September 2, 2014 – Baltimore, MD – Apkudo, the device experience assurance company, today announced the launch of ‘Confirmed Kill’ testing to verify and validate smartphone kill switch implementations. The test suite – an extension of Apkudo Approved device analysis – will ensure device kill switches meet the requirements of the law while providing the best possible user experience.

California State Senate Bill 962 – which was signed into law on August 25 and takes effect July 1, 2015 – mandates that device manufacturers implement extensive measures to protect consumers against the theft of mobile devices and the data they contain. These include the ability to remotely disable voice, data, and app capabilities if the device is lost or stolen, enabling of the kill switch by default, and forbidding the feature from being disabled by a hard reset.

“The bill attempts to balance the needs of the consumer with the freedom for manufacturers to comply in the way that best suits their platform,” said Josh Matthews, co-founder and CEO of Apkudo. “It does, however, put the onus on these manufacturers to integrate this kill switch functionality into incredibly complex mobile operating systems. This in turn will lead to issues with both fragmented compliance and fragmented user experiences.”

The Confirmed Kill test suite from Apkudo provides industry-first independent validation that ensures both correctness and effectiveness of kill switch implementations, and consistency in user experience.

Confirmed Kill has been added to the market-leading Apkudo Approved device test plan, which analyzes smart devices from both a technical and user experience perspective to determine how devices will perform in the real-world. It allows device manufacturers and service providers to uncover and fix any issues before launch and ensure the best possible user experience of their devices.

December 10, 2013 – Baltimore, MD – Apkudo, the device quality assurance company, and the China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MIIT (CATR), today announced that the companies have agreed to deliver Apkudo’s device user experience testing and analysis to the Chinese market. Apkudo Approved, a comprehensive user experience analytics suite, helps wireless operators and device manufacturers successfully launch their mobile devices.

An Apkudo Approved device is one that provides a consistent, reliable, and well-characterized user experience. The Apkudo partnership will allow Terminal Test Labs (TTL) within CATR to help their customers determine how their devices perform across millions of different user scenarios, exercising key apps, and comparing them to every other similar device on the market.

“China is the largest wireless device market in the world,” said Song Chongwen, Director of Marketing and Sales at TTL. “This market has matured so rapidly that user experience is often an afterthought. It is critical the dominant Chinese operators and manufacturers now aggressively focus on how to make their customers’ user experience better.”

“Apkudo is committed to helping the mobile device ecosystem deliver the best possible user experience. TTL currently tests about 1000 devices a year, and with Apkudo’s help they can ensure that higher quality devices get into the hands of Chinese consumers,” said Josh Matthews, CEO of Apkudo.

Fragmentation on the Android operating system presents many complications for developers. It is a time-consuming and expensive process to test games out on dozens of different devices, and even then it’s unlikely studios can get their titles running perfectly on every phone or tablet in use.

That’s where device-testing firm Apkudo comes in. Keep reading…

Apkudo Lauded as Leaders in Android Device and Application Testing

Baltimore, MD – June 20, 2013 – Apkudo announced today that it has been named to the annual FierceWireless “Fierce 15” list, designating it as one of the top privately-held wireless companies of the year. FierceWireless editors evaluated hundreds of organizations, and found Apkudo to be one of the “fiercest,” proven by their creativity and innovation in the Android marketplace.

FierceWireless, an internationally recognized daily email newsletter reaching more than 80,000 senior wireless industry executives, provides executives in over 100 countries with a quick, authoritative briefing on the day’s top wireless stories, including new trends and technologies.

“Apkudo’s extensive testing of Android smartphones gathers a multitude of metrics to objectively determine how a device performs both by itself and compared to other Android devices in the market,” said Phil Goldstein, Editor of FierceWireless. “Because most carriers and device manufacturers don’t perform the kind of testing Apkudo does, the company provides a valuable service that has improved Android device quality in a way that hasn’t been done before.”

Apkudo Approved helps wireless carriers and device manufacturers make better Android devices. Apkudo works with carriers and device manufacturers early in the device-approvals process and throughout technical acceptance to put any phone or app through almost every conceivable Android user activity or use-case. The Apkudo Approved data-driven approach gets phones launched faster through identification of critical device issues before launch, and significantly reduces device return costs by delivering a top performing device with quantitative data than can help carriers match target segments with phone experience.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by FierceWireless, the industry’s must-read news leader,” said Josh Matthews, Apkudo CEO. “The wireless community depends on FierceWireless to provide the most up-to-date news along with analysis of major industry trends. It is an honor to be recognized by such a well-regarded news outlet.”

The FierceWireless “Fierce 15” celebrates the spirit of being “fierce” –  championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition. The complete list of winning companies is available on the FierceWireless website at fiercewireless.com

About FierceMarkets
FierceMarkets, a wholly owned subsidiary of Questex Media Group, a leader in B2B e-media, providing information and marketing services in the Telecommunications, Life Sciences, Healthcare, IT, Energy, Government, and Finance industries through its portfolio of e-mail newsletters, Web sites, webinars, and live events. Every business day, FierceMarkets’ wide array of publications reaches more than 1,300,000 executives in over 100 countries.

About Apkudo
An Android user experience innovation company, Apkudo is pioneering analysis technologies that deeply and holistically test pre-release Android devices against millions of different possible use-cases and activities to discover bugs and refine the user interface and experience, taking devices from bad to good, and good to great. Apkudo works with many of the world’s largest device manufacturers, including Samsung, Sony, HTC, and LG, and carriers such as MetroPCS, Cricket and Cincinnati Bell.

Apkudo is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The Apkudo team includes deep research expertise with the Android operating system including optimization, usability and performance testing, and is focused on helping the ecosystem deliver the best possible user experience to Android device owners.

Learn more at apkudo.com or email hello@apkudo.com for additional information.

June 6, 2013 – Baltimore, MD – Apkudo, the Android innovation company, today announced that Cellular One of East Central Illinois, a wireless carrier providing excellent coverage to 11 counties in Illinois, has chosen the Apkudo Approved program for objectively analyzing the user experience of their pre-release Android devices. Apkudo will help Cellular One standardize, stabilize and overall make a better user experience on their Android devices.

The new partnership gives Cellular One the opportunity to leverage independent, trusted, third party data to help plan, develop, launch, and maintain successful Android devices for their consumers. The Apkudo Approved program enables carriers and device manufacturers to analyze and understand the user experience of their devices, in the context of other devices, throughout the device lifecycle.

“We are proud to work with Cellular One of East Central Illinois to analyze the user experience of their pre-launch Android devices,” said Josh Matthews, Co-founder and CEO of Apkudo. “We look forward to helping Cellular One launch devices that provide the best possible user experience to their customers.”

“The Apkudo Approved program brings greater breadth and depth than our current device testing capabilities,” said Cassy Carter, CEO/GM of Cellular One of East Central Illinois. “With Apkudo, our customers will get a device that fits their specific needs and provides a consistent, smooth user experience. Apkudo Approved is not only a necessity for Android device testing, but we’re making it a requirement to ensure we’re giving our customers the best user experience possible.”

A privately-owned company founded in 1991, Cellular One is the only wireless provider dedicated exclusively to providing quality nationwide cellular and internet service to the residents of Clark, Edgar, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Jasper, Lawrence, Richland and Vermilion counties in East Central Illinois.

With smartphone penetration moving past the mass market and into the laggard category, many are getting their first taste of smartphones on free and lower-power Android devices, and they’re not thrilled. The core reason for customer device returns at Cincinnati Bell was poor user experience.

Continue reading…

How Do You Define an App? Part 1

How Do You Define an App? Part 2

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to watch Josh on “Taking Stock!”

Meet our newest Lab Tech, Wyatt!

First up is Apkudo’s newest Lab Technician, Wyatt Kund! We sat Wyatt down and asked him a few questions. Then we made him wear this sweet Lab coat, which he now rocks on a daily. Looking good, Wyatt. Looking good.

1) What is your earliest computing or internet memory?

Probably watching my older brother playing video games.

2) What was your favorite NES game?

Megaman 2. I can still play that game for hours.

3) If you could be any superhero, who would you be?

Batman, sorry Mom and Dad.

4) What excites you most about the future of technology?

Miniaturization. In my pocket I have a computer more powerful than a supercomputer that would have taken up a warehouse just a few decades ago. That’s amazing! How long before a computer as powerful as the one at CERN is in my pocket, what doors could it open up? I can’t say for sure, but I can’t wait to find out.

5) Do you sleep with your socks on?

WHAT!? NO! Do people do that?

Editor’s note: Yes. Yes they do. 

6) What software or websites couldn’t you live without?

Google. I have a lot of inane questions, and they seem to have all the answers.

7) If you could have a beer with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I would have to say Carl Sagan. He’s been a hero of mine ever since I watched Cosmos. The way he talked about everything completely changed my perspective on the world. It’s a shame he left us so soon, and the opportunity to pick his brain would be priceless to me.

8) Do you want fries with that?

Yes, but I probably won’t eat them. I always intend to, but rarely have the room.

9) If you could go on an all expense paid vacation to anywhere, where would you go and why?

Hawaii. Just once I’d like to see clear blue water. I’ve gotten so used to the color of the bay that I think all the pictures of clean water is some sort of complex hoax.

10) Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?

No brainer, 100 duck sized horses. A horse- sized duck just seems too dangerous.

Wyatt’s love for CyanogenMod and inquisitive nature about how Android works immediately set him apart. Once he expressed his love for Magic: The Gathering, well, he all but locked up the position. Please help us in welcoming Wyatt to the Apkudo team!