. We’re adding a nifty new aspect to company profiles and once it’s live I will post in more detail about this.
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