Category: Tips

Categories
Tips Tools

Mapping Cross-Platform Development Tools: Technology Approaches

cross-platform development tools

In our 2012 analysis of the cross-platform development tools (CPT) sector, we have identified five distinct technology approaches being used:

  • JavaScript frameworks
  • App factories
  • Web-to-native wrappers
  • Runtimes
  • Source code translators

Each technology targets a slightly different developer audience – from non-developers to seasoned programmers – and addresses different application use cases. These technology approaches are not mutually exclusive; many tools use a combination of technologies. For example some runtime-based CPT solutions are adding a webview component, which enables them to create hybrid web app wrappers.

Continue reading “Mapping Cross-Platform Development Tools: Technology Approaches”
Categories
Business Platforms Tips

App Promotion: make or break your app

app promotion

With well over one million total apps available on Apple and Google app stores combined, plus hundreds of thousands on the other platforms, the competition to get on consumers’ handsets is fierce. As hundreds of apps are added each and every day, app discovery remains a largely unsolved challenge which is only getting worse. With a rapidly changing landscape of app store ranking algorithms, mobile advertising products, cross-promotion networks and specialist marketing services it’s very difficult to decide how to begin app promotion which is cost-effectively. The one very clear piece of advice we can give is what you shouldn’t do – nothing.

Continue reading “App Promotion: make or break your app”
Categories
Business Tips

Crowdfunding: Leanest Way to Launch?

crowdfunding

One question that divides opinion among developers is when to start marketing your app. Some say if you start marketing too soon, the early interest you create will dissipate before you actually have something to sell. Others argue that you can’t start talking about your app soon enough, build a following of early adopters and you have great word of mouth marketing and an initial sales boost to climb the store charts. What if you can have the benefits without any of the downside? It might just be possible with crowdfunding.

Continue reading “Crowdfunding: Leanest Way to Launch?”
Categories
Business Tips

10 Million Apps: the emerging world app demand opportunity

app demand

In a recent post on the app localization opportunity we highlighted the potential for targeting growth markets in the emerging world. Not all apps are equally suited to doing so though. For some high-profile apps such as Facebook, Google Maps or Angry Birds the demand is  global and these apps easily penetrate local markets. For other apps — like a taxi booking, cinema schedules or restaurant reservation apps — what works with US consumers will not work in the local business environment or culture in a European or Asian city. Different language, culture, business environment, promotional channels, regulations, brands and local consumer behaviour will mean that many apps will need adaptation to penetrate local markets. It also means that much local app demand is currently undersupplied. China, Brazil and Russia are good examples of major markets that are hard to penetrate, yet present major opportunities for mobile app developers globally. We believe that in the app economy, global demand for top-seller apps will dominate downloads in most regions. At the same time, regional demand for localised apps will drive the production of the next 10 million apps.

Continue reading “10 Million Apps: the emerging world app demand opportunity”
Categories
Business Platforms Tips

Freemium beats Premium, says App Annie

freemium

App Annie Intelligence, which tracks more than 700,000 apps, reports that freemium apps – free apps that have in-app purchases – are experiencing impressive revenue growth worldwide, far outpacing premium apps in both iOS and Google Play stores. Over the last 24 months, worldwide revenues for freemium apps on iOS have more than quadrupled. In 2012, worldwide  revenues on Google Play have grown 3.5X. Now, apps generate 69 percent of the worldwide iOS app revenue and 75 percent of global Android app revenues. Meanwhile, premium revenues for both app stores remained relatively flat in these time periods.

This confirms earlier reports of this trend by Distimo, IHS iSuppli and others.

 

Categories
Business Platforms Tips

Methods for Monetizing a Mobile User Base (or Are Mobile Apps the New Internet?)

mobile developers

Mobile apps are a huge and rapidly growing business. Mobile developers have access to a greater number of users and more simple ways of monetizing their creations than any software developers before them. However, selling digital content and services directly, or advertising to users of those services are only two of many, many ways of generating revenue through mobile apps. Which methods are likely to dominate in the future?

Continue reading “Methods for Monetizing a Mobile User Base (or Are Mobile Apps the New Internet?)”
Categories
Business Tips

Do Push Notifications Increase Engagement?

push notifications

Push notifications are a popular tool for this purpose. With the vast majority of app revenue growth coming from in-app purchases rather than paid downloads, it’s more important than ever to keep users engaged with your apps. Updating users about new content or activity and driving them back to the app. At the same time the technology is controversial since unwelcome or excessive push notifications annoy users, who will either disable them or worse yet uninstall the app responsible. So is it worth the risk? Do push notifications work?

Continue reading “Do Push Notifications Increase Engagement?”
Categories
Business Tips

The App Localization Opportunity

app localization

As we showed in our Developer Economics 2012 survey, there is a massive gap between the number of developers creating applications for local languages (other than English) and the demand for local language content. For many app types, app localization is only a relatively small incremental investment on top of the original app build costs and yet has the potential to generate significant new downloads and revenue. How should developers decide if it’s going to be worthwhile?

Continue reading “The App Localization Opportunity”
Categories
Business Tips

50+ mobile revenue models

mobile revenue models

This hackpad (a collaborative list composed by 150 people) has an impressive list of web and mobile revenue models, ranging from the classic ad-driven models and pay-per-download to intermediaries and commerce models.
For Your Inspiration.

Continue reading “50+ mobile revenue models”
Categories
Business Platforms Tips

Backend-as-a-Service – Should You Use One?

Backend-as-a-Service

Many of the most engaging and popular apps connect to cloud services which either regularly deliver new content, enable users to interact with one another or both. Unlike a standalone application, such apps can incur ongoing hosting costs throughout their active usage life. Ideally your revenue model should mirror the cost structure. Using a Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) reduces execution risk and time to market as well as removing server maintenance and scaling headaches, however, it typically increases the ongoing service costs making the revenue model fit even more important.  Obviously the technical requirements of the app constrain the selection of service and for basic backend features Cloudspring has a good overview article. The variation in pricing of backend services is even greater than the diversity of their technical capabilities but this post will provide some generally applicable advice.

Continue reading “Backend-as-a-Service – Should You Use One?”