iPhone/iPod Touch users: fire up your App Store, there’s a new version of Taptu waiting for you to update to.

For this release of the iPhone app, our team was focused on introducing a few new features and enhancing the speed and fluid-ness within the application.  Go grab the new version now, in iTunes!

User interface changes

• Flick through your saved sites. Now, if you have sites that you’ve saved (kind of like bookmarks), you can flick through them rather than viewing as a list.  Check your favorites every day!
• Autosuggestion.  As you start typing a search, the App will learn from your searching and suggest things automatically.  This means less pecking on the keyboard.
• Easier to share items. Want to share something out to email/Twitter/Facebook?  Just click the ‘i’ in the lower right hand corner.  Click, share, done!

Performance/Backend items

• Faster with lower memory usage. We’ve tweaked the memory usage, so your search result cards come in fast and furious now.
• New sources. We’ve increased the amount of information sources for images and wallpapers.  More selection, sweet!
• Bug fixes. There are loads of miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements.

Feedback
Please let us know if you find areas we need to improve.  Leave a comment on this post or email me at jason@taptu.com with all your feedback items.

This week, thousands of folks will descend upon Austin, Texas.  South By Southwest is a music, film, and interactive festival that draws film lovers, music lovers, and geeks.  This eclectic mix of folks all converge in Austin to meet, learn, and enjoy the city and all that SXSW has to offer.

Chris Moisan and Jason Harris (that’s me!) will be heading to Austin this coming weekend, heading to the Interactive portion.  In preparation, I have done a bit of research and talked to many SXSW veterans and have heard the following advice.
Here are the best bits I have gathered:

Check Out These Sessions

SXSW SARS

“Each year at SXSW, you hear about ‘SXSW SARS’ or ‘SXSW Scurvy.’ Days packed with panels, movies and concerts are exhausting and wear down your immune system. Learn some ways in which you can prepare for and perhaps avoid getting sick at SXSW.” With Jay Goldman.

Keynote Interview with Evan Williams

The Twitter co-founder will give us a keynote update on Monday of SXSWi.  What is next for Twitter?  We’re all curious as the service hasn’t really been updated in any significant way since it’s launch 3 years ago at SXSWi.

SXSW Web Awards

“The Web Awards Ceremony is the centerpiece of evening activities at the SXSW Interactive Festival and an event not to be missed. Hosted by Doug Benson with special surprises in store for the big ‘lucky 13′!”

Don’t Try To Be Everywhere

SXSW is all about people and relationship building.  While there are many panels, sessions, and parties to attend to and feel obliged to appear at, my veteran friends tell me SXSW is all about taking it slow and enjoying meeting new folks and hearing their stories wherever you happen to be.  Take it easy, order a drink, and enjoy!

Apparently great conversations and connections are had in side random places like hotel lobbies (I’ve hard the Driskill Hotel lobby is a hotspot)…so kick pack and take it easy..find a good crowd and stick with them!

Be Sure To Eat

At SXSW, it’s easy to find a sponsored party with food…so when your hunger calls…feed it!  There are lots of crowds moving around and you might find yourself famished if you get caught going from place to place without thinking of giving yourself some sustenance when your stomach is empty.

Find the Dino..Eat For Free!

SXSW is all about meeting new folks…and we’re looking to do just that.  We’re going to hide inflatable dinosaurs all over Austin on Saturday, Sunday and Monday…join us for free food and drink if you show up at a special eating with the dino!

Read more about it on our prior blog post.

Look for huge dinosaurs in Austin – they are your key to free dinner for you and a few friends!

South By Southwest (aka SXSW) is fast approaching!  Taptu will be in full force at the annual gathering in Austin, Texas starting next weekend.  That’s right, Chris Moisan and myself (Jason Harris) will be in Austin to meet new folks, learn a bunch, and show off the latest stuff from Taptu as well.

Along with our friends at OneRiot (our real-time search partner) and Loopt (the social mapping service), we bring you:

On the days of March 14, 15, and 16, our team will be placing 30 inflatable and very scary dinosaurs around SXSW hot spots including the conference halls, get-togethers and other key spots.  To accompany their terrifying looks, the dinos will be wearing nametags and a set of instructions.

So, if you are lucky enough to find a Dino around the panels, parties, and other gatherings in downtown Austin, keep ahold of him and you can unlock free meals at select destinations.

Keep an eye on @Taptu and @OneRiot on Twitter to learn when and where the dinosaurs will be placed and for your chance to win free drinks and grub for you and a handful of friends!

Today we’re pleased to publish our second report analyzing the Mobile Touch Web. In the first report we introduced this second wave of content for touchscreen mobiles and illustrated the major categories of this significant, new and fast-changing ecosystem. We were taken aback by the industry reaction to the first report which led to some lively debate about Mobile Apps vs Browser (check out the comment section on ReadWriteWeb).  In today’s we report we dive into the largest content category, Shopping and Services.

First, some statistics: we estimate there are approximately 83,000 mobile touch websites devoted to shopping and services. Why is this significant?  This type of content is over-represented on the mobile touch web accounting for about 26 per cent of all sites. Compare this to app stores where the largest category is Games and Shopping and Services accounts for fewer than 4 per cent of all apps in the App store (approximately 6,000- see Taptu’s January report for more details). This finding supports our view that the Mobile Touch Web  is going to play an extremely important role in the future development of mobile commerce.

In today’s report we breakdown the Shopping and Services category into it’s sub categories and highlight some of the very best sites. We also suggest some of the factors which we think contribute to making a best in class mobile touch web site.

You can download today’s report as well as sign up to receive future reports hot-off-the-press by visiting  http://taptu.com/metrics.  And for those of you who are new to the Mobile Touch Web we posted an overview on Slide share which provides a great introduction and context to this new mobile ecosystem.

There’s a dark horse in the mobile industry that most people don’t hear much about.  With all the talk today about Apple’s iPhone, Nokia, and the Android OS and it’s myriad of device choices…there’s a company who continues to deliver amazing results quarter after quarter and year after year.

Samsung continues to perform consistently and this fact cannot be denied.  As mobile thought leader Tomi Ahonen points out, Samsung is the number 2 worldwide market share leader in the year 2009 with a whopping 20% market share.

Now, Samsung is trying to re-invent itself as a company focused mainly on feature phones to one squarely in the “smartphone” category.  I constantly question what a “smartphone” means, but to Samsung, the label means a graduation to a new line of features and capabilities to their customers.

Samsung is about to unveil the Bada OS.  At the recent Mobile World Congress, they announced a device called Wave.  This phone impresses in the hardware category with a 1Ghz CPU, a 3.3″ AMOLED hi-res screen, and a 5 megapixel camera.  Add to this a multi-touch and mult-tasking capabilities, and this device seems to have an amazing base to build upon.

The Big Question

However, the question remains: Is there room in today’s mobile market for *another* operating system?  We have a few main players in a crowded field including: iPhone OS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Android, Palm’s WebOS, and Windows Mobile.  Until we see the Wave, I guess we won’t really know.

Samsung better impress with Bada.  They are positioning Bada to be the smartphone OS for everyone on a device at any price point.  Samsung has said that Bada is their “vision to advance the democratization of the smartphone era, regardless of cost, or lifestyle or geographic location.”

However, in my eye, this is a spot that Nokia has already filled.  For example, the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is a device that can be had for $200.  Since the 5800’s release a year ago, Nokia has come out with devices with more capabilities at cheaper prices.  But, these devices run Symbian — perhaps Bada can take on Symbian and win with features and beauty?

What are your thoughts – do you think there is room for yet another mobile OS?  Would you consider a ’smartphone’ device from Samsung?  Please weigh in by leaving a comment below!

W00t! – we’re a bit happy over here at Taptu Towers as the nice people over at Apple are featuring Taptu on the App Store homepage this week. As a startup it’s always nice to get some recognition and in the spirit of blowing our horn we thought we’d share with you some of our favorite reviews of Taptu.

From the App Store

“It really gnarly”

“Let me just say it plain & simple, I LOVE IT!! The best search app for the iPhone & iPod touch EVER!!”

“I’m amzed”

“Bonerlicious!!!!!!”

“It nice get it if if u don’t got it I’m just say”

“This app us freaking awesome I love it I use it all the time fir everything I do. It gives me great and vivid results and pics for whatever I need or want. U MUST GET THIS APP. . A billion gazillion fafillion.”

“Best freaking app ever!!! Plus it’s free!!!!”

“I have only had the app for 3 hours and it is already a game-changer. I love that the search engine is tailored to iPhone apps and Internet material.”

“It is sick nasty”

“Nicely”

and I think this is our favorite ever review. Thanks again to everyone that supports what we do.

“well taptu as I think it is called is one o the most resourceful apps!
=) it’s everything I need!! it’s pretty much one of my favorite apps!
it’s sooo awesome<3 there’s not an app tht can reach the level of
awesomeness that taptu is at!!:) thank you to whom ever created this
app!!!:3
forever and always, yarethecreamchesse ^________^”

I recently asked Bob Last, a co-founder and our VP of Business Development, to give some perspective from his point of view on Mobile World Congress.  Bob wrote a great poem, and here it is for you to enjoy!

Another year at MWC Barcelona has passed
The GSM-A annual blast
50,000 suits and smart phones
3000 vendors and sales drones

Added value this year from Spain:
Day 1 with torrential rain
But hey! we’re in the halls
Touchscreens adorning all walls

A theme this year to share?
Well 3 really to be fair
Touchscreens, apps and 4G
A mobile data orgy

Touchscreens, the new black
Everywhere, from all the pack
With whistles, bells and maps
Widgets, colours and apps

Come develop to our platform, do!
Our apps number too few
But Apple are the choice for most
Developers know the rest are toast

Except that this, big G
Giving Nexus Ones out for free
It spread on Twitter and Digg
Android is the alternative gig

That leaves Carriers to carry
And 4G they are forced to marry
Or face the eternal hells
Of data-crazed clogged cells

So LTE this time had bite
Very evident in China’s might
Broadband for all they say
But can data make it pay?

And Windows Phone 7 got aired
Bing search not bundled but paired
A good looker from ear to ear
But not available till later this year

And what of Taptu? you say
Well touch has cometh the day
And data capacity does matter
Judging by the show patter

Touch-friendly search may be all new
and the touch-friendly web known to few
But the issues they address are hot
And MWC is hitting the spot