The document discusses mobile apps and their dominance over mobile web browsers. It notes that users spend more time in apps than browsers, accessing social media and other popular categories like games, news, maps, music through apps rather than mobile websites. The document outlines the development options of native apps versus mobile web apps and argues that native apps typically have better performance, which is important for the top app categories. It provides examples of radio station and credit union apps that saw benefits like faster loading and higher quality experience by developing native apps.

1. Randy Scovil
Cuesta College
Yes We Do Apps, Inc.
SLO Tech Brew – Aug. 2011
Tech Brew - 8/11 All About Apps 1

2. The Hit List
 Why me?
 Latest news in mobile
 The dominance of apps
 Where’s the action?
 What are the development options?
 What mobile excels at, and the fabulous
marketing opportunities it presents
 Case studies
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3. So who is this guy anyway?
 Developer for 30+ years
 Emphasis in Education and Broadcasting
 M.S. Computer Science, Cal Poly
 14 yrs teaching CompSci - Cuesta/Cal Poly
○ Core + Mobile courses in iOS and Android
 Fall 2011: CIS 193G – Mobile Dev. Prog. - iOS
 25 yrs Broadcast Media Experience
○ Primarily programming/marketing
management for large-market radio
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4. iOS/Android? – Phones only
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5. Platforms (including tablets)
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6. It’s not which, but both…
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7. Apps Dominate the Device
 Mobile usage is very focused – users
choose apps over browsers because
they’re optimized to a particular task:
 Overall time spent in apps exceeds time in a
mobile browser – 81 min/day vs. 74 for web1
 80% of Facebook mobile access is via apps2
 Your mobile is more than just a browser,
so your mobile presence needs to be
more than just a web site
1 – Flurry, “Mobile Apps Put The Web In Their Rear-view Mirror”, 6/20/11
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2 – Benedict Evans, “Facebook’s Mobile Users”, 7/28/11

8. When and What
 Most likely times…
 To use apps: 4-6 PM and 9-11 PM
 To be engaged with ads: 8-11 AM
 Most popular days: Weekends
(38% of total mobile app time)3
 Top App categories for Smartphones:
 Games (65%), News/weather (56%),
Maps/Navigation/Search (55%), Social
Networking (54%), and Music (46%)4
3 - Mobclix, “The What, When, & Where of Apps”, June 2011
Tech Brew - 8/11 4 - NielsenWire, “You Have an App for That…Now What?”, June 2011 8

9. Development Options
Native App (optimized, resident) Web App (versatile, external)
Fastest performance Can serve multiple platforms
Can utilize all device peripherals Development is simpler
Smaller (faster) download
Look and Feel platform specific
(iOS) Necessary for App Store
 Note that performance and/or location-
awareness are critical in the top app
categories (Games, News/weather,
Maps/search/navigation, Social, Music)
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10. Performance
 Apps must load fast, and respond fast
 Minimize dependence on network
 “Abandonment” – 74% of mobile users
will abandon a page if load time is > 5s5
 Also expect connections with desktop speed
 HTML 5 – “Not ready for prime time”,
especially for media, and even then still
can’t trump native for optimal
performance
Tech Brew - 8/11 5 – Compuware, “What Users Want from Mobile:, July 2011 10

11. Case Studies
 KTSO – Radio Station app
 Faster load
 Higher quality audio stream
 Smaller download (c. 50% of other apps)
 CBC and WPCCU – Credit Union apps
 Faster load
 Faster performance, especially in loading
dynamic data and localization
 Look/feel that users expect on platform
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12. Thanks!
• Randy Scovil
• CIS (Computer Science)
• Cuesta College
• rscovil@cuesta.edu
• Chief Instigator
• Yes We Do Apps, Inc.
• randy@yeswedoapps.com
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