Somba Mobile Needs Beta Testers

by Eric March on December 19, 2008 at 1:52 am

Want to be a beta tester?  Sure you do.  Who wouldn’t?  Beta testers get free stuff, and they get it long before anyone else does.  All they need to do is offer bug reports if they find any problems, and suggestions as to how it could be improved or changed visually and operationally.

Well, you lot are in luck. Somba Mobile are looking for a bunch.  You may remember them from my review of Somba Gashound last September.  Now they’re being hired out by a new company to develop some new apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, in addition to the apps they themselves are developing, and they’re going to need a cool team of testers to try out as many as 7 new apps over the course of the next year — 3 just in the first quarter of 2009.

Details on exactly what apps you’ll be testing are unavailable due to being locked in a box labeled NDA.  (That’s “non-disclosure agreement” in case you missed the ruckus over Apple’s NDA regarding the SDK.)  But once you’ve signed up as a tester you’ll be given details as they become available.  All you need to do is try out the apps, tell them of any bugs you found and how you triggered it (as detailed as possible so they can recreate it and fix it), offer suggestions as to how it could be improved in looks or functionality, and so on.  Not only will you be helping to shape new apps in the app store, you’ll get ‘em all free — yes, even the final versions.

I know, cool, right?  So here’s the information you’ll need to provide:

1. Your name
2. Your gender (optional)
3. Your general location (city, state/province, zip/postal code)
4. Your device’s UDID.  You can find this either by going into iTunes, clicking on your device, and then clicking on “Serial number” whereupon it will magically change to “Device ID,” or even easier, download the free Ad Hoc Helper app from the App Store, which will automatically insert your device’s UDID into an E-Mail where you can also provide the above information.

Send this information to ibetatest@sombamobile.com.  Use “Beta Tester Application” in the subject line so they know what the E-Mail is regarding, just in case any E-Mail harvesters get ahold of this address as a result of this article. They’re looking for 100 iPod Touch testers, 100 first-generation iPhone testers, and 100 iPhone 3G testers to ensure compatibility across the whole spectrum.  If you’ve never installed an Ad Hoc build of an app before, you’ll receive full instructions on how to do it.  It’s really simple, so don’t worry.

Note that anyone who is accepted to the beta program will be required to abide by the same NDA, so you can’t go blabbing about it to friends, family, co-workers or stray animals.  You can brag that you’re a beta tester for Somba if you want, you just can’t get into any specifics.  Sorry, them’s the rules if you want cool free stuff.

Best hurry up and get your application in if you want to beat the rush.  Those 300 spots will probably fill up fast, so quit readin’ and start applyin’.  I’ll shut up now so you can go ahead and do that.

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Posted in App Development