By Rajesh T.S. Reddy

New York – May 08, 2021 – Savvy retailers today understand the personal connection people have with their mobile devices, smartphones and tablets. Having a mobile presence is one of the best ways to reach prospects and customers immediately with the information they need to make buying decisions. The following three tips will help guide you through the mobile development process, pointing out strategies for success and common pitfalls to avoid.

1. Focus on the customer, NOT the technology. Push, location and touch are some of the game-changing technology levers in mobile that have great potential. Touch technology, for example, offers consumers an interactive way to explore products by swiping through 360° views. When a mobile platform helps a retailer connect to its customers, the company gains a powerful tool to differentiate itself from its competitors, positively impacting its business.

Gain insights from others in your marketing organization since they’re closest to your customers and have unique perspectives based on their specialization — e.g., merchandising, e-commerce and brand marketing. Consider adding the ability for marketing to execute promotions and drive campaigns via mobile. A platform that provides easy-to-use tools for marketers can significantly impact the return on investment of mobile projects. Marketing teams can use such tools to build time-sensitive mobile sites for promotions or events.

2. Connect to SoMoLo (Social Mobile Local). Consumers demand a lot from mobile apps. They expect them to seamlessly integrate with their favorite social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, foursquare and Pinterest. Build these SoMoLo features into your app to help your marketing efforts. Sales, coupons and other promotions will become easily sharable and more viral as a result.

3. Think tomorrow … today. Your mobile platform needs to reach the broadest number of consumers possible. In other words, it needs to run seamlessly on a variety of operating systems. Not only must it run that way today, but in the future too. Therefore, choose a platform that enables innovation over time and won’t be obsolete in a few months, let alone years. A flexible solution that can scale up and down without any interruption of service is critical to meet the demands of today’s mobile consumers. Consider a cloud-based platform to ensure the newest features, devices, and OS updates and innovations are pushed out as quickly as they become available.

The “behind the scenes” of building mobile applications may not be as glamorous as the superstar app itself, but it’s a necessity for optimal performance, innovation and a competitive edge.

Rajesh T.S. Reddy  is founder and CEO of July Systems, a provider of cross-platform mobile solutions. Rajesh can be reached at rajesh@julysystems.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Sport Business – Apr 26, 2012) Almost 2.5 million British football fans have downloaded the product since it was relaunched as a free download this season, more than five times the total subscription (400,000) of the paid-for 2010 version of the app. ESPN Digital Media’s commercial director Robin Ashton confirmed the renewal at the mSport Summit conference in London on Thursday.

“This season downloads have gone to the 2.3 million mark,” he told SportBusiness International. “For us that is phenomenal growth really. In the UK the average user of our product spends 158 minutes a month on the ESPN app.” ESPN Goals offers video clips of every Premier League goal shortly after they’re scored, with the exception of matches kicking off on Saturdays at 3pm, which due to UEFA rules can only be delivered from 5.15pm.

Prem Bhatia, president of July Systems, said: “We advised them to become a free application as we knew there were a number of brands out there who would want to be involved with the Premier League but could not pay the prices or go direct with the clubs, so advertising on a mobile format was a better solution.”

He added: “Recently the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) closed a $75 million mobile advertising deal for just one season, which just shows you how important this part of the sector is becoming.”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Mar 27, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — July Systems, the leading cloud-based mobile application platform provider, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnDemand Top 100 winners.

Inclusion in the OnDemand 100 signifies leadership amongst its peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. July Systems was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

The OnDemand 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists, and industry insiders. The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2012 list.

July Systems and the OnDemand Top 100 companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s OnDemand event on April 4, 2012, at Hewlett-Packard’s Executive Briefing Center in Cupertino, CA.

“Digital information has expanded exponentially during the past year. As the emergence of robust, innovative apps needed to manage this information continues, a complex world of interconnected business intelligence and ideas is being created at a new macro level,” says Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. “This year’s OnDemand 100 winners are continuing to use disruptive technology and ideas to merge valuable legacy data and systems with new, vital streams of information. The results are being deployed in the cloud by any number of SaaS products and services, changing the way all business coexist. The OnDemand 100 continues to represent some of the highest-growth opportunities in the private company marketplace.”

July Systems is a leading provider of cloud-based mobile application platforms that enable businesses to build, run, and manage mobile applications (native, hybrid, and mobile web) across multiple platforms powering mobile solutions for some of the world’s best-known brands. It currently manages 550 million clicks a day reaching over 100 million users worldwide.

“At July Systems, we’re changing the way businesses connect and interact with their users. Our cloud-based, Mi(TM) Platform, enables businesses to manage the complete lifecycle of their mobile applications,” said Rajesh T.S. Reddy, CEO of July Systems. “We are honored to be recognized by AlwaysOn for being a pioneer in the OnDemand mobile application platforms and for our continuous innovation in the ever changing mobile landscape.”

About July Systems July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi(TM) Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. More than 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi(TM) Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. For more information visit us at http://www.julysystems.com . Mi(TM) Platform Studio is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.

About AlwaysOn AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand networking the Global Silicon Valley. AlwaysOn helped ignite the social media revolution in early 2003 when it launched the AlwaysOn network. In 2004, it became the first media brand to socially network its online readers and event attendees. AlwaysOn’s preeminent executive event series includes the Silicon Valley Innovation Summit, OnMedia, OnHollywood, IMPACT Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic, Venture Summit East, OnDemand, Venture Summit Silicon Valley, OnMobile, and GoingGreen Silicon Valley. The AlwaysOn network and live event series continue to lead the industry by empowering its readers, event participants, sponsors, and advertisers like no other media brand.

Los Angeles, California, February 29, 2012 – July Systems, the leading cloud-based mobile application platform provider, today launched the retail edition of Mi™ Platform Studio for marketers to create and manage rich, highly customizable mobile promotions.

According to Forrester, nearly 53% of marketers increased their mobile budgets in 2011. They also state that marketers whose sales can be driven by immediacy and geographic context should be thinking about how mobile can be incorporated into their long-term strategy in the next few years.

The Mi™ Platform Studio is an easy-to-use visual tool that empowers marketers to quickly create localized and short term promotions. It can integrate QR codes, coupon codes, bar code scanners and location-based services for customer acquisition and loyalty initiatives.

“Mobile is quickly becoming a top priority for retailers since it’s a preferred medium of interaction for consumers. Our Mi™ Platform Studio empowers marketers to create an engaging user experience that can influence customer behavior during the shopping process,” said Rajesh T.S. Reddy, CEO of July Systems. “It’s cost effective, requires no technical support and allows for quick changes — reducing the time required to modify promotions from weeks to a few hours.”

Mi™ Platform studio for retail is part of the overall retail solution on Mi™ Platform that is offered by July Systems. Mi™ Platform also provides additional retail specific modules including online and offline catalog management, one-click check out, mCommerce and wish-list management to provide retailers with a comprehensive mobile solution.

July Systems’ Retail Edition of Mi™ Platform Studio is currently available. For more information, please visit http://julysystems.com/mi-studio-retail-edition/

Notes to Editor

About July Systems

July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi™ Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. More than 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi™ Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. For more information visit us at http://www.julysystems.com.

Mi™ Platform Studio is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – Feb 16, 2012) – July Systems, the leading cloud-based mobile application platform provider, today announced that it has closed a $15 million growth equity investment led by Updata Partners with participation from Intel Capital and WestBridge Capital. The latest round of funding will provide capital to accelerate the product roadmap, boost sales momentum and increase market reach.

“Our investment in July Systems represents our belief in the platform, the management team, and the mobile market,” said Carter Griffin of Updata Partners, a leading technology-focused growth equity firm. “July Systems has a seasoned and highly experienced team, a market-leading product, and a top-tier, global customer base. We look forward to building upon the success they have already achieved as a leader in mobile technology.”

Growth in the mobile market continues to be explosive, and has become a core portion of the broader IT sector. To address this market, July Systems provides an all-in-one platform that provides a robust set of modules and tools that a wide range of stakeholders within a business can use — ranging from technical business users, marketers, and creative teams to developer organizations to build, manage and update live mobile services in real-time. July Systems technology is used by some of the world’s best-known brands, including ESPN, Toys R Us, Intel, Unilever, CBS, and the NBA, to run world-class mobile applications across the full spectrum of mobile devices and platforms.

Over the past year the company has been executing on its growth strategy, increasing the scope of its offerings and generating strong results. In 2011, the company reported an increase in revenue run rate of more than 60 percent across U.S. and international geographies, including the UK, Middle East and Asia. Toys R Us, NBC Universal, Gannett Publishing and Just Dial are among the new customers that recently joined July Systems.

“The pace of change in the mobile market place means that to continue to be a leader in this space, we need to grow and innovate in a number of dimensions simultaneously — making our platform easier to build and manage cross-platform mobile applications for customers, employees and our ecosystems of partners will be a key focus area for us. In addition, we will use the funds to increase market awareness at a global level,” said Rajesh T.S. Reddy, chief executive officer of July Systems. “We believe Updata Partners has the experience, talent, network, and operating expertise to help July Systems capitalize on the enormous mobile market opportunity.”

About Updata Partners
Updata Partners is a leading technology-focused growth equity firm with nearly $500 million of capital under management. Updata invests in high-growth software, internet, and technology-enabled services companies with innovative intellectual property and market-leading solutions. Led by an investment team averaging more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Updata seeks investments where the combination of the firm’s financial backing and the operating expertise of their partners will accelerate growth.

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment and M&A organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, mobility, health, consumer Internet, digital media, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10.4 billion in over 1,212 companies in 51 countries. In that timeframe, 194 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 289 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2011, Intel Capital invested US$526 million in 158 investments with approximately 51 percent of funds invested outside the U.S. and Canada. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

About WestBridge Capital
WestBridge Capital focuses on partnering for the long-term with market leading companies run by impressive entrepreneurs and management teams. WestBridge Capital leverages both their capital and experience to help their companies succeed. WestBridge Capital currently manages over $800 million across multiple funds. The typical equity investment through their funds range from $10 million to $50 million, resulting in a substantial minority equity ownership. For more information on WestBridge, visit www.westbridgecap.com

About July Systems
July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi™ Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. Over 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi™ Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. For more information visit us at http://www.julysystems.com.

Mi™ Platform is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.

*All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Sudarsan Parida, VP Product Engineering

Prediction #5: In 2012, there will be innovations and developments in the mobile ecosystem that will surprise us.

One of the mobile ecosystem’s greatest assets is that industry leaders continue to push ahead with forward-thinking projects and initiatives that drive innovation. Competition in the mobile space has never been more intense, which helps to drive innovation at an even faster pace. That means that there will undoubtedly be advances in mobile technology and services that surprise even the most seasoned mobile veterans.

Today, our clients do not have a single discussion where mobile is not involved. In 2012, we will see more natural integration of mobile into cross-platform initiatives and a greater intensity of focus on mobile strategy and tactics.

Seamless, compelling mobile experiences are an expectation for consumers. In 2011, if a consumer could not have a dialogue with a brand via various mobile engagement tools, they were surprised … if that is the case in 2012, they will be shocked. The bar has been set at a high level, and brands, retailers and publishers know that they must deliver compelling, engaging mobile experiences, content and services to compete.

With mobile interactivity such a priority, some brands will focus on newer mobile technologies such as 2D bar codes, image recognition, augmented reality and near field communication (NFC). New mobile engagement mechanisms will surely emerge.

Other companies will focus on improving their mobile websites, native apps and web apps to increase consumer engagement and loyalty, as well as help their bottom line.

In 2012, it will not come as a surprise that consumers will be making lot of financial transactions via mobile devices. It is up to brands and their vendor partners to surprise and delight consumers in the year to come.

In 2012, the mobile industry will consistently underestimate ingenuity, growth and consumer demand. That will surprise some.

In addition, we will expect mobile to deliver too much. Mobile is a medium consisting of various channels, not a substitute for good products and services based on a solid business plan. Mobile revenue is dependent on the brand’s overall value proposition. Mobile can enhance a brand’s multichannel tactics, but it is best when used alongside other channels, rather than being seen as a stand-alone medium.

There will be several big surprises in the mobile space in 2012, including:

Increased adoption of cloud-based technology: Most enterprises will be migrating to the cloud as the foundation of their mobile strategy.

The continued rise of HTML5: The HTML5 language will continue to enjoy strong adoption as a cross-platform app and web development environment. It will emerge as the industry standard and evolve at a quicker pace than many expect.

The ubiquity of tablets: Tablets from multiple manufacturers will bridge the divide between the PC Internet and the mobile Internet. Tablets will cut into the market share of notebook PCs, netbooks and laptops.

The evolution of smartphones: Smartphone adoption will be much higher in 2012 and will grow at a faster rate than in 2011. Smartphones will simplify many of the complexities that existed in the early days of mobile. The continuing evolution of mobile platforms and devices will enable many new players to get into the game. That will ensure that a lot of disruptive technology comes into the ecosystem over the course of 2012 and beyond. And that will provide many opportunities for brands, retailers, financial services companies, publishers and content providers of all kinds.

Anita Moorthy, Senior Director of Product Marketing

LOS ANGELES, CA January 23, 2012 – It’s that time of year again: the time to take stock, look back at the year that has passed and look ahead to the New Year and all of the promise that it holds. What does 2012 have in store for the mobile world? No one knows for sure, but in this series of posts, the experts at July Systems identify the top mobile trends and make predictions about what will take place in the ecosystem surrounding tablets and smartphones over the course of the year to come – and beyond.

Prediction #4: Investments in mobile will pay dividends in 2012.

Across all verticals, July Systems clients are making investments in people and solutions to align their multichannel strategy with consumer behavior, which is characterized by ever-increasing adoption of mobile devices. Usage of mobile websites and apps continues to increase. Mobile is not part-time – it is always-on, and it is becoming central to any engagement strategy that includes a digital component. A stable, profitable and scalable mobile enterprise is the emerging expectation for companies of all shapes and sizes. Tolerance for failure of mobile initiatives is decreasing. Brands, retailers and publishers realize the importance of an effective mobile strategy and are determined to get it right.

A March 2011 study by ROI Research and Microsoft found that nine out of 10 American mobile users conduct searches on their mobile handsets and two-thirds are “very interested” in mobile coupons. More than 40% of digital coupon recipients are more likely to visit bricks-and-mortar retail stores for apparel, consumer packaged goods (CPG), consumer electronics and entertainment products. That is one way that mobile helps boost brands’ and retailers’ sales.

The same study found that mobile advertising exposure also drives visits to bricks-and-mortar retail stores, which often result in purchases. Nearly eight out of 10 mobile consumers went to an offline apparel store after seeing an ad on their mobile device. In addition, 60% of mobile consumers used their mobile device during the purchase of entertainment-related products.

In 2012, better handsets and services will mean more access for users, meaning there is more potential for increasing engagement and usage. In terms of client expectations, scale, reliability and the experience rule.

Within the retail sector, the focus is on finding the recipe for effective brand-building, engagement and loyalty leveraging all that mobile has to offer. Mobile content and services centered on driving transactions – whether online, in-store or on the handset – are key offerings that savvy retailers will use to differentiate themselves and drive revenue in 2012.

Slowly but surely, mobile is becoming mainstream for most companies. In the year to come, organizations of all kinds will seek greater control over their mobile strategy. Chief information officers, IT departments and mobile-savvy personnel will take on added importance. Large enterprises will expect their current systems integrators to work with various mobile technology providers.

In response to demand from clients and prospects, in 2012 July Systems will fine-tune its current platform for the broader mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP) market, open up our platform to enable systems integrators to develop on top of it and make our platform compatible to run with various “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS) and cloud-computing vendors.

In 2012, brands’, retailers’, publishers’ and other content providers’ monetization strategies will evolve to embrace mobile advertising, sponsorships and transactions more than ever before.

The effectiveness of a mobile monetization strategy should be measured by value created around the one-to-one relationship with the consumer – that dialogue drives behavior such as loyalty and demand. Ultimately, the relationship between a brand and consumers manifests itself in-store or online and translates into revenue.

Monetization will be driven primarily via two channels, mobile commerce and mobile advertising. Those two areas continue to grow in importance for companies across a wide range of business verticals.

The monetization of content will be primarily through mobile advertising, which will make great strides toward closing the gap with its counterpart, online advertising, in terms of market share in overall digital advertising industry.

The bottom line is that all of the investments that brands, retailers and publishers have made in the mobile space will really start to pay off in 2012.

Anita Moorthy, Senior Director of Product Marketing

LOS ANGELES, CA January 16, 2012 -

It’s that time of year again: the time to take stock, look back at the year that has passed and look ahead to the New Year and all of the promise that it holds. What does 2012 have in store for the mobile world? No one knows for sure, but in this series of posts, the experts at July Systems identify the top mobile trends and make predictions about what will take place in the ecosystem surrounding tablets and smartphones over the course of the year to come – and beyond.

Prediction #4: Investments in mobile will pay dividends in 2012.

Across all verticals, July Systems clients are making investments in people and solutions to align their multichannel strategy with consumer behavior, which is characterized by ever-increasing adoption of mobile devices. Usage of mobile websites and apps continues to increase. Mobile is not part-time – it is always-on, and it is becoming central to any engagement strategy that includes a digital component. A stable, profitable and scalable mobile enterprise is the emerging expectation for companies of all shapes and sizes. Tolerance for failure of mobile initiatives is decreasing. Brands, retailers and publishers realize the importance of an effective mobile strategy and are determined to get it right.

A March 2011 study by ROI Research and Microsoft found that nine out of 10 American mobile users conduct searches on their mobile handsets and two-thirds are “very interested” in mobile coupons. More than 40% of digital coupon recipients are more likely to visit bricks-and-mortar retail stores for apparel, consumer packaged goods (CPG), consumer electronics and entertainment products. That is one way that mobile helps boost brands’ and retailers’ sales.

The same study found that mobile advertising exposure also drives visits to bricks-and-mortar retail stores, which often result in purchases. Nearly eight out of 10 mobile consumers went to an offline apparel store after seeing an ad on their mobile device. In addition, 60% of mobile consumers used their mobile device during the purchase of entertainment-related products.

In 2012, better handsets and services will mean more access for users, meaning there is more potential for increasing engagement and usage. In terms of client expectations, scale, reliability and the experience rule.

Within the retail sector, the focus is on finding the recipe for effective brand-building, engagement and loyalty leveraging all that mobile has to offer. Mobile content and services centered on driving transactions – whether online, in-store or on the handset – are key offerings that savvy retailers will use to differentiate themselves and drive revenue in 2012.

Slowly but surely, mobile is becoming mainstream for most companies. In the year to come, organizations of all kinds will seek greater control over their mobile strategy. Chief information officers, IT departments and mobile-savvy personnel will take on added importance. Large enterprises will expect their current systems integrators to work with various mobile technology providers.

In response to demand from clients and prospects, in 2012 July Systems will fine-tune its current platform for the broader mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP) market, open up our platform to enable systems integrators to develop on top of it and make our platform compatible to run with various “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS) and cloud-computing vendors.

In 2012, brands’, retailers’, publishers’ and other content providers’ monetization strategies will evolve to embrace mobile advertising, sponsorships and transactions more than ever before.

The effectiveness of a mobile monetization strategy should be measured by value created around the one-to-one relationship with the consumer – that dialogue drives behavior such as loyalty and demand. Ultimately, the relationship between a brand and consumers manifests itself in-store or online and translates into revenue.

Monetization will be driven primarily via two channels, mobile commerce and mobile advertising. Those two areas continue to grow in importance for companies across a wide range of business verticals.

The monetization of content will be primarily through mobile advertising, which will make great strides toward closing the gap with its counterpart, online advertising, in terms of market share in overall digital advertising industry.

The bottom line is that all of the investments that brands, retailers and publishers have made in the mobile space will really start to pay off in 2012.

Nathan Kerry, VP Strategic Accounts

LOS ANGELES, CA January 16, 2012-

It’s that time of year again: the time to take stock, look back at the year that has passed and look ahead to the New Year and all of the promise that it holds. What does 2012 have in store for the mobile world? No one knows for sure, but in this series of posts, the experts at July Systems identify the top mobile trends and make predictions about what will take place in the ecosystem surrounding tablets and smartphones over the course of the year to come – and beyond.

Prediction #3: Smartphones and tablets based on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems will dominate market share in 2012 as consumer adoption of mobile devices explodes.

In 2012, both smartphones and tablets based on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems will continue to dominate the mobile device marketplace. Mobile devices based on those two platforms will continue to matter to most to brands, retailers and publishers.

A Gartner report on worldwide smartphone sales to end users found that the Android OS led the pack in the third quarter of 2011, with 52.5% market share, more than doubling its market share from the third quarter of 2010. That was well ahead of Nokia’s Symbian, which placed second at 16.9% market share. Despite continued traction in regions such as Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific, the Finnish company has been unable to find success in the North American market. Apple’s iOS place third with 15% market share, followed by Research In Motion with 11%. Microsoft had a mere 1.5% market share in 3Q 2011.

I n 2012, Apple will debut new versions of its flagship iPhone and iPad devices, while a wide range of devices based on the Android OS will debut from multiple manufacturers, including Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Kyocera, LG, Pantech and Sony Ericsson.

Despite improvements, RIM’s BlackBerry will continue to struggle as its weaknesses in mobile web browsing and native apps outweigh its strengths: mobile email and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

The wildcard is Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5/8. The coming year will be a real test of the Nokia/Microsoft marriage. The mobile ecosystem wants this marriage to be successful, and our fingers are crossed. However, while the early devices based on the latest versions of this operating system are strong contenders, these partners arrived late to the race. 2012 may be a make-or-break year for the partnership.

Tablet adoption will be even higher in 2012. Tablets have found users beyond the business class, and they are fast becoming the media-consumption device of choice for everyone from teens, college students and young professionals to parents and their kids. In addition to their entertainment value, tablets are becoming an invaluable educational tool as well.

In 2012, most everything will be shifting to cloud. And that will make PCs with higher processing power less relevant. Tablets will eat significant portion of PC pie. Low cost of tablets would also drive usage in developing world.

At July Systems, we don’t play favorites. We support every major mobile platform. Our views are based on the demand that we see, and our clients are our data points. From our perspective, iOS and Android will continue to dominate in 2012, with the interest in Windows Phone 7 building over the course of the year.

Tablets are becoming both diverse and fragmented, but consumer adoption of tablets will continue to increase in the coming year, with the iOS-based iPad garnering the majority of marketing budgets.

Sudarsan Parida, VP Product Engineering

LOS ANGELES, CA January 5, 2012 – It’s that time of year again: the time to take stock, look back at the year that has passed and look ahead to the New Year and all of the promise that it holds. What does 2012 have in store for the mobile world? No one knows for sure, but in this series of posts, the experts at July Systems identify the top mobile trends and make predictions about what will take place in the ecosystem surrounding tablets and smartphones over the course of the year to come – and beyond.

Prediction #2: HTML5 will establish itself as the universal cross-platform web development standard.

A variety of factors are contributing to HTML5 becoming the next big thing: First and foremost, it has the support of many major players such as Microsoft, Google and Apple, which have dedicated resources helping HTML5 to become the next cross-platform programing language for mobile devices.

That is a key point: HTML5 is a cross-platform technology, and having a wide reach is imperative for brands and content providers of all stripes. Mobile can provide that reach. The sophistication of mobile devices continues to progress – smartphones are almost equivalent to PCs with respect to their processing power. The economics of millions of smartphones with app store capability enabling the discovery of millions of apps, and the revenue-sharing between app stores and developers, means that rallying around a single standard makes good business sense. Practical economic concerns are pushing all vendors toward a cross-platform web development language. The same phenomenon has happened in the past with Java, and the growth of HTML5 is analogous to that of Java during its early days.

Having a cross-platform standard to host and manage apps and websites will enable future innovation from technology vendors. That will enable brands, retailers and media companies to optimize their multichannel engagement strategies to follow end-consumer consumption patterns.

While HTML5 does enjoy widespread adoption and represents the future, it still has a long way to go. It has not reached the fully mature stage in its development yet. HTML5 is sexy and pragmatic, but surgical and still limited. It is sexy given the immersive interwoven mobile experiences it enables. It enjoys strong demand from brand marketers and publishers looking to maximize engagement with their target audience. HTML5 is pragmatic given the ability to manage a single experience across a family of higher-end touchscreen devices. It is surgical and limited given the number higher-end touch devices that are currently addressable. That being said, adoption of those high-end touchscreen devices is constantly growing.

During 2012, smart brands will increasingly leverage the opportunities that open up by adding HTML5 to their portfolio of mobile tools – gaining experience and lessons learned will be keys to effective cross-platform strategy development over time.

HTML5 is gaining support from all the major players in the mobile ecosystem. Overall, the economics of developing and managing various mobile platforms, from rich mobile websites, web apps and native apps across multiple platform and devices creates demand for a cross-platform, cross-device development environment. That universal language will be based on HTML5 standards.

HTML5 will also help bridge the gap between PC web development skills and mobile web and native app development skills.

Over the past year, many HTML5-compatible smartphones were launched in the market, and many more will be launched in the year to come. This trend will continue to increase the adoption of the HTML5 language. We predict that by 2014 or 2015, most mobile devices worldwide will support more than 90% of HTML5 specifications.

In 2012, many savvy brands, retailers and publishers will focus on a multichannel digital strategy that encompasses the PC web, tablets and smartphones. HTML5 is a perfect fit for that type of all-encompassing digital strategy, as it enables cross-platform development and the creation of immersive, engaging mobile experiences.

Nathan Kerry, VP Strategic Accounts

LOS ANGELES, CA January 5, 2012 – It’s that time of year again: the time to take stock, look back at the year that has passed and look ahead to the New Year and all of the promise that it holds. What does 2012 have in store for the mobile world? No one knows for sure, but in this series of posts, the experts at July Systems identify the top mobile trends and make predictions about what will take place in the ecosystem surrounding tablets and smartphones over the course of the year to come – and beyond.

Prediction #1: The war of the mobile Web vs. native applications will end in a draw.

Native apps and mobile web sites will continue to co-exist in the near future. Both sides of the mobile web versus native apps rivalry will agree to a truce as the lines between the two are blurred and mobile adoption continues to increase across the board. Higher adoption of smartphones will continue to drive increased usage of sophisticated mobile web sites, native apps, hybrid properties and web apps.

The absence of a true cross-platform technology to build native apps and the complexity of supporting various mobile technology platforms and operating systems – from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and RIM’s BlackBerry – is causing many companies to focus on hybrid properties and web apps. That trend will continue to gain momentum in 2012 as companies seek to support a wide range of mobile devices.

Research firm Gartner predicts that this year data revenue will exceed voice revenue in mature markets such as Western Europe and North America. That trend is being driven by increasing mobile web and app usage among a growing number of smartphones users. In mature markets, smartphones first exceeded 50% of the total installed handset based around the beginning of 2011, according to Gartner, which predicts that smartphones could account for more than 90% of the install base in those developed regions by 2014.

Despite the growing prevalence of high-end smartphones, brands, retailers and publishers also need to cater to the lower-end and mid-tier handsets. Given that non-touch devices still represent a large percentage of the global install base, brands will have to continue to support both a non-touch and touchscreen strategy. Many brands that have deployed a single mobile web site will now start to depart from that strategy and develop both a touchscreen-optimized and a non-touch site. By doing so, they can increase investment in the touchscreen mobile website over time and slowly ramp down the non-touch experience as those types of devices are gradually phased out.

The bottom line is that in 2012, usage of native apps, mobile websites and web apps will all continue to grow without impeding the growth of one another. All of these mobile platforms will benefit as consumers use their mobile devices more and more with each passing day. For that reason, savvy brands, retailers, financial services companies and publishers will emphasize the mobile elements of their cross-platform engagement strategy.

“The Univision Marcador App is an important part of our suite of mobile offerings and we are thrilled to have been recognized for our product development and promotion capabilities by one of the most coveted awards program in the industry,” said Kevin Conroy, president of Univision Interactive Media and Enterprise Development. “We are committed to serving our audience and will continue to pioneer new interactive products that will keep Univision and its partners top of mind for Hispanics as they continue to influence and shape the digital landscape and drive the growth and expansion of the U.S. mobile marketplace.”

Alexander “Sandy” Brown, president of Sports, Univision Communications Inc. added, “This award reinforces our reputation as Hispanic America’s leading brand for sports content. The Marcador App is one of the many examples of Univision’s commitment to provide Hispanic sports fans content across all platforms.”

“Univision Marcador App winning a Mobile Excellence Award is a strong validation of the capabilities of Mi™ platform to deliver a compelling user experience with real-time updates on sports to multi-lingual audiences worldwide,” says Kelvin Rowlette, president and GM for July Systems, USA who received the award at this event. He also added, “Mi™ Platform extensible platform can render standard unicode fonts for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Hindi and many more; something that has been key to many of the global businesses we serve today.”

Since its launch in February, the Univision Marcador App has brought die-hard sports fans free, real-time scores and stats from top soccer leagues reaching over 300,000 users, across the iPhone, iPod touch and Android platforms. The app channels Univision’s popular sports content to mobile devices, with nonstop, customizable stat updates on top soccer tournaments and leagues from around the world, engaging passionate sports fans with the latest results. (Download information is here)

Univision Interactive Media has had a major impact on the U.S. Hispanic smartphone audience with one-of-a-kind apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia platforms. These include:

The Univision App includes video clips, photos and articles of the latest national and local news, celebrity gossip, popular Univision shows, and favorite sports. (Download information is here)
The Univision Marcador App provides die-hard sports fans real-time scores and stats of games and matches from top soccer leagues and other sports. (Download information is here). The English-language Univision Scoreboard App is also available
The Univision Deportes App keeps users updated with the latest from their favorite soccer and sports around the world throughout the year. (Download information is here)
The Univision Video App features short and long-form content from some of Univision’s top-rated news, entertainment, soccer, and sports shows, plus horoscopes and special events. (Here is download information)
Univision Cocina App, which provides recipes for the best in Latin cuisine and beyond, in addition to cooking videos, tools and tips from Univision chefs and fellow users. (Download information is here).

Produced by Axis PR & Entertainment and presented by Verizon Developer Community, the Mobile Excellence Awards is the most influential and prestigious organization that recognizes and honors excellence in mobile entertainment and technology. The MEA’s award excellence in execution of corporate approach, consumer services, consumer experiences, content creation, and marketing devices or revenue generators across the entire mobile ecosystem.

This is the third recognition that Univision Interactive Media has received for its apps this year. The Univision Radio App won for Best Socially-Savvy Radio App” in Advertising Age’s Media Vanguard Awards, and the Univision App received a Bronze Award in the in the “Interactive Applications Promotion Campaign” category at this year’s PromaxBDA Latin America Awards.

CONTACT: Carolina V. Valencia, 212-455-4712, cvalencia@univision.net

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 15, 2011) – July Systems, the leading mobile platform provider, today announced that four of its marquee mobile services have been named finalists for the Mobile Excellence Awards this year. The Mobile Excellence Awards (MEA) is one of the most prestigious and influential awards honoring excellence in mobile entertainment and technology. The following mobile services from July Systems have been nominated for the 2011 awards.

• Unilever Cornetto Mobile Site for Best Community/Fan Content
• Univision Marcador App for Best International
• PGA Tour Android App for Best Content Extension Made for Mobile
• ESPN Goals for Best International

The winners will be announced on December 5th, 2011 at an exclusive awards program in Los Angeles.

“We are honored to be acknowledged for some of the innovative applications that we have been able to bring to the market this year,” says Julian Philips, VP – Marketing, July Systems. “This is a strong validation of Mi™ Platform’s ability to enable innovation & rich user experiences, maximize market reach & create a visible impact for the business.” July Systems had won the 2010 MEA for its mobile internet service designed for the International Premier League (IPL) last year.

July Systems’ Mi™ Platform is a cloud-based mobile platform that enables companies to build, run and manage mobile application — easily and cost effectively. The platform enables rich user-experience via its unique modules-based architecture & delivers optimized content across thousands of devices ranging from touch-screen smart phones, tablets to popular Web-enabled feature phones. Mi™ Platform encompasses visual design tools for marketers, development environment for technical teams and a management dashboard that empowers different stakeholders to continuously monitor and measure their services. With some of the largest global brands across media, entertainment, sports and retail segments relying on Mi™ Platform for their mobile presence, it is increasingly being recognized as a powerful and versatile mobile platform delivering values across multiple verticals and segments.

Links:

www.julysystems.com
www.mobilexawards.com/finalists/past/2011
m.cornetto.in (mobile site)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/univision-marcador/id411902558?mt=8
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tour.pgatour&hl=en
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/espn-goals/id385112425?mt=8

About July Systems
July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi™ Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. Over 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi™ Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. For more information, visit us at http://www.julysystems.com

Mi™ Platform is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.
*All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Mobile Excellence Awards

The Mobile Excellence Awards profile the latest in mobile entertainment, including media, marketing and technology. The MEAs honor excellence in achievements of mobile entertainment from start-ups to applications, to studios, including interactive media, film, television, music, games, agencies, and high-tech. The MEAs honor the best of the best from all walks of the mobile entertainment ecosystem. For more information, please go to www.mobilexawards.com

LOS ANGELES, CA

“We are very proud to work with Google to enable businesses to go mobile across platforms. This program gives us an excellent opportunity to get in front of a larger audience and help them with their mobile initiative,” says Rajesh Reddy, CEO of July Systems. “A vast majority of businesses today are grappling with the pace of change and innovation in mobile. And when you add the complexity involved in presenting content for various mobile platforms to the mix, it is understandably overwhelming for any company. Our cloud based Mi™ Platform provides a modular and future proofed approach to mobile app/site management. This approach provides business owners the ability to make frequent and dynamic changes to their mobile services in the most scalable manner.”

July Systems’ Mi™ Platform is a cloud-based mobile platform that allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize the newly launched mobile services. The platform enables rich user-experience via its unique modules-based architecture and visual design tools to deliver optimized content across hundreds of unique devices ranging from touch-screen smart phones, tablets to popular Web-enabled feature phones. With some of the largest global brands across media, entertainment, sports and retail segments relying on Mi™ Platform for their mobile presence, it is increasingly being recognized as a powerful and versatile mobile platform that can cater to various segments.

Links: http://www.julysystems.com
http://www.howtogomo.com

About July Systems

July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi™ Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. Over 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi™ Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. For more information visit us at http://www.julysystems.com

Mi™ Platform is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.

*All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About GoMo

GoMo is a Google-led initiative dedicated to helping businesses ‘Go Mobile’ by providing them with the tools and resources they need to make their websites more mobile-friendly. On Google’s GoMo website, participating businesses can use the GoMoMeter tool to see how their own sites look and perform on mobile devices, and get personalized recommendations for developing a more mobile-friendly experience for their sites. The GoMo site has information about current mobile trends, best practices for launching mobile sites, a list of developers ready to help companies build sites for mobile, and much more.

For more information, visit: http://howtogomo.com

LOS ANGELES, CA, Sep 15, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — July Systems has added over 10 languages to their Mi^TM Platform development environment with plans to add many more. Clients can now easily create and manage international mobile services with Mi^TM Platform using out-of-the box widgets.

July Systems’ Mi^TM Platform powers more than 100 of the world’s largest brands and delivers billions of transactions to millions of users in over 150 countries. As a global provider, July understands that their clients need a reliable platform that can evolve quickly with the growing list of mobile capabilities and features, which includes catering to their international audiences.

Companies like Univision, RDS Mobile and NDTV Khabar are already using July Systems’ mobile development environment to build their cross-platform mobile solutions for multilingual users. Mi^TM Platform can now render standard unicode fonts for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Hindi, and many more. If any device does not support a specific language, Mi^TM Platform can easily render fonts as images at run-time in any language across 8,000 devices.

Mi^TM Platform is an extensible mobile platform solution that provides clients with a high degree of control and flexibility in developing rich mobile applications and mobile websites. Mi^TM Platform uses a unique widget based mobile development approach that serves as the foundation of its cross platform value proposition. Widgets allow developers, customers and partners to easily develop rich units of mobile experiences that are configurable, scalable and easily managed across multiple devices.

“As mobile becomes strategic for businesses, centralizing how mobile is managed and rolled out across all business units and geographies will become critical to organizations,” says Vandana Abraham, Senior Director for Product Management. “Making Mi^TM Platform extensible to support international languages is a key requirement for many of our global brands.”

About July Systems July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi^TM Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. Over 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi^TM Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur and Bangalore.

Mi^TM Platform is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Nathan Kerry, VP Strategic Accounts

LOS ANGELES, CA August 1, 2011 – A large US Cable television news giant licensed July Systems’ Mi Platform Studio tool to rollout a new mobile program. Specifically, the company wanted to create dedicated mobile experiences in response to pivotal events as they unfold. The goal was to launch mobile microsites in as close to real-time as possible using one of the best mobile platforms.

The Mi Platform Studio mobile site builder tool from July Systems enabled the organization to quickly and efficiently create more than 50 mobile microsites easily and in a timely manner. That initiative led to the network’s mobile traffic growing 17 times over in five months – that’s 17X.

The top drivers of traffic to its mobile microsites were the royal wedding, the Japan earthquake, the tornado in Joplin, Missouri and the 2011 Academy Awards. Users were driven to these topic-specific microsites via mobile advertising and mobile search portals, as well as their general mobile Web site and its smartphone applications.

In the wake of the microsites’ launch, the news giant experienced a high level of growth across various mobile traffic metrics. The network’s mobile page views increased a whopping 1,624% in five months. In addition, the organization’s mobile visits soared 500%, while it experienced a 325% increase in mobile users.

Mi Platform Studio, one of the best mobile platforms, let them create custom mobile microsites for breaking news and ongoing stories of interest. Mobile traffic boomed when users encountered an optimized, topic-specific experience providing insight and analysis on important world events in a timely fashion.

In addition to breaking news and important world events, the mobile microsites were highly effective at driving awareness for daily shows with dynamic content. The mobile microsites are able to deliver quick updates and boost user engagement through interactive widgets such as polls and questionnaires.

The number of mobile page views per user and the number of page views per visit have both quadrupled in five months. This clearly exhibits the effectiveness of the medium in engaging end users.

For the news company, the speed of creation and deployment of these mobile microsites was paramount, and July’s flagship product, Mi Platform (industry’s leading mobile platform) was up to the challenge.

LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – Aug 1, 2011) – July Systems, a leading global provider of mobile platform solutions, adds Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and Kickapps to their current list of Mi™ Platform social media modules (Facebook, Twitter, OOB, Google Buzz, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Delicious and LinkedIn) with plans to also integrate Google +, Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Gowalla in the near future.

July’s Mi™ Platform is an enterprise-scale, cloud-based software that allows businesses to build, manage, market and monetize rich, interactive mobile web services across over 8,000 devices. Mi™ Platform provides customers with a one-stop-shop mobile solution via pre-built widgets and a robust integrated network of mobile technology. This includes integrating third party social media modules that allow consumers to interact and socialize with one another within mobile sites and applications built on Mi™ Platform. The integration of the latest BBM and Kickapps is a valuable addition to July Systems’ already versatile mobile ecosystem enabling the social media fabric to be integrated within any mobile service.

According to former Morgan Stanley star analyst Mary Meeker, social networking has surpassed email in both global users and in the amount of time spent. “Mobile has now become the preferred medium of communication and interaction with social networks,” says Rajesh Reddy, CEO of July Systems. “Integrating social networks into our robust Mi™ Platform ecosystem allows our clients to acquire, influence, engage and retain new and existing customers in a number of different ways.”

With the addition of BBM and Kickapps, July’s Mi™ Platform 3.5 now supports the following features:

BBM:

• Initiate a BBM social interaction within the app
• Access user profile info such as avatar, status, and location directly from the app
• Share content (images, videos, music, and voice notes) with BBM contacts from within the app
• Create sub-communities within the app
• Stream data between users of the app for real-time use cases such as communication, gaming, and location tracking

Kickapps:

• Kickapps’ commenting feature has been integrated so users can participate in Kickapp forum discussions directly from their app
• Sync comments on the same article/video/photo gallery on both the web and mobile
• Ratings, and nested commenting

About July Systems
July Systems is a leading mobile application platform provider to businesses worldwide. Mi™ Platform, a cloud-based mobile platform, allows companies to build, manage, market and monetize rich mobile applications quickly and effectively. Over 100 of the world’s largest brands use Mi™ Platform to deliver billions of transactions to over 100 million users globally. July Systems has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Bangalore.

Mi Platform is a registered trademark of July Systems in the United States and other countries.

*All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Kelvin Rowlette , President and General Manager

The app Internet – the growing universe of mobile applications – is dramatically changing the face of the Web and is forcing today’s leading technology vendors to adapt to a new business environment, according to Forrester Research. Apps are also affecting every job function in business technology organizations.

Forrester estimates that the app Internet market was $2.2 billion in 2010 and projects a compound annual growth rate of 85 percent through 2015.

The app Internet is having a profound impact on the business technology organization, per Forrester Research. CIOs must prove they can embrace current trends through the adoption of the customer-centric applications, and security and risk professionals will take on greater importance as companies are challenged with how to protect their enterprises in this new app-dominated universe.

In addition, a growing number of retailers are launching mobile initiatives in an effort to better serve multi-touchpoint, always-connected consumers — some that are paying off right away and some that are more long-tail focused.
According to a Forrester survey, 91 percent of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development, compared to 74 percent a year ago.

A little more than a year after the launch of the iPad, retailers report that 21 percent of all mobile traffic is coming from tablets, an incredible growth trajectory.

Still, the overall amount of mobile traffic and revenue has not increased dramatically, suggesting that investment levels in site optimization may still be inadequate, per Forrester.

For example, the survey found that 48 percent of retailers have a mobile-optimized website; 35 percent report having an iPhone app; and 15 percent have launched an Android app, the same percentage that have an iPad app.

Challenges that retailers struggle with include differentiating the consumer experience on a tablet versus a smartphone and figuring out features and functionality in fragmented app and mobile Web ecosystems.

After spending the last few years learning how to capitalize on new mobile technology, retailers are focusing on leveraging the tremendous popularity of tablet devices such as the iPad. As sales channels continue to blur in retail, companies are creating mobile apps that make their brands seem current, entertaining or fun, while at the same time creating a unique opportunity to connect with more shoppers than ever before, according to Shop.org.

Forrester data indicates that significant investments in mobile tactics will be in place this year.
The research firm advises retailers to increasingly integrate mobile features and functionality into the bricks-and-mortar store experience.

Basic store information such as hours and location, transparent pricing and easy checkout capabilities are likely to be the most pressing opportunities for most mobile sites and apps in the near future. Consumers are also increasingly exploring product information using their smartphones and tablets.

The bottom line is that retailers and merchants of all kinds must have best-in-class mobile Web sites and applications, or they will get left in the dust by competitors.