Since Geogad has its Android-powered travel app on the Android Market and also hosts the Informal Android Developer Meetup, I am sometimes asked about the pricing difference between the Android Market and the iPhone Apps Store. Usually, this question comes from developers who are trying to decide between learning to program Android or iPhone first or from iPhone developers who are considering porting their iPhone apps to Android.

I really don’t have any direct knowledge of pricing on the various stores since all of Geogad’s apps are free and since Geogad makes its content available for free with ads over all of its various delivery channels.

However, I did spot this timely news article from fiercemobilecontent.com.  It quotes a report published by Distimo that says that apps are priced about the same on both stores. The article did point out two slight differences in the gaming category.

The most popular Android games typically cost between 99 cents and $5.95, with most selling for $2.99, while most App Store titles sell for 99 cents, with a few offered between $6.99 and $9.99.

…games remain the App Store’s best-selling category, with more titles in the premium Top 15 than in the free Top 15. Classic games are particularly popular in Android Market, where three out of the Top 15 are emulators. (The App Store does not approve emulators.)

Last week, Geogad released its Mobile Tour of Victoria, BC to conincide with Canada Day, which is basically the birthday of the formation of the Dominion of Canada.

Of course, since Geogad remembered the Canadian birthday celebration, then it could hardly ignore the birthday of the United States. In that spirit, Geogad has added its latest professionally created audio tour to its collection of Mobile Tours in time for the July 4th holiday. This latest tour covers Philadelphia’s Independence National Historic Park, the most historic square mile of the United States.

If you have never been to Independence Park, it is really a great place to realize how small and tiny the United States was and the determination that it took for the founders of the American Revolution to stand up to Great Britain. Geogad’s tour is great for first time travelers who may be overwhelmed by all that there is to see and do in the park. This tour gives travelers an easy-to-follow overview of the top attractions in the park so they can decide what they might like to spend more time on. For busy travelers who have a small amount of time, they can focus on what they can and let Geogad fill in the blanks as they travel from site to site. It is also a great tour for armchair travelers to feel as if they are touring the park being lead by a knowledgeable tour guide.

The tour begins at the Independence Park Visitor Center, which has knowledgeable volunteers that can provide visitors with the latest opening times of the park attractions. The opening times and days vary depending on the season. The center also is a convenient place to park if you bring your own car. After the traveler is armed with all of the advice that the volunteers can give, this tour guides the traveler through the heart of the park by visiting the Liberty Bell Center and then Independence Hall, perhaps the most important building in the colonial history of the United States. After exploring the people who fought for the freedom of this country to determine its own destiny, the most amazing part of the story is that a bunch of well educated and, in many cases, wealthy men formed a government in which power was transferred from leader to leader based on what the people voted, a bizarre, radical form of government that had not been tried in over 2000 years. These ideal young revolutionaries paid a heavy price as we learn at the next tour stop that was a mass grave for American Revolutionary War soldiers. The next few tour stops focus on one of the most prolific of these revolutionaries, Benjamin Franklin, from his work and home to his devotion to science and state and even the mundane things in life like forming institutions to protect Philadelphians from fire. Other tour stops focus on how the people of the early US lived and fought for their freedoms.

Whether you are just touring Phiadelphia while taking this Geogad mobile tour on your favorite mobile device or if you are just exploring Philadelphia from your armchair, do enjoy your tour and let us know what you think.

Hello Friends and Fellow Travelers:I wanted to let you know that Geogad has just started an online travel group on MySpace.  The group is called Geogad Travelers and offers the ability for individuals to communicate and share their experiences with others from all over the world.  I have already learned so much from talking to many of you, so why not help others get the same experience.  Not only can you communicate with other members, but we welcome all your photos and stories of your travels and your home country.  You can also check out the Geogad Profile on MySpace for updates and sample tours.

Matt

Geogad has just released its new mobile web site. Yes, you asked for it, and now it is here.

Geogad has made your travels even easier. You can now forget about planning your sightseeing in advance. All you need to do is point the mobile browser on your cell phone at the new Geogad mobile web site at http://m.geogad.com. From this new portal, you have access to all of Geogad’s great multimedia tours and tour stops.

Just image that you are walking around the main tourist office of Savannah thinking about paying big bucks to take one of the many guided tours when a fellow traveler tells you about Geogad’s wonderful tours of Savannah that also are totally free. You are sure that there must be some sort of catch. After all, everyone else is paying $20 for their tours. But you are willing to try it.

You get out your trusty phone, tap the key to bring up the mobile browser and type “http://m.geogad.com” into the address bar. Instantly, you are transported to the Geogad mobile site with a list of choices. You see “Tours” and select that one. A list of Geogad’s professionally created tours is displayed, sorted by country and city. You see two tours for Savannah, one for the Eastern Historic District and another for the Western. You select the Eastern tour and view the sample tour.

OK, you are hooked. This is kinda cool. You decide to sign up and try the entire tour. Hey, the tour starts right were you are at the main tourist office. Even better, it includes directions and easy-to-read maps to the next tour stop. You and your trusty mobile phone are now walking through the sunny squares of Savannah as you listen to the history of this quaint old town.

Before you know it, you have reached the end of the tour, overlooking the Savannah River and River Street with its shops and restaurants. Even better, there is another free Geogad tour of the Western Historic District that starts at this location. You are definitely going to take the western tour. Right after lunch on River Street, that is.

And if you happen to hear other travelers wonder about what tour they should take, you will let them know about your latest discovery, the Geogad mobile tour site.

A few days ago, I hinted around about the object of Geogads’s next tour.  If you knew your St. Patrick’s Day trivia then you knew that the southern U.S. city that throws the biggest St. Pat’s party is Savannah, Georgia.  In the case that this surprises you, then you may like to know that Savannah had a huge influx of Irish immigrants during its cotton boom of 1850 and after the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840’s.  Call it a perfect storm for creating green beer and grits.

If you are in Savannah this weekend for this party that has been called the Redneck Mardi Gras, then enjoy.  But don’t forget that now you can skip those pricy yet geeky tourist buses and explore Savannah in style, your style.  Just download Geogad’s latest Mobile Tour for Savannah’s Western Historic District and see Savannah the way that it was designed to be seen: in a relaxing stroll.

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