Monthly Archives: March 2015

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My idea – you do the free mobile app development

A sample of recent funded mobile app development successes

A sample of recent funded mobile app development project successes

I have an idea for a mobile app development project and I am looking for a 50% partner. All you have to do is develop the app.

Every so often I get a proposal like the above, for me to develop a mobile app for free, on a “partnership” basis. The result is almost always a polite no.

Why don’t mobile app developers accept such offers?

The reason is the asymmetric timing of the effort.

In a normal partnership deal, such as say building a house, both partners contribute effort at roughly the same pace. Both partners start by putting a big downpayment of money into the deal, both partners, if they have building skills, contribute effort at the same time. Both partners have as much to lose as each other, if the project does not work out.

A mobile app development project is different. You have to develop the mobile app, before you can sell it. When someone proposes I come onboard as a partner, what they are really proposing is that I should sink a few hundred to many thousands of hours of effort into building the app, then they will do their part – marketing the app.

The reason mobile app development is different to building a house with a partner, is the work of both partners is not performed at the same time. The mobile app developer has to finish their job first. The mobile app developer has no way of knowing in advance whether their marketing partner will pull their weight – will match the effort the developer made to create the mobile app.

The mobile developer’s job, developing the mobile app, is complete before their partner starts their job of marketing the finished mobile app. If the marketing partner gives up without making a real effort, the developer is stuffed – they have lost all the time they spent developing the mobile app. Worse, if the developer now makes an effort to market the app, because their marketing partner let them down, the unreliable marketing partner will still expect a share of the profit.

I can demonstrate my mobile app development skills – what can you do to demonstrate your mobile app marketing ability?

There is a step you can take which demonstrates your ability to market your mobile app development idea: raise some cash.

If you mobile app proposal is a good idea, and you do a skilful job of marketing your idea, you will successfully raise the cash – which you can use to pay your mobile app developer. Raising cash for a mobile app project is an application of marketing skill.

How can you raise cash for a mobile app development project? One way is to use crowdsourcing – to promote your project on a website like Kickstarter, to attract funding for your idea.

Click here to see a list of recent mobile app project proposals, which received substantial funding from Kickstarter

What if someone tries to steal my idea?

A lot of people who want to develop a mobile app are worried that if they try to raise cash, by telling everyone about their idea, then someone will steal their idea. Putting the idea on Kickstarter is telling the world – how do you prevent someone from cashing in on your intellectual effort?

The answer in my experience, is developing a successful mobile app is a lot more than an idea. How many times have you had a terrific idea, told yourself “wow, I must act on this idea” – then done nothing? A mobile app starts as an idea, but that idea has to be nurtured – it has to be fleshed out, developed, moved from concept to design to funding to construction to marketing to success – a lot of effort.

I’m not saying stealing ideas doesn’t happen – there is always a risk someone will see your idea, decide they like it, and make the effort required to bring your idea to completion, before you have to chance to fulfil your goal. But people who want to steal the ideas of others, effort is usually something they are trying to avoid.

If you don’t raise the money for your mobile app development dream, it may never happen – or worse, you may eventually see someone else build your dream mobile app, and live your dream if it succeeds. Crowdsourcing, telling people about your idea, is a risk – but the bigger risk is surely inaction, the risk that you never find the capital to fulfil your ambition.

Are there other sources of funding I can consider?

Another method of raising cash for a mobile app project is to borrow the money. I have business associates who can provide loans for developing mobile apps – in the last few years the credit and loans industry has woken up to the possibilities of providing funding for people who want to develop mobile apps. You will still have to explain your idea to the loans company – but this approach avoids the need to tell the world about your idea. The downside is you are essentially funding the development effort yourself, with the help of a loan. As with any other credit scenario, make sure you can afford to repay any money you borrow. Some mobile apps make people rich beyond their wildest dreams – but some don’t. Mobile app development is high risk, high reward.

Are there any circumstances under which you would consider a partnership?

I’m happy to talk about your proposal – helping people find a way to fulfil their mobile app dream is what I do. I can imagine some possible circumstances under which I might agree to a partnership, but they all involve some sort of guarantee that my coding effort will be rewarded. Of course, we could just keep it simple – you could pay me for my time.

If you would like to discuss your mobile app development project, and methods by which it could be financed, please contact me.

Mobile App Search Company raises $60 million

Quixley just raised $60 million funding for their mobile app search business.

Quixley just raised $60 million funding for their mobile app search business.

Mobile App Search Company Quixley has confirmed it has successfully raised $60 million in funding, valuing the company at $600 million.

According to Tech Crunch;

Quixey has been a longtime participant in the mobile search space, and develops a technology that goes beyond just connecting people with new applications. Instead, it’s also focused on helping people find the content found within applications. For example, if you were searching on mobile for something like Thai food, Quixey’s technology could return results from across apps, including things like Yelp reviews of restaurants or a Groupon deal.

This technology, referred to in the industry as “deep linking,” is something that all the major tech players are taking advantage of today, including companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as startups like URX, Branch Metrics, Button, and many others.

Read More...

Quixley’s unique selling point is their technology for “surfacing” the deep functionality of mobile apps.

“Surfacing” deep functionality is a critical step in the process of building a searchable catalogue of mobile apps. Mobile Apps are difficult to map, compared to websites.

The reason why websites are easier to catalogue, is that (almost) all websites are built on top of a common set of standards. The code which web servers send to web browsers (or search engines posing as browsers), contains all the information a search engine needs, to construct a catalogue of the website – it contains the description of how to draw the web page, and contains links to other web pages on the same website. A web search engine can usually extract pretty much all the data it needs to analyse a website, by asking the web server for the home page, then following the coded links to all the other pages on that website.

Mobile apps are different, because they are self contained software. There is no web server broadcasting the structure of the website to anyone who asks. Instead, to catalogue the pages of a mobile app, you have to install the mobile app on mobile phone, and start pressing buttons at random, to try to work out all the different things the mobile app can do.

Quixley has circumvented this limitation, by devising technology which tricks mobile apps into thinking they are running on a mobile phone – but actually, the mobile apps being analysed by Quixley are running on highly customised devices, which are designed to capture and catalogue all the screens presented by the mobile app during the analysis process.

Why go to all this trouble to open the hood on the mobile app, when you could simply read the description written by the mobile app developer? The answer is that it is always better to look for yourself, than to take someone’s word for it. The mobile app developer might have done a poor job of communicating what their mobile app does, or might even have overlooked describing elements of functionality which the catalogue provider thinks are really important.

Quixley’s future should be very interesting to watch – no doubt Google and other search businesses, are watching developments, and weighing their options.

Mobile App Development Competition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces a mobile app development competition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces a mobile app development competition.

The Indian Government has once again set the gold standard with regard to utilisation of technology in government, and public sector mobile app development, with the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a competition, to help design a new Office of the Prime Minister Mobile App.

According to NDTV;

NEW DELHI:  The government today launched a contest for taking suggestions from the public to develop a mobile application for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
     
The application, which will be developed in association with Google, is likely to be out in two months. The contest aims to seek suggestions from the public regarding the structure and content of the application.
     
"The whole MyGov programme is designed to have citizen engagement at the widest level. If we engage people, then we get various new suggestions," Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while launching the contest.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the website MyGov.in to provide a platform to citizens to share their views and opinions on important issues such as clean Ganga or skill development.

Read More...

This new announcement follows on from recent news of the launch of a mobile app by the government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, to help citizens provide feedback about government services.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected in 2014, with one of the most decisive mandates in recent Indian history, due to his strong track record of tireless technocratic achievement. During Modi’s term as chief minister of Gujarat, he propelled the state to levels of growth which rivalled Chinese economic growth over the same period, by sweeping away red tape and other bureaucratic obstacles to business. His election as Prime Minister is very much based on the promise that he can replicate his success as leader of Gujarat on a national scale. Early indications are that the people of India will not be disappointed.

The determination by the Indian Government to utilise all available technology must be seen as a serious effort to transform government. The Indian effort, to ensure the best possible outcomes, through the use of mobile app technology, shall in my opinion be seen as an increasingly noteworthy example to all governments, of how to improve public sector delivery of services.

If you have an idea for a mobile app for improving public sector service delivery, please contact me. I have experience working with public sector clients, as well as extensive private sector experience.

AVG Android App Performance Report Q4 2014

AVG Technologies has published a list of popular Android apps, which significantly impact your mobile phone’s battery life, network usage and data storage – apps which they recommend users should avoid.

The top spots were secured by Boom Beach and Deer Hunter 2014, both interactive high powered action adventure games.

Second on the list is Spotify, the digital music streaming app.

AVG technologies also mentions that previous winning resource hogs, Puzzle and Dragons and FarmVille, have both suffered significant declines in use, since being named in AVG’s previous report.

What does this mean for your Android App Project?

First, anyone who fires up a copy of Boom Beach or Deer Hunter 2014, should expect their mobile phone’s battery charge to plummet.

Android phones and iPhones are severely resource constrained devices. To maintain battery charge as long as possible, mobile app developers (both iPhone App Developers and Android App Developers) are encouraged to develop mobile apps in such a way as to allow the mobile phone to subtly switch itself off, whenever possible.

With an action game this simply isn’t possible – games are always doing something.

Some of the other apps on the list though are likely to catch users unaware. For example, who would expect that listening to a little music, using Spotify, would kill their battery and exhaust network bandwidth allowance?

The real surprise on the list though is the Facebook App. According to AVG, Facebook is one of the worst offenders, when it comes to chewing up your phone’s battery, storage and network capacity, even when you aren’t actually using the app. This is a serious criticism – I suspect the Facebook team will have no choice but to respond.

How do I avoid having my Android App Development appear on AVG’s list?

My advice is simple – if your mobile app has to do something which uses a lot of battery life, storage, or network bandwidth, TELL the USER. If a mobile game app had a small warning, recommending users plug the phone into the charger while playing the game – is this such a bad thing? You are just taking care of your user.

And if you mobile app is eating a lot of battery, network or storage, and there is no clear reason why this is happening, ask your developer to review the app, demand a clear explanation. There might be a reason – or it could actually be a defect. Sometimes mobile apps which are defective sit there burning computation effort, for no good reason.

If you would like advice on how not to end up on the AVG list, or are not receiving the clarity you want, when you communicate your concerns to your current developers, please contact me.