I recently gave a talk to a group of marketing specialists from large corporate firms. After my talk, one of the attendees approached me and said: “I enjoyed your talk, it all sounds so exciting, but can you please tell me what exactly an app is?” Talk about a reality check.

In the ultra fast paced world of connected devices, one of the words that’s thrown around more than any other is the term “app”. So for those amongst you who are still trying to figure it out, an app typically refers to software used on a smartphone or mobile device such as the Android, iPhone, BlackBerry or iPad, as in “mobile app”. Similarly the phrase “web app” or “online app” is also used in a business setting as an abbreviation for “Web application” or “online application”. It’s a piece of software that helps you get things done, receive updates, or enjoy a little leisure time.

Now that we have that figured out, let’s fast forward to how apps are evolving almost as quickly as they appeared.

Apps, The Next Evolution

Mobile apps extend the reach and productivity of your business, but even “mobile” devices are rapidly changing shape. Take for example the I’mWatch – A sleek, thin and ergonomic watch that’s powered by the Android OS. The watch is a phone, web, music, radio, organizer, photo and video player. This new level of portability delivers new use cases for apps, as we currently know them.

“The effects of the mobile industry are making a huge impact in retail right now. Companies are looking at innovative ways to bring in new customers, deliver their messaging and maximize sales through the use of branded apps,” shares Ariel Haroush CEO of I Display, Part of the Outform Group. “The key is to deliver mobile content throughout the retail shopping experience via smart digital retail signage.” Expect to see Android OS based point of sale devices sprouting up in a fashion boutique near you.

Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and other TV Manufactures have already started launching their line of app enabled TVs. These “Smart TVs” can connect to the web through ethernet or wireless connection.  This connectivity allows the user to perform many of the functions on their television that could normally only be done on a computer or mobile device. Samsung has already gone the extra mile by launching their own dedicated App Store for TVs.

“The support for Samsung Apps – from content providers to developer partners and consumers around the world – has been tremendous,” said Eric Anderson, Vice President of Content and Product Solutions, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. “As we look ahead, Samsung sees the opportunity to expand not only the breadth and depth of apps, but also how users interact with them, making it easy to discover and enjoy content across multiple devices in the home.”

In conclusion – Get ready to re-learn everything you know about apps. The trends creeping up right around the corner are about to deliver the reality to the sci-fi we’ve been dreaming of. Developers who aren’t seriously considering the opportunities of these connected devices will be missing out.

Turning it back over to you – How do you see the evolution of apps progressing? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us on Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet has all the makings of becoming the first successful Android based tablet. With it low price point, large volume of apps, ease of use and access to the Amazon service is it any wonder that developers are seriously looking at this new tablet as their platform of choice?

Appcelerator and IDC polled almost 2,200 developers this month, and the Kindle Fire edged out the Samsung Galaxy Tab as the most attractive Android tablet to target their efforts at. Here are 5 reasons why developers are already fueling the Kindle Fire Flame.

1- In a sprint to lead the pack, Songza, an Amazon-backed music startup, is launching a Kindle Fire app before any other mobile OS. The reason as Co-founder Elias Roman pointed out is their desire to be an early adopter on “the Android tablet that will matter more than any of the others.”

2 - Top tier publishers such as Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and Zynga are already on board by being launch partners for the Kindle Fire; each looking for wider distribution channels for their content.

3 - In the US, 49% of developers are very interested in creating apps for Android apps, upsetting the Galaxy at 48%.  Worldwide, the Kindle Fire ranked second with 43% while Samsung ranked first with 56%.

4 - The Kindle Fire is coming in at a substantially lower price point.  Second, the Kindle Fire is backed by Amazon’s large content and e-commerce offerings that can be integrated into apps and the convenience of its app store.

5 - Development is proving to be fairly easy for developers who’ve previously developed for the Android OS. The Kindle Fire uses Android 2.3 instead of Android’s Honeycomb OS.

Is you organization looking towards the Kindle Fire for your upcoming app? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros.

The mobile app industry, it’s the new gold rush, we hear that all the time. Developers can’t create apps fast enough to keep up with user demands. They’re quitting their day jobs to focus on publishing multi-million-dollar generating apps, and you can do it to! All you need is a “somewhat” good idea and BAM! Start counting the moolah pouring into your account.

If only any part of this last paragraph was true, we’d all be in a much better situation.

While the success of mobile apps is undeniable, the cold hard truth is that as a developer, you’re probably going to have to develop a ton of apps before you start seeing any success whatsoever for your hours of hard work. To put things in perspective, here are a few challenges you might be faced with along your journey. Think of this as a wake-up call.

1 – Distribution Woes

iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Each of these OS’s has their individual advantages and market shares – The real question is, how easy will it be to get your app directly into your potential users’ devices in the shortest timeframe possible. Ask most developers and they’ll likely tell you the same thing; development, that’s usually the easy part. Issues such as marketing budgets, ad networks, social media outreach, connections to journalists or shouting off rooftops are among the factors that need to be taken into consideration early on.

2 -Originality Goes a Long Way

Before even writing your first line of code or setting budget aside for marketing purposes, you’ll need to have an app idea that stands out. Sure, you can always copycat one of the successful apps and give it your own spin, but with the huge opportunities to get creative and show the world something new, who really needs another “me too” app?

3 -Beyond the Front End

Even though the functional and development scope of mobile applications looks fairly simple, the need for back-end development and integration, support for multiple platforms, security standards and optimized UX could potentially drag projects into a black hole and miss both the time and cost windows of a large number of potentially great applications.

4 – But Wait, There’s More!

You’ve done the heavy lifting, developed the app and your marketing strategy is all set. At this point, you’re probably starting to feel a little surge of excitement, right? Well hold on there… Are you sure your app will be approved? If you published to the Android Market, you won’t be facing that problem, but if you developed for iOS, you better be sure you know the guidelines.

5 – Sales are Slow?

“My app has been on the App Store for a few months now and sales are slow!” We get a lot of emails from that guy. You don’t want to be that guy, do you? Others have tried everything but cannot break into the Top 100. Many developers said how frustrated they are that their hard work is not being rewarded as they expected it would. The best preparation for this type of challenge is to carefully estimate the success of your app in the first place.

Now let’s flip the vibe here for a moment and focus on a few positive notes.

• Smartphones will grow by about one third to 43% of mobile users by 2015 according to eMarketer.
•  A recent survey by Nielsen shows just how many people are willing to pay for apps, split down by category. Gaming comes out on top, with 93% of users who have downloaded a gaming app stating they would be willing to pay for it.
• Total global mobile applications market is projected to be worth $25 billion by 2015 – currently it’s exploded to $38B, predicted now to grow to $58B in the next 12-18 months.

In Conclusion – After you’ve carefully read all of the above, it’s only fair to remind you that, where there’s challenge there’s usually big opportunities. The most important advice I can give you is, don’t be afraid to take chances, you might end up proving us all wrong!

Share your app marketing challenges, secrets and tips in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros.

I’ve posted in great detail about alternative marketing methods to increase exposure for your mobile apps. With this post, I want to discuss hard facts and the actual costs developers can expect associated with acquiring loyal app users.

A recent report by Fiksu shares a little more light on the issue. The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index increased by 34 cents from $1.20 in July to $1.54 in August and up to $1.64 in September. Fiksu’s research also recorded a 30 percent decline in organic iPhone app downloads during August. Organic downloads can be categorized as people who actively search and download apps from the App Store without seeing an ad first.

The Current App Download Landscape

Since taking a nosedive, developers utilizing incentivized installs have turned to more traditional distribution methods such as CPC (Cost per Click).  In fact, developers are spending 20-30% of total app revenue they generate on trying to acquire new users through various advertising and marketing initiatives. Gartner expects total app revenue to be $50 billion by 2014, and as a result, is forecasting a $15-20 billion spend on app advertising.

That being said, Peter Farago, VP of marketing at Flurry, a mobile ad metrics and advertising company, in a recent interview suggested that ads sold on a cost-per-click basis are not nearly as effective as other means of customer acquisition.

Find Your Niche and Leverage It

Paper Hat Press, a developer of children’s book apps, used mobile email sign-ups to gauge consumers’ interest. Paper Hat Press quadrupled its email marketing database by connecting with consumers on Android and iPhone applications. Specifically, the company found that 94 percent of moms ages 18-44 in the United States download games and entertainment apps on their smartphone. Similarly, 90 percent of U.S. moms aged 45 and over download games and entertainment apps.

“Adding mobile signup ads to our marketing mix has allowed us to reach women, especially busy moms interested in our personalized children’s books on top mobile devices.” recently shared Manish Naik, CEO, Paper Hat Press.

Additional findings of Paper Hat Press‘s survey include:

• 61 percent of mobile apps users age 18-34 click/tap on mobile ads by accident more often than on purpose.
• Almost two-thirds of mobile app users selected ads that contain coupons, deals or newsletters as their preferred in-app mobile ad type.

Share your thoughts in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros

I just returned from the GDC Online (Game Developers Conference) in Austin, TX, and found many of the sessions focused on data and how to use it to grow an app business. This is a subject dear to my heart, as it has helped my company grow our business over the years. For example, in 2004 we created our first business intelligence system and grew the business by more than 400 percent. (Making all the employees quite happy, as they won a trip to the Florida Keys.) Here are some examples of how you can use your data for actionable insights that will have a major impact on your app business.

Optimizing Images for Huge Performance Improvements

It is very important to test and optimize images. Our game investment company, Recharge Studios recently optimized an image in My Pet Zombie that increased the click-through rate (CTR) from 6.6 percent to 32 percent. Just by testing and optimizing the creative, 4.8 times more users clicked the image.

Optimizing the Tutorial Reduced Churn

Not many developers think of optimizing their tutorial. The new iOS game called My Pet Zombie from Riptide Games had a huge churn rate during the game tutorial prior to optimization. By optimizing the tutorial and improving the user interface, My Pet Zombie reduced the churn from 41 percent completion rate to 81 percent completion rate – a 98 percent improvement.

Improving just one particular image in the tutorial saw the churn rate go from 25 percent to 4 percent. The developer focused on the elements circled in pink.

Distribute Through Multiple Channels and Measure the Results

Not all app developers believe in paying for distribution. However, buying the right traffic and knowing the return can have a major impact on scaling your business. By knowing the return on investment (ROI) for each source of distribution, you can make smart buying decisions, but you need to experiment and understand the data. Also, some of the more expensive channels may have the most qualified users and can prove to be your best source of traffic, but you will never know unless you look at the data.

On the left side are various sources of traffic, and on the right side are the user retention rates after 30 days. As you can see, there was a lot of variance in the traffic sources. Once you know what traffic has the best ROI, it is a pretty easy business decision to buy more of that traffic. If you are interested in more information, check out my blog article.

Offer Users More Than One Revenue Stream

Only around 5 percent of users are willing to pay for an app or make an in-app purchase. By adopting an incented purchase model – offering users virtual currency for installing another app, for example – app revenue can more than double.

In this game, Dolphin Play, the user is offered Dolphin Bucks for installing Tap Fish 2.

In a recent case study using the incented, offerwall system, My Pet Zombie’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 131 percent.

Do I have you convinced that to grow your app business, testing and optimization is important? (It’s almost as fun as playing the game itself.) Getting actionable insight from your app stats can turn an unprofitable app into a profitable app. Are there other tests you performed that made a major impact on your revenue? If so, please share the data in the comment section.

Rob Weber, Senior Vice President of Mobile Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

Minneapolis, Minn. October 21, 2011 – AppAllStar, a daily free app promotion site marketed by W3i, announces Championship Week, October 23^rd to October 30^th, to celebrate one million downloads of its AppAllStar iOS app.  Championship Week will feature seven of the top ranking paid apps from companies such as SEGA® Corporation and SkyVu offered for free for just 24 hours.  These popular apps are seldom offered to the public at no charge.

AppAllStar Champion Week Feature Free BattleBears1

AppAllStar launched its iPhone app in March, 2011, and in less than six months has grown to more than one million users.  AppAllStar provides consumers a one stop shop for quality game apps daily.  AppAllStar solves the problem of wasting time discovering and paying for cool games. By installing the AppAllStar app you can review and install a new app each and every day.  Aside from quality tested content, AppAllStar provides a frictionless user experience allowing users to install a new game and then get on with their day.

“We are excited about the lineup. Our partners really ‘stepped up to the plate’ allowing AppAllStar to
feature some of their best iOS games. This may be the only time these games are offered for free so we are recommending consumers install AppAllStar to so they can review the line-up from day one.”  comments Joram Manka, AppAllStar Product Manager.

About AppAllStar:  AppAllStar is a product of W3i Mobile Solutions, LLC.  W3i develops and promotes quality, useful free apps across an extensive app network offering advertisers user acquisition for iOS™,
Android™, and Windows™ apps and developers revenue models to grow their app businesses.    Get the latest from AppAllStar on Facebook and Twitter @AppAllStar. To learn more, visit www.W3i.com.

The names of the companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Press Contact:

Deborah Manthei

Director Marketing Communications

Office:  320.257.7571

Mobile:  320.310.7714

Deborah dot Manthei at W3i.com

With more and more retail shoppers using their mobile devices to find product information, compare prices, get advice from online friends, receive coupons and, not to mention, make actual purchases on the go, is it any wonder that many brand names in the retail industry are scrambling to dominate the mobile shopping experience?

Traditional purchasing decisions are evolving faster than you can say customer journey. According to a recent ForeSee study of nearly 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-commerce websites in the US, over half of mobile shoppers used their phones to compare price information (56%). Shoppers also used their phones to compare different products (46%), to look up product specifications (35%), and to view product reviews (27%).

In terms of engagement, mobile is one of the most personal mediums that also allows brands to reach individuals in scale, largely due to a number of new and innovative apps. It is predicted that m-commerce will eventually surpass e-commerce because of the ubiquity of devices and the unique role they play as a “continuous channel” for marketing throughout the day.

Retails brand names in m-commerce

Walmart may still be a long way from dominating the mobile sphere, but make no mistake the retail giant is very focused on mobile and increasingly building their mobile app based offering. In fact, their latest project, @WalmartLabs aims to redefine commerce for the world’s largest retailer using social media and mobile technology. With an estimated 30% of customers taking a smartphone with them while out shopping, there’s an opportunity for Walmart to utilize that device in order to increase in store purchases.

H&M customers can stay on top of news and share their favorite clothese via the brand’s native app. Developed and designed by ustwo, the H&M application lets consumers browse collections and receive special offers as well as daily news updates. Additionally, customers can add pieces they like to the My Wishlist section.

Sears and their sister company Kmart both have iPhone , Android and BlackBerry apps and SMS alerts. Additionally, Sears’ iPad application complements these offerings, providing added customer engagement. When developing tablet based apps, retailers must take into account how it fits into their overall mobile strategy, and the similarities and unique value of tablets compared to other devices.

Tablets: Fueling the Mobile Flame

Retailers see the tablets as a more appealing backdrop for presenting their goods. On the web, anyone can put up a site and compete with large scale, established retailers. But when it comes to tablets, it’s still very much a game for the big boys. Brand name retailers have deeper pockets and can higher developers to set up eye-catching mobile apps with m-commence functionality.

In conclusion

The true beauty of mobile is that retailers can leverage it across multiple channels, including catalogs and location based services, increasing sales and customer loyalty as well as driving consumer analytics to learn more about their clients. Most big brands have already started placing their chips on the table. Those who haven’t yet, are surely feeling that the time is ripe.

How do you see the retail evolve due to mobile apps? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Share them in the comments or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros.

Oren Todoros, Consultant, W3i, LLC
Oren has more than 9 years experience in online marketing and is now specializing in app marketing.

The smartphone war is heating up, and although it is still unclear where Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Web OS will eventually fit into the crowded mobile operating system market, it is very clear that iOS and Android are the market share leaders.

Gartner reports that Google and Apple are the “obvious winners” in the smartphone category. The combined share of iOS and Android doubled to nearly 62 percent in Q2 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the same quarter last year. Google’s mobile operating system now accounts for 43.4 percent of all smartphone sales, up from 17.2 percent in Q2 2010; and Apple reached 18.2 percent, up from 14.1 percent at the same time.

Many app developers ask me for my perspective on how to develop and scale a profitable user acquisition strategy for their app. One of the primary gaps in knowledge I see from app developers is a clear understanding of how the operating system impacts user acquisition.

As the first post in a two-part series, we’ll explore how the iOS operating system impacts user acquisition for apps. For the second post, we’ll focus on how the Android operating system impacts user acquisition for apps.

How Differences in Smartphone Operating Systems Impact App Promotion

Smartphones as a whole skew to a younger audience – 18 to 34.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, as reported by eMarketer

IOS devices have a hands-down great user experience, but at a higher price. With elegant style and the best integrated hardware and software, iOS devices are the simplest to operate. Apple oversees a more regulated, closed environment than Google. This creates positives and negatives. For example, users can only buy apps through the App Store, making the transaction more streamlined and thus driving significantly higher conversion rates for premium billing or in-app purchasing because Apple has so many credit cards on file. Apple also regulates the apps that are listed in the App Store based upon its App Store Review Guidelines, making it problematic for some new apps to get published, as they must play by Apple’s rules. To complicate things even more, Apple’s rules are not always black and white and are subject to Apple’s evolving interpretation.

Key Points About User Acquisition on iOS

1. Because of the reliance on a centralized App Store for all user acquisition, it is important to rank high overall or in your category for driving organic traffic.
2. Popularity also impacts where you rank in search results, another driver of organic traffic.
3. Editorial features in iTunes can drive significant installs. “The only promotion we’ve found to be consistently effective in driving paid downloads has been promotion via iTunes, either as a ‘Staff Favorite’ or a ‘New & Noteworthy’ selection on iTunes itself. The reasons and process by which Apple makes these selections are a mystery to us, but we have found it useful to always consider Apple’s interests when positioning a new product,” said Paul O’Connor, brand director, Appy Entertainment, developer of Trucks and Skulls, FaceFighter, and Tune Runner, all featured in iTunes.
4. Unlike Android, carriers have little impact on user acquisition on iOS.
5. Third-party ad networks, especially those focused on apps, perform well to drive user acquisition. Seek performance-based campaigns, whether CPC or CPI, with these networks. Be mindful of limitations in behavioral ad targeting.
6. The social impact on user acquisition for apps (i.e., the viral coefficient) is not as strong in iOS as it is for Facebook, but one marketer at a leading social game recently told me that they get a 3/10 viral coefficient (i.e., for every 10 new users they acquired outside of social means, they get their audience to incite three more users to play with them). I would speculate that Zynga’s Words With Friends has a much higher coefficient than the average on iOS. Read more about “How Mobile is Getting More Social.”

iOS Demographics

Possibly because of the higher price of devices, iPhones skew to higher income users.

Source: The Nielsen Company

IPhone users buy more paid apps – half of them buy at least one per month – compared with 21 percent of Android users and 35 percent of iPod touch users.

IPhone users are the most loyal at 91 percent, iPod touch at 88 percent, and Android at 84 percent.

As far as mobile ads, the average click-through rate (CTR) is 0.52 percent. IPhone users are by far more willing to click on ads, with an average CTR of 0.78 percent, while Android users are at 0.47 percent.

IPod touch skews to a young audience – 65 percent are 17 and younger, according to a chart from AdMob.

IPod touch users love their apps – especially free apps, downloading an average of 12 apps a month – 37 percent more apps than iPhone and Android users. They also spend more time using them: 100 minutes a day.

For the second post , we’ll focus on how the Android operating system impacts user acquisition for apps.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

The W3i team has been working closely to analyze and understand the REAL value of users based on traffic source. We measured lifetime value (LTV) based on a series of retention and monetization metrics and together we found that traffic source plays a huge role in quality, no real surprise there…but what was more interesting is that some pockets of incentivized traffic actually performed better than overall organic traffic. This discovery provides a counter to the popular argument that incentivized traffic is not worth the same as organic or non-incentivized. This gives credibility and validity to incentivized traffic. When a developer and distribution network understands traffic source, real value can be provided through incented installs. We hope this data will help educate platform providers and mobile app media buyers on the importance of understanding real value variable forms of marketing including incentivized application installs. If we are intelligent on our media buys, we can find pockets of profitable and valuable incentivized installs. How do we know this? Check the numbers below on one of W3i’s apps.

Day 30 Retention vs. Traffic Source:

We looked at day 30 retention rates per traffic source for one or our burst campaigns with a popular game application. We also calculated the volume per traffic source and assigned a color to indicate which application that traffic was coming from. As you can see below, the top paid volume source produced the 2^nd best 30 day retention rate. However, the second top paid volume source performed the worst! Clearly the second top paid traffic source did not produce a positive return for the buy!

 Revenue per 1000 users vs. traffic source:

In addition to retention we also looked at average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) per 1000 over a determined time frame. While we couldn’t disclose the specific traffic source each source is represent by its own letter. As you can see, revenue per user is dramatically impacted depending on traffic source.

Organic vs. incentivized source:

When comparing overall organic traffic to incented traffic, we found pockets of incentivized traffic are actually more valuable than organic traffic. Take a peek below at our calculations comparing the top RPDAU sources compared to all overall organic sources. 

 So what does all of this mean?

As a Media Buyer, you should do your homework! Work with an application distribution partner such as W3i to help you acquire users effectively and remember not all traffic is the same when it comes to incentive installs. Finally, don’t underestimate the value of incent traffic. If you are smart and work with the right partner you just might find pockets of highly profitable, high performing incentivized traffic.

Let’s assume for a moment that you’ve done the seemingly impossible, you’ve thought about a one-of-a-kind app idea that everyone needs right now. You’ve even gone 2 steps ahead and did the leg work of finding a top app development and design studio, or you’re barricaded yourself in to develop it yourself, while being absolutely sure that your app is going to be the next big hit. Now allow me bring you back down to earth for a moment and remind you that the vast majority of apps, as fantastic as they are, don’t generate anywhere near enough money to be profitable, or even a return on their development investment for that matter. But don’t let that stop you. There are a few things you should know that will give your app the upper hand.

App development studios which are currently going down the route of freemium based monetization are on the right path towards reaching their app’s full monetary potential. This is especially true for apps on the Android platform.

On average, freemium based apps, and games specifically generate almost $15 for each user install. This is significant when you consider that most paid apps generate less than $5 for each user. Additionally, free apps receive much more downloads than premium apps, at the tune of about ten to one.

One has to wonder why there’s such a vast difference between free and paid apps downloads. After all, for the most part, most paid apps will set the user back about $2 on average. The reason isn’t in price points, but in user browsing behavior. Most users tend to stick to the free section of the app store and for this reason alone, most free apps receive far more views and subsequently more downloads than their paid counterparts.

Should Your App Be Free?

One of the all-time app related questions centers around the building a free app with content available via in-app purchase versus building a paid app. To best answer this question, developers need to think about 2 things. First, what their users might want or need to see prior to shelling out cash, and second what monetization strategy is the direct competition in their category taking.

Average app prices vary considerably from category to category. Medical, healthcare and fitness have significantly app saturation levels while maintaining higher than average costs per app.

In short, there are several alternatives to releasing a paid app that need to be carefully weighed, such as ad based monetization, subscriptions packages, freemium in-app upgrades and straight up free (brand building) strategies. The trick is in carefully researching your app’s niche while focusing on your app’s unique value proposition.

Debating the best app monetization strategy? We’re here to help you out. Contact us or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros, we’ll be glad to discuss it with you.