How could we not bring our portfolio of brands we’ve mobilized, PointAbout news, and mobile-related case studies and whitepapers to the palm of your hand? It would be a travesty if we didn’t give you the ability to check out all of the above, plus pictures and videos of our birthday bashes, various and sundry “PointAbout Outings,” and soon-to-be-famous “Thursday lunches,” directly from your iPhone.

But wait, there’s more. If you’re fortunate enough to live in the nation’s capital, the PointAbout app uses GeoRSS feeds to show off some of the PointAbout team’s favorite dining options in the area. It also features the integration of Socialize – an SDK that allows in-app engagement, breathing life into any app. So don’t delay – head over to iTunes and download the PointAbout app today by following this link!

Sean’s panel details and video: Selling Through OEM, Carriers, and App Stores.

Hear first-hand accounts from companies who are actively selling mobile solutions.  You will gather insight into the mobile landscape, including the app review process, OEM strategies, channel strategies, and carrier partnerships.

Moderator: David Smud, Director, Deloitte Consulting LLC

Panelists: Rob Chamberlin, Founder & CEO, True Wireless, Inc

Sean Shadmand, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, PointAbout

Tom Wainwright, Director of OEM Alliances, Western Region, QlikView

Click here to view the embedded video.

Daniel’s panel details and video: Selling Native Apps
Strategies can vary greatly from platform to platform, given that developing mobile apps is still a fairly new process, so the question lingers, where do I start?  Do I need a team of developers?  How do I make money off of an app?  This panel discussion will focus on emerging business models focusing on the benefits and pitfalls of taking the native apps approach to mobile products.

Moderator: Ben Narasin, President, TriplePoint Capital

Panelists: Daniel Odio, Co-Founder & COO, PointAbout

Scott Schwarzhoff, VP of Marketing, Appcelerator

Leslie Wilson, Founder & CEO, iammobileapps, Inc.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first step to creating a mobile application is to read these whitepapers and provide us with a requirements document, or even a few paragraphs describing your project.

If you don’t have a full requirements document, we can help. We have an entire process that we use with large organizations to help you figure it out – starting with ideation & brainstorming sessions, identifying stakeholders, picking the right approach(es), such as apps vs. mobile web, doing design iterations, getting the project scoped and versioned correctly, and then implemented, QA’d and delivered, and we always do a post-mortem review to set us up to work even more closely after the first project. So, if you already have some ideas sketched out, we always like to start there, but if you don’t, we’ll help you get everything figured out.

Ideally, you’ll already have set a budget aside for your project, although that is often not the case. However, much of what we end up doing will be driven largely by how much of a budget you want to put towards mobile.

Here are a few whitepaper resources to get you started:

• 14 things to know and do when starting a mobile project
• Whitepaper on avoiding common mobile development pitfalls
• Case study highlighting copious learning from the Cars iPhone app
• Case study from an automotive thought leader on mobile within the enterprise
• Whitepaper on NFC or Near-Field Communication and what it involves
• Whitepaper on the Windows Phone 7 platform
• Whitepaper on expanding to other mobile development platforms; going from iOS to Android
• Whitepaper explaining the difference in web apps, native apps, and the mobile web, with additional focus on HTML5 and its offerings

Also, we have a slide on what the mobile landscape looks like, called the Mobile Pyramid. It’s proven to be a very powerful way to explain mobile to those who don’t live it every day like we do. You’re welcome to use it if you find it useful when explaining mobile within your organization; there’s a PDF & PPT link below the image you can grab.

Stay tuned for more from Rolf and William.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) April 16, 2010 – PointAbout announced today that it has hired Pete Johnson as its Vice President of Professional Services.

Pete will have P&L and operational ownership of PointAbout’s Professional Services division.

Pete has a deep background in Professional Services. Pete founded Virtualogic, Inc. in 1993 and as CEO/President grew it through 2001 to $20M and 150 employees. The company performed IT services for Fortune 1000 clients, including web applications, Microsoft desktop and client server implementations, data warehousing/BI, and Java/XML applications. Pete sold the company to Hitachi as the first acquisition to comprise Hitachi Consulting Services. The company was known for its unique combination of delivery models and engineering excellence, integrating features from more established categories including: IT consulting, systems integration, software development, application hosting, and management consulting. The company achieved explosive growth while maintaining excellent customer standing and profitability, earning it numerous local and national awards.
Pete will grow PointAbout’s Professional Services offerings in the mobile arena, focusing on Fortune 1000 clients. PointAbout is the leading mobile development company on the East Coast and specializes in custom iPad, iPhone Android, Blackberry and mobile web strategy and execution. Its clients include Disney, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Gannett, Cars.com and many others. PointAbout won a Webby in 2009 for its Obama Inauguration app, Navigating Washington.

Pete commented, “PointAbout has the unique asset of a four person founder team who are passionate about the mobile space and build their products and service offerings together. Having advised my share of startups, I saw a team prepared to rethink as necessary to succeed in mobile. When the PointAbout founders suggested I run the consulting side of PointAbout, I felt that entrepreneurial gauntlet hit me. My passion in IT has always been for the growth and success of my hires; that’s where I get a sense of impact. Here is an opportunity to grow an already successful company, and it’s a very cool place to work.”

Join PointAbout for a weekly two hour webinar, every Thursday at 2pm Eastern, in which we reveal everything you need to know to create a successful iPhone application.  We’ll cover the following topics:

• An introduction to Objective C – the software language in which iPhone applications are made
• How PointAbout allows you to create an iPhone application without having to learn Objective C
• What you’ll need to make a successful iPhone appliction, including a deep dive into the necessary data sources and transport protocols such as RSS feeds and API sources,
• How Apple Developer Account access works, and how we can handle that process on your behalf, at your option
• Submission details for application review by the Apple iTunes Store, including sizing requirements for the icon and splash screen, and language dos & don’ts for the iTunes Store
• How we navigate the Apple submission process, including the top 10 mistakes developers usually make which keep them from being able to successfully submit applications
• Post-submission reporting tools, including how to make sense of daily, weekly and monthly application download reports
• How we can integrate detailed and very valuable analytics into your application so you know when the application is opened, closed, how long users stay on each screen, whether they “pinch” certain items in the application, even how they orient the phone when using your application (these analytics allow you to make much better decisions when creating future revisions to your application)
• How to read the financial statements provided by Apple, and why they don’t match up with your download reports
• How to create a marketing strategy to successfully get your app noticed among the tens of thousands of apps already in the App Store, including tips & tricks to vastly increase your download numbers
• Pricing strategies for selling your app in the App Store (i.e., should you price it at 99 cents, or $9.99, etc.)
• Other ways to monetize your application, including leveraging ad networks such as AdMob or others, and how to get sponsorships for your application that will not only cover the cost of creating the application, but allow you to generate sponsorship revenue immediately
• How to create a fully featured application for under $10,000 (and often under $5,000) instead of paying $25,000+
• Our top 3 best-practices to keep your application fresh and generating downloads over time

The cost for this two hour webinar is $300, and it is held every Thursday from 2pm-4pm Eastern.  Space is limited to 15 participants per webinar.  The first  hour covers the topics above, and the last hour is reserved for answering your specific questions about your application.  If after the webinar you have specific questions that require us to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (click here to download our mutual NDA) and speak in private, we are happy to schedule a one-on-one call to review your questions, at a rate of $250 per hour.

Ready to get started? Invest $300 now to save yourself countless headaches and dollars later as you navigate this process! Sign up for the webinar at right (provide us your full name and specify which Thursday you wish to attend in “mm/dd” format). Your space will be reserved once we have confirmed your payment. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with the experience, we will refund your payment in full (to date, we’ve never had to do this). First and Last Name Desired Webinar Date (mm/dd) Register above, or email us, or call us at 202.391.0347.

You will need a PC or Mac with a good internet connection and access to a phone to particpate in this webinar.

By turning your iPhone web app into a native app, you’ll get access to the phone’s features via javascript calls, including the accelerometer, GPS latitude & longitude (or we can reverse-geocode for you to the nearest physical address), the contact address book, the camera, and more.  Suddenly, you can make your web app do a whole lot more!

And it gets better.  We also support BlackBerry and we’re working on Android and WindowsMobile.  We can wrap your app for those phone platforms too, as well as future phones that aren’t even out yet.

And our pricing plans are very flexible.  They start at absolutely free (where we share users & advertising), or you can pay monthly to have absolute control over everything.  And we’re even willing to do a revenue share with you, if you want to charge for your app or for advertising.

We manage the entire native-submission & management process so you don’t have to (it gets messy, especially across multiple phones).  You just focus on what you do best – creating a killer mobile web application.  To learn more, contact us at right, email us or call 1.800.976.3703.  You can also watch a video demo,  learn more about how PointAbout works, learn what we need from you or visit our DevCentral developer section.

A native application is a piece of software.  Think of it just like software on your computer, like Microsoft Office, for example.  You download native applications onto your phone, just like you would install Microsoft Office onto your computer.  Most of the icons on an iPhone are native applications.

Web applications, by contrast, are served to you inside a website.  There’s nothing to install.  The problem is, web applications don’t have access to all the phone’s features like native applications do.  That’s where PointAbout comes in.  We bridge both worlds and give you the best of each.

Microsite:

Think of a “microsite” as a “child” to your main PC-based website.  If your main website is www.YourBrand.com, then your web-based microsite might be www.YourBrand.mobi, or http://m.YourBrand.com.  The beauty of using the web to create your microsite is that you have access to all the same data that your main PC-based site does. 

Additionally, since your microsite is just a website, your existing programmers will know exactly what to do to make it based on your requirements.  We even have a robust development section to help them build the microsite out.  You get to use all your existing databases, image assets, and even much of your existing code to make a “child” microsite to your main PC website.  And since you’re developing to the web, the benefits to you are enormous.  You can use your existing analytics or multivariate testing methodologies on your microsite.

Click here to learn more about how PointAbout leverages microsites.

Thin-Client Springboard:

This is native code that PointAbout develops for each different phone platform, such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, etc.  Think of it as the “frame” of a picture.  Your microsite is the “picture” inside the frame.  All you have to worry about is picture, and we can change the “frame” depending on what phone platform wants to use the application.

The “frame” we create is very important because it allows you to get access to the phone’s features, such as the phone’s camera, accelerometer, address contact book, GPS or Cell-ID information, and more.  With this information, you can do much, much more than you could do with a regular website.