What makes a good mobile application Measure success of a mobile application 9 misperceptions of mobile application development Ascendum slides from MobileX Cincinnati

1. YOU GUYS ARE ALL Keeping your
head above
water as an
MILLIONAIRES, RIGHT? “indy” developer
JOSH PRESSNELL
ASCENDUM SOLUTIONS

2. THE MOBILE ENTREPRENEUR
What my mom thinks I do What my friends think I do What society thinks I do
What my investors think I do What I think I do What I really do

3. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DEVELOP APPS?
 An organization? (Company, Corporation, LLC)
 No
 Employees?
 Only if
 An accountant?
 Not Necessarily
 An office?
 No
 Equipment?
 A Development Machine and an Mobile Device
 Startup funding?
 ~$2k for hardware, $99 for Developers License

4. Why choose “indy” development?
 Mobile Users Have Different Expectations
 The best apps follow KISS
 Focus on one niche need and be the best at it.
 Users want to minimize time in most apps, not the other way around.
 The most successful apps target no more than a $1.99 price point
 Paid apps make money on volume, not margin
 The most successful model to-date is the “freemium” model
 Minimal Cost Of Entry
 Small focused apps have:
 Rapid Time-To-Market - Simple apps can be made in 2 days to 2 weeks
 Low Complexity – Codebase management by 1-2 man team
 “App Stores” Don’t Care Who You Are
 Every new app gets the same potential visibility
 Not even Zynga can petition Apple for publicity
 The customer-base offered by today’s app stores reaches nearly every country in
the world
 Simple Tools
 Apple and Android SDKs – Mature and well-known environments
 App Generation Tools – Appcelerator and AppMakr

5. Why choose “Indy” Development?
 We MAKE What The Whole World Talks About

6. WHAT MAKES A GOOD APP?
 Most Commonly Used Words In App Store Reviews
 5 Star Reviews  1 Star Reviews
 Awesome  Perfect  Waste  Nothing
 Worth  Price  Money  Paid
 Thanks  Recommend  Crashes  Deleted
 Amazing  Found  Tried  Stupid
 Simple  Always  Useless  Actually
 Users value and recommend apps that:
 Get them excited
 Provide more value than they cost
 Are simple
 Deliver what they promise
 Don’t crash!

7. MEASURE SUCCESS
 Apple App Store – Top App List As Of 02/29/12
 16: Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
 18: The Night Sky
 24: Tiny Wings
 26: Circadia
 30: Ski On Neon
 35: PicFrame
 44: Cartoon Wars
 45: Battery Boost
 48: Clear
eveloper!
By An Independent D
Every One Developed

8. That’s all well and good… but…

9. MISPERCEPTION #1
 You’re an “Entrepreneur”? Where’s your VC? Where’s your company
headquartered?
 Entrepreneur – “An owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes
money through risk and initiative”
 Your company is what you want it to be:
 Full time employment
 Full time self-employment
 Venture startup
 Second job
 Whatever the road taken, be an Entrepreneur!
 Stay versatile
 A second job can become a first job if forces require
 And vice versa!

10. MISPERCEPTION #2
 Pinterest, Tiny Wings… all it takes is a good app idea and you can retire,
right?
Visibility – 500,000 + apps in the app store alone
 Without massive PR, many good apps never get noticed
 It could be a year or more before a good idea starts to catch momentum
Churn – Life at the top is short-lived
 Even if you do break the charts, it won’t be long until something else replaces you
 Solution – Can’t assume one app is all you need. What’s next?

11. MISPERCEPTION #3
 Bit it takes months and money to develop a successful app!
Choose a project that you can complete
 If you plan to spend more than a month, you’re going to get sidetracked
Choose a project that can be done quickly
 Both Pocket God and Flight Control were initially developed and released in a single
week

12. MISPERCEPTION #4
 After I’ve slaved away (for a week) to make my perfect app, I can just sit
back and rake in the money, right?
 In mobile, the hare beats the tortoise, every time.
 Develop fast, release often
 Spend 2 months, max, on an app and release
 If it “sticks”, iterate version updates fast and often.
 If it doesn’t catch on, leave it and look for the next one

13. MISPERCEPTION #5
 I have to have a unique app idea! All my ideas already have an app for
that!
 You don’t always need to innovate
 Several existing competitors means there’s a market
 Use existing competition to gauge the niche
 How many rankings (good or bad) do those competitors have?
 Do they do some things well? Copy them.
 Do they do some things differently than you would? Improve them.
The Best App Ideas Start With, “I Can Do That
Better!”

14. MISPERCEPTION #6
 My app is so awesome it should be priced to show its value!
 Current Average App Price - $2.06
 Current Average Game Price - $0.99
 Current Average Overall Price - $1.91
 In the App Store Top Paid 200
 143 are $0.99
 No matter how “perfect” your app is, if you want in the top ranks, it
shouldn’t be priced higher than $1.99 (and free is better)

15. MISPERCEPTION #7
 I can stay successful by focusing solely on my product’s development.
 Your user community is EVERYTHING!
 Direct and personal interaction with users drives:
 Secondary and Tertiary sales figures
 Development Focus
 Positive Reviews
 Don’t delegate community/social interaction
 A direct and honest connection with users, especially the frustrated ones, WILL drive
sales figures over time
 Don’t be scared to admit your failings, too. But don’t talk about a problem without
providing a solution
 Implementing user requests goes a LONG way
 Turns 1 star reviews into 5 star reviews
 Gives users a stake in the product
 Users with passionate negative feedback can be the biggest evangelists!

16. MISPERCEPTION #8
 Any decent name and icon will do, as long as I’m in the app store.
 90% of users don’t ever read your app description
 The app name and icon (and maybe screenshots) are all most of your
potential customers will ever see
 Apps must be able to communicate their value using only the the name and
icon
 If you spend any money for graphic design, invest it in the app icon
 You can get an early look at user opinions (and a jump start on
marketing buzz) by running “fake” ads.
 Facebook and Ad Words campaigns are cheap
 Setup ads with various names and icons that all lead to a basic signup page to
be notified when the app is available.
 Watch click-through rates and conversion rates to see which combinations
generate the most “buzz”

17. MISPERCEPTION #9
 I need to spend a lot of money on PR and website advertising to get
noticed
 In reality, even being featured on major blogs only provides a limited (and
short term) bump in sales
 Price is, by far, the biggest driving force

18. SUMMARY
 It is VERY possible to make a good living in
independent mobile development
 Don’t procrastinate
 Find a small project
 Build what you love
 Listen to feedback
 Be prepared to give up on ideas, but not on the
market

19. QUESTIONS?
JOSH PRESSNELL
JOSH.PRESSNELL@ASCENDUM.COM
ASCENDUM SOLUTIONS