GetJar announced the
launch of App Download Page, a new service for mobile developers and
content owners seeking to provide a simple experience for their users
to download the right mobile app for their phone, independent of device
platform, model or carrier.
App Download Page works by providing mobile developers and content
owners with a simple mobile webpage that can be linked to from any
mobile site. When the mobile webpage is displayed on a phone, the
device is automatically detected and the user is directed to the
appropriate version of the partner's mobile application for their phone
located on GetJar. If no application exists, GetJar provides a free
Mobile Site Shortcut (MSS), which is a small application that launches
any phone's native Web browser and redirects it to the appropriate
mobile site.
To trial the service the GetJar worked
with Facebook, whose mission is to give people the power to share and
make the world more open and connected. To help fulfill that mission in
an increasingly complex mobile environment, Facebook was one of the
first companies to successfully use GetJar's new service.
Developers upload and manage all of their applications on the GetJar Developer site at http://my.getjar.com/site/Developers.
Based on the experience gained over four years and over a half a
billion downloads, the App Download Page service is a world-class
solution for accurately detecting phones and quickly serving downloads
to consumers independent of device, platform or carrier.
"The rapid adoption and growth of mobile apps and sites makes
discovery and promotion of mobile properties a critical component of
any mobile strategy," commented Ilja Lars, GetJar CEO and founder.
"However, with literally thousands of different mobile phone models and
a variety of popular mobile operating systems and browsers, getting the
user the right mobile application has become an increasingly complex
problem for even the largest of Internet brands. As we have seen with
the initial Facebook launch, App Download Page helps take brands where
they really want to be: on the consumers' handset."
Photobucket, the Web's premier standalone photo and video-sharing
site, has confirmed that it will be next on deck to roll out the
service which will start later this fall - more companies are also
lined up to do the same. Like Facebook, the company sees an increasing
number of its Web users moving to mobile, but also faces the enormous
challenge of handset fragmentation and platform proliferation.
"Due to the explosive growth of Photobucket Mobile, we've been
seeking a simple solution for our users to find and download the right
versions of our mobile apps, and we are delighted to be able to
leverage GetJar's expertise gained from their 500 million downloads,"
said Michael Clark, senior vice president of technology and
partnerships for Photobucket.