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Motorola’s Android App Store Coming Soon

MDW — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:58:43 +0000

Motorola is getting ready to launch its own Android application store, called SHOP4APPS. SHOP4APPS is accessible both from a Web browser and from a free mobile client called MotoAppstore (still in the testing phase).

The upcoming Android app store will feature a MyLocker section (where you can check your download history), automatic notifications when new versions of the applications are launched, and the ability to re-download/transfer apps.

Orange Launches its Own App Store

MDW — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Orange will launch its own application store this month. At first, the Orange App Store will be filled with 2,000 games, 500 applications and ringtones, and wallpapers for some Java-enabled phones. The App Store will become available on Android and BlackBerry devices during the first quarter of next year. Symbian and possibly WinMo phones will also be supported in the future.

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Apple Enables “Freemium” Model for iPhone Apps

Yoad Gidron — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:55:10 +0000

Apple said that it will let iPhone application developers offer their users the option to buy additional content or features within a free app on its App Store. In an email sent Thursday to registered iPhone developers, Apple said in-app purchase options are now available for all software in its App Store: “You can also simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses In App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app,” the email reads.

Apple introduced in-app microstransactions for premium apps in March–developers can market new levels in an iPhone game, additional chapters or books in an ebook app or new tools in productivity apps. However, that meant pricing apps at a minimum of 99 cents.

Developers say that the latest announcement helps in two ways. First, it makes it much easier for them to make a business out of free apps. Until now, developers sold ads within their free apps or tried to convert users to a paid version with more content. The new capability could also help clean up the App Store because it would make it less necessary to offer both a free “lite” version and a paid version of the same app, a strategy that many developers used to try to make money.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Report: US Mobile App Market to Pass $4 billion Mark by 2013

Yoad Gidron — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:52:20 +0000

Market research firm Yankee Group estimates that nearly 7 billion U.S. smartphone app downloads will drive $4.2 billion in revenue by 2013. And with the number of smartphone users set to quadruple to 160 million at the same time, Yankee Group uses just two words to describe the market to come: gold rush.

Yankee Group offers key insights for developers and app store owners to position themselves in this market and be profitable:

Fit the app to the platform. The target platform(s) should be chosen based on the nature of the app.
Price your apps appropriately. Paid apps will account for one quarter of all downloads in 2013. While 99-cent apps are the norm now, Yankee Group predicts that paid apps will cost $2.37 on average by 2013, increasing today’s $343 million download market by more than 10 times over those five years.
Focus on marketing. App store owners need to attract developers by marketing their apps and promoting the store’s successes via top 25 lists, download counters and running revenue tallies.

Android Market has more than 10,000 Apps

Yoad Gidron — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:29:10 +0000

There are currently at least 10,000 applications and games available on the on the Android Market, according to AndroLib, which provides a useful website where you can browse Android apps. AndroLib’s latest stats show a total of 10,072 apps that were crawled by their system, the majority of which were free (64.2%). The real number of applications in the Market is probably higher, but Google doesn’t provide official statistics.

Source: MobileCrunch

Android Market Sales Gloom

Yoad Gidron — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:49:42 +0000

AdMob recently estimated that there are some $200 million worth of applications sold in Apple’s iPhone store every month, or about $2.4 billion a year, whereas the Android market is worth a paltry $5M. Larva Labs claims that the total is probably much lower.

Matt Hall lists some of the shortcomings currently plaguing the Android Market:

No screenshots
325 character application description maximum
Google checkout only way to buy
Hard to find paid apps
Various intermittent problems like failed or stalled downloads, credit card verification delays that look like stalled downloads, and other problems.

It seems that Android developers are seeing some really pathetic sales figures from the Android Market. Larva Labs, one of the top-selling Android developer saw an average of $62 per day in Android Market sales for August 2009.

Samsung Launches App Store in Europe

Yoad Gidron — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:22:32 +0000

Samsung is planning to launch their app store on Sept. 14 in the U.K., France and Italy. Samsung will make the service available in Germany, Spain and more than 30 other European countries in coming months. The company is developing similar services in Asia and the Americas but hasn’t announced when they’ll be available.

Samsung said its app store will initially offer about 300 apps for use on its Omnia and I8910 HD devices, and later expand to other models such as Omnia II (I8000) and OmniaLITE (B7300). It expects the number of applications to grow to around 2,000 by the end of the year.

How Can Indie Developers Succeed on the App Store?

Yoad Gidron — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:54:07 +0000

The App Store is now a $2.4 billion dollar per year business, according to AdMob’s monthly mobile metrics report. MobileCrunch suggests 5 tips for succeeding to make money in the App Store:

Develop fast, release often (i.e. Agile)
Make sure the price is right
Use an attractive icon and app name
Partner with other indie developers
Hiring a dedicated PR team or firm for the App Store is probably not worth it
BONUS tip: Get sponsored by Apple.

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Frost & Sullivan: Downloads from App Stores to Reach 6.67 Billion in 2014

Lior — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:54:40 +0000

We are all aware of the rapid growth both in number and capacity of the various App Stores. This trend started with the very successful Apple App Store for iPhone apps, and now it seems like almost every large operator, device vendor and content provider has one. This is well coupled with the exponential growth in the number of sold high-end devices, as we wrote here yesterday. This is generating a large industry of application developers, all aiming to reach the top-pick lists in the application stores. The applications are becoming more sophisticated, using the latest and greatest device functionalities: touch screen, movement sensors, various types of network access types, etc.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.wireless.frost.com), An Insight into the U.S. Smartphone Application Storefront Market, finds that smartphone downloads from all app stores will reach 6.67 billion in 2014. The market segments covered in this research include prepaid and postpaid mobile, SMS and MMS, mobile Internet, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian.

“Next-generation devices are being introduced at a rapid pace, and stakeholders are offering app stores to facilitate downloads of compelling applications from multiple categories, serving a wide range of communication, entertainment, information, and personalization requirements of the mobile user,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Vikrant Gandhi. “For example, Apple, Google, Nokia, Palm, and Microsoft have either already introduced app stores or are in various stages of app store rollouts and are working to ensure that the entire service experience is compelling for the end user or device owner.”

The most significant challenge, according to this report, is to ensure service differentiation and optimal management of the scale of the app store business. They indicate, and I completely agree, that “App store providers should always be open to support new business models to drive the introduction of innovative services and content types. Having a clear value proposition is also important for mobile operators.”

“Unless the app store providers establish exclusivity agreements with application developers – something that is not feasible for a large majority of applications – it will be difficult to provide enough differentiation through the app stores,” notes Gandhi. “The best example of how this could be done is Apple’s app store, in which the entire experience of service purchase and consumption – including device characteristics, form factor and the operating environment – was a radical shift at the time of its introduction.”

Another important issue that is raised is how to create a differentiation between the various App Stores. While App Stores for specific devices have their special flavor, the more general storefronts, like those of the mobile carriers, may become just more of the same.

One more issue is the discovery of the applications. A recent survey that was published by AdMob indicates that 62% of the participants in the survey searched for a specific app, 60% looked through the lists of top selling apps in the store and 46% of all iPhone users rely on recommendations from friends. The survey also indicates that 32% of the responders download 1-3 apps per month, while 30% download 4-6 applications per month.

This flood of applications and app stores, is likely to create a very few top apps, and a long long tail of applications that may hardly be used.

Report: Android and iPhone Apps Prices Close Except for Reference

Yoad Gidron — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:16:11 +0000

A new report by Distimo, a mobile app store analytics firm, compares the pricing of applications in Google’s Android Marketplace and Apple’s App Store. Distimo’s July report concludes that pricing of applications in the Apple App Store and Android Market is quite similar, except for the Reference category which has a much higher average price on Google Android Market.

The report found that while the average price in the “Most Popular Game” category between the two stores is quite similar, the price distribution is not. The number of 99-cent apps in this category at the Apple App store far outweigh the number at Google Android Marketplace.

The most popular games on the Android Marketplace went between 99 cents and $5.99, with most going for $2.99. However, while most popular games on the App Store went for 99 cents, the store also featured a higher-end set, which was priced between $6.99 and $9.99.

As of late, Android has received praise for its growing catalog of applications and faithful following of developers. Recent analyst estimates put the Android catalog at somewhere around 6,000, a distant second behind the Apple App Store, which currently boasts 65,000 applications.

However, many observers say that Apple’s App Store numbers are inflated due to a large number of generally useless applications. Tech Crunch recently reported on the ousting of developer Khalid Shaikh, founder of Perfect Acumen, and the App Store’s third most prolific developer. According to the report, Shaikh had published some 900 applications to the App Store, all of which were removed upon the revocation of his license to develop for Apple’s store. The applications, which saw an average price of $4.99, were simple aggregation apps that consolidated Web content on subjects ranging from Michael Jackson to professional wrestling.

Apple recently has received a lot of criticism surrounding the App Store’s approval process, which is in stark contrast to the “wild west” approach over at Android.

Source