Apps « ACTonline

Archive for the ‘Apps’ Category

AT&T Decision: A Train We Could See Coming

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Yesterday, AT&T announced that they would effectively end truly unlimited data plans by throttling all users who exceed 3 gigabytes per month of 3g or 5 gigabytes per month on 4G LTE.

This comes just as app makers are facing the daunting reality that they will have to upgrade the graphical displays of their iPad apps to the high resolution required for Apple’s newest tablet release. In many cases this will double the size of their apps and make it impossible for them to be downloaded under the 20MB limit imposed by the carriers.

For developers, this limitation will obviously serve to curtail our expansion and innovation into apps that provide feature-rich content requiring greater data usage. This is hugely disappointing to the mobile app developer community.

But what we can’t say is that we didn’t see this coming. For months, we have been beating the drum to get more spectrum, towers and fiber into the system as soon as possible to alleviate the very obvious explosion in data usage.

Every day we saw new statistics about the number of mobile apps in the marketplace, and the 9000% increase in data used by those apps. Without some kind of increase in the infrastructure that supports the mobile ecosystem, limitations like today’s were a foregone conclusion.

On the wireline side we have seen data rates per dollar skyrocket. It’s not unusual for today’s FiOS customer to get 25 Megabit per second download speeds and very nearly limitless data usage for what 10 years ago would have gotten you only a step or two above dialup.

Cable companies add the advantage that they could put more fiber, the medium through which information travels, into use without asking for permission.

However for wireless, spectrum is the medium, and a finite resource. Right now, huge swaths of spectrum are held, but unused by government agencies, and more is tied up with the old over-the-air television system. Only government action can “shake the tree” and get more spectrum into the marketplace to relieve the congestion.

We hope that the FCC and other agencies take a look at AT&T’s actions as a clear message and move quickly to auction off the currently discussed spectrum allocations as well as beginning the push to free up other spectrum controlled, but unused by the Department of Defense and other agencies.

Posted in Apps, Spectrum | No Comments »

Privacy vs. The Behemoth

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Today we’ve seen major news coverage about the Administration’s blog post on the new Privacy Bill of Rights, and the fact that one of the first areas to be covered is mobile apps. As we all know, mobile apps are developed by small companies, without armies of lawyers or privacy experts; and yet we are first in line for new rules and oversight.

As a participant in the multi-stakeholder process, I’m looking forward to the series of conference calls and meetings where we’ll have to hash out questions of mobile apps and location based services, apps and analytics, apps and advertising, etc. And I’ll do my best to represent the interests and needs of our community.

But as I was girding myself for the discussions, I thought about what led us to this point. What is really driving the news cycle and political energy behind this? At about that same moment, I heard in the background the NPR story about Google’s upcoming privacy policy changes, and the inevitability of it all.

And I realized we got here on the backs of a few news stories, and some really big screw-ups by two companies, Facebook and Google. And of those two, only one of them seems to keep getting themselves in trouble. In fact, between the multi-million dollar Google Buzz settlement, the multinational Google Wi-Spy investigation, the upcoming investigation of Google breaking Safari’s do-not-track features, nearly all the major news focus around privacy has one company at the core.

Even the famous Wall Street Journal story about “are they tracking you” ended up with Google as the major player – they owned 9 of the 10 properties most frequently cited as recipients of third party sharing (think adMob, Google Analytics, etc.).

Now we are facing March 1st, the day that Google changes its privacy policy and starts consolidating all information under one roof. I probably won’t do much about it; but I have to believe my inaction and the inaction of others has as much to do with the feeling of impotency as anything else. As Internet citizens we feel that Google’s become an essential service, one that we can’t live without, so we might as well shut up and take our lumps.

But the feeling of being used doesn’t leave me, or anyone else. Instead that rage gets directed at companies that can be affected. Little guy companies with products that may not be essential, but are sure damn cool. Those companies bear the burden of new regulation and inspection because we as a society are ticked off that Google treats us badly and we need to blame someone.

So today, as Google changes the settings, I’ll still log in just the same as I usually do. And I’ll wonder: will the next White House meeting on privacy go just a little bit harder on my people, all because society can’t fight back against the behemoth?

Posted in Apps, Competition | No Comments »

The AT&T App Developer Subsidy Option Could End Up a Good Thing for Developers

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Yesterday there was a post on TechCrunch discussing the Wall Street Journal story about content owners subsidizing mobile customers’ AT&T data charges. In case you missed it, AT&T is proposing to let app makers or content owners pay for the data overage costs that customers incur with data-intensive app usage. This provoked sharp criticism from the crowd at TechCrunch, but I think there is a different part of this story that isn’t being told here. It might actually be a good thing for developers.

Obviously the devil is in the details, but, I’m not quite seeing the outrage on this one. So long as carriers keep it voluntary, it might actually be something valuable for video-heavy apps. I think there are a ton of important questions to be asked before any developer would sign onto the deal, but if you have an app that is all about HD quality video, and your target demo is top data users, then saying “use our streaming service without paying a dime extra!” becomes a nice marketing hook.
Data caps aren’t going away, so if your main clientele is people who end up on the edge of their limit, then why not give me the developer a way to provide a relatively pain free way to use my app?

Now what I’d REALLY like is if the U.S. carriers would give us a way around the 20 meg cap on install size. Having an app that installs over 3g/4g vs. Wi-Fi can represent a 40% increase in sales. Adding retina display capabilities for the iPhone really pushed developers to the limit when it came to squeezing under that 20 meg cap. The new iPad display will probably bring a whole new level of pain when it comes to getting an app down to size. I think a fair number of devs would pay to not have to worry about it.

Tags: Apps
Posted in Apps, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ACT Applauds Comprehensive Administration Privacy Proposal

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

ACT applauds the Administration’s efforts to address consumer privacy and its inclusion of the mobile apps community in the multi-stakeholder process. We were particularly pleased to note that the words “internet” and “online” do not appear in the proposed enumerated Bill of Rights. We say this not because we think the internet should be exempt, but because there must be a universal approach to privacy. While much attention recently has been focused on internet privacy, we are pleased that the Administration recognizes that privacy standards must apply equally to both the offline and online worlds. The collection and sharing of consumer data is not an internet-only phenomenon. We look forward to continuing our work with the Administration and Congress, as well as our fellow stakeholders, as this process unfolds.

Posted in Apps, Privacy, Tech Regulation, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ACT Applauds Privacy Agreement Between California AG Kamala Harris and Mobile Platform Providers

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

As the app trade association, ACT applauds today’s agreement between California Attorney General Kamala Harris and the major mobile platform providers. This is a positive step to set clear guidelines for app makers while reassuring consumers that their privacy is secure. Representing over 4,000 small business app developers, ACT has long encouraged our members to actively protect user privacy. We travel across the country to meet with developers and educate them about privacy regulations and how they apply to startups and small app makers. Our message has been simple. Apps should be transparent with users about how their personal information is used. All app makers, even those that don’t collect user information, should make their practices clear in a privacy policy. This improves consumer confidence in the safety of their personal information and helps users identify the right apps for their needs.

Posted in Apps, Privacy | No Comments »

App of the Day

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

PaperKarma

PaperKarma
Platforms: iOS, WP, Android

Now that just about everything can be done online or through an app, I receive very little “real” paper mail—98% of what ends up in my physical mailbox is junk. And unsubscribing can be arduous and time-consuming. But not now. Meet PaperKarma. Download the app, enter some relevant information about where you receive mail, and from that point on, just take a photo of the offending junk mail and PaperKarma will get you off of the mailing list.

Price: Free
Link

Posted in Apps | No Comments »

On Today’s Diane Rehm Show Talking Online Privacy

Monday, February 20th, 2012

I appeared on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show this morning to participate in an hourlong segment entitled, New Concerns Over Online Privacy. Our panel in the studio included Washington Post Tech Reporter Cecilia Kang and EPIC President Marc Rotenberg, and we were joined on the phone by Congressman Ed Markey, Co-Chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, and Stanford researcher, Jonathan Mayer.

I brought the perspective of small business app developers who want to do the right thing and are taking steps to learn about privacy laws and how to comply. I also highlighted the success of the online marketplace in the U.S. having borrowed a page from the TV playbook providing free or low-cost content funded through advertising. However, despite all the positive stories I had to share about the responsible steps the app industry is taking to protect online privacy, our host and every one of the panelists could not move beyond the topic of Google and the negative impact it is having on the privacy discussion.

Congressman Markey criticized the company for a pattern of privacy violations, while the others had choice words for the search giant’s latest controversies – its new privacy policy and having been exposed overriding the anti-tracking preferences of Safari (Apple) browser users. It is understandable that my fellow panelists would focus their attention on these issues given the amount of attention they have attracted, but it underscores the problem faced by small business technology firms. When bad actors continually ignore the law and violate consumer privacy, government feels compelled to step in and impose regulations that are difficult for the entire industry, not merely the lawbreakers.

Marc Rotenberg made the point that the latest transgression is in violation of the FTC’s Google consent decree which included the Commission’s biggest ever privacy penalty. Considerable fines may be levied for violations of the decree, but these penalties have yet to stop Google. The company was fined $500,000,000 last fall for facilitating the sale of illegal and counterfeit prescription drugs in the U.S. But even today, if you type “Vicodin without” on the Google search page it will autofill suggesting “Vicodin without prescriptions” leading to sites selling potentially dangerous counterfeit drugs.

Clearly, the FTC has yet to find where the pain point is for Google. We strongly urge the Commission not to conclude that the only way to fix one company’s problem is to punish the entire industry. Let’s address this problem at its root and avoid the collateral damage that could harm small business innovators who are acting responsibly.

Here is a link to the hour long show, and below are some clips of my thoughts.

Transparency Key for App Developers
Advertising Has Helped Industry Grow
Google’s Bad Behavior Has Led to FTC Action
Unfortunately This is a Pattern of Bad Behavior

Posted in Apps, Privacy, Tech Regulation | No Comments »

Open and Fair Spectrum Auctions in Payroll Tax Deal May Benefit App Developers

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Thankfully, an agreement has been reached on the payroll tax cut legislation that provides for open and fair spectrum auctions allowing anyone to bid. App developers have long advocated for increased spectrum as wireless networks are approaching saturation. Our apps need connectivity to run and our customers want to access them everywhere. Improved unlicensed spectrum is important, yet we also need more licensed spectrum to provide users the ubiquitous access they demand. We are happy that the competing factions in Congress finally came to an agreement, but it will only be judged a success by app developers if it results in more licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

Posted in Apps, Spectrum | No Comments »

The FTC’s Child Apps Study: How ACT is Engaged in Promoting Transparency

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Moms with Apps

Today’s survey by the FTC raised the same concerns that ACT has shared in our Congressional testimony on mobile app privacy. Many children’s education app developers are unaware of existing privacy regulations and how they may be interpreted to prevent seemingly innocuous features. ACT has traveled across the country to meet with app developer groups like Moms with Apps to explain how privacy laws apply to them and to suggest best practices for protecting child privacy online. We have found that the overwhelming majority of those making 99 cent apps for kids do so to help their own children learn and with a desire to help others learn. There is certainly a need to protect children’s privacy online and a broader education effort is necessary to inform well-meaning developers of the precautions they should take. ACT is committed to working with the FTC and our 4,000 members to expand these education efforts. We should ensure that the parents buying these apps for their children can be as confident in the safety of their privacy as are the parents who made the apps.

While this is a report on app disclosure policies, and does not examine whether any consumer information is being used, it does highlight areas for improvement that ACT has long endorsed. Primarily, app developers must strive for transparency to let users know whether and how they use their information. While many children’s app developers don’t collect information or use ads, we believe that conveying this information in an easy to read privacy policy helps consumers and assures them of the safety of their data. We also believe that while the overwhelming majority of children’s app makers are well-intentioned, if there are those who operate with malice outside the law, we fully endorse regulatory action by the FTC. As it has shown in the Playdom and Broken Thumbs Apps, the Commission is well-empowered to bring enforcement actions against transgressors large and small.

Posted in Apps, Tech Regulation | No Comments »

Apple’s Response to Address Book Privacy Concerns Was the Right Move

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

ACT is pleased that Apple has taken the appropriate steps to ensure that users have full control over their contact lists and address book. What is most important to app developers is the customers’ confidence that the apps they use won’t mislead them or abuse their trust. We depend on the trust of our users and the whole app industry suffers when bad actors are allowed to misuse consumers’ private information.

Posted in Apps, Privacy | No Comments »