W3i collaborates with developers to optimize monetization tools such as in-app purchases.  By identifying high conversion in-app purchase touch points in a game, developers can capitalize on a similar implementation.

Venan Entertainment is an experienced game developer, developing games since 2002 (Space Miner Blast, Ninjatown). For their new title, Book of Heroes, Venan partnered with Recharge Studios utilizing the AppX fund, a $10 million fund created to help developers accelerate their game business.  AppX provides a free suite of services; user acquisition funding, actionable insights and game-changing production support with no long-term revenue share and without giving up IP rights.

During the post launch, the AppX team observed healthy activity of in-app purchases in the tutorial and wanted to understand why 25% of the paying users were purchasing an armor bundle virtual good.

In our combined analysis with Venan, we found that the largest monetizing event in the game was during the tutorial. The game was artfully displaying the advantages of a high cost item at the perfect time during the game.

First, the player is shown the context of what is going on in the game. The player must understand the value they are getting from making a purchase before they are presented the offer or they will not make the purchase!

In Book of Heroes, the player is in the game for about three minutes before they are given the opportunity to make a purchase. This makes the player familiar with the mechanics of the game. At the opportune time, the player is presented a bundle of upgrades for their avatar, not the in-app purchase screen. The player is required to purchase armor, but they can choose from multiple tiers. The first tier is easily attainable with their default premium currency amount and provides a minor improvement to gameplay. The second is exactly the cost of investing in the minimal IAP purchase of $1.99 and provides a large advantage over the first. The third requires the IAP of $4.99, and creates a huge advantage for the user’s avatar.

Combine this with a seamless visit to the IAP screen, back to the bundle purchase area and the handy discount amounts on the IAP screen showing the advantage to making a higher purchase, and you have a great monetization event.

Contact W3i to collaborate in growing your app business.  Now time to incinerate some Rath’een Warlocks!

Jimi Van Guilder, Producer, Recharge Studios, W3i, LLC

Jimi is a mobile content expert with a decade of experience working with brands that include Nickelodeon, the NFL, NBC, Marvel, Snoop Dogg and LucasArts. Jimi heads up production at W3i’s wholly owned publishing arm and investment fund, Recharge Studios.

App entrepreneur success stories are becoming increasingly common through the ever-growing mobile industry. Of course, the truth is that working up to a hit app almost never happens over night or with your first app for that matter. As someone once put it, for every Angry Bird out there, there are at least 20 thousand angry developers.

Having met with countless app developers, I can safely say that the one thing they all have in common is entrepreneurial drive. With Apple recently crossing the 10 billion download mark and an estimated 44 billion downloads expected to be achieved by 2016, creative young mobile app developers everywhere are going all-out, looking to cash in on the hottest business trend to emerge in the last decade.

What does it take to become a successful app entrepreneur? Some may say that the development process is actually the easy part. Thinking of an app with the right balance of value, creativity and marketing reach, that’s the tricky part.

One of best apps to riches stories involves Lisa Bettany, a Canadian figure skater who suffered through a serious injury only to bounce back at the top of the app charts with her hit app Camera+. Entrepreneur.com shares her awesome story which I urge you all to read at least once.

Anybody Can Do It

We’ve all at one point or another had an “Ah-Ha!” moment where we were sure we’ve thought of a hit app idea, or at least know someone who has. However, we weren’t all born with the gift of coding flowing through our genes. Luckily there’s no lack of talented freelance developers for hire on services such as odesk, elance, guru.com and many other freelance sites to help get the job done.

Enter Trey Smith. After launching a very lucrative business as an affiliate in the online world, Trey turned his attention towards iPhone apps. His iPhone apps include top hits such as Jump Pack, Maze+ and Monster Magic.  In just a 5 month period Trey’s apps have had over 3,000,000 downloads. In his webinars, Trey explains how he took his iPhone app game, Kolo’s Journey, from concept to completion and through marketing, almost entirely through the use of freelance services.

Business Sense on the Go

One of the biggest advantages entrepreneurs have today is the ability to conduct business anywhere via their mobile devices. From answering emails, to signing agreements, the use of Smartphones as business tools has transformed the way entrepreneurs do business. This also opens the door for app entrepreneurs to think outside of the box as far too many restrict their app ideas to “the next big game,” when in reality, there’s a huge window of opportunity to deliver utility and productivity tools to make on-the-go users’ life a little more fun and manageable.

In conclusion

The most successful app entrepreneurs have approached their app ideas by looking at what niche their app could best fill. Do not underestimate the power of targeting a specific audience or end-user for your app idea, that being said, the real magic happens when you keep  your mind open to fun and creative ideas.

Have you ever made a download or install decision based on the quality of the app icon? I’ll be the first to confess that in a time where apps are becoming more and more abundant, where you have the choice of hundreds of thousands of apps, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out and find a useful app. Much like in speed-dating, users will make decisions in a matter of seconds, especially considering the mobile context and our increasing demand for instant gratification.

Arguably, the quality of your app icon will increase the chances that users will give your app a fair shot and (hopefully) fall in love with what it offers behind the scenes. In other words, if you put together your app icon without much thought and effort, the chances of a user choosing your app versus skipping it for the next one are close to nil. Does that mean a quality app icon equals a quality app? Certainly not. The same is true for the inverse. However, it will most likely make users at least explore your app in more depth and lead to an install for further evaluation.

So, what does a quality app icon look like? There are plenty of app icon tutorials and resources out there on the net, some better than others. Michael Flarup (on his PixelResort site) has put together one of the better set of guidelines for app icon design (even though it’s a little dated) and I won’t rehash any of it here. The only thing I would augment is the “Stand out from the crowd” section. While Michael shows some good examples, we can push the envelope a bit more. I’ve seen some great concepts come through on Dribbble, a site where some of the top designers hang out and show off their latest works. Here is a small sampling from some work featured on Dribble of how your app icon can stand out even more:

Examples of App Icons that Stand Out

Unfortunately, there is not much, if any, data on what types of icons actually work better in the various app stores. It would be nice to run some A/B testing and get a better understanding. Regardless, making your icon look great is likely a step in the right direction (don’t skimp on the value the actual app provides either). Remember, first impressions matter.

What are your favorite app icons?  Feel free to post in the comments.

David May, Director of Creative Services; W3i, LLC
David has been working in the design industry for over 9 years and carries a fancy B.F.A. with focus in Graphic Design. He’s a native of Germany and loves peanut m&m’s. about everything related to the web and design in general.

What are your favorite app icons?

Localizing your iOS app can have a major impact on game revenue. Read on to find out how:

What is localization?
Localization is simply the process of translating your product into different languages for a specific country or region.

Why localize your app?
Localizing your app can make a huge difference in growing a loyal fan base in other countries.  The Apple App Store is available in over 120 countries with support for 40 languages.  Support for international payments, currency, and more, is already built in to the App Store.  So taking your app global is a great way to increase revenue and the process is probably more straight forward than you think.  Let’s take a look at how to bring your app to the global market place with localizations.

Getting started
The first step is to figure out which countries you are interested in marketing to.  Up to date sales data by country is difficult to come by.  That said, a good place to start is with populous countries with minimal english speaking people, who love technology.  Examples include, Japan, Korea, China, and France.  There are some sites on the web that show trends.  It pays to check this out periodically. My own research for a free ad-funded app (released earlier this year) yielded the top countries as  Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan,  Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia.

Once you’ve figured out which countries you want to market to, the next step is to choose the languages for your app.  Usually country to language is 1 to 1 but that’s not always the case.  For example, there are 10 languages associated with China or Chinese.  So it pays to do some research on the country you will be targeting and figure out which language(s) make the most sense for your app.  In my case I focused on two languages for China, simplified script and traditional script.

Translating your copy
Probably the toughest aspect of localizing your app is to acquire the actual translated copy.  You can gather translations for common text items like Cancel, Ok, Continue, Back, Close, etc. by simply changing the language on your iOS device and take note of the translation for these common text items.   Using the same translation as iOS itself really helps the user and keeps your app consistent with the operating system.

For less common words and simple phrase translations, many developers use Google Translate or some other on-line translation service.  This can be problematic if you need more complex sentences or phrases translated.  Poorly translated phrases may actually hurt more than help by confusing or even insulting the user.

By far the best approach to translating your copy is to use a professional translation service.  There are a variety of translation services marketed on the web.  You probably want to focus on those that specialize in working with iOS apps.  Companies with a focus on iOS app translation often provide good documentation or tools that make the process of setting up your app for localization easier.  In most cases you can get an online estimate by pasting your copy into a form.

Tips for Localizing your App
The process for localizing your app is fairly straight forward.  Apple’s developer documentation provides a complete set of programming topics that will guide you through the process.  There are a few common pitfalls to avoid.

Complete your app (especially the user interface) before localizing.  Once you begin creating localized versions of your windows, views menus, etc., if you change the arrangement of screen items, you will find yourself tweaking multiple files (one for each language).  Completing your app also ensures that you will have all the text you need translated. Remember to include any online help text that you link to from your app in your copy for translation.

Consider alerts and dynamic text for translation as well, not just the text you see when views first load.

If your app references any locale or region formatted information like time, date, currency, or other numerical values, remember to use the locale settings of the device in calculations and text you display dynamically.  For example, if you calculate and display miles per gallon in the United States,  be prepared to calculate and display Kilometers Per Gallon if the user’s locale is set as such.

Avoid having graphics that contain text.  For example, if you use a custom button background and the title for the button is included as part of the image, you will need a version of that graphic for each language.  You can save time by keeping text out of the graphic and use the title property for text instead.

Sound files that contain spoken text will need to be available for each supported language.

One key decision is whether you will also provide translated App Store meta data (app description, etc).  This is something you need to figure out before you go live because adding localized meta data requires you submit a new version to the App Store.

Consider starting with localizing your app for one or two countries and bringing more on later.   If your product roadmap includes expanding features in later versions,  you can move additional translation costs to those versions and justify the expense based on sales in additional markets.

Testing your App
It’s important to test your app with your test device setup for each supported language.  Compared to English, most other languages will result in more characters for any given word or phrase.  You may need to adjust the size of some of your UI controls to accommodate the increased length of a word or phrase.

If possible, add testers from your target countries.  Ask for feedback specifically as it relates to translations.

Hmmm, I’m not sure just yet
Even if your still on the fence about bringing your app to international markets by localizing your app you can still help yourself by taking some basic steps in your app development right now.  Start by reading through Apple’s developer documentation as it relates to localization and internationalization.   You’ll discover, when beginning the development of your app, that you can take some simple steps that will make localizing your app later much easier and cost less.

Patrick Brennan, Senior Software Developer

Apple’s development certificate stuff can be difficult to understand, and after I recently explained it to a new team member I thought it would be a valuable topic for others.  Some of this is documented well on Apple’s site, but I will go through it and focus more on the parts that I found unintuitive.

You can download Xcode for free and start creating apps and experimenting with the iPhone/iPad simulators right away.  If you want to put anything onto a device, however, you will need to purchase a developer license from Apple.  (Note: A device is required for things like testing In-App Purchases, Push Notifications and Location Services.)

After you sign up as a developer, you have access to the developer provisioning portal where you can request a development and distribution certificate.  Apple’s site does a good job of walking through most of this process.

How to create a development/distribution certificate:

1. Generate  a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) with a public key
• In your Applications folder, open the Utilities folder and launch Keychain Access.
• Choose Keychain Access > Certificate Assistant >Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority.
• In the Certificate Information window, enter or select the following information
• In the User Email Address field, enter your email address
• In the Common Name field, enter your name
• In the Request is group, select the Saved to disk option
• Click Continue
• The Certificate Assistant saves a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file to your Desktop.
• The public/private key pair will be generated when you create the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) if you use the Key Chain Assistant to create the CSR.
2. Submit the CSR through the Provisioning Portal to the Admin for approval.
• Click the Distribution/Development tab
• Upload the certificate by choosing the file
• Click Submit

Once the certificate processes and downloads you can double-click it to add it to the Keychain (the login keychain by default), the part that is not clear is that this certificate is tied to the computer where you requested it.  If you ever want to sign an app with the certificate on another computer (or another OS on the same computer), you need to export your identity from Keychain Access.  The export process is pretty simple and creates a “Personal Information Exchange” (.p12) file that can be copied to another computer:

Apple's Keychain - Simple Export Process Creating a "Personal Information Exchange"

If you have e a team with multiple developers that could potentially submit an app to the App Store, then exporting the identity is a critical step. This allows other team members to import that distribution identity, download the distribution certificate and provisioning files, and sign the app for testing or submission (Ad Hoc or App Store).

Once you have a developer certificate you can activate any iOS device for debugging:

1. connect the device via USB
2. run Xcode
3. open the Organizer (Window->Organizer in Xcode)
4. go to the devices tab
5. Control-Click on your device in the list
6. select “Add Device to Provisioning Portal”

Xcode will take care of requesting a development provisioning profile (iOS Team Provisioning Profile), and install it on your device.

The next thing you’ll want to try is Creating an App ID, but be careful here – once created, an App ID cannot be changed or deleted. The App ID is comprised of a description, a prefix, and the bundle id. The bundle id is something like com.domainname.appname, and the bundle prefix can be left alone unless you are creating a suite of applications that need to
work together.  A few pieces of advice:

1. lowercase bundle id - The App ID is case sensitive, so it’s best to eliminate confusion/mistakes by sticking to all lowercase.
2. unique description - The common name (description) field shows up in a few different drop-downs, and if you create two that are similar it  can be a pain to keep them separate.
3. double check before submit – As I said earlier, this is permanent.  A misspelling here isn’t customer facing, but it can be annoying and confusing for other teammates.
4. beware enter key - The default action for the enter key is to submit.  I accidentally found this out after I entered the Description, but before I had entered the bundle id…  Duh! So now we have an empty bundle id with a valid-looking description.

Once you have an App ID you can create provisioning profiles for that app.  There are three types of provisioning profile:

1. Development - Now that Xcode manages a default development profile you shouldn’t have to worry about this.
2. Ad Hoc - This is for distributing to coworkers or team members that may need to see or test the app. If they are not registered as developers on the same account, then their device UDIDs need to be manually entered.
3. App Store - Used only for final submission to the App Store

Revoking

If you didn’t export the identity (.p12) files, and the original computer that created the Certificates is lost or wiped, you can Revoke the existing certificates and create new ones. Unfortunately this requires updating all of the active Distribution Profiles.  It’s not difficult, but depending on the number of apps it can be a tedious process.  To do this go to the Distribution tab of the Profiles section, and click Edit -> Modify next to each profile. The Modify page will not let you Submit the profile unless you make a change, so usually I just add a space to the profile name.  Once the profiles are processed they can be downloaded and added to any computer with access to the distribution identity (.p12) file.

Hopefully, this saves you a ton of stress and time.  Do you have any additional feedback on  Apple Development Certificates?   if so,
add it in the comments.

Tony Feick. Senior Software Developer

Apps World Europe is returning to London Olympia on 29-30 November for two days of discussion and insight around multi-platform apps, with some of the leading brands and individuals from around the industry gathering to examine the latest industry trends, and the impact they will have on us.

This year’s event includes three separate conference tracks, covering a broad spectrum of the industry’s most burning issues; operator and developer revenue streams, publishing strategies, mobile and tablet app marketing, handset innovation, branding and the rise of the TV app.

Oren Todoros will be attending Apps World London on behalf of W3i.  If you’re developing a mobile app for either Android or iPhone, this is a perfect opportunity for you to talk to us and discuss your marketing strategy.

To put things in perspective, 16 of the top 25 grossing US iPhone apps have partnered with W3i to maximize their app’s reach and increase revenue.

Ian Johnson, Apps World founder, said: “We feel like this has been a real watershed year in terms of companies recognizing the value and scope of what apps represent to their future business activities. The interest in apps has broadened to include marketing professionals across all industries. The opportunity for talented developers to connect with large multinational brands is a facet of the show we take very seriously, that’s why we’re offering the developer streams for free.”

Attending Apps World London? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i or @OrenTodoros – The drink’s on us!

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

Analytics were the talk of GDC Online last week.  Apps are getting much more competitive.  You can no longer just build a great app and hope to get discovered and retain your users.  You need to not only market your game but do predictive analysis to improve engagement.

Nick Lim of Sonamine pointed out the following in his session, “Predicting Player Behaviors.”  There are three stages in life cycle  management for games:  1.  Welcome/educate, 2.  Upsell/referrals, and 3. Seek renewal/retention.

Stage 1,  Welcome/educate.  Make your game easy to play with simple tutorials.  Predictive analytics can help you determine where the drop off is in your tutorial (see case study at end of article). The more engaged the user is the higher retention, less churn.  More  engaged users are also easier to upsell.

Stage 2,  Upsell/referrals.  Limit your messaging.  Your game should message the user at the right time with the right message. If you try to upsell too soon, you will overwhelm the user.  The user is only receptive during a brief window.  Predictive analytics can determine the optimum number and timing of messages.  “Spamming” the user causes the following:  numbness, annoyance—user can only do one thing and is trying to focus on the game, waste of money, hurts your reputation and degrades trust.

Stage 3, Seek renewal/retention – Again use predictive analytics to communicate with the user at the right time.

What is the difference between Metrics and Predictive Analytics?

Metrics measure and report the past with 100% certainty.  When using metrics, you can only view correlations between a few variables.  Predictives estimate and predict the future; certainty is impossible.  You can do predictive analysis with 50-100  variables.  Predictive modeling will give you a competitive advantage.

When using predictive analysis you are looking for the users that are “on the fence” as it will be easier to get them to cross the conversion line.

Case study of analytics at work at W3i

Speaking of tutorials. One of Recharge Studios games, My Pet Zombie, had an abnormally high churn rate during the game tutorial.  By optimizing the tutorial and improving the user interface MPZ reduced the churn from a 41% completion rate to a 81% completion rate—a 98% improvement.

My Pet Zombie - Conversions Prior to Test

Through testing churn rate reduced from 41% completion rate to 81% completion rate--a 98% improvement.

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

The churn rate went from 25% to 4% by focusing on the elements circled in pink.

Predictive analytics will give you the information you need to grow your game business or just contact Recharge Studios, and we can help you improve your game marketing.  Have you run any tests that increased performance considerably?  If so, feel free to comment.

Debby Manthei, Director of Marketing Communications, W3i, LLC

Debby’s focus is on app marketing—strategies for increasing user acquisition and monetization for mobile and desktop apps.

When I was a child, there was nothing I loved more than wasting countless hours playing with my favorite toys, except maybe playing countless hours on the PC. Mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad have created a new way in which to interact with physical toys in ways I could only have dreamt about.

The recent merging of apps and toys opens a world of new possibilities for developers who are breaking the digital confines of mobile devices and discovering new and innovative ways to bring their creations to life, by way of physical toys.

 The Life of George

Danish toy company Lego is the latest to push its toy line into the mobile age The Life of George iPhone app. The app combines a digital and physical gaming experience kids, and just the young at heart, are sure to love.

The new Lego game consists of a free iPhone app, a set of bricks and a play mat that acts as a green screen. The objective of the game is to build the image shown on the screen as quickly as possible in real life. Once players finish building the same object, they have to take a picture of it with their iPhone or iPod touch to see if they succeeded. The app calculates a score based on accuracy and speed.

Disney’s AppMates

Disney, never being one to trail behind in the toys and gaming industry introduced Appmates, a new toy line that comes to life digitally when used with an Apple iPad. Developed in collaboration between Disney Consumer Products (DCP) and Disney Mobile, the Appmates toy line features miniature Cars 2 vehicles with sensors on the base of each toy that are recognized as a unique footprint by an app without the need for cables or a bluetooth connection.

Kids can simply download the free Cars 2Appmates app from the iTunes app store, place their favorite Appmates toy character on the screen and start playing. Each toy unlocks different features and content within the app specific to the character, allowing kids to come back over and over to enjoy an imaginative, open-ended play experience using the Appmates toys.

“We have cracked the technology code in changing the way kids play with their toys,” said Sunny Lauridsen, director of digital toys for DCP. “Kids will always use toys to play out their favorite Disney stories, but Disney Appmates now allows them to include technology which has become a way of life for them through a beautifully rich app.”

The Licensing of App Characters

Following Rovio’s lead, ZeptoLab is the latest company to join the new licensing app characters trend. A range of plush toys will soon be hitting store shelves based on their successful Cut the Rope title main character, Om Nom.

Outfit7, the creator of apps including Talking Tom Cat, Talking Larry the Bird, Talking Gina the Giraffe and many more are also set to take the toy licensing world by storm.

Meanwhile, Disney is debuting its first original mobile game character, Swampy with hopes that it will become a pop culture phenomena like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. A plush toy can’t be too far behind.

When it comes to toys and apps, it’s starting to look a lot like a win win situation. On that note, I’m turning it back over to you: What mobile app character would you most like to see become a toy or what toy would you most like to control using an app?

Share your thoughts and comment below or reach out to us over on Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros

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