Using the Mobile Application Generator

Using the tool is simple: you just enter in a blog URL or RSS feed in the box provided in order to get started. Next, you enter in the name of your application. There's an option for you to upload your own image to use as the logo which appears on the launch screen. If you choose not to add an image, the AppLoop logo will display the app launches.

The generator will automatically select a color scheme that matches the first image found in your site's code. You can customize this color scheme if you wish by selecting one of the preset schemes available or you can create your own.

You can then choose an image to use as an Application Icon which appears both in the AppStore and on the mobile device's desktop. You must categorize your app (entertainment, news, etc.) and select which Application Stores you want your app to appear in (iTunes and/or Android).

The final step is setting the price for your application - you can leave it set to free, or set another price using the drop-down list. If you choose to charge for the app, AppLoop will give you 60% of the revenue earned. You can optionally integrate various revenue models or advertising schemes within your application if desired, and the company can help you with those options. If a publisher wants an Ad Hoc version of the app to test before going live the App Store, the company can assist with that as well.

Your app will include the company's analytics package so you can monitor your app's popularity and usage.

Reading The News In The App

Once the app is installed on a mobile device, users have the option to "favorite" an item in the feed to read later. This is similar to starring an item in Google Reader. There's also a button at the bottom of the post to share the item with friends via social media. You can post to Twitter, digg the story, send to Facebook, or even email the story to a friend.

iPod Touch users who have to rely on Wi-Fi will appreciate the app's content caching feature. The data within the application is stored locally on the device so it can be accessed at any time regardless of whether or not an internet connection is available.

Upcoming Features

AppLoop says this mobile app generator tool is only the first version of the application. Upcoming versions will offer new features like support for third-party plugins, commenting, rating, multiple categories and feeds, and other widgets. Another upcoming feature will be a new community layer on top of all applications which will provide for live chat and sharing options. AppLoop may launch these additional features as a premium version of their tool, but the basic version will always be free.

Extending Your Reach

As a publisher, there's a real need today to be able to extend your content beyond your site to other platforms. RSS provides a means to do this, but with the launch of the iPhone, there's another way to reach your readers, too: via iPhone apps. Despite the popularity of the games and other time-wasting apps, there's also a lot of people out there using apps to get the news, too. Take the AP News app, for example. Out of their 16 million pageviews in August on all mobile devices, 95% came from iPhone. With this new tool from AppLoop, any publisher can take advantage of the iPhone platform (and soon the Android platform, too) by making their content more portable and easy to access from anywhere.

Note: Screenshots from a RWW iPhone app, not yet available in App Store

Medialets is a disruptive ad platform and network for the iPhone. Developers using this service will be able to embed creative ads directly into their native applications. The model is very much like that of DoubleClick - the apps can be monetized through CPM, CPC, and CPA advertising, which allows the apps to remain free to the user while also letting iPhone developers make money from their applications.

In addition to the ad platform itself, Medialets will also be providing the developers with analytics, tracking, and even a toolkit to help them build the advertising portion of the application.

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Once the app is written and the Medialets framework has been embedded, the developers can then add their app to the iPhone App Store as usual and set the price to zero. As Apple distributes the apps to the users, Medialets will sell ads and share the revenue with the developers.

Medialets is being careful to make sure that their advertisements don't mar the otherwise unique and innovative user experience of the iPhone. While developers don't necessarily need to have their apps approved to work with Meidalets, the company will help them design ads that remain unique and beautiful, too. Medialets provides a supportive developer community and will offer demos and code examples for the developers to use.

The apps running Medialets will help brands and agencies find ways to offer audiences what are called "branded experiences." For example, an ad agency promoting professional racing might sponsor a branded racing game for their company or an app that lets fans track race stats and connect with other racing fans. Also, because location awareness is built-in to the 3G iPhone, applications that help people connect with nearby friends or find nearby businesses are also possible.

The official launch date for Medialets is July 11th - the same day as the iPhone 2.0 and the App Store.