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Everyone who develops for Android knows about the Google Play store. Slightly more sophisticated publishers go beyond Google Play and feature in the Amazon Appstore, Samsung Apps or possibly even Getjar. In report after report the number one thing developers look for when choosing a platform is reach. Naturally this also extends to the app stores that they choose to support. At CodeNgo we agree that reach is an important factor when choosing what stores to submit to but it’s not the only factor developers should consider consider. In addition to looking at reach developers should also look at the competition in your category, the app store’s track record of delivering installs and the promotional opportunities offered by the app store. With this in mind we’ll introduce you to 3 alternate Android App Stores that you should be in that you’re not.

Let’s start with Mobango, a multi-platform free app store. Mobango has over 8 million users and has delivered over 1 billion downloads to date across all content areas. It’s user base is strong in the U.S. and India followed by Europe and Asia. Their interface is clear and easy to use, but what we like best about Mobango is it’s promotional platform. They offer a non-incentivized cost per install program (aka pay per download) that delivers quality installs at a fraction of the cost of most other app marketing vehicles. Looking to drive installs for less then $1 per install? If so, then you’ll want to have a look at Mobango.

Another great independent app store that is just off the radar for most developers is the SlideMe App marketplace. SlideMe is preloaded on over 120 OEM’s devices and has global reach. We like it because it has a large user base (2nd only to Google Play according to SlideMe), it supports payment processors of your choosing at a fraction of the cost of Google Play and developers speak highly of it. The submission process is simple and the approval process comes back quickly!

Finally we get to the Opera Store. This one didn’t originally make our list but a combination of recent changes to the promotional opportunities through the store plus the popularity of the browser in developing markets (Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa) makes Opera unique among the major independent app stores. Don’t expect a huge lift right away but this store is one to watch.

If you’re not already in these app stores then you’re missing downloads today!

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From Amazon App Store:

As part of our ongoing effort to help our developers reach new customers, you can now submit your apps for distribution later this year in Japan. In addition, we are only a few weeks away from launching the Kindle Fire family of tablets in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. To be prepared, localize and submit your apps now in the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Portal.

We’ve included some resources below to help you localize and market your apps worldwide.

How to Localize Your Apps

How to Market Your Apps

How to Optimize Your Apps for Kindle Fire Tablets

AWS re:Invent
Don’t miss your chance to attend AWS re:Invent to hear from AWS experts and mobile app developers like you to learn how to make the most of AWS. The AWS re:Invent conference will be the perfect opportunity for you and your team to dive deep into AWS and partner services that will enable you to improve time-to-market, address scalability issues, optimize performance, and lower your costs.

Follow us and stay up to date with our developer blog and Twitter. Post your questions on our developer forums or, if you need extra help, contact the Amazon team directly.

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We have mentioned before that Microsoft Windows is definitely there in terms of developer mindshare. However, developer support towards iOS and Android is so dominant due to those platform’s reach, and for Android, it was also considered by developers to be the easiest to develop for:

However, now it seems like Microsoft has been able to take advantage of something they have done so well for so long in the PC space: Provide excellent tools to ease development. According to Taiwanese ISV’s, development costs for Windows Mobile is 1/3 rd that of Android, mainly due to the development tools. The claims from Taiwan are actually quite staggering, and it would be interesting to hear if other developers in other countries feel the same.

Of course, reach is still a problem for Microsoft, and it is quite clear that Windows as a phone OS still struggles when you look at at markets like the US:

So the question the becomes, what will it take for Microsoft to increase its market share?  Well, the obvious is more phones that people want to buy. For quite some time, Nokia has been the only company putting out any new Windows Phones, which of course Microsoft paid a hefty price for. Nokia is also an early supporter of Windows Phone 8, but the question remains whether the new Lumia’s will move the needle with consumers (Tomi Ahonen and Asymco seem to think they will not, which is too bad given Elop’s statement that this may be Nokia’s last chance).

However, there is hope in that other handset manufacturers like Samsung and HTC may move the needle, and they have certainly made good looking devices. Whether any of these first batch devices are good enough is quite questionable, but probably Windows Phone 8 is only a “Galaxy Siii away” from grabbing significant market share (I realized the pun in this one after writing it).

We fundamentally believe that consumer sentiment and loyalty is fickle, and really it should only take 1 really, really good device for consumers to embrace Windows Phone 8.

So assuming there will be good phones out there, what are the other things Microsoft has to get right?  Well, there are a few. There has to be a healthy app eco-system beyond development tools. This is where Microsoft may be struggling, by closing the non-Microsoft shops and forcing sales through Windows Marketplace. While a closed system works well for Apple, we do not subscribe to that other players should follow the closed system strategy. iTunes is actually not good for the majority of app developers (90% make less than expected according to Vision Mobile), and having one place for discovery and purchase simply creates and over crowded space too quickly. Furthermore, the large app stores offer very little innovation in terms of content presentation, discovery or marketing (excluding Amazon here as they are the stand out as expected).

To get a healthy app eco-system, one must also have good business models in place. It should mean a free choice of in-app billing systems, so as to not constrain what developers are using. Here Microsoft for now is making the right decision by allowing developers to choose what they want to use.

So do we believe Windows Phone 8 will become a viable third OS?  If some really good devices get made, and Microsoft does not over regulate the app market eco-system, there is no denying they will have the backing of the developers, and then eventually the consumers.

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To make money on your app, there are two things to focus on to make money: Distribution and marketing.  Marketing is a complex field, and while developers hope to rely on the viral factor and word of mouth recommendations, having Facebook sharing buttons or newsfeed posts simply will not make it for you if you rely on that alone, thus you cannot get away from spending on marketing – and probably spending quite a bit.

The flip side – increased distribution – allows for your app to be discovered in multiple places, for you to possibly build more SEO, perhaps even get feedback from a smaller group of users on small app stores – allowing you to adjust it before you go out wide. Alternative App Stores (is that an expression to be capitalized yet?), or Alternative Android App Stores (as there are very few iOS listing alternatives out there) are really just what any new organization is trying to be: An editor of content, attempting to present interesting content to you in the best possible manner and make money in the process.  They can also be the best avenue for making money, simply because competition is less.

We have tried to do some research to assess which app stores are the best ones, and that is the basis for the current selection of app stores we have selected for our CodeNgo plans . We have also dug up a number of good blog posts on the subject and wanted to share some of them with you:

What about mobile operator stores? Are they still relevant? Yes, probably (although many argue for a limited period of time), but distribution there is often exceptionally difficult (which we hope to address at CodeNgo soon). What we are missing though is a good list of international app stores, i.e. not targeted towards the English speaking world.  Besides which stores work best in China, even an overview of international stores in key markets like Brazil and South East Asia are hard to find.  If you do know of some, please contact us, share your experiences, and we will make sure to spread the word about them and consider adding them to our plans.

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August is nearly over, and so are the holidays for most.  The blogosphere is a bit slow, but luckily some eager beavers have been writing great mobile blog posts, which makes us excited to yet again host the Carnival of the Mobilists.  Thanks to the contributors this week for keeping up the quality content about the mobile industry.

Be sure to follow the COM on Twitter (@TheMobilists) to find out what’s happening within the COMmunity. To help spread the word, please tweet this post using the hash tag #com280.

BYOD

Most would be familiar with BYO (which in Australia is actually quite accepted to do in a restaurant). Add the ‘D’ to this, and you presumably get a headache for CIOs all around the world. Brian Katz takes offense to those complaining about this issue though, arguing that people have been bringing their own devices for years.  We completely agree with Brian.  In fact, Time Magazine recently ran an article on how BYOD is a game changer for education. Message to CIOs: Embrace it! Thank your lucky stars, and get with the program.

What apps are and are not

Two seemingly different stories relate to the very same topic:  When developing mobile apps from an enterprise perspective (whether to your partners or employees, or to your customers), one needs to define the mobile experience as a subset of the overall experience, not as an isolated mobile experience.  Jeff Hasen’s article on Mobilegroove’s summary of the Mobile Insider Summit gives a good account of Wells Fargo’s approach to mobile, and how their mobile apps and services interact with their overall offerings and other distribution channels, physical or online.  Equally, the Lowe’s example shows how their mobile apps tie into their overall CRM efforts.  Brian Katz again talks about this issue in summarizing a Twitter chat on Enterprise Mobile Apps, which is well worth a read.

Pick of the week

Many attribute the mobile data explosion to the iPhone or to Smartphones. But feature phones are perfectly capable data phones, and the app economy would never have taken place without reasonable data plans from operators. Yet, operators have not moved with the times, as Lisa Cinagiulli points out in the article “What We Learned from Kindergarten Now Applies to Mobile Data Plans“.  We loved this article, as it points out the need for personalized data plans not just based on usage, but on the family’s usage (which is clever if you are an operator, knowing that treating your customers nice when they are kids just may make them stay on at a later stage).  Of course, we would prefer near unlimited plans, with caps applying to the data hogs (frequent YouTube’ers and the likes) and let the rest of us not worry about usage!

Lastly, we encourage you to read our post on how mobile app developers increasingly are required to be marketers in order to achieve financial success with their apps. We offer some advice on how you can embed features in your apps in order to attract users, rather than spend it all on SEM or display.  We thank you for reading, and encourage you to look out for next week’s COM, #281!

 

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Message from Vodafone:

Firstly, thanks for using our shop proposition ‘Vodafone AppSelect’ to distribute your apps.

We’re writing to let you know that over the coming weeks we’ll be making a number of changes to the Vodafone Apps Publication Platform. These changes will be related to the following:

• A new improved, streamlined publication platform including a new front-end for developers, updates to your reporting, device configuration and front-end user management.

• The introduction of charge to bill in-app billing which introduces new opportunities for you to monetise your apps, including micro transactions and demo versions.

To operationally manage these changes the Publication Platform will be taken offline from 3rd September 2012 until late October 2012. During this period you will be able to:

• View your existing uploaded content but you won’t be able to make any updates / changes to it or upload new content.

• View your existing account profile information but you will be unable to make any changes to it.

• Access the “My Reports” section of your account and interact with your reports.

If you submit an app before 3rd September 2012 it will go through our QA process as usual, please note that you will not be able to submit after the 3rd September. If it passes our QA checks then it will follow our normal publication process. If it fails the QA checks then you will need to resubmit again once the Publication Platform is back online late October 2012.

If you need further support or have content already in Vodafone AppSelect that needs to be removed, please do not hesitate to contact Vodafone developer support at http://developer.vodafone.com/support/ticket/ or contact us via email dev.support@vodafone.com.

We’ll keep you informed of progress as we make the updates and appreciate your patience during this time.

The Vodafone developer team

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How many downloads are needed in order to stay in the top 50 in the Apple App Store or Google Play? 25.000 per day according to Vision Mobile‘s Mobile Megatrends 2012 report.   They make the point that apps need to move from product innovation to marketing innovation, and that apps are as mature as the fast moving consumer goods market now.

So how does a developer innovate in marketing? What exactly is marketing innovation, and how do you do this on a shoestring  budget? Which tools/services do you use? And there are many – just look at Vision Mobile’s atlas of services companies for developers:

So what is the most effective way to reach users? Well, obviously at CodeNgo we believe in maximizing your distribution reach – which means the max number of app stores, with localized versions for each market.  But beyond distribution you need to look at marketing, and the most effective way for apps is and will be word of mouth marketing.  So how do you take advantage of this?  Well, you have to start somewhere and we have found these key components need to be part of apps.

Let users do the discovery for you

This can take a variety of shapes. To begin with, see how your app fits with the user’s address book. Is there a way to integrate it somehow (in game play, invites, etc).  Your phone’s contact list was the first mobile social network, long before Facebook or AirG.

Enable social network publishing – without being annoying.  Nobody (well, most people) wants to know you just bought a new fish for your virtual aquarium. But they may want to know that you just went scuba diving or that you voted for an artist on The Voice, or is just thrilled Sweden won Eurovision, or… you get the picture. Relevancy is the key.

And if possible, create incentives for people to involve their friends or recommend your app/service.  Want to reach that next level? Get a friend to buy the game, and you get your long awaited super powers, etc.  Lots of game examples here, but you can easily build incentives into most apps.

Give users a reason to come back to your app

We are big fans of apps that transcend both the online and mobile world. While you may not be able to build a game online and on mobile, you can certainly integrate to online leader boards, user communities, etc.  Push notifications are great – as long as they are relevant – and give users a reason to come back to your app and not forget they downloaded it.

Location awareness is another huge win if you can build it in. Apple’s new Passbook uses location to bring forward the loyalty card you are most likely to use. For instance, if you are at the grocery store, well then Passbook will have that grocery store’s loyalty card ready for you. It may now always be right, but chances are it is. Sheer brilliance.

So while most developers would never work with creative ad agencies, it does not mean you cannot innovate. And it starts with your code.

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There have been a number of articles and research on how much less Android users spend vs iOS users. The latest research from Lightspeed Research confirms that this is still the case:

Now with Android currently being the dominant OS, you would think that demographically both Android and iOS should represent a broad selection of the population, and that most mobile operators subsidize iPhones, so the argument that iPhone users are more affluent is not so relevant anymore.

What could a possible explanation be? Well one could certainly be that the ratio of free vs paid is much higher among Android apps:

Others have attempted to analyze other factors, such as developer support in terms of the cost (fee charged to submit), SDK, fragmentation, number of apps, cloud offering of Apple vs Google, the UI of the stores and more. Certainly these are factors, but we also believe that perhaps the most important feature is the ease of payment that comes with iTunes.  One cannot ignore the +200m credit cards on file that allows for paying with simply entering your password and confirm. Google has a shady reputation with their wallet, which does not help them.  Fragmentation in payments is a huge problem, and app stores that mandate their own in-app billing SDKs or do not provide adequate trust and ease of payment will make it difficult not only for themselves, but for the operating system and eco-system as a whole.

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CodeNgo’s Chris Jones was interviewed by Aussie Tech Heads last week. This is a video blog for the really, really tech interested people in Australia. Not only did they like us, they wanted to introduce us to VCs! This was a fun one to be part of, and hopefully only the first of many. The first 17 minutes or so contain the main interview:

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Today we’re excited to announce several enhancements to our AppStore Submissions Service that we hope will improve your CodeNgo experience.

The first is that we have added 10 new app stores to our Pro & Business plans bringing the total number of stores available through our Appstore Submissions Service to 20. New stores include Vodafone, Soc.io Mall and PandaApp to go along with the current lineup of stores including Amazon, SamSung, Getjar and of course Google Play. Now you’ll be able to reach even more app stores from just a single submission.

The second is a new simplified submission form structure that will make compiling the information necessary for submissions a snap. This new UI will make submitting apps for distribution across multiple app stores as quick and painless as possible.

In addition, for a limited time, we’ve cut the prices in half on all of our subscription plans. That means now is a great time to submit your apps to more stores and start making more money. Register your free account today, kick the tires a bit and send us your feedback to info@codengo.com. We look forward to hearing from you!