31-07-2012, 12:14 PM
Make money from your mobile apps
32768482-Make-money-from-your-mobile-apps.pdf (Size: 981.63 KB / Downloads: 26)
Introduction
Mobile applications have become hugely popular with
downloads predicted to reach 4 billion this year alone,
rising to 21 billion by 2013. This isn’t surprising when
you look at the number of smartphones on the market
and worldwide shipments reported to surpass 390
million by 2013, growing at a rate of 20.9% per year.*
The good news for application developers is that as
the number of smartphone users increase, so too
does the demand for a wide range of mobile
applications. The only question that remains is how
do you take advantage of this opportunity when there
are already so many apps out there and more
constantly being developed?
The rise of the smartphone
In the last few years we have seen a significant shift in
the mobile market. While the sales of traditional
phones have been dramatically impacted by global
recession, handset manufacturers and analyst firms
have been reporting significant growth in
smartphones. At the end of 2009 Gartner reported
that Nokia had retained the lead position with around
40% of the smartphone market, RIM in second place
with over 20% and Apple close behind with 17%.
Mobile application complexities
Unfortunately, it is not as simple as developing for a
small set of platforms. Each platform has a number of
versions. Apple are about to launch iPhone OS 4.0
and there have been many minor versions to go with
the three previous major revisions. Current Android
phones are using version 2.1 (Éclair) and version 2.2
(FroYo) is due imminently, although some brand new
Android phones still ship with version 1.6 (Donut) and
older 1.5 (Cupcake) phones are still available and
have not been upgraded. Each version adds new
functionality and fixes a number of earlier issues, but
also introduces platform fragmentation making things
more complex for app developers.
Distribution within app stores
Once you’ve made your plan and selected which
platforms to support you should get your app into the
relevant app stores. As mentioned previously there’s
a whole range out there including device/platform
specific app stores - iPhone App Store, BlackBerry
App World, Android Market, Windows Phone
Marketplace, Palm App Catalog and Nokia Ovi Store.
Selling from within a free app
Studies show that over 80% of app downloads are for
free apps – there are no blockers or risks. The
customer does not get lost in app store payments or
signing up for Google Checkout or PayPal – they
simply click to download. However, a free download
does not necessarily mean free, we have already
discussed ad-funded apps, but it does not end there.
An increasing number of successful apps are
available for free but then sell upgrades, add-ons or
virtual goods.