BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Nov 5, 2014) - Applause, the 360° App Quality™ company, today launched ARC, the Application Resource Center, a free publication dedicated to providing expert analysis, information and research on every aspect of today's apps economy. ARC's launch includes the release of two reports from its research arm, ARC 360. The reports take a deep look at the current state of mobile application quality in the retail and travel industries, including a ranking of which brands are leading in these ultra-competitive verticals.
ARC is a digital magazine about the apps economy, from the apps economy. It is led by former ReadWrite Mobile Editor, Dan Rowinski, who joined Applause mid-2014 as Editor-in-Chief. Dan brings 10+ years of expertise covering tech trends and breaking news.
"The natural inclination is to typecast ARC as something familiar -- content marketing, inbound marketing, branded journalism, native advertising -- but in fact, this is something starkly different," said Rowinski. "ARC is a publication for all things related to success in the apps economy -- from design to development to testing, and from native to browser-based applications. We want to take this expertise and deep analysis, and make it freely available to stakeholders across the application lifecycle."
As the name implies, ARC is intended to be a resource. ARC will provide analysis, opinion, trends and research for those with a stake in the apps economy, be it app publishers, developers, QA professionals, or brand and business leaders.
That data-based research will come from a specific arm of ARC -- the research arm, known as ARC 360. Initially, ARC 360 will produce reports focused on benchmarking the state of app quality from across industries in the apps economy.
The first ARC 360 reports were also released today and are focused on retail and travel industries. Ben Gray, former Principal Analyst at Forrester now on staff at Applause, authored the reports.
The reports cover 74 retail and 31 travel brands, including Amazon, eBay, Starbucks, Walmart, TripAdvisor, Hertz, Delta and United Airlines.
While the research reports provide a more focused, deeper look at specific industries as a whole, ARC takes a unique approach to online publishing. The features of ARC include:
- In-depth Trends and Reporting - Regularly-published series that focus on topics from across the apps economy
- Educational Indexing - "Flash Cards" that educate around specific topics, providing critical information at-a-glance
- The ARC Reactor - A running stream of data, factoids and quotes, aggregated from Applause and others sources around the Web.
- Daily News - The vital, breaking information that people in the apps economy need to know
"ARC is an entirely new approach -- and something no company has yet attempted: to produce expert content that is both independent and original, strictly for the sake of educating readers, and with no marketing angle," added Applause Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Matt Johnston. "We're excited to have both Dan and Ben on the Applause team, doing what they do best -- analyzing, researching and telling the stories that matter about the apps economy."
ARC will not contain news or announcements related to Applause operations. The company's blog has been repurposed to share company-related news.
ARC is the latest news in what has been a busy year for Applause. In January, the company announced it received a $43MM E-Round, led by Goldman Sachs. In May, Applause announced an expanded app quality offering and rebranded from uTest to Applause, and also made its entry into the EU with a major acquisition of top EU crowdtesting company, testhub (which became Applause EU). The company expanded its footprint in other ways as well this year - through a global reseller partner program as well as partnerships and collaborations with IBM, Crittercism and Intel.
The company also added to its collection of accolades in 2014. In September, the company won an American Business Award for "Most Innovative Tech Company -- up to 2500 employees" Earlier in 2014, the company was named the "#7th most promising company in America" by Forbes Magazine. The company also was named to its third consecutive top-1000 placing in the Inc. 5000 list in August.
About ARC
ARC believes the world is changing and that app developers, companies and users need a resource to help them navigate the immense opportunities and challenges of this app-driven world. There is nowhere that software and apps won't eventually touch, and ARC will bring data to the enterprise, resources to developers, news and analysis to the enthusiast. Stay informed at arc.applause.com
About Applause
Launched in 2008 as uTest, Applause is leading the app quality revolution by enabling companies to deliver digital experiences that win -- from web to mobile to wearables and beyond. By combining in-the-wild testing services, software tools and analytics, Applause helps companies achieve the 360° app quality they need to thrive in the modern apps economy. Thousands of companies -- including Google, Fox, Amazon, Box, Concur and Runkeeper -- choose Applause to launch apps that delight their users. Learn more at www.applause.com and follow @applause on Twitter.