iPhone & Android Apps for Business | Steven Calder, Streamba Ltd Tuesday, 21 June 2011 | 12:30 - 14:00

Targeting Innovation Brown Bag Lunch

What is a mobile strategy and why should I have one? What does it take to develop a mobile app for my business? The "Do's & Dont's" for a great app

iPhone & Android Apps for Business

As Technical As It Gets

Google Mobile OS iOS

HTML + Javascript + CSS

Java Objective C

Web Framework

Exciting Technology

Disruptive & Innovative

Popular & Personal

*Not* thinking of a smartphone as a talking device

What do we mean by iPhone & Android Apps?

Popular?

http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/Theme_6_Data_Growth.pdf

What is a Mobile Strategy isn't...

Developing an iPhone App

Developing an Android App

Developing a Mobile Website

Technology

Wait a minute....

What is a "Mobile Strategy"?

Bold, consistent mobile

strategy

Confused, tired mobile strategy

Business speak for "How can my business use mobile technology to make money?"

Why Should I Have One?

• To add value to your customerso £ Savingso Time & Energy Savingso Better Customer  Service

•  • To add value to your business

o Revenueo £ Savingso Advertising of services / cross-sellingo Accurate, informal customer feedbacko Customer information & Analytics

A Good Mobile Strategy

Asks the right questions

Asks the right questions...

• What customer problem are you trying to solve?

• What goal is the business trying to achieve?

• How do we measure success?

• What are our customers primary devices?

• How do our customers interact with our service?

• How do they *want* to interact with our service?

A Good Mobile Strategy

Listens & Acts on the answers

Listens & Acts on the answers

• How did our expectations match up to reality?

• How do we modify our goals based on this information?

• Can we use this information to help our happy customers tell the world?

• Why & how will they tell the world?

•  How do we address the unhappy customers?

A Good Mobile Strategy

Constantly Moves & Adapts 

Constantly Moves & Adapts

• From 2004 - 2007 the conversation was about hardware (gadgets), Nokia, Motorola Razr etc. 

• Then along came the iPhone

• Now the conversation is about apps & social media• Where is this conversation going next?

o How can we exploit this?

•  Changes based on customer feebacko How do your customers give feedback?

A Good Mobile Strategy

Goes Glocal(thinks Globally, acts locally)

Constantly Moves & Adapts

• Twitter - Tweets are free adverts  

• My primary device is my iPhone, I use it to converse with people on the other side of the world

• How can your business utilise this opportunity?

• How can you join in the conversation and tell others about your services?o Language issues? Location boundaries?

A Good Mobile Strategy

Refuses to try & "boil the ocean"

(at least for version 1)

Don't do everything at once

• Pick one customer problem & solve it really well

• Have a spotlight focus, understand context, tailor content

• Don't make your customers jump over technology hurdleso I don't have an iPhone, can I use my mobile browser?o I only use apps - is there an "app for that?"o Do I need to be connected to the internet?o Why do I have to enter my location? Doesn't my mobile know my

location?• Be consistent across platforms

• Small, stable increments

 

What does it take to develop an app?

What is an app?

• Form of entertainment

• Handy tool

• Form of hiring mechanism

• Annoying interruption

• Broadcasting Service

Comes in Different Flavours

• Native Apps

• Web Apps

• Hybrid Apps

Why Go Native?

• Richer experience

• Built specifically for the system it is running on, it's not just an app running on a screen which could be any piece of hardware, it's special

• Maximum Power - Make things as smooth fast & efficient as possible

• Resource constrained devices

• Utilise the features of the OS immediately

It's All About Innovation

• It's much harder to innovate if you have to stick to a standard

• Standards always trail innovation

• Mobile innovationso Multi-touch screenso Speech recognition (voice search)o Near Field Communicationso Improved battery technologyo Accelerometerso Compasseso Gyroscopeso Cameraso 3G, 4G, "Facetime"

Why Web App?

• Write Once Run Anywhere

• Standards Base

• No need to learn another language

• Technology improving dramatically

• Utilise existing skills & resources

• Freedom of Speech (No Apple Overlords)

Best of Both Worlds?

Magic Bullet Technologies

Free Free Version*, developer-$49-$199 Month

Magic Bullet Technologies - Phonegap

Magic Bullet Technologies - Titanium

It's All About the iPhone.....

It's All About the iPhone.....

So what do we choose?

Context is king you need to use both native & web

Do's & Don'ts of a great app

A Great App...

Doesn't Spam, Annoy or Infuriate its users

Doesn't Spam, Annoy or Infuriate Users

A users phone is personal• Who here shares a phone with their spouse / partner?

• If your app kills their battery they will kill your app

• Spam won't be tolerated

• Reward your users

• Provides Notification Options

A Great App...

Is Fast, Simple & Gets to the point

Is Fast, Simple & Gets to the Point

• The app needs to run fast and react immediately.

• Keep it simple and clear so the app and the user can react immediately

• Don't make the user think (too much) or wait (too long).

• "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." Albert Einstein

A Great App...

Avoids Arrogance

Avoid Arrogance

• There are standards for a reason

• Doing things completely different for version one is risky

• Users need to learn your app, they shouldn't need a degree to do so

• Follow convention - "Back" should mean go back

• Let users do what they want to do - don't fight them

A Great App...

Has a Purpose

Has a Purpose

• Make the app interesting, different.o Balance

• Doing things completely different for version one is risky

• Users need to learn your app, they shouldn't need a degree to do so

• Follow convention - "Back" should mean go back

• Let users do what they want to do - don't fight them

A Great App...

Looks Beautiful

Looks Beautiful

• No Excuse Today For Ugly Apps

A Great App...

Evangelises

Evangelises

• Mobile Technology is at the cutting edge.• Use it as a platform for passion

http://www.pixelvulture.com/index.php/2011/01/google-android-to-operate-satellite-in-space/

• B2B Social Media: New Channels to Grow Your Business – Wednesday, 22nd June 2011

• Creating Headlines through Social Media – Influence Your Audience! – Thursday, June 23rd 2011

• A Practical Guide to Setting Up a Social Media Presence – Wednesday, 29th June 2011

The Social Media Cookbook - Workshop Series

Visit http://bit.ly/WhatWeDoSocialMedia for more information on the series.

#smcookbook

Targeting Innovation

Head Office:169 West George StreetGlasgow G2 2LBTel: +44 (0)141 572 1600Fax: +44 (0)141 572 1608

Leeds:Round Foundry Media CentreFoundry StreetLeeds LS11 5QPTel: +44 (0)113 394 4315Fax: +44 (0)113 394 4319

Targeting Innovation is one of the UK's leading innovation agencies. Our clients comprise businesses of all sizes and from across all industry sectors, as well as public sector organisations and academia. Since 1993 we have helped more than 5,000 businesses succeed through innovation.

info@targetinginnovation.com www.targetinginnovation.com

Next Brown Bag Lunch – Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Sources

• http://www.pixelvulture.com/index.php/2011/01/google-android-to-operate-satellite-in-space/

• http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/Theme_6_Data_Growth.pdf

• http://www.talkminer.com/viewtalk.jsp?videoid=hpwiU5Kigic&q=mobile+strategy

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHAR46DT8ok ( google IO 2011 - Build a business not just an app )

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f2Zky_YyyQ ( HTML5 vs Android)