Photopod, the app which does exactly that, is now optimized for iPhone 5 and re-released as free app on App Store. It now also has better Dropbox and Tumblr support so you can move photos between services any way you like.

So, what can this Photopod do for me?

• First of all it will aggregate all your photos from Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Tumblr and Dropbox into a double accordion interface, making all your photos from the cloud and your camera roll available to you instantly at one place without the need to log in and out or to switch apps.

• Then, you can find any photo in seconds, no matter where it’s shared.

• You can also edit photos, change titles and descriptions and re-upload them.

• And finally, you can upload/download multiple images from any service to any service you want. This basically allows you to backup your collection if you want straight from the device. Btw, all this is done in the background so you can continue browsing photos while your photos are being downloaded/uploaded.

Why is it free?

The first time we released Photopod for free was when our app Photo Stats –infographic creator for iPhone got featured as the App of the Week on App Store, as a way to give back something to the iPhone photo community.

Now, we have released a new app – Funny Faces Camera and judginig by the first couple of days it will be successful as well, so we decided to optimize Photopod for all of you who bought iPhone 5 devices and to improve Dropbox integration because many of you asked for that.

It’s our way of saying thank you and keep on iPhoneographing.

May the force all your photos be with you :)

What’s the story?

First we learned that someone simply took our iOS hit app, Photo Stats, all its features, design and texts and published it under their name as a paid app InFoto on Google Play.
At the same time, on the other store, our new app was rejected by Apple for a minor inaccuracy in submission procedure (not the app itself) and we had to resubmit it and reschedule all launch activities.

Why does it matter?

Photo Stats app was featured as App of the Week, Staff Favorite and New and Noteworthy app on Apple App Store and some ’wise guy’ simply stole all our work and is now making profits out of it. Wouldn’t you be as upset as we are now?
It’s not a simple clone app anymore – it’s a plain theft, as far as we see it. And the screenshots above make this case an obvious one.

To make it even worse, we have considered releasing the app for Android devices, but now this crappy (judging by reviews on Google Play it doesn’t even work as advertised) ripoff has completely killed any chance of making an impact as we did on App Store, causing  loss of potential profits and possible reputation damage as well.

Who is to blame?

Of course, the development company is the thief here, that’s obvious. There are, and always will be those who want to make easy money by stealing other people’s work and selling it as their own.
But, it’s even more important to ask:

• Who let them do it?

• Does the ecosystem allow (or even promote) this kind of behaviour?

• And, finally what will happen when they get caught? Will they get away with it and continue doing what they have been doing?

It seems that Google’s app submission procedures not only allow, but also promote this kind of behaviour. If that is true, we really do have two types of app stores:

• one that is so closed that your app may be rejected for even the slightest incoherence to policies, and

• the other that is too open that it better resembles wild wild west than the organized application ecosystem.

What to do?

We have submitted a request Google to have the app removed. And we have also asked for feedback of what has been done with the developer in question because we want to see whether we can expect more apps like this appearing in the future from the same guys.
We are waiting for the answer and we’ll share what happened, either as an update or a new blog post.

To conclude

There are so many great things about being a mobile developer. And we love them all. This situation is not one of them, and we hope that the mobile ecosystem will have as few situations like this one as possible.

Therefore, our final word to Google is:
Dear Mr. Google, the only way to push the mobile ecosystem forward is to be original and create amazing new experiences. We believe that’s what you want, too. So please, don’t let them steal from us and get away with it.

So, we just had to reach to the guy who wants to completely redefine the email client application and ask him to share his favourite apps.

Meet Tobias van Schneider, designer at Fantasy Interactive and Co-Founder at les Avignons, Tabspresso, .Mail app and Themesociety. The .Mail concept is so cool that we can’t wait until it’s released – our guess, based on the preview we saw on the website, is that many people who developed a routine to first tap Mail app in the morning (Tobias admitted being one of them) will do a Mail>.Mail transformation very soon.

We started with the question about the last app he installed and Tobias’ reply was “I think it was Solar, the weather app”, admitting that he is “actually not a heavy iPhone user, not sure why exactly but I’m kinda lazy when it comes to use/install mobile apps”.

The top three spots on his list of favourite apps are reserved for Instagram, Crossprozess and Hootsuite. His favourite type of apps are from the Productivity and Inspiration categories (like tumblr, Instagram, etc) and these two apps are also the ones he’d recommend for having fun.

When it comes to work, Dropbox is definitely the most useful app for a designer – “Because I have almost everything important on my phone (files which I produces for example)”. Other apps ‘for work’ Tobias thinks that should be installed on a device are Hootsuite, Instapaper, GoogleAnalytics, Skype and Clear.

Finally, we came to the question of games. His favourite is “The impossible game” because of “Great soundtrack, super simple graphics and so much fun”

These three elements are definitely a winning combination for mobile apps and we expect many great apps from Tobias soon. In the meantime, make sure to sign-up for the .Mail once it’s released and check out portfolio on his website. There are some really great designs over there.

You already know that we do a similar set of questions in all interviews, about their favourites, apps they first tap in the morning etc. but while writing this I simply had to change the order completely and start with what I believe is the best definition of Evernote I’ve ever heard:

“Evernote – great place to add all the things you would never ever want to remember but feel the need to anyway.”

This little piece of wisdom was uttered by Sir Dr Mills Jnr™ (Chief Wonka) from ustwo™, a non-conventional web design studio which has recently brought us Whale Trail Frenzy, endless flyer game for iOS and Android (btw, if you haven’t tried this game already, make sure to check out the video). And if this was the app he recommends for work, let’s see what he had to say about other apps:

Speaking of work, it obviously takes a lot of effort to develop great games (and make those awesome videos) so one has to be in great shape all the time – the first app he taps in the morning is Adrian James 6 Pack Abs Workout.

Yet, it seems that walking is not an option for going to work, though – for him, Hailo is the most useful app because “it makes ordering a cab so easy. Incredible service and easy to use.”

When you are a member of a creative crew, music and reading are probably your favourites and you need beautiful apps for this. So, not surprisingly, Spotify and Pulse are on the list of favourite apps, together with Hailo. Moreover, constant experimentations with visuals are not just a part of work for creatives, they are also favourite pastime: “I love sharing with Instagram (who doesn’t). It’s such a great way of documenting the growth of ustwo™”. And the last app installed on his smarphone is over: text+photos. So, photo apps, are definitely his favourite type of apps.

Finally, we came to the question of games. Sir Dr Mills Jnr™ admitted that Whale Trail Frenzy is also his favorite game “because I am so proud of what we’ve achieved”. And he added that he’d recommend Honk! for fun – ‘although it’s in beta right now and thus impossible to get hold of’.

We also enjoyed the endless flyer from this creative development studio and are looking forward to see what the team from ustwo has in store for us next.

Tiny Wings has been the best app in our App Hall of Fame for a very long time. The awesome lo-fi video trailer for its sequel made me go to the App Store first thing this morning. I was so impatient to see what the new version will be like.

And there came a surprise – Tiny Wings 2 is not a new app at all – it’s a free update for all those who ever bought the app in the first place. And it’s probably the best free update for an iOS game ever.

No game developer ever invested the whole 12 months of work into an update

The whole 12 months of work went into the development of Tiny Wings 2. In times when people try to find ways to monetize even the tiny updates to their software, Andreas Illiger warmed our hearts with his decision to give all that for free to his fans “as a big “thank you” to all my fans for changing my life.”

He knew that his “fans will be happy on the release day when they see that the sequel isn’t a seperate app and they will get it for free. I worked on the 2.0 version for the last 12 months and everyone told me I should make a seperate app out of it and sell it again (because it is almost a new game and I would earn a lot more money). It was a heavy decision for me to give away this new version for free but it feels right…”

It kept all the best features from the first version, and even made them better

Andreas didn’t fall into a trap of ‘doing something completely new for the new version’ and everything we all loved in the first version is still there. The style, visuals and commands are all the same, they have just been tweaked to perfection. The new features, such as Flight School, where you race against three other birds are great upgrades, complement the old ones and just made the game even more addictive.

So, off to App Store – if you have ever played Tiny Wings you’ll love Andreas’ gift. It is definitely the best free update for an iOS game ever. If you want to give something back and you have an iPad, make sure to check out the Tiny Wings HD which was also released on App Store today. It has higher-quality graphics, optimized for the iPad experience as well as a split-screen multiplayer mode to race against your friends. Enjoy flying.

But more importantly, it made us think a bit more about typography. Do we sometimes underestimate the influence typography has on the success of iPhone/Android app? This will probably be the topic of one of the future posts here on Smashapp, but until then we decided to give all the fans of great typography a little treat.

As a part of our Desert Island App series, we made an interview with Jürgen Siebert, editor of your favorite typography resource – FontBook, and asked him to share his favorite apps with our readers. He gave us a list of seven stylish apps you’ll definitely enjoy.

Jürgen is the first person we interviewed who doesn’t tap Mail app first in the morning. Instead of that he checks his tweets with Echofon. It’s also on his list of three favorite apps, together with two apps which are all about fonts and words – the first one helps you write in style: iA Writer, and the second one makes reading on your iPhone so much more enjoyable: Readability.

He also confessed that he didn’t like playing games on his iPhone, but he said that he just loved photo apps. They are his favorite type of apps and he “has masses of them” (btw, we’re really interested in what he’d say about Photo Stats). Instead of playing games Jürgen told us he prefers using Screenfeeder app when he wants to have fun.
Finally, we came to the most useful app and in his opinion it’s eyeTV Netstream, which he chose “because it allows me to see TV in my bed.” As far as work is considered, Keynote is a must (and FontBook of course). We concluded the interview talking about the last app he installed Tape.tv, the great little German app to watch video in style.
We really enjoyed the chance to have a sneak peak into a typography expert’s phone and we hope you’ll enjoy using the apps from the list.

Who knows, maybe we’ll make a section with apps with great typography here on Smashapp. What do you think about this idea?

App Store has thousands and thousands of lousy apps already – don’t add another one, please.

Look at the following list of symptoms and if your app has any, make sure you fix those issues before the app goes live. Once it’s on the App Store, it might be too late.

1.     You have nothing to say

Why are you making this app?

Is it just because all other businesses are doing it and you heard that ‘you need to have an app’ in your mobile marketing strategy or you genuinely have something to say that will interest your target group?

Because if you don’t, no one will care – and ‘no one cares’ translates to ‘you’re wasting your money’. Remember, you are the one who creates the app, yet the app is not created for you, but for your target group.

The elevator pitch technique is a great way to test this even before the app is out:

Imagine you are in an elevator with a hot blonde (symbolizing your target group) and you have only 15 seconds to make her interested (in your app). If what you are saying (about your app) doesn’t get her attention and she goes through the door you lost your chance with her forever. The same goes if she finds you too pushy and decides to leave the elevator three floors earlier.

Will your pitch make her go out (to the App Store) with you?

In short, if you can’t tell me why I should care about your app in 15 seconds – go back to the drawing board, today, no one will give you(r app) more attention than that.

2.     You don’t have a target group

Speaking of target groups – do you have one?

No? You are planning to have a general-purpose app everyone will love and use? Everyone will share it with all their friends and relatives, no matter how old they are, where they live, how educated they are, how much they earn? And you will live happily ever after in mobile heaven…

Now, back to real world – even the apps seemingly used by everyone have primary target group(s).  And trust me, if you are preaching to the wrong audience, no one will convert no matter how awesome your message is.

3.     No one cares about what your app does

Identifying target group is not enough, though. They need to care about what you are saying.

So, imagine yourself in the shoes of that blonde in the elevator, listening to a pitch (about a new app) and ask yourself three questions:

• Do I care?

• No, really, do I care about this?

• Ok, this sounds great, but how is this different from ______________(other app/ competition)?

Your users can have a rather different perspective of the world and care about different things than you do. So, remember, you are not making an app for yourself, but for your target group so give them something they need/like.

4.     You don’t know the competition

What do you know about positioning?

Marketers are well aware that people position only two or three products in the same category and disregard the others.

So,

if you don’t have an Instagram-like app which is ten times better than the original,

don’t make the ‘new Instagram’,

if your competition has already solved this problem for the consumers,

try to find a new problem to solve (or at least a new angle)

because (once again!) no one will care.

So, whatever you do, know the competition on the App Store. Another benefit of knowing your competition is that you can improve what their apps lack (add a missing feature, or an awesome UI, etc.) .

Therefore, if you haven’t done it already, do your research. It will pay off.

5.     You want to release as soon as possible and aim to fix everything in the version 2.0

Good luck with this strategy! You will need it.

Personally, I don’t know any app which had a lousy release that turned great with the second version. And, once your App Store rankings are damaged, you’ll have a really hard time recovering.

Returning to the elevator – it’s like hitting on the same stranger for the second time, saying “I know I was lousy last time, but now I’m awesome. Would you like to go out with me?”

You better be more than awesome this time, or they won’t even look at you. And if you could be so awesome, why not make a great first impression? Your chances for success will be much higher.

6.     You know to code and don’t worry about design

Please just look at these coolest apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

Do you see any which looks bad?

That’s the point.

Mobile users love apps that look good and provide great functionalities. In that order!

Your app has to look great from the icon to the final screen. Or you have to overdeliver (I mean really, really overdeliver) with the functionalities. And even if you do manage to get them install and use it, it’s not so likely that they will share it. So, make sure you have a great designer on board.

7.     Your app is complicated

This one actually sums all the previous ones –

• if you can’t explain your app in 15 seconds and make your target group interested,

• if it doesn’t communicate clearly to your target group,

• if you have packed to many features into one app, or

• if a user can’t find his/her way through your app intuitively and simply either because your UI is complicated or cluttered

STOP!

Take a deep breath and re-evaluate the whole project.

After all – the question is not how to publish an app on App Store – the Developer account is only $99 and there are so many programers out there who can write a piece of code which will get accepted into the store.

The real question is how to get into the New and Noteworthy, create great user experience and utilize the business potential of your app to the maximum. To do this you’ll need to contribute to the ecosystem. And for that you’ll need a really good creative mobile development team.

I think that we can skip the usual opening question “Does your business need a mobile marketing strategy?” After all, it’s 2012 and mobile marketing is not the new kid on the block anymore (it’s actually more likely to be taking the lead soon), but if some of you are still not sure just take a look at some stats from the reports:

The question is not whether you can afford developing a mobile marketing strategy, but whether you can afford not to have one.

Ok, let’s now start with the interesting part – how to decide whether to invest your money into your business mobile app or into advertising on mobile advertising networks.

Setting mobile marketing strategy goals

The first question you need to ask yourself is

What do you want to achieve with mobile?

Be very specific when answering this question. Some useful sub-questions that can help you with this are:

Do you want

In other words, do you want

Your answer will probably be a combination of all these aspects. Generally, if you answered ‘Yes’ more for the questions on the left than on the right, buying ads should be a good start for you. Yet, if you have more than two positive answers for the questions on the right don’t give up on the app just yet – it might be the best thing that happened to your business in a long time.

If only it was as simple as that. :(

Figuring out what you want to achieve is just a starting point. To reach the decision you’ll have to ask – and who is better to tell you what to do than your customers themselves.

Find out how your target group uses mobile devices

If you are reading whether to focus or app or ads in your mobile marketing strategy I guess you already did your homework about your target group. That’s great – you know their demographic data, such as age, income or geographical location and you probably already have a couple of ’typical customer’ profiles you use to plan your marketing activities.

Now, you need to make them come alive.

The truth is – mobile users are almost always multitasking. If they are using their smartphone or tablet they are probably doing at least one thing more – watching TV, riding on a train back home, shopping, exercising, exploring new city, etc. And to really take the most  mobile technology can give, you need to add another dimension to your profiles and create several interaction scenarios, such as ’we want to target 25-35 college-educated professionals while they are getting news updates on their way to work, or we want to target 16-22 girls while they are shopping for fashion items.

To help you get started, answer these questions:

• Where are they?

• What are they doing?

• Are they focused or not?

• How much time do they have to interact?

• Do they know anything about you? If they do, what do they think about you?

People prefer using apps for things they do everyday so if you can break into their routine with an useful (or entertaining) app, definitely make one. If, on the other hand, you want users who do something for the first time a well-targeted advertising campaign will probably be much more efficient.

And yes, don’t worry if some answers are nothing more than educated guesses – this is a good start which will help you answer the following question.

What can I offer to the customer in order to break through the mobile clutter?

First of all, repeat the following sentence three times:

No one wants to download an ad!

No one wants to download an ad!

No one wants to download an ad!

Got it? Great, just please don’t forget it or you’ll just end up wasting your mobile marketing budget.

Now, think about the following:

• An average person sees over 1000 ads in a single day.

• There are over half a million apps in the Store (and counting).

• Mobile screen is way smaller than computer screen – people don’t want to share that space with anything that distracts them from what they are currently doing.

So, if your app looks like an ad no one will want to install it. In other words, you have something to brag about at parties, but although saying “we’ve just made an iPhone app“ sounds so cool, in effect you’ll just be wasting your money for an app you didn’t really need.

Similarly, if your mobile ad is too ‘product-centric’ it will have ten times less chance to catch user’s attention than on desktop, because as I said above, small screen makes people focus and therefore they prefer clean interfaces and block anything not relevant to what they are currently doing.

This is where many mobile marketing strategies go wrong – marketers want to create an app and focus on what they have to say, not on what consumers want to hear, and mobile users are not really known for paying any attention to anything that is not relevant to them, their problems and their needs.

So, the only way to break to the clutter and get to all those affluent mobile users is to be relevant and find what you can offer to those users. Solve their problem if they have one, give them entertainment if they are bored (and many people do use smartphones to cure boredom- why do you think all those 2D games are so popular), give them more efficient way to do what they are doing (they’ll just love it),give them information they search for and (especially in ad campaigns) be extra short.

To sum up – if your target group has a problem you can solve or you can help them be more efficient – develop an app and they will love you and your product. If you can’t do it don’t just make an app and fill it with photos of your products (at least if you are not a famous fashion brand). In that case, go with the ads, but make them relevant to the situation in which your target customers are likely to be. Offer very short, compelling content and you’ll have a much higher chance of being noticed and getting your conversion rates up. It has been shown that users prefer apps for frequent engagement (such as social networks) with a brand they know, while they are more likely to respond to well-targeted ads by a less-known brand than to install their app.

Whatever you chose in the end, app or ads – make sure that the experience you are offering them is optimized and not just fitting the old marketing practices into smaller screens. If you are publishing an app make sure your interface provides great user experiences. If you are using ads, make sure that your landing page is optimized for mobile devices because there is no bigger turn off for mobile users than coming to a page which looks crappy.

The final piece of advice: this is not an ‘either or’ choice. You should integrate both mobile app and advertising into your mobile marketing strategy (after all, if you develop an app, you’ll need some advertising for it, right?) and the best results are achieved when these two are combined. These four steps above should serve you just as a guideline how to decide what you should focus on in your mobile marketing strategy: app or ads.

But, making an awesome iOS game is not an easy job though. As a part of our Desert Island Apps interview series today we were privileged to speak with Simon from Simogo, creators of several iOS gaming hits, including  Beat Sneak Bandit , Bumpy Road and Kosmo Spin. And he also let us have a sneak peek into his iPhone and share his favourite apps (or better said: games) with you.

Needless to say, when we asked him what type of apps he likes the most he chose games. And his favourite game of all is Async Corp because “it’s a puzzle game with a fantastic game design and rule sets. And it’s a game that you understand new things about the more you play.”

And the other two apps on the list of Simon’s favourite apps are also games: Space Invaders Infinity Gene and Sword & Sworcery EP. Also, the last app he installed on his device is (no wonder here) a game, too: Sprinkle. He gave us a tip for a game he likes to play when he wants to have fun. It’s Match Panic.

I have only one thing to about these games: if you haven’t tried any of these games, go to the App Store straight away and download them – if Simon loves them, what better recommendation you need.

At the end we asked: Do you use any apps for work, besides playing games on your phone?

“I hardly use my phone for any work related stuff, besides checking mail. I’d recommend Clear, to scribble down ideas. It’s the most useful app because I can use it to scribble down quick thoughts, and it’s better than the preinstalled note thing by Apple.”

So, now you know it – if you want to make games you have to play games. Simon showed us how it should be done the right way. I don’t know about you, but I am gonna play some Beat Sneak Bandit (again :) ) as soon as I finish this post.

The next interview in the Desert Island apps series is with Jenny Wager, founder of LeftTurn Labs, the creators of Next! - an amazing app which will take your productivity to the next level.

And to create such a great productivity app, you really have to love this kind of apps, so it came as no surprise that productivity applications are Jenny’s favorite type of apps. When asked why she simply said: ‘I’m a nerd. :)’

So we wanted to know what was the last app she installed on her iPhone, and were surprised to learn it wasn’t a productivity app at all – it was theCHIVE Pro, the app she recommends for having a fun time because it’s ‘great way to escape and check out funny pictures.’

To return the topic more to the subject of productivity we followed with the question about the most useful app and for Jenny that’s Mint which ‘keeps her on top of all her finances.’ Of course, Mint is also on her list of favorite apps, together with Jump (‘remote in to your PC from anywhere’) and Next! (‘have to recommend my own app for keeping track of all your documents & todos!’), two great apps she would recommend for work.

Btw, although we asked for three favorite apps, she couldn’t help but add iBooks to the list as the fourth.

Finally, as all busy people, the first app she taps in the morning is Mail – judging by the creators of the best apps out there it seems that if someone made a simple app which opens your mail as soon as your alarm clock sounds it would be a hit on the App Store ;)

We hope you enjoyed the chance to have a peek into the iPhone of a founder of a successful development studio, which created an awesome app to make our lives (and to-do lists) better and more productive. As for us from Smashapp, until the next post in the series, we’ll enjoy the friendly competition of playing Words with Friends with Jenny – it’s the game she enjoys playing the most.

Stay tuned for more mobile app inspiration and enjoy the coolest apps for iPhone, iPad and Android at Smashapp.