All one has to do is simply look around and realize that content consumption is increasingly on the rise, more importantly it’s increasing on the rise while on the move. In fact, mobile content consumption is expected to surpass online content as Smartphone price points decrease. To shed a little more light on the subject, Christina Warren shared a fantastic post over on Mashable about 5 reasons you’re consuming mobile content, I urge you all to read it at least once.

Mobile App Opportunities

According to a recent report by EPiServer, 73 percent of UK consumers now access websites on mobile devices and two thirds have used a mobile app in the last year. However, only 20 percent of companies actually have a mobile-optimized site, let alone a mobile app. Noticing the gap here yet?

By 2015, it’s estimated that 43% of mobile users will be using Smartphones as the penetration continues to grow at a fast rate. Brands, businesses and content creators that will be the first out the gate to generate content for mobile app users, are the ones who will have the upper hand going forward. Up until very recently, the same was being said about increasing your reach online by engaging in social media. Today it’s almost impossible to participate on social networks without encountering one of the big name brands.

Maria Wasing, VP of Marketing Europe & Sales Operations at EPiServer recently said, “The number of consumers carrying an internet-enabled device with them at all times is rocketing and, by thinking about the best approach for your brand now, businesses can make the most of the growing mobile opportunity.”

To that statement, I’d like to add; The evolution to social engagement will occur away from the PC. Ignoring this trend is setting yourself up for failure.

App Development Costs

In 2011 alone, the app development services industry, which includes app creation,  management, and distribution reached $20.5 billion. However, one of the most frequently asked questions remains; how much does it cost to develop an app?

In general, app development costs  vary significantly from region to region, the complexity and scale of the app. UK developers for example may charge $626 per day whereas competitors from India may charge roughly $138 per working day. Of course, you can always invest your time and learn to code yourself.

Now, I hear what you’re saying. With rates like that, how am I supposed to create an app to share my content? Luckily there are a few DIY app development services that will help you get your content on the app store in no time with very little cost. Here are a few examples.

Mobile App DIY

Conduit - Conduit allows anyone to create an app containing content from your site’s RSS feeds, YouTube channel, Social presences such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as customization of your splash page, icon and much more.

AppsGeyser – Turn your web content into an Android app in minutes. Additionally, the AppsGeyser service helps you distribute and monetize your mobile app. Over 90 thousand apps have already been developed with this service.

AppMakr – Appmakr is a browser-based platform designed to make creating your own iPhone app quick and easy. Using existing content and social networking feeds, AppMakr is a user-friendly system allowing for the creation of native iPhone applications.

ShoutEm – This service isn’t free, but it does give you incredible options such as adding modules and arranging them as you please. ShoutEm also lets you brand the app with your company’s colors and logo, including setting up your own application icon, home image, iTunes artwork and more.

Other notable services include: Swebapps, Apps-builder, Mippin, Android3apps and, Mobile Roadie.

Great What’s Next?

By now this post should have opened your thoughts to the opportunities that mobile apps have to offer. Start thinking about the content you could be sharing with your audience beyond the social web. Break it down into sections that your audience would most find beneficial to access while on the go and test the DIY services mentioned about to see what works best for you.

Needs a little extra motivation? Read these posts:

Anatomy of a Mobile App Entrepreneur

App Icons are Like Speed-dating in the Mobile Apps World 

Written by Oren Todoros, W3i Blog Contributor

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According to US research advisory Gartner, mobile payments may be the next “big thing” for retailers. The firm expected 38 percent growth of mobile payment users last year, totaling 141 million.

While this may seem like a lot, the industry still has a long way to go and there are a number of roadblocks ahead, according to Sandy Shen, Gartner Research Director. “The biggest hurdle is the need to change user behavior by convincing consumers to pay with mobile phones instead of cash and cards,” says Shen.

Retailers can play a large role in changing user behavior. While manufacturers can produce the phones to process mobile payments and merchant service providers can set up the networks, a lack of retailer support will lead to little (if any) mobile payment adoption.

The first step for retailers is to educate themselves about the technology, the ecosystem and the opportunity mobile payments afford. Software Advice, an online company that reviews of point of sale systems for small business, hears from a lot of retailers that are curious about mobile payments. Here are the answers to some of the most important questions.

What are mobile payments?
Mobile payments are transactions that take place at the interaction of radio-frequency equipped mobile devices and payment terminals. This connection, called near field communication (NFC) is already popular in MasterCard PayPass and Visa payWave transactions.

What is the consumer-facing technology behind mobile payments?
Consumers register a personal virtual wallet (e.g., ISIS virtual wallet or Google Wallet) and access it through a mobile OS application. These devices must also have an integrated NFC chip (a list of compatible phones can be found here). When the consumer is close to an NFC-capable point of sale terminal, a connection is established, the consumer inputs a PIN code and the transaction is completed.

What do retailers need to accept mobile payments?
First, retailers have all the same requirements as they do to accept credit card payments–merchant account and gateway for payments, POS software and hardware). Specifically, retailers need a credit card machine that is capable of conducting ISO 14443 communication. These specifications are integrated in some new, high-end credit card machines. Alternatively, retailers can use a standalone NFC receiver, which is usually the cheaper option of the two.

How do mobile payments benefit consumers versus using credit cards?
The main selling point of mobile payments is its ease of use–consumers have their smartphones handy, why not process transactions with them? This is also one of the biggest debates of the benefit of mobile payments–does this really solve a problem for consumers? Added benefits of mobile payments include an either method of replacing consumer credit card accounts if a phone is stolen, as well as the future potential value-added services that mobile developers can produce.

To read further on the ecosystem of mobile payments, click here: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/retail/mobile-payments-faqs-1012512/

Written by Michael Koploy, SoftwareAdvice.com

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Have you ever wondered if what you do on a daily basis is the most efficient way to do your job? Maybe you think to yourself, “There has got to be a better or quicker way to do this!” I know I do. Here at W3i we recently had what is called a “hackathon”; an event where functional groups from throughout the company met to do collaborative computer programming. At the end of the day, the goal is to have created some new program or application. Essentially it is a bunch of people, all in one room, pounding out code and UI. This is a great way to use an open and collaborative space to gain insights into what it is that the rest of your coworkers do and, better yet, are capable of.

Through multiple collaborative events, I have been able to ask the right questions and even stumble upon fixes to daily pain points. If you find yourself in an environment that does not necessarily promote collaboration, I would suggest taking the time to visit other functional departments to see what it is that they do and if they have suggestions for fixing problems that you face. If need be, set up a meeting to work together. Not only can you increase your speed to market, but it can also make your life a little easier. Make yourself available to others to find out how your jobs intersect. You might be able to improve something that they do or alleviate a pain point that they have come across.

Communication is everything in making a collaborative environment beneficial. You may already have the ideal environment, but you don’t utilize it to its full potential. Get the ball rolling and create the conversations you think you need to have. Ask questions that promote elaboration so you get more than yes and no answers. Move beyond the years of cubicle walls and closed doors. It is up to you to attain the knowledge you wish to gain so do your best to create a collaborative environment and get conversations going.

Written by Brian Mueller, Associate Marketing Specialist

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With the daily onslaught of incredible apps launching across app stores daily, it’s easy to become a little immune to quality apps when you see them. To help cut through the clutter and shine a much deserved spotlight on a few apps you should keep an eye on in 2012, I’ve rounded up the best ones for you.

1 – Bizzabo for iPhone and Android

Networking doesn’t only occur online. In fact, some of the best networking is done face to face at conferences and events. That being said, it’s not always easy to know what everyone does or who you should be talking to. That’s where Bizzabo comes in. Mentioned on businessinsider.com by Ben Lang as one of Israel’s 15 Growing Israeli Startups to Watch, Bizzabo is a networking app for events and conferences which has already launched In Israel and is expected to launch in the US in 2012.

To share a little more insight, Bizzabo has worked in about 60 conferences and has succeeded in creating more than 1500 new LinkedIn connections as well as hundreds of new Twitter followers among event attendees.

2 – Playup for iPhone

With the Superbowl being right around the corner, and the Olympic games later this year, Playup is an app that’s sure to see some serious waves. Playup is a social network for sports events where friends and fans can cheer, rivals can heckle, or the couch athletes can just get down to talking match strategy. According to stats on AppAnnie, Playup is maintaining a ranking of 3^rd spot in the sports category on the US app store.

3 – Onavo for iPhone and Android

iPhone owners, if you’re planning on doing any traveling this year, don’t leave home without Onavo installed on your device. You’ll thank me later. The app compresses your mobile data by up to 80% which in turn saves you big bucks while on the go. Having recently secured a $10 Million series B funding round, the company will continue to expand its product line, offering and reach.

4 – Vodio for iPad

Straight out of the gate, Vodio for iPad received very positive reviews by the web’s leading app reviewers, including TheNextWeb, TechCrunch, iPhoneLife and has most recently been featured App of the Day by Apple in Canada.

Vodio allows it’s users to create personalized video channels, mixed with a dash of social integration. Additionally, Vodio lets you share videos through your social networks, so your friends can enjoy it too. (Disclosure, Vodio is an AppsMarketing.mobi client.)

5 – Pinterest

With the mega growth of this visual social network, we’re bound to see more and more of its users reach for their smartphone to share random moments of inspiration. Of course, the Pinterest app lets you do much more than follow other likeminded pinners (I think that’s what you call them). The Pinterest iPhone app lets you touch up your pictures in a very unique way they call TouchUp, bringing a fresh change to the filters and effect type photography apps.

In all fairness, this post could have just as easily been about 20 hot apps you should keep your eye on through 2012, but for the sake of your time I wanted to share the ones that most caught my attention.

At the end of the day, the best apps are the ones that help you best manage your day, have a little fun or learn something new. Know of such an app? Share it with us in the comments or reach out to us via Twitter @W3i and @OrenTodoros

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Today more than ever, companies struggle to differentiate themselves from competition.  The hottest craze in marketing to attract attention is Social Media, which deserves a well-thought plan.

Social Media is more than collecting Facebook “likes” and Twitter followers.  It’s a method of discovering and sharing news and content.  It’s a way of having your followers publish your message in their own words.

Consider the following as you begin to engage users or as you sharpen your current social strategy:

• Determine your goals and objectives.  Make them tie to your overall company goals.
• Do your homework.  What social media sites do you wish to engage with people?  A starter list includes the obvious Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, LinkedIn and other blogs.
• Get to Know your Social Community.  Find out what they respond to and their etiquette preferences and ease into it.
• Actively get to know your target users.  Listen to them, understand them.
• Inject humor when possible.  Learn what makes your social media members want to share what you have to say.
• Create a convincing reason to share.   You can’t expect others to share without being asked or incentivized to share.
• Ask people to spread the word.   Make it easy to share by adding buttons to easily utilize social media sites.
• Make things easy to read.   People like quick, easy-to-remember material.   Creating lists or “Top 10”-style reads keep your message brief, but valuable.
• Keep ideas fresh to your target market and don’t always use the same format.  Shake it up.
• Illustrate speaking points with photos and charts.   Make it easy for your social community to understand what you’re trying to say.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Every day there are new articles about how to effectively market your social media strategy.  Pay attention.  The more informed you are about planning for the social web, the more successful you will be.

For additional tips on sharpening your social media strategy, contact W3i at info@w3i.com.

Sue Ann Heck, Account Development Manager, W3i, LLC

Sue Ann has extensive experience in account management and prides herself in building quality, long-term relationships with W3i’s valued partners.

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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.

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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.

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Windows 8 which is expected to make its beta debut in February 2012 is trying to offer the “best of both Worlds” by incorporating a single OS that works across desktops and tablet devices.

With the Windows store, users will be able to license, purchase, and download Metro apps from one location. Although Microsoft is starting with free apps, developers will be able to offer paid apps as well. Microsoft is offering developers a 70/30 rev share with the added bonus of increasing their rev share to 80% once the app reaches $25k in sales.

Microsoft stated that “there are now 1.25 billion Windows PCs in existence, and 3 million copies of the Windows 8 developer preview have been downloaded since September” providing an impressive reach for the new OS.

However others remain uncertain about the potential success of Windows 8 as the “the only real benefit that [Windows 8] provides [is] access to the Windows app store” says Al Gillen, Program VP at IDC.

Additional obstacles that Windows 8 is faced with include the significant efforts corporations have taken to implement Windows 7, application compatibility issues, and their reliance on developers to rework existing Windows apps for the Metro interface.

The table below shows the OS market share percentages as of November 2011 according to NetMarketShare:

As illustrated in the table above, Windows accounts for the largest OS market share with 92%.  With the high percent of consumers currently using Windows XP and Windows 7 it might be difficult to convince them to make the switch.

Microsoft has had a bad history of trying to get consumers to upgrade as a result of application compatibility issues. Windows 2000 Pro required developers to upgrade their apps, which resulted in little success. As a result, Microsoft had to create a new OS with improved application compatibility known as Windows XP. The same compatibility issue occurred with Vista which led to the release of Windows 7. Many wonder if Windows 8 will face a similar fate.

Microsoft must also convince developers to alter existing Windows apps to be compatible with their Windows 8 Metro interface. Although they are offering a fairly attractive incentive to developers with the 70/30 rev share if they are unable to get developers to invest in making these changes it may not be successful.

With all of these obstacles that Windows 8 is faced with, IDC believes that it “will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs” and they go on further to state that they “expect effectively no upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor.” Therefore the question remains is Windows 8 bound for success or doomed to fail?

By: Joy Haeg, Account Development Manager, W3i, LLC

Joy manages many of W3i’s key partnerships with a focus on growing successful, long-term business relationships.

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In Tips on Game Mechanics Session 1, I discussed why your game should allow for the purchase and display of content to create envy between players.

This session I will focus on how to increase user retention that ultimately leads to more opportunities for monetization. One of the simplest mechanics to increase user retention is to add a daily reward to your freemium game. It is surprising how many games that use a currency do not contain a daily reward but many top games that previously did not have an award now have one (Gun Bros. is an example).

There are some variations you can place in your daily reward. In the recently released Recharge Studios game Dolphin Play with Friends, we implemented a daily reward that awards players an increasing amount of standard currency for the first four consecutive days and one unit of premium currency for the fifth consecutive day. Once the player gets to five days the cycle starts over.

Some games have variations on the number of consecutive days you can come back to earn the maximum currency, and some games award the maximum currency as long as you come back on consecutive days indefinitely until you miss a day. Other applications award a variety of rewards other than currency such as consumables used in gameplay or crafting.

Daily rewards also offer a great opportunity to monetize the user indirectly by offering an ad for a daily free app as you can see in the example below.

Once the user closes the daily reward they are presented this custom interstitial advertisement from W3i’s Mobile App Advertising Platform that offers a new free app each day. Offering this interstitial after a daily reward is the perfect opportunity to present an ad to the user for two reasons. One, they just were given a reward so they must be in a good mood! Two, they will only see the ad once a day just as they see the daily reward once a day.

Does your app have a daily reward? There may be room to increase the retention of your app and possibly include an advertisement that is less intrusive than an ad shown more than once a day or directly on app launch. Retention is the biggest opportunity, I find myself scrambling for my iPhone if the end of the day rolls around and I had been too busy to collect my reward and feed my dolphins!

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.

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The About page is one of the highest trafficked pages on a site. People look here to see if your company has the talent to meet their needs. If they’re not satisfied with who you are, they may not navigate to additional pages and you’ll lose a conversion. So brag a little…toot your own horn…have others toot your horn and don’t be afraid to get a little personal.

When bragging, I mean describing the accomplishments of your organization, make sure that you tie these accomplishments to what you can do for prospective clients. If the journey of how you got where you are today is impressive, briefly inform your visitor of that history and its key milestones.  Include awards and acknowledgments your projects have received and don’t forget to update these as they come in. If you haven’t received an award since 1995, it may be best to not include that one. It will look as though you were great last century but haven’t kept up with the times. If your organization is involved in the community this is a good place to show off your big heart.

Have you worked with some big players in your industry? Let them tell prospects how amazing you are too. Other people reinforcing your accomplishments will boost your credibility in the marketplace. Testimonials are even more effective when they come from recognizable names. If the person or company name may not be recognizable, add a photo or company logo to help personalize the statement.

Last tidbit of advice: Stop the snooze-fest by showing some personality! Humanize your company by deformalizing the copy. Use attention grabbing adjectives and verbs to make your information fun to read.  Many corporations may be leery of moving the tone to a personal feel. If that is the case, A/B test and take note of the difference in conversions as well as time spent navigating to additional pages. Showing personality is especially important if you are the brand (i.e. web designer, consultant). Having a video for your About page is a unique way to speak to your audience if you are the brand.

Whether you are a large corporation or working from your garage, people still want to know why they should pick you. So, be sure to use pizazz while substantiating your expertise in order to stand out from the crowd.

Heather Schmidt, Account Development Executive, W3i, LLC

Heather provides value to W3i’s partners by continually focusing on optimization and growth strategies. 

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