fmc mobile app ebook 09

8/6/2019 Fmc Mobile App eBook 09

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fmc-mobile-app-ebook-09 1/8

MAY 2011

FierceMobileContent.com

Plaum sPs:

Gl sPss:

Consumers’ appetite or compelling and innovative mobile

limitless. In act, research frm Gartner estimated that mobile

downloads topped 8.2 billion in 2010 and will more than doub

17.7 billion downloads.

Perhaps the biggest success story o 2010 is Rovio’s Ang

application, which generated 110 million downloads as o m

and showed no sign o slowing. Angry Birds has even gene

o ancillary hard goods such as toys and t-shirts, giving mob

ers a taste o the moneymaking potential a popular app can

Yet not every mobile app fnds the type o success that R

In act, there are thousands o apps that go unnoticed by co

Why? Sometimes the ault lies with the application, but ot

lem is the business model or the lack o discoverability.

Creating a successul app encompasses much more than

a good idea. To get an app noticed developers must fgure o

dierentiate their app rom rivals, whether that means getti

ty reviews, enlisting the help o an app directory, or promoti

on social networking sites.

But the app discovery process is getting better, some com

specializing in application discovery and using recommenda

and other mechanisms to help consumers fnd apps based

interests.

Nevertheless, making a successul mobile app is ar rom

an easy endeavor. In this ebook, “Making Proftable Mobile FierceMobileContent will delve into such issues as the busi

(ree vs. paid), dierentiating your app rom the competition

right distribution model and more.

su mak

ditor-in-Chief /// FierceWiree

Making profitable

Mobile apps

3Mobile Applications

Continue To Grow

At Stunning Pace

5Free or Paid: Which

Model Works?

8Making Proftable

Mobile Apps

*Sponsored Content*

9Today’s App Mantra:

Make It Better and

Make It Known

12Developers Must

Consider Scale, Ease

o Use When Selecting

an Operating System

14Business Apps: The

Next Frontier?

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http://www.fiercewireless.com/




3 MAY 2011


mobile app stores generated nearly7.9 billion downloads during 2010,

led by the Apple App Store, which

racked up more than 5.6 billion

accumulated downloads.

Rival consultancy Gartner

estimated worldwide mobile app

store downloads at 8.2 billion

or 2010 and orecasts that 2011

will see 17.7 billion downloads.

Gartner predicts that by the end

o 2014, more than 185 billion

applications will have been down-

loaded rom mobile app stores

since the launch o the Apple App

Store in July 2008.“It’s stunning to realize how

much better the ingredients have

gotten in a very short period o

time. I think that’s probably the

primary reason there’s an explo-

sion o interest and some early

massive leaders in this space,”

said Rich Wong, partner with

Accel Partners, a venture-capital

and growth-equity frm.

The biggest hit o 2010 was

Rovio’s Angry Birds, which had

generated 110 million downloads

by mid-March 2011. “It’s quite

amazing to see [Angry Birds] have

worldwide reach so quickly, so

that’s a pretty good example o

how the mobile apps market is

exploding,” said Wong, who led

Accel’s investment in Rovio.

The ull gamut o apps, rom

games to communications to

enterprise apps and more, appears

to have a robust uture. “The water

level in this space is growing so

quickly and so positively that I think

there are going to be opportunities

in all areas,” Wong said.

Gartner recently released its list

o the top 10 consumer mobile

apps to watch in 2012. Location-based services tops the list, but

context-aware applications will go

ar beyond mere location to “pro-

vide improved user experiences by

using the inormation about a per-

son’s interests, intentions, history,

environment, activities, schedule,

priorities, connections and preer-

ences,” Gartner said.

Gartner also lists apps based on

object-recognition capabilities and

mobile video.

An ongoing industry trend is the

prolieration o app stores, with

open, multiplatorm storerontsbeing the latest wave. High-profle

app store GetJar Networks recently

attracted $25 million in Series C

unding, and Accel, an early inves-

tor, also participated in this latest

round. The unding confrms the

importance o these stores in driv-

The short-term outlookis strong for continued

growth in this space.

However, in the longer

term, experts say that

the mobile apps industry

could change dramatically,

particularly if all content

moves to the Cloud.

The mobile apps market

in its current incarnation is

less than ive years old but

it already generates billions

o downloads annually. And

as apps such as Angry Birdsgenerate sales o ancillary

hard goods—plush toys and

t-shirts, or instance—this

area is becoming a part o

mass public consciousness

every day.

According to ABI Research,

Mobile Applications ContinueTo Grow At Stunning PaceBY TAMMY PArkr

ing overall app industry growth.

“I you are a consumer product

manuacturer trying to sell goods

to consumers, you want to be in

as many retail stores as possible,

within reason,” Wong said. “You

want to use a multi-pronged distri-

bution strategy.”

Key to that distribution strategy is

the selection o the application plat-

orm. For many, Apple’s iOS is the

obvious choice thanks to Apple’s

iTunes-based content ecosystem.

But Google’s Android is coming onstrong, and there are high hopes

or version 3.0 o Android, dubbed

Honeycomb. “I think there’s going

to be a great deal o activity on

creating apps and building a sub-

stantial catalog or Honeycomb.

There are 20 to 30 [Honeycomb-

based] tablets coming out over

the next nine months or so,” said

Matt Vartabedian, vice president at

consultancy iGR.

O course, there are other

OS options such as Research

in Motion’s BlackBerry and

Microsot’s Windows Phone

7. “In our latest developer

surveys, there’s very little

developer interest in those plat-

orms relative to the other

platorms,” Vartabedian added.

Despite the OS market ragmen-

tation, the apps market appearsto be on the verge o not only

explosive growth but also a virtual

cavalcade o innovations as more

mobile users adopt smartphones

and other connected devices. “We

haven’t yet ully realized what is

possible with that level o ubiquity.

I think it’s going to be unbeliev-

ably interesting as that dev

Wong said.

Rovio’s Angry Birds app

shown what can happen w

mobile app gains ans wor

More than 2 million Angry

plush toys have been sold

Rovio, which now terms it

“entertainment media com

hopes to expand its Birds

to more traditional media s

TV and movies.

Rovio’s experience show

“there’s going to be tons o

to make money,” Wong s

noted mobile apps are bec

a larger part o the overall

industry and many will be

ported going orward.

Gartner includes ad reve

its orecast or worldwide

application store revenue,

projected to surpass $15.1

in 2011, up rom 2010 reve$5.2 billion.

In the longer term, the o

all structure o the mobile

industry could change dram

as there are some who ee

current business blueprint

to a passing ad because a

will ultimately move to the

How long that tra

might take and w

would mean or in

players are moot

“Apple and the

vendors are doing

job o tying custothe platorm itsel

or now, but that

be material,” Vart

said. “The transit

Cloud is somethin

the content provid

looking at.” l

Location-based services

Social networking

Mobile search

Mobile commerce

Mobile payment

Source: Gartner

1

2345

6

78910

Context-aware service

Object recognition

Mobile instant messaging

Mobile e-mail

Mobile video

Top 10 consumer applicaTions To waTch in 2012

“It’s quite amazing to see [Angry Birds]have worldwide reach so quickly, so

that’s a pretty good example of how the mobile apps market is exploding.”

C WG, Pa, aCCl Pas

Rovio’s Angry Birds App generated 110million downloads by mid-March 2011






5 MAY 2011


Free applications dominate

the market today but there

are many new business

models that are emerging—

some are paid, some are

free and some are a hybrid

of both.

When mobile develop-

ers frst began selling their

applications to consumers,

the industry and ecosystem

generally allowed one overall

approach: charging the user an

upront payment to download

an application rom the car-

rier deck. Today, ree applications

dominate the market, because most

products available rom the Apple

App Store and Google Android Mar-

ket are given away at no cost and

monetized by other means. Yet a

variety o hybrid approaches, which

combine aspects o paid and ree

approaches, are now emerging.

The evolution in business models

presents dilemmas or developers,

who must now choose among an

assortment o monetization oppor-

tunities. Their decisions will depend

on the type o application oered, the

type o company they represent, the

company’s fnancial goals,

budget, and overall business

objectives, among other vari-

ables. The cost to use one

approach or the other is not

usually determining actor.

paid applicaTions rely onhigh volumes of downloadsThe obvious motivation to oer paid

apps is the lucrative global revenue

opportunity, which is skyrocketing.

According to Forrester Research,

revenue rom the direct purchase

o applications on smartphones and

tablets was $2.2 billion worldwide

in 2010 and expected to increase at

a CAGR o 82 percent through 2015

when it will reach $37.5 billion.

The types o companies that will

beneft rom this model range rom

Free or Paid: Which Model Works?BY PY AlBrhT

game developers such as Angry

Birds creator Rovio Mobile to travel

sotware developers like Mobiata

to cloud app frms like Evernote and

Box.net.

The projected global revenues

are exciting are but the vast major-

ity o individual developers or

sotware companies serving the

market will not share in the wealth.

Forrester notes that the average

selling price o an app is $2.43.

Developers need to sell products in

very, very high volumes to gen-

erate meaningul income. It is a

steep challenge or even the best

o companies.

“It is really hard to make money

on mobile apps. Most don’t gener-

ate an ROI,” said Rajeev Chand,

managing director and senior

equity research analyst or wireless

at Rutberg & Company.

Traditionally, a paid app is sold

or an upront ee, but it can also

include apps sold by subscription,

as well as paid apps that oer

opportunities or additional, in-app

purchases. Paid apps can also

come with and without advertising.

Subscriptions are gaining inter-

est. Urban Airship, which providesa subscriptions platorm that is

used by Newsweek and other

companies, said subscriptions are

one o its astest growth areas.

Even so, subscriptions are not

appropriate or all types o apps.

Paid apps have important intan-

gible characteristics. Vincent

Hoogsteder, CEO o Distimo, said

that developers oten wonder i a

consumer is likely to value an app

more i they’ve paid or it rather

than downloaded it or ree. They

ask i a customer is more likely to

tell their riends about an app ithey’ve paid or it and i they’d be

less likely to delete it.

While these are essential ques-

tions, they are difcult to assess.

“We don’t have hard data,” Hoog-

steder said.

free apps encourageadopTion buT many lavisibiliTy wiTh consuOering an app or ree ca

ate greater customer acce

than a paid app can. Reven

created through advertising

the “reemium” model, w

the consumer an incentive

or eatures, improved un

ity or virtual goods ater th

downloaded the ree app.

Free apps are easier or

ers to install than paid pro

which encourages adopti

Develop

use ree

to avoid

a store

billing in

ture i t

like it.

The main drawback to r

is that it is hard to gain visagainst thousands o com

Even i an app rises to the

o the content rankings, th

change constantly and an

experience on the top o t

might be short lived. The a

needs to get there ast an

ways to stay there.

The consumer market’s

or ree downloads is well

mented. According to Dist

top 300 apps in the Apple

Store or iPhone in Decem

generated, on average, mo

million downloads each dathe month, compared to 3

downloads o paid apps pe

For most developers, ad

has not been a successul

monetize ree apps. More

(57 percent) o developers

“It is really hard to make money on mobile apps. Most don’t generate an ROI.”

aj Ca, uG & C.

continue






7 MAY 2011


So you’ve created your app

and released it into an app store.

Now you wait or the dollars to

roll in. A ew days go by with

minimal traic or your app.

What’s happening? You’ve dis-

covered the vexing issue o “App

Discovery!” Developers are still

making money, but it is not as

simple as in the past when you

could write a silly application and

then watch the money roll in. In

order to get your app discovered,

you need to consider, quality,

social media and pricing.

First, create a GREAT app.

This seems obvious, but with

the wave o apps the quality has

gone down. Make sure you havean intuitive design. Don’t just

have your technical riends look

at it. Make sure you do adequate

user testing to ensure the inter-

ace is simple and intuitive.

Many apps are sold based on

recommendations rom riends—

i your app is bad, you will not

get these reerrals. Don’t orget

to search through the catalog

and spend time thinking o a

good app name.

Second, take ull advantage

o your launch. Use social

media and tools to get thosedownloads the irst week—it’s

no secret that the most suc-

cessul apps are those on the

top selling list, and your best

chance to crack it could be

right ater your launch. Apps

oten receive attention when

they are new, so you do not

want to spread out your market-

ing eort over time. Create an

integrated launch plan to build

on the new app momentum, and

ocus your marketing tools and

unds right at the time o your

launch. Make sure you use meta

tags—they are not hard to cre-

ate and can yield big beneits. I

you have enough unds, con-

sider getting assistance rom

irms like Tapjoy or WDA who

can help you create a distribu-

tion strategy. And, check out

the lnch ection t a&

eveoper Progr webite

to get great tools and ideas.

Third, think about your

monetization strategy. Many

developers under price their

apps or give really good ones

away or ree. With intense

competition, the “reemium”pricing model seems appeal-

ing—in theory, you gain loyal

users who will pay more later

or the same app with more

eatures. T hese conversions

prove diicult—quite a ew apps

are good enough, others are so

poor the user would not

sider opting or a paid v

I you have a ree app, c

in-app billing (where ava

or advertising.

Fourth, i you start ha

ing success with your a

one platorm, begin pla

your cross-platorm stra

egy. Some developers

more money on platorm

with a smaller installed

simply because there is

competition. This can a

help with recommendat

Finally, in-app cross pr

tion is another method o

boosting sales. I you ha

multiple apps, use the lo

screen to advertise your

apps. Alternatively, neg

to trade advertising with

developers who already

games in the market. In end, get out there and le

world know about your a

Making Protable Mobile AppsBY dwArd ShMT, drTr, AT&T dvlPr PrrAM

recently by GigaOm Pro said their

apps generate less than $100 per

month in advertising. Just 9 percent

said their apps generate more than

$20,000 per month.

The advertising approach has rap-

idly been replaced by the reemium

model, which oers developers

the opportunity to create a bigger

audience combined with the oppor-

tunity to upsell customers to other

products or services. The model,

introduced by Apple as in-app

purchasing in October 2009, has

recently been adopted by Google

or the Android Market. This will

help propel its use.

Peter Farago, vice president o

marketing at Flurry, said his com-

pany has measured a drastic shit in

revenues rom advertising to in-app

purchasing during 2010. In the iOS

marketplace in 2009, advertising

generated most revenues, but by

Feb 2010, in-app purchases domi-

nated. These purchases generated

80 percent o revenues in 2010.

According to Farago, 3 percent

o all app users are making in-app

purchases while only 1 percent will

click on a banner ad. The in- app

customers are making repeated pur-

chases and they are spending rom

99 cents to $100 or these goods.

“You can make so much money,”

he said, but there’s a caveat. “You

have to design a good experience.

You want people to come back

again and again over time.”

more revenue models will emergeWhile the in-app purchasing model

or ree apps has disrupted other

approaches, this is still a nascent

industry and new business models

are certain to emerge.

“There are permutations to the

ree vs. paid models that are still

coming out,” Chand said. “This is

a new space and it will evolve.”

One example, introduced by

Tapjoy, is a pay-per-action adver-

tising service that allows iOS and

Android developers to reward users

or completing some type o action-

able eature within an app. The

company inserting the suggested

action pays the developer a ee or

each action completed. l

continue fom page 6

$10

9

8

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a g e M o n t h l y R e v e n u e p e r U s e r

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revenue shifT from adverTising To virTual goods sales

Advertising Revenue

Virtual Goods Sales (In-App Purchases)

If you start having success with your app on oneplatform, begin planning your cross-platform strategSome developers make more money on platforms wia smaller installed base simply because there is lesscompetition. This can also help with recommendatio

SPONSORED CO


http://developer.att.com/developer/tier2page.jsp?passedItemId=100016







http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fmc-mobile-app-ebook-09 5/89 MAY 2011


ogy uses data rom reviews as well

as download volume and ratings to

rank apps. Users can purchase apps

via links on the Web site, which

take the user directly to the app

store listing or the application. The

company notes that each purchase

a user makes via its site supports

both the application developer and

AppStoreHQ.

Third-party app review and online

stores are becoming important

avenues or app discovery. “We

submit to all the top app directories.

Depending on the kind o app and

the client’s budget, we might also

do paid placements on app directo-

ries or pay or expedited reviews,”

Pasqua noted.

According to Blanksteen, “New

users tend to discover apps through

their phone’s associated ofcial

app store: the iTunes App Store or

iPhones, the Android Market orAndroid devices, Marketplace or

Windows Phone. Once they’ve load-

ed the frst fve or 10 common apps

(Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds,

Pandora, Shazam, etc.), they are let

with a pretty disorganized view o

popular apps that only covers a thin

slice o what is available.”

He said all o the apps listed in

Apple’s “Top” lists by category

cover less than 1 percent o the

available apps. So, users turn to

search, apps marketing and recom-

mendations rom their riends to

locate new apps.“I’m a huge believer that people

will be driven by other people in

terms o their purchase behavior,”

said Simon Buckingham, CEO

o Appitalism, which launched in

September 2010 and combines a

social community with an online app

storeront.

Appitalism oers

an online rewards and

currency program. For

instance, people can

obtain credits to spend in

the Appitalism store by

linking their account with

their Twitter and Face-

book accounts, a program

that helped Appitalism

gain 1 million site visitors

in six months.

“We believe that

people will ultimately

trust other people rather

than Google’s algorithms

or some kind o technol-

ogy somewhere in order

to help them fnd the right

apps or them,” Bucking-

ham said.

Blanksteen, however,

predicts that a combi-nation o algorithmic

mechanisms—integrat-

ing recommendations

based on app or user

similarity, ratings, and

usage—plus expert

opinions in the orm o

editorial reviews will help

lit social discovery to a larger scale.

“It’s not always the case that we

like what our riends like, and some-

times reviewers and the magic o

large-scale calculations can make us

aware o just the right app at just the

right time,” he said.

Going orward, Pasqua antici-

pates context-based content, which

accounts or preerences, location

and social links, will catalyze the

industry. She also hopes brands

and developers will gain more

“awareness o the importance o

crowd-sourcing and active

ing” about their content in o

develop better apps.

Buckingham, meanwhile

ing or new industry meas

that assess customer enga

with apps by ascertaining h

long a user interacts with a

or leaves it on the phone’s

screen. He contends that w

discourage developers rom

able to “buy” their way to

o a sales-based apps list a

ultimately lead to the creat

more innovative apps. l

Experts say that social

media, reviews and referrals

from friends all contribute

to the success of a mobile

application.

Painully common mistakes

in the mobile applications world

include creating an app that is

no dierent or no better than

rival apps and creating an app

that never gets noticed. But

developers and marketers are

wising up about what it takes

to ensure successul dieren-

tiation and discovery.“User-experience design,

with a ocus on both efcient

utility and enjoyable UI, is criti-

cal to dierentiating

and standing out

rom the crowd,”

said Scott Blank-

steen, CEO o

AppStoreHQ.

He cites Insta-

gram photo sharing,

Pandora song ID, the Angry Birds

game and Zapd mobile Web site

creator as apps that demonstrate

“a singular ocus on a rewarding

user experience and straightorward

useulness.”

Rachel Pasqua, vice president o

mobile at digital marketing agency

iCrossing, said her frm’s develop-

ment process or mobile apps

includes considerable competitive

analysis, looking at top apps in the

pertinent category as well as eyeing

apps oered by a client’s rivals in

order to identiy areas or dierentia-

tion.A unit o Hearst, iCrossing’s digital

marketing services include—in addi-

tion to mobile—paid search, search

engine optimization, Web develop-

ment, social media, research and

analytics. Its client base includes

The LEGO Group, Epson America

and Toyota, Coca-Cola, MasterCard

and FedEx.

Pasqua noted that ideas or setting

apart a new mobile app can oten

be garnered rom online customer

and editorial reviews o existing

apps as well as comments on social

networking sites. But she said that

dierentiation is only part o the

job. The industry is rie with stories

o abulous mobile apps that never

attracted a ollowing.

“There’s no substitute or good

content and good unctionality. That

will speak or itsel,” Pasqua said.

But every app must be promoted,

even at the most basic metadata

level. “Make sure that your app is

appropriately tagged and appropri-

ately described, that you are usingthe correct keywords, that you how

people are going to be looking or

you within the app store because

that’s where the fnal conversion is

going to happen,” she added.

Press releases, social media

promotions and blogger outreach are

standard ingredients or promoting

an app launch, she said.

“Creating a great app and then

launching it with traditional market-

ing—reviewers, seeding to lead

users, cross-promoting with other

apps, even SEO, advertising and

promotional distribution—are the

basics. Beyond that, an app that

makes it easy or users to share with

their riends and gives them real,

intrinsic reasons to do so generates

its own discovery,” AppStoreHQ’s

Blanksteen said.

AppStoreHQ’s AppRank technol-

Today’s App Mantra:Make It Better andMake It KnownBY TAMMY PArkr

“I’m a huge believer thatpeople will be driven by other people in terms of

their purchase behavior.”

sm uCkGam,

C F aPPalsm

“User-experience

design is critical to differentiatingand standing outfrom the crowd.”

sC laks,

C, aPPsQAppStoreHQ’s App Rank technology uses datarom reviews and downloads to rank apps.

Appitalism oers an online rewards ancurrency program.





http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fmc-mobile-app-ebook-09 6/811 MAY 2011


Distribution is closely tied

to the operating system,

making the OS decision

even more critical to long-

term success.

When mobile applications

frst became a market phe-

nomenon, developers ocked

to Apple’s iOS because the

iPhone was exploding in

popularity and the Apple App

Store oered more inventory

and conveniences than other

application storeronts. Today,

Google’s Android platormand the Android Market have

the momentum, and many

other operating systems and

app stores have entered the

ray. With so many platorms

and distribution options to

choose rom, how does a

developer know which OS or

app store to use?

operaTing sysTemsremain in fluxDevelopers have many criteria

or selecting an operating

system, but the most impor-

tant actor o all is its potential

reach. Paul Reddick, CEO

o Handmark, says the total

addressable market or an app

is so undamental to success

that developers should make

it the number one, two and

three reasons or selecting an OS.

“It’s like saying location, location,

location,” he said.

Right now, the OS market has

fve prominent platorms, but

this is quickly narrowing to our.

According to new research rom

Gartner, today’s leading platorms

include Symbian (with 37.6 percent

market share), Google’s Android

(22.7 percent), RIM (16 percent

), Apple’s iOS (15.7 percent), and

Microsot Windows (4.2 percent),

and various others (3.8 percent).

The market could be remark-

ably dierent by the end o 2011,according to Gartner. The frm

projects that Symbian, now aban-

doned by Nokia, will lose hal its

market share this year and disap-

pear by 2015, when it will

less than 1 percent o the

Android will have nearly h

the global market (48.8 pe

in 2015 and Microsot’s W

Phone 7 will rise to secon

with a 19.5 percent share,

by Nokia’s decision to sup

Apple’s iOS will be third, w

17.2 percent share and RI

decline to ourth place, wi

percent. Various others w

3.3 percent share.

In addition to market pot

numerous technical or bus

considerations can inuen

mobile app development s

Developers like Apple iO

or example, because it is

to work with. Developers

that their products will o

quality and a good user ex

ence. An iOS developer w

have to port their app to eiPhone model, which save

minimizes testing requirem

and reduced costs. On the

Developers Must ConsiderScale, Ease of Use WhenSelecting an Operating SystemBY PY AlBrhT

continue o

Developers like certain smoperating systems, like

iOS, because it is easy to w

8

5

9

6 7

0 * #

4

2 3

1






13 MAY 2011


hand, the “closed” development

environment orces developers

to play by Apple’s development

and distribution rules, which

do not appeal to everyone.

The Google-backed Android OS,

created in part to oer an “open”

development and distributionenvironment, is also easy to work

with, yet it is highly ragmented. A

developer may need to write sev-

eral versions o an app to run on

multiple device types, which can

take time and run up costs. Google

is trying to get this under control

lest it undermine the Android eco-

system and alienate developers.

“I they don’t maintain a more

standard and less ragmented

platorm, developers will leave it

or other platorms,” warns Dov

Cohn, vice president o products

and marketing at Appia, whichcreates white-label application

storeronts or carriers

and other companies.

Microsot is hoping

to avoid these types o

problems with its new

Windows Phone 7 OS.

The company has stan-

dardized screen sizes,

or example, to minimize

related ragmentation

issues, and the OS is con-

sidered straightorward to

work with. But Microsot

does need to work hard

to reach sales volumes

Gartner expects or it. It is

courting developers heav-

ily and oering numerous

fnancial incentives to

attract them to the plat-

orm.

Developers should also make

sure that an OS provides the tools

they need to make their application

work. The Ocarina music applica-

tion or example, which can turn

a smartphone into a ute, could

not be developed or Android or a

time because o a lack o a micro-

phone API. The new WindowsPhone 7 OS has yet to come out

with a copy-and-paste eature,

which rustrates many developers.

fragmenTed disTribuTionecosysTemToday there are about 160 app

stores on the market and hun-

dreds o thousands o apps. The

stores are oered by a variety

o companies including device

manuacturers, platorm pro-

viders, mobile operators, and

consumer brands. The crowded

feld can make the app storeselection process complicated

and it is still evolving, which

can impact developers as they

work with these outlets.

Patrick Mork, CEO o GetJar,

believes that the ragmented

distribution ecosystem is not sus-

tainable. He believes developers

can’t aord to spread their eorts

among multiple storeronts and willpick a ew that provide the greatest

reach. And consumers will tend to

shop at just a couple stores.

“You’ll see consolida-

tion o app stores in the next

24 months,” he said.

Appia’s Dov Cohn, on the other

hand, sees it another way. “We

believe that this is not a three or

fve app store system, but that

there will be a lot o app stores,”

he said.

To select a storeront, devel-

opers will want to consider the

market reach and business sta-bility o the alternatives. They

device sales To end users, ranked byoperaTing sysTem (Thousands of uniTs)

OPERATING SYSTEM 2010 2011 2012 2015

Symbian 111,577 89,930 32,666 661

Market Share (%) 37.6 19.2 5.2 0.1

Android 67,225 179,873 310,088 539,318

Market Share (%) 22.7 38.5 49.2 48.8

Research In Motion 47,452 62,600 79,335 122,864

Market Share (%) 16.0 13.4 12.6 11.1

iOS 46,598 90,560 118,848 189,924Market Share (%) 15.7 19.4 18.9 17.2

Microsoft 12,378 26,346 68,156 215,998

Market Share (%) 4.2 5.6 10.8 19.5

Other OS 11,417.4 18,392.3 21,383.7 36,133.9

Market Share (%) 3.8 3.9 3.4 3.3

Total Market 296,647 467,701 630,476 1,104,898

Source: Gartner (April 2011)

should make sure the storeront

has the eatures and services

needed to enable an application

to ulfll its goals in the market.

Developers should also consider

geographic reach, because not

all stores can serve all regions.

Facilitating payments is a un-

damental consideration that has

many variables. Developers need

to consider the convenience

and cost o implementing bill-

ing and receiving payments, therevenue sharing terms oered by

the app store or other partners,

how convenient the billing and

payment mechanisms are or

customers, and i the available

options work in the applica-

tion’s target geographies.

Developers also should look at

the application submission pro-

cess. The testing and certifcation

requirements vary, along with the

ees and the time it takes to get an

app evaluated and approved. Some

storeronts are more orthcoming

with analytics than others.

Marketing procedures and poli-

cies also vary. Developers need to

know how a store organizes and

promotes apps on their sites, i it

lets the developer inuence the

marketing and promotion o their

apps, and advertising options. l

continue fom page 12

“If they don’t maintain amore standard and lessfragmented platform,developers will leave itfor other platforms,”

C, P, PuCs

a makG a aPPa

Many enterprises are lookingfor custom apps that will

streamline their business and

improve productivity. But the

development and distribution

of those apps can prove

challenging without the right

partners.

Until now, most mobile

applications have targeted

consumers. While that market

continues to grow, developers

are looking to the business sec-

tor or new oppor tunities. Unlike

consumer applications, whichare hard to monetize, business

applications have the potential

to attract premium prices and

produce better revenues or

developers. What should devel-

opers do to target this area?

Mobile applications have o

course been used by businesses

or years, or asset tracking,

feld-orce automation and other

unctions. But mobile broad-

band-enabled smart devices and

applications are giving compa-

nies new reasons to expand or

improve their mobile strategies.

The tendency o employees

to use their personal mobile

devices or work is also putting

pressure on companies to make

key IT unctions and systems

available to those devices.

“Client devices are shand becoming more mo

we expect that trend to

tinue,” said Janel Garvin

Evans Data Corp. “The

the immovable desktop

a cube are just about go

making workersmore producTiveCompanies are also dev

ing mobile applications

CIOs realize they oer s

tial productivity gains an

streamline or remove m

routine business hasslescreate inefciencies, sa

Harmon, executive vice

dent at AppCentral (orm

Ondeego). “It’s a very

investment,” he added.

Numerous studies are

ing the potential market

mobile business apps. F

Sullivan projects a $10.9

market in annual revenu

2015 or mobile ofce, m

workorce management

feld asset management

mobile sales orce autom

applications.

Research frms are als

developers to identiy th

o sotware projects bus

are emphasizing. Accord

an Evans Data study rel

January, 72 percent o m

continue o

Business Apps:The NextFrontier?BY PY AlBrhT






15 MAY 2011


developers plan to extend enter-

prise apps to mobile devices within

the next year.

In January, IDC Research asked

mobile enterprise developers to

characterize their current work or

work planned or the next three

months. Social business applica-

tions and standalone productivitytools that are not integrated with

the corporate back-end inra-

structure have the most activity

(each with more than 30 percent

responding). Business intelligence

apps, feld orce and sales orce

automation were also popular

(each with more than 20 percent),

ollowed by unifed communica-

tions (more than 15 percent).

Mobile payments, M2M and

approval sotware were each

mentioned by ewer than 15 per-

cent o respondents.

Lots o frms are involved in

mobile application developmentincluding independent sotware

vendors, operating system and app

store organizations and mainstream

enterprise sotware solutions

providers that want to add mobility

to their products. In addition, some

companies are developing their

own enterprise apps in- house.

“In all cases the opportunity is

there,” Stephen Drake, program

vice president or mobility and

telecom at IDC. “Depending upon

the play, we’ve seen a tremen-

dous amount o new ISVs coming

in to develop apps that can really

address some o these new operat-ing systems and new opportunities

or those clients.”

But not all small-to-medium sized

businesses are set up to develop

applications and many need o-

the-shel products rom application

storeronts. In addition, many

corporations want custom solu-

tions. They expect to have in- house

teams eventually, but need consul-

tants in the meantime.

experTise in cerTainindusTries willfosTer innovaTion“Most o the innovation and the suc-

cess we see comes rom third-party

developers who see an opportunityor market need and have the exper-

tise and knowledge and are able to

develop something and bring it to

market to sell to corporations,” said

John Tudhope, director o applica-

tions marketing at Sprint.

Some o the most interest-

ing innovation will occur as

businesses create new cat-

egories o applications.

For example, many large consum-

er brands are now building mobile

business-to-consumer applications

and many corporations are build-

ing mobile business-to-employee

applications. Digital marketing frms,

which previously perormed web

site development or corporations,

will help with this work, Harmon

said. In the uture, business-to-busi-

ness mobile applications will create

another new need.

Some opportunities will emerge

because businesses are allowing

employees to use their personal

devices or work activities. Com-

panies will need security solutions

and ways or IT to manage the

apps. They are also expected to

want techniques or sandboxing

corporate apps and inormation

separately rom personal applica-

tions on employee devices.

privaTe app sTores willoffer cusTomized appsCurrently, some enterprise sot-

ware frms are using consumer app

stores to distribute mobile applica-

tions to take advantage o existing

solutions and avoid the need to

build and deploy custom distribution

systems. Techniques to allow bulk-

licensing o sotware or companies

represents an opportunity or inno-

vation, according to Harmon.

While consumer oriented stores

and apps are available and con-

venient, many companies in the

uture will build their own private

app stores so they can control

what employees have access to

and install on their devices. Some

may also want specialized stores

or customized mobile versions o

their enterprise sotware p

Harmon suggested.

Mobile operators want to

develop and distribute app

Verizon Wireless oers bu

apps in its V CAST Apps st

and it has launched packag

apps or vertical markets.

is considering establishingness application marketpla

is working on a solution to

discoverability and ordering

business applications or b

customers and their emplo

Developers that may not

established relationships w

operators beore may fnd

son now to join their devel

programs, because SMBs

enterprises have close rela

with their telecommunicat

providers and seek them o

or services and expertise.

Verizon Wireless has hanabout a dozen developers

cialize in specifc vertical m

recommend to companies

Laura Osbaldeston, asso

director or SMB strategy,

ships and applications and

Verizon Developer Commu

business markets at Verizo

less, said the company wa

help developers rom the c

market learn about enterpr

trends and needs so they

erly target their work and d

what types o applications

“The challenge develope

right now is that they’ve be

so consumer ocused beca

that’s where the money w

and there isn’t a lot o unde

standing, unless they’ve co

rom industry, to realize wh

there’s a need,” she said.

Social business

Standalone productivity tools(not integrated with corporate back end)

Business intelligence applications(e.g. CognosMobile)

Field force automation

Sales force automation

Unied communications

Mobile payment/mobile billing

Machine to machine

Approval applications

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

(% of respondents)

n = 608 Source: Appcelerator and IDC’s Mobile Enterprise Developer Survey, 1Q11

caTegories of business-focused applicaTions beingdeveloped now and in The nexT Three monThs

(d s ct J 2011; mt r a)




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