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discoverability

How T-Mobile can help you find apps (Inside Apps)

I've often used this column to talk about how developers can get their apps noticed, so it's appropriate that the issue of discoverability was a key topic at a recent panel that I moderated.

Discoverability, it turns out, is not just a dilemma for small developers but in the minds of wireless and media executives as well. They approach it in many different ways.

Brad Duea, senior vice president of value-added services for T-Mobile USA, said his company's research indicates consumers prefer apps that are preloaded by the carriers. Jim Eadie, senior vice president for digital business … Read more

Five ways Netflix still needs to improve itself

While everyone's been in an uproar about Netflix pricing, few are discussing Netflix itself--and what's still broken about it. Netflix needs its pricing model problems fixed, but Netflix also could use some improvements to how its service works, too--particularly on mobile devices.

Related links • How Netflix could get out of its pricing mess • Social media backlash over Netflix pricing • Netflix alternatives

As a service, Netflix is at a crossroads. Is it streaming? Is it a DVD delivery service? Is it best as both? For myself, even though I subscribe to the DVD/streaming combo plan, I find myself rarely playing the DVDs I order. They sit on a shelf and collect dust. That's because I'm not a big living-room TV watcher: I cut the cable cord over a year and a half ago, and prefer to use my iPad, iPhone, or laptop to easily stream video. So, to me, Netflix is a streaming-video service.

Therefore, let me address Netflix's faults on those terms: as a streaming-video entertainment service. While we're venting our frustrations over paying more for what Netflix offers, there's no better time to cast an eye on what still doesn't work well on Netflix to begin with. Fix what's broken with Netflix, and maybe, if the service improves, it just might be worth a higher subscription price after all.… Read more