Nothing generates global buzz like an Apple product upgrade. The hype leading up to the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and announcement of the Apple Watch came with the usual wave of “leaks,” and speculation as to what the new devices would mean for the smartphone and mobile tech landscape.
In this post we’ll talk a bit about the changes the iPhone 6 will bring to the global smartphone market and touch briefly on how it might impact your localization plans.
We’re looking at a mobile-first global population through the 21st century. If you’re holding back on app translation and localization, you’re ceding profitable ground to existing competitors and companies who may be keen on making off with your idea. How do you defend yourself? Begin by exploring where to go first and how to leverage localized app store optimization to make sure you’re visible when you launch.
In this article we’ll talk about the opportunity and how to navigate the matrix of factors that inform a solid global app strategy.
The global mobile app scene is exciting, especially for publishers who are tapping into lucrative international markets through successful localization strategies. This summary of 2013 mobile app data and trends can help you get a vision for marketing your app to users around the world this year.
Explosive app growth has become a worldwide phenomenon, with countries from Brazil to China, Japan to the UK experiencing surges in mobile app revenues and downloads. Want to make sure your app doesn't get lost in the shuffle? It's time for app store optimization (ASO), a rapidly evolving practice that allows your app to stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Read on for our ASO localization tips and leverage your mobile app across global markets.
The recent launch of Nokia's new mobile phone, the Nokia 114, has something more than just a low price and array of features. The phone also supports Urdu among its nine languages, opening up the market for the 150 million Urdu speakers in India. In keeping with recent global mobile development trends, this launch is yet another great example of local adaptation for a global brand.
A quick look at any café will show that technology has radically changed over the last decade. Smartphones are seemingly ubiquitous with people checking their email as they wait for their coffee. Others sit in front of slim portable computers lightyears faster than the clunky laptops of 2003, using wifi to turn a table into a mobile office. And then there are tablets, large and small, changing how people read, bank, connect, and play.
What will a café look like in ten or twenty more years? Will your business be able to stay competitive as new technologies grow and change the marketplace even further? Read on for our recap of global technology trends that promise to create new business models and new marketplaces.
There’s plenty of buzz about BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries when strategizing about emerging mobile markets. But even as South America and Asia grab headlines, there’s another continent worth consideration: Africa. With 650 million mobile phone subscribers (that’s more than in either the European Union or the United States), African markets are set only to grow even more. Mobile phones are becoming the PCs of Africa, adapting to local needs and wants along the way. Read on for the top African countries on our radar as well as the special considerations needed for tapping into this booming mobile market.
You’ve got a lot of things to think about when taking your mobile app global. Carriers, networks, bandwidth, languages, devices…it’s a lot to consider. You want your global users to have the same experience with your app as your domestic ones, right? Right. So where and how do you get started?
Well, since you’re already here, we’ve got some tips on how to make the process more user-friendly. Read on for our tips on just how to do that.
Today, mobile data and SMS networks are vital tools for transforming economies and are opening up access to developing markets. While Americans may be absorbed by how the newest smartphone app can be used to program their home DVR, developing nations are putting core mobile technology to work in all sorts of ventures.
In this post, we’ll take a look at why mobile application localization will help you might interact with your future customers in these regions.
If you're considering creating a mobile app but aren't sure if a global audience will respond, let us reassure you: they will. Mobile apps are hot, and especially so outside the US. In fact, a majority of the fastest-growing mobile markets are found beyond American soil, and mobile app localization has moved from nice-to-have to an absolute must.
However, localization of mobile apps requires some unique considerations, such as the screen size and how much "real estate" it will afford, how much your content will expand or contract in translation, fonts, styles, images, and the various operating systems on which your app will be displayed.
But fear not. Read on for our tips on how to tackle mobile app localization with confidence.
Around the world, the growing field of mobile health, known as mHealth, is using simple wireless devices to keep people healthy and help doctors and public health workers work effectively with patients near and far. Wireless health can also help spread accurate information about public health crises like a tuberculosis outbreak almost as quickly as the spread of the disease itself.
In the developed world, people use mobile health apps for everything from quitting smoking to monitoring calorie intake. But mHealth is particularly effective in the developing world, where mobile devices are much more common than computers or TVs. While most trends in global health start with governments, mobile health is being driven primarily by the private sector. This new industry of health-related mobile apps presents challenges and opportunities for developers and users alike.
Unless you work at the UN, real-time translation isn’t always easy to find. Mobile translation apps make it easy to take a translator with you wherever you go. Unlike language apps that teach you a foreign language, translator apps can help you have a face-to-face conversation in an unfamiliar tongue, decipher street signs, and decode foreign phrases without having to acquire an entirely new vocabulary.
Flash Player will soon undergo a radical transformation for mobile apps, according to an article in Gizmodo. As the driving force behind video-dominant social media sites like YouTube, Flash was once the stalwart, must-code application for interactive media, but will soon morph into Adobe’s newest project: AIR, which will take full advantage of the rich media functions of HTML5. Acclaro’s Globalization Consultant, Jon Ritzdorf, explains what this could mean for the world of mobile app localization.
A localized mobile application is a great way to reach your global customers. However, it's not always as simple a process as making sure your app's language matches that of your user's mobile device or smartphone. There are some things to think about on the development side, which we've neatly summed up in our full newsletter article from earlier this year.
Modern business looks to emerging economies—areas noted for rapid growth and industrialization, according to Wikipedia—as targets for investment. One of the most commonly cited areas, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China—read more about this in our blog post), now has some competition from MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey). An article from AdAge provides some compelling reasons for why MIST may be a viable and profitable market for your product or services.
Mobile Language Apps for the Very Mobile Traveler
Calling all business travelers and international frequent
flyers! Don’t have time to study your
foreign-language phrase book or get to a class before you take off? These days, it’s easy to take along a 
language-learning
app and hone your language skills while you’re on the go.
In most languages, a basic vocabulary of just about 100 words will get you by quite nicely – and that’s a very doable goal that a mobile language app can help you reach.
Whether you just want to learn to say hello and order a meal in Norwegian, ask directions to the museum in Dutch, or buy some souvenirs in Japanese, there are loads of apps (both paid and gratis) for your smart phone or your laptop. Right here we’re going to suggest a few free mobile apps that can help you learn to speak up in almost any language.
1. Byki
– For multiple destinations and simple phrases
Quick, essential phrases in Danish, Dutch, French, German, Irish, Italian,
Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
and Taglog are at your fingertips with this app. In three easy steps, you can
master everyday cordialities that will take you across Europe and Asia. Byki
also offers a database of vocabulary around themes. Want to know how to order a
beer in every country you visit? This is the app for you.
If you’re ready to tap into the growing global mobile app
market, we invite you to sign up for our
upcoming free webinar, designed to help you localize and take your apps to the
world.
Mobile app stores experienced explosive growth last year – and not just for iPhone and iPad. Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia apps increased by huge percentages (up 544% for Android alone), in every category from business and medical apps to entertainment, comics, and casino games.
Last night in San Francisco, The Disposable Film Festival premiered 24 short films made by people from around the world. Finalists hailed from the U.S., Israel, UK, Canada, Spain, Germany, Russia and France. The films, ranging in time from fifty seconds to seven and a half minutes, were not made by video recorders or professional cameras, but from point and shoot cameras, pocket cams, web cams, screen capture, SLRs, mobile phones and a “hacked” Kinect video game console.
While people in Arab countries are using their mobile phones to disseminate information and images about civic revolutions, these video artists are using their phones and other small devices to create a global film revolution. You don’t need to be a Hollywood or Bollywood film director with a big budget, diva movie stars, big name backers, or formal training to create innovative and compelling films.
Take a look at this film, titled “Thrush” by UK director Gabriel Bisset-Smith, the grand prize winner of the Festival:
Mobile advertising is definitely here to stay. In fact, across
all advertising media, it’s quickly emerging as the global dominator, second only
to online video. How does mobile advertising work and which foreign markets
offer the most promise for your mobile campaign? Here’s the 411:
Quick Facts
The figures will make your head spin:
The mobile app market is quite literally exploding, and developers are discovering that there is a fountain of new revenue streams from downloads and advertising outside of the US. Are you ready to capitalize on emerging markets? Do you have a mobile app localization strategy?
To make sure you do your mobile app software translation in the most efficient way possible, we'd like to share some tips to guide you through the process...
Smart, fun and useful. Acclaro shares news and tips on translation, localization, language, global business and culture.