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Four months ago, Facebook launched something called the Preferred Developer Consultant Program in an effort to point companies and celebrities towards the best developers.  Now, the program’s taking an important leap forward as Facebook’s more than tripled the number of recommended developers.

Facebook started things off with just 14 developers, which seemed like an interesting choice.  Those dozen or so developers couldn’t possibly design too many Facebook pages and/or apps, after all, so was demand negligible?  Were great developers extremely rare?  Or did Facebook just feel like causing a crazy bidding war for people’s services?

Today, the social network granted 35 additional developers "preferred" status, making the situation look somewhat manageable.

Kristin Thayer, a member of the Facebook Developer Network team, also explained that the global community’s needs have been taken into consideration.  She wrote on the Facebook Developer Blog, "Over half of the new Preferred Developer Consultants have international operations and have already built campaigns, community portals, and other social applications in countries like Israel, Lithuania, and Czech Republic."

Thayer added, as well, "If you or your company builds high quality Facebook Connect implementations, Facebook applications, and/or Facebook Pages, and is interested in being included as a developer consultant in this program, please visit the Developer FAQ to learn more about submitting your company for consideration."

Android phone owners should now be able to become smarter consumers.  A free app called Google Shopper has been released, and with it, users are supposed to find it easier than ever to look up product specs, check out reviews, and compare prices.

Google Shopper doesn’t quite represent some breakthrough.  Instead, it combines the image recognition abilities offered by Google Goggles with the barcode-scanning feature Google Product Search for mobile introduced in May.  Plus some voice recognition tech that’s been in development for even longer.

The Google Mobile Blog explains that, as a result, "Shopper lets you find product information quickly by using your phone’s camera.  It can recognize cover art of books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with most barcodes.  You can also speak the name of the product you’re looking for."

Then additional features include the ability to star items for return visits and share things with friends.

This is bound to come in handy in all sorts of situations.  Even more so, perhaps, since Google Shopper is free and seems to work rather well.  The only party that might suffer due to this development will be the retailer(s) whose customers discover they should do a lot more shopping at Amazon and Newegg.

Google is launching the Google Voice app for both the iPhone and Palm WebOS. It is an HTML5 app, which the company says provides users with a "fast and versatile" mobile experience, because of its use of the latest advancements in web technologies.

"For example, AppCache lets you interact with web apps without a network connection and local databases allow you to store data locally on the device, so you don’t lose data even when you close the browser," explains Google in a post to its Mobile blog.

"For quick access to the most important features like ‘Dialer’, ‘Compose SMS’, ‘Inbox’ or ‘Contacts,’ you can add shortcuts to your iPhone home screen or Palm Launcher — so cheap calls and messaging will be just a single click away. And because the Google Voice web app uses advanced features of modern HTML5 browsers, it offers native app-like performance and speed," Google adds.

Users can not only access a streamlined version of their Google Voice inbox, but with the new app, they can display their Google Voice number as the outbound caller ID, so return calls come back to that number. It can also be used to send and receive text messages for free, and place international calls at Google Voice’s rates.

Users have to have a Google Voice account and a voice plan on their phones to place calls with the app. At this point, accounts are still available only on an invitation basis, although invites can be requested.

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Microsoft has removed the beta tag from the Bing Maps Silverlight site. This means, at least according to Microsoft, that users can expect greater reliability, supportability, and further innovation.

"First off, if you go to the Bing Maps AJAX site and have Silverlight installed chances are you will be redirected to the Bing Maps Silverlight site (note this change only affects users in the US)," explains Microsoft’s Chris Pendleton. "We’re rolling this out with a small percentage of users increasing up to 100% of all users in a few weeks. If you don"t have Silverlight installed you can hit the AJAX site and will be prompted to install Silverlight (which you can opt out of, but WHY would you??). Well, to make the AJAX site a bit smoother we’ve introduced some new transitions in the tile loading process for panning and zooming. So you can have your Silverlight and AJAX too. If you don’t want to stay on the Silverlight site, you can opt out and return to the AJAX site (aka Bing Maps Classic) via the link on the Silverlight site."

Microsoft has also launched two new Bing Maps Applicaton Gallery apps. These are "Destination Maps" and "Local Events". The former shows vector-based route geometries on new map background, and the latter lets users find things to do in their own towns.

From the sound of it, Bing Maps users should expect much more in the way of apps. "These apps are only the beginning," says Pendleton. "You see it coming? A massive wave is upon you. Get ready."

More detailed information on the two newly launched apps can be found here and here respectively. On another Bing-related note, Microsoft has started improving its autosuggest feature. Time will tell if it proves to be an improvement over Google’s much criticized Google Suggest.

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Gartner has released some research findings that indicate consumers will spend $6.2 billion in 2010 in mobile application stores. Meanwhile, advertising revenue is expected to generate $0.6 billion worldwide.

According to Gartner, mobile app stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads in 2010, eight out of ten of which will be free. Gartner also forecasts worldwide downloads in mobile application stores to surpass 21.6 billion by 2013, and free downloads to account for 82% of all downloads in 2010 (87% in 2013).

"As smartphones grow in popularity and application stores become the focus for several players in the value chain, more consumers will experiment with application downloads," said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner. "Games remain the No. 1 application, and mobile shopping, social networking, utilities and productivity tools continue to grow and attract increasing amounts of money."

"Growth in smartphone sales will not necessarily mean that consumers will spend more money, but it will widen the addressable market for an offering that will be advertising-funded," added Baghdassarian. "The value chain of the application stores will evolve as rules are set and broken in an attempt to find the most profitable business model for all parties involved."

"Application stores will be a core focus throughout 2010 for the mobile industry and applications themselves will help determine the winner among mobile devices platforms," said Carolina Milanesi, another research director at Gartner. "Consumers will have a wide choice of stores and will seek the ones that make it easy for them to discover applications they are interested in and make it easy to pay for them when they have to. Developers will have to consider carefully not only which platform to support but also which store to promote their applications in."

Some of Gartners numbers have been brought into question by another research firm, comScore. In reference to a Gartner claim that Apple App Store downloads accounted for 99.4% of all mobile app downloads in 2009,  comScore analyst Alistair Hill is quoted as saying, "I think somebody’s missed something out on the maths there…I find that hard to believe. We know iPhone users buy a lot more apps than anybody else, but that still doesn’t work."

Still, we haven’t seen anything solid to dispute the claim. But we might see something surface soon.

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Even if you haven’t used Spotify, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of it. The service’s description goes: "A world of music. Millions of songs on your computer, on your mobile and available offline. Brought to you ad free."

People in the US have been unable to use the service so far. There has been talk that this may soon change upon the launch of Google’s Nexus One phone, but this may not happen. There was rumored to be a US Spotify app for Google’s Android ready just in time for the launch of the phone. Michael Arrington reports:

The two companies sketched out a plan where Spotify’s excellent Android application would be build [sic] into the 2.1 version of Android and would launch in the U.S. with the Google Nexus One phone on January 5. The application – which is available in Europe and allows for offline syncing of songs – would give Google a much-needed competitive answer to Apple’s iTunes. The Android could realistically be seen as a media consumption device, like the iPhone, with things like Spotify built into it.

Google wanted Spotify badly enough that they were willing to cover the label costs for every user of $3 – $4 per month. Spotify would add advertising on top of it, as they do with the free version in Europe, to make additional revenue. Without Google paying those label fees there was no way Spotify could handle the costs of the user flow that 2.1 would provide. Currently, European users must pay for Spotify Premium to use the mobile versions of the service.

Those in the US waiting to get their hands on Spotify may have to wait though. Arrington says his sources indicate that the deal has likely "gone cold," but he says there is a chance Spotify could still be part of Google’s Nexus One announcement, slated for Tuesday, January 5.

Such a deal could mean big things for sales of Android devices and really give the iPhone a run for its money. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how the smartphone competition plays out over the course of 2010. This is only the beginning. Even if a deal is not made, Google is clearly interested in the musical side of mobile, and will likely pursue other options.
 

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Professionals who both own iPhones and are members of LinkedIn are in for a treat.  LinkedIn for iPhone 3.0 has been released, and the new app (which remains free) represents an improvement over the old one in almost every way.

The most obvious change comes in the form of a fresh user interface.  Adam Nash, Vice President of Search and Platform Products at LinkedIn, explained in a blog post, "We’ve worked to bring the most common and important features to the top of the application, to make it easy to get what you need as quickly as possible.  We wanted to make sure that even if you only have thirty seconds to spare, you can get something done."

Nash and LinkedIn’s designers seem to have achieved their goal, too.  The search feature’s been overhauled.  New profile screens offer important details, a list of common acquaintances, and the option to "favorite" a person.  And it’s possible to filter updates according to favorite people, all updates, status updates, profile updates, and discussions.  (Plus users can now comment on updates.)

Finally, LinkedIn for iPhone 3.0 introduces an interesting new feature called In Person.  Nash wrote, "Leveraging the new Bluetooth capabilities in iPhone 3.0, In Person allows you to find and connect with other people running the LinkedIn application in real time."

Users’ reactions have been largely positive so far.  Some people are waiting for Android and BlackBerry versions of the new app, and there have been other complaints, but LinkedIn has promised it’s not just resting on its laurels following this release.

On the whole, it looks like LinkedIn’s taken a significant step towards becoming more common and popular.

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As you read this, the inboxes of 14 Facebook developers may be reaching the breaking point.  You see, Facebook’s decided to launch something it calls the Preferred Developer Consultant Program, and these lucky developers are the first to receive the social network’s official endorsements.

Kristin Thayer explained on the Facebook Developers blog, "We often hear from brands, celebrities, companies, and organizations who are looking for the best resources to start building an application on Facebook.com, optimize a Facebook Connect integration or build a Facebook Page. To help you accelerate your efforts, we are introducing the Preferred Developer Consultant program to connect people to the resources they need . . ."

More information about the first 14 developers is available here if you’re interested in employing one of them.  Or if you’re on the opposite side of the equation – wanting to be among the 14, that is – what follows is a bit more regarding that path.

The Preferred Developer Consultant Program is supposed to open to new applicants sometime next year, and at the moment, Facebook doesn’t intend to collect any application fees.  Otherwise, applicants will be asked to provide contact info, descriptions of their companies, professional references, and proof (in the form of links and screenshots) of their expertise.

Count on seeing a lot of new apps and Facebook Pages created as a result of this program.  Good luck to everyone, including the poor souls responsible for handling preferred developers’ inboxes.

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PayPal has launched a new "Send Money" app for BlackBerry. It is now available for free via the BlackBerry App World.

"Have you ever gone to lunch with friends and forgotten your wallet, but remembered your BlackBerry? Well you longer have to be the friend who is constantly borrowing cash," says Eric Duprat from the PayPal Mobile team.

The app lets users quickly send money to people around the world – anyone in their contact list.

"Users can also easily stay on top of their finances by checking their recent history and account balance directly from their BlackBerry smartphone," says Duprat.

The app is available in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal and Australia. The app joins similar offerings from PayPal for Facebook, Android, and the iPhone.

It’s probably a good idea on PayPal’s part to be readily available to anyone from as many means as possible. Much speculation has the service’s competition heating up significantly in the near future. Both Facebook and Apple, for example, are rumored to be working on offerings that could intrude on PayPal’s territory.

Last month, PayPal opened up its global payments platform called PayPal X, which provides APIs and a developer portal. This should play a big role in the continued relevance of PayPal’s service in an ever-growing mobile and social web.

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Microsoft has announced the launch of a new Bing Maps beta, which incorporates Streetside and Photosynth imagery.

"The new Bing Maps experience also features innovative new mapping applications such as Twitter Maps for real-time updates by area and Local Lens featuring hyperlocal, neighborhood content," a representative for Bing tells WebProNews. There are a number of interesting apps available, which is easily the most interesting part about Bing’s new Maps experience:

It will be quite interesting to see what other kinds of apps become available. There is a lot of potential in that department. Watch this clip (Silverlight) about the new Bing Maps:

Maps aren’t the only area where Bing is doing some new things. Other new features Bing features that will be rolling out over the next few days include:

- A new Bing Windows mobile application featuring improved auto-locate and voice search, available for download at http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile.

- The new Bing toolbar which flags online content and alerts you when you’re about to make a purchase that qualifies for Bing cashback savings, available for download at http://www.discoverbing.com/toolbar.

- A social network Visual Search experience — by integrating Facebook and Twitter feeds, Bing Visual Search allows you to quickly find your status updates of your friends and followers, sort by upcoming birthdays and more. This is coming soon at http://www.bing.com/visualsearch.

The Behind Bing site that Microsoft recently introduced has additional information on Bing’s new features. The site was set up to keep users informed about what Bing is up to.
 

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