Shailendra Sinhasane
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Homepage: http://www.mobisoftinfotech.com
Posts by Shailendra Sinhasane
Pricing Strategies for iOS / Android apps
Sep 30th
Mobisoft had a top paid app in a revenue-share model with client. App scaled to # 21 in lifestyle category. Naturally, we were excited to know the numbers – downloads, paid/free, adv hits etc. Although we made it great in terms of popularity, the earnings were less than expected.
The main reason was not having effective strategy for pricing model of app’s inApp & subscription purchases. What we realized is that “It could have been great to work on pricing strategy while developing the app” i.e. Monetization of app.
Why Monetize?
- Generate money
How?
- Compulsion Loops, there are ways to draw user back into the app
- Engagement, does it have engagement elements that could be monetized, i.e. virtual currency?
- Value, is it worth your users’ time?
Models
1. In-app purchases
2. Subscription
3. Ads
4. Location-based offerings
5. Social media sharing and aggregation
To do
1. Try various in-app models to find the combination that maximize your revenues
• Games: Subscription based casual gaming package + premium payment for sending best scores
• E-books for kids: read once for free. Pay to read again
• Security: free trial (e.g. 30 days) . Paid license for 1 year period
• Video: pay per gallery
2. Freemium strategy
- Strongest marketing play Risk reduction
- Developers should be focused on finding consumers who are willing to pay, not trying to completely satisfy free-rider consumers
In-App single purchase
Pros:
• This is probably the easiest path to implementation and launch and it’s straightforward and proven
• Virtual goods/currency through In-App
Cons:
• No ongoing revenue stream No access to user data – makes selling advertising difficult.
• One potential workaround is to build in-app surveys, which pushes data back.
Subscription – I
Pros:
- Revenue is sustainable
- Renew just as other web based subscriptions
- Easy extendable as an add-on
Cons:
- Requires user management solution
- Requires users to leave the app and visit the publisher’s website to subscribe
- Conversion rate lower than in-app purchases
- Success : lifetime value of a subscriber > revenue lost from lower conversion
Subscription – II
Apple’s subscription policy for publishers:
- Apple still gets a 30% cut of any subscription a reader signs up for inside the App Store.
- Publishers can now offer an app subscription for a different price than what they might sell their app for in the App Store.
- Publishers can’t link to an external-to-Apple location that sells a subscription within the app.
Advertising
Apple: iAd platform – Adv as an app
Third party : adMob, Medialets etc
Pros:
- Easier to command advertising premiums and less pressure to live up to metrics
Cons:
- Mobile budgets just aren’t well-defined
- Apple changes strategic decision with third party ad integration
Location Based Offerings
Pros:
- Awesome mobile offerings into a high-fidelity advertising environment
Cons:
- Complexity in integrating these systems
- Requires the device be connected to the internet
Social, Sharing & Aggregation
Pros:
- Cost-effective
- Viral marketing
- Better user engagement
Cons:
Getting advertiser support on a product as nebulous as this is challenging
Other payment integrations
- Paypal API integrations
- Carrier billing option – Very easy for users to pay
- Virtual credits
- Google Checkout
Other billing platforms
1 MoVend payment platform
- Easy integration – Supports Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone7
- Sales Track Better user engagement
2 Bango
Supports all mobile platforms including Operator billing
Mobisoft Infotech recommend to work with clients as partners and provide various pricing strategies to monetize their app. It will be certainly helpful to clients to get pricing strategies correctly integrated while the app is being developed rather than working on monetization after app is live.
Thank you.
Key inputs to avoid Apple’s iOS app rejection
Apr 17th
An app idea or product app takes much of time and money investment to get into app world existence. The major hurdle to it’s success could be Apple’s review process. There can be numerous reasons for Apple’s rejections for your app. With our superior knowledge of iOS apps development since the day Apple launched their SDK, we are able to gain valuable insights into Apple’s review process.
This will help:
1. Developers to save their precious time and efforts.
2. Let you plan for a better user experience which is the key reason behind all the app store guidelines.
There are few key points which every iPhone/iPad developer should know when developing an app for Apple devices.
Key things to avoid Apple’s app rejection:
1. Bugs/Crashes- The most common reason for any app to get rejected are freezing and frequent crashes. Make sure you test it on multiple devices, different OS versions and specifically under varying network conditions. Peer-to-peer reviews/testing done by developers would certainly help. If your app crashes or doesn’t respond during the app review by Apple’s testing team then it will definitely be rejected.
2. Code Download- You cannot create an app that downloads and executes code that was not present in the app bundle submitted to Apple.
3. Similar Icons- The app store 512×512 icon should be same as the app’s 57×57 icon. Even though there is no such direct rule in contract/agreement with Apple, its their store and they make the rules for reviews. If your app’s icon on phone and app store icon do not match, Apple will state having un-matching icons to reject the app.
4. Network Connectivity- You must notify the user if network is unavailable. Just having the spinning busy icon display and a message saying “trying to connect” is against the guidelines. Proper message is needed at all the screens to convey clear message if network is not available after certain period of time. Many developers put their connectivity checks on Apple’s Reachability code, which is using that sample code for the wrong purpose. If you need to get data from a specific server, then try to download some data from that domain.
5. “Free+Paid” apps- Apple reported to few developers that app may get rejected, if it contains visually disabled buttons, prompting the user to upgrade for the full version or displaying the price of full version in the Free version. So, iPhone developers must ensure that they follow all the rules.
6. Consistent Button Images- If an iPhone developer wants to use Apple’s existing image for his button then see that functions are identical because you can use a standard button in a non-standard way if your app is providing a “immersive environment” so it is better to create your own button. If there are any variations with function then again Apple might reject the app.
It is always advisable for an iPhone developer to use their own custom buttons in the app
7. iOS version support- If you plan on submitting and app which runs with 3.0 and higher versions, you should be sure that it works perfectly on all the versions from the iOS 3.0 to the most current version. Apple will test it with the latest version to see the potential of the app but if the app fails to prove itself Apple will definitely rejected your app.
8. Transactions outside The App Store-
Apple do not allow developers to conduct any transaction/business outside the app store. In App purchases are the recommended way to implement these transaction. Recent announcement to allow outside payment transaction with certain restriction and Apple’s percentage take from money for the same is trickier and would take more time to settle down in business plan of apps sale.
9. Private API:s
Apple strictly reject apps which are implementing programs using Private APIs. Apple has scripts that can scan your app codes for violations. If you want to prevent app rejection from app store make sure you read the developer guidelines carefully before implementing any API marked private by Apple.
10. Popovers-
It is definitely not recommended to launch one popover from within another popover. The iPad Human Interface Guidelines clearly provides this information that only one popover element should be shown onscreen at a time.
There can be many more reasons behind Apple’s rejection of any iOS app. However, the list provides very obvious ones.
Mobisoft Infotech sincerely wish this post is helpful to all our developer community and prestigious clients to achieve great success with iOS apps launch.
If you have any suggestions/feedback, please send your inputs to info@mobisoftinfotech.com
& for business enquiries : business@mobisoftinfotech.com
Thank you
Mobisoft Infotech LLC along with Smarty-Ears empowering special kids with speech therapy iOS apps at Macworld 2011.
Jan 29th
Macworld Expo: San Francisco: Jan 27th, 2011.
With superior expertise in iPhone and iPad apps development, Mobisoft infotech LLC is delivering a family of apps for kids with special needs. In collaboration with Smarty Ears, Mobisoft Infotech provided services to develop apps for speech therapists. Apps which can improve child’s language and speech skills by helping children with communication difficulties.
Mobisoft infotech will be showcasing their most recent released apps for Smarty-Ears at the Macworld Expo 2011 in San Francisco. Macworld 2011. Newest app releases, “Articulate it!” is an application designed to help parents practice pronouncing sounds with their children
Articulation, language skills, and fluency are some of the areas in which we have developed apps in. Smarty-Ears is innovating Speech therapy with creative vision to enable therapists for improved practices and services. Mobisoft infotech with 110+ smartphone apps development experience, has been providing design and programming services for more than 5 app products on iPhone/iPad for speech therapists help.
Team achieved great accomplishments!!
Recognition from Apple users is evident when first app – “Sunny Articulation Test” was featured on Top #9 revenue generating app on iTunes. Apps we developed have been featuring on ‘What’s Hot’, ‘New & Noteworthy’ and ‘Top paid’ sections of Apple’s iTunes store.
‘Match2Say’ app was featured on “New and Noteworthy” on iTunes. At the same time on 11/07/2010 Match2Say was the top #5 Best selling education app.
Shailendra Sinhasane, Managing Director of this startup company founded it in early 2009 during his Computer Science Master’s program from University of Houston. Starting with application ‘MyIphonics’, they created educational apps with audio, object images and game playing integration. One of the first few apps developed by them ‘SocialFlyr’ for creating digital flyers to share across Facebook and Twitter social media was amazingly hit and topped to #20 paid lifestyle based app on iTunes store.
The company has been able to grow at astounding rate, from 3 people team to over 55 smartphone development consultants family. Mobisoft Infotech has great plans to
take a leap forward into ‘Web + Mobile + Social’ integrated solutions.
For more information about smartphone services visit: http://www.mobisoftinfotech.com
Or contact: business@mobisoftinfotech.com
References:
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Macworld 2011 http://www.macworldexpo2011.com
-
MyIphonics app http://myiphonics.com/Home.html
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Learn Alphabet Sounds With MyIphonics http://bit.ly/9P35Sz
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Mobisoft Infotech iPhone technical share http://bit.ly/g1PCkf
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New Company Combines Technological Advancements With Speech And Language Sciences. http://bit.ly/bK8vqH
-
Match2Say featured on iTunes http://bit.ly/bZM8l1
Mobile happenings round the corner
Nov 12th
Blackberry Playbook development
The RIM blackberry has now made entry to tablet war. The ‘Playbook’ tablet for blackberry has promising feature list and it can be looked useful business users as well as end consumers. Adobe has got an edge after working with RIM by means of AIR based application development for Blackberry playbook.
Playbook promotion: RIM has a plan to provide one free BlackBerry PlayBook to registered vendor with their App World, with an approved AIR application that is available for the BlackBerry PlayBook prior to its launch.
Adobe’s AIR software developer kit (SDK) apparently has integrated key development features with the PlayBook’s operating system. This will help developers to create powerful apps with AIR capabilities.
Launch of Windows Phone7
Windows phone7 mobiles are being launched in the market since October & will continue to do so with various manufacturers this quarter 2010 Q4. Microsoft has announced ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries. They are working with 60 mobile operators around the globe. Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first one for Sprint and Verizon in the US
It would be interesting to see the penetration of Windows phone7 handsets to established market. The AppStore for Phone7 mobiles also need to have enough number of applications in place in order to keep the momentum intact. We are excited about the competition craze.
The Android gingerbread aka 3.0
Next level Android OS is being expected early next year 2011. Google is also preparing this launch to continue the rapid growth Android has been able to achieve since last two quarters. The Gingerbread, or Android 3.0, is going to represent the high-end smartphones. Base versions of 2.1 will continue to support low-end phones.
The Android 3.0 will come up with a completely new user interface. Animated transitions between mobile applications and screens would be definite part of it. HD quality of the display is set to increase with Android 3.0 which will support displays with 1280 x 760 resolution
This is simply getting better and better.
iOS 4.2 launch & Airprint wireless printing
The iOS 4.2 for iPad is going to include a number of features including multi-tasking, folders support and unified mail inboxes.
Unified support for iphone and ipad both the devices will be provided through iOS 4.2
Airprint wireless printing for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices with the iOS 4.2 launch are being worked out by Apple.
AirPrint would be that it can automatically finds printers on local networks and print text, photos and graphics to them wirelessly over Wi-Fi without the need to install drivers or download software.
Exciting times round the corner for sure!!!
Team Mobisoft Infotech
App Idea: Are you working on iPhone/iPad app similar to existing one in Store?
Oct 25th
Now that there are 300K+ apps on AppStore, there is high possibility that your idea has been implemented and have an app on store for sale. We are getting many requirements from clients about creating an app similar to one in AppStore and at the same time with the concern, whether they can make money out of it?
It is obvious that existing competition for an app idea means that your life is going to be harder. However, it definitely does not mean that their implementation for the app is the best it could be. If you can add something to the already existing idea that can improve the app or make it more appealing, Go ahead!!
In such scenario, you need smart companies well-versed in market research to figure out whether it would be worth the competition. “We are here for you” 
Ask yourself these basic questions:
- Are users who purchased the app happy with the existing app?
- There are chances in the sea of app world that they are not happy about it , find out the roots.
- It can be price structure of the app that users are not happy about. Is it wrongly priced? e.g. Unnecessary in-app purchases at regular intervals of app usage, multi-level unlocking of features with payments, prices are not justified for what they offer etc.
- Can you offer better pricing model?
- Do you have list of superior features including ‘must-have’?
- Do you have enough resources and money to compete with existing app?
Lets DISCOVER the potential of your idea together and have a refreshing app experience for 125 Million iOS users.
Team
Mobisoft Infotech
Installing APK Files on Android Device Emulator
Feb 1st
Let me first clear one thing, You do not need Eclipse or Eclipse-plugin the Android Development Tools (ADT) in order to run .APK file (adhoc builds) on emulator. They required for the software/application development for Android, but are not necessary for application adhoc testing on emulator.
You will need to download the Android SDK, which can be obtained here: http://code.google.com/android/download.html
Before running .apk into emulator, it is needed to setup the sdk first.
Installing the SDK:
After downloading the SDK, unpack the .zip archive to a suitable location on your machine. For the rest of this document, we will refer to the directory where you installed the SDK as $SDK_ROOT.
Optionally, you can add $SDK_ROOT/tools to your path:
- On Linux, edit your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Look for a line that sets the PATH environment variable and add the full path to your $SDK_ROOT/tools to it. If you don’t see a line setting the path, you can add one:
export PATH=${PATH}: - On a Mac, look in your home directory for .bash_profile and proceed as for Linux. You can create the .bash_profile, if you haven’t already set one up on your machine.
- On Windows, right click on My Computer, and select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path under System Variables, and add the full path to the tools/ directory under $SDK_ROOT to it.
*Note* – Updating the SDK for newer releases means you might also need to update the PATH settings.
If you have not created android virtual device (AVD) yet, then in ../tools directory,
run command ./android
This will open up the window to let you add virtual device with specific sdk version 1.6 or 2.0
To check AVDs present you can run the command ./android list avd
Using emulator:
1. Go to $SDK_ROOT/tools directory and execute the file ‘emulator.exe’.
You might need to also include android virtual device (AVD) to command line execution for example,
./emulator -avd TestDevice
Please wait couple of minutes until it loads. You should see the home screen of the android emulator.
2. Save/copy the APK file directly in the $SDK_ROOT/tools directory.
3. Goto Shell/Terminal/CommandPrompt, adb install fileName.apk (You will need to shell/terminal/cmd sessions live)
or ./adb install fileName.apk
4. if there is ‘Path not found’ error then you need to add $SDK_ROOT/tools directory to your system PATH settings correctly.
5. After above command executions, you will be able to see installed apk into emulator.
Good luck!
Regards,
Shail
How to run 2 versions of Xcode on MacOS now that you have SDK 3.2 Beta?
Jan 28th
iPad – Magical and Revolutionary device launched with newer SDK 3.2 Beta for development.
Apple announced their latest innovative product, iPad. It was much awaited tablet from them. As expected previously developed iPhone application will be running on the iPad without modification in double pixel format.
We are now getting SDK 3.2 beta to download from Apple’s developer account. PLEASE make sure to read agreement before download. This SDK 3.2 for iPad app development is under NDA.
Here is link to download http://www.apple.com/ipad/sdk/
You will have to be enrolled as developer to initiate the download.
Once you download the SDK, question arises that how to keep 2 versions of xcode running on the Mac. This is because iPad SDK can not be used for now to submit your app.
Instructions:
By default, all versions of Xcode and iPhone SDK installed in
‘/Developer’ with previous versions automatically upgraded. If you want
to keep a previously installed version of Xcode, you must either do a
“Custom Install” and specify a new <Xcode> directory name, or you must
move the pre-existing /Developer directory to a new name before you
install this new version of Xcode. This is mentioned in Step 5 below.
1. Boot into a partition with the Mac OS X v10.6.2 or later installed.
2. Download the Xcode installation package.
3. Double-click on the .mpkg Installer package.
4. Follow the instructions in the Installer.
5. To install Xcode in a directory other than the default /Developer,
you must specify a new <Xcode> directory name on the “Custom Install”
pane
Select the folder icon under “Location” next to the “Essentials”
package. Select “Other…” at the top of the pop-up. Navigate to the
location for the new <Xcode> folder. Create new folder here.
Finally, select “Choose” in the “Install Xcode Tools” pane.
Interface Builder are installed in <Xcode>/Applications.
In case you don’t have Mac OS X v 10.6.2 or later, then please refer to ‘About Xcode and iPhone SDK’ ReadMe file for iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta.
We hope you are now ready to see your first app running into iPad simulator! It feels amazing to see iPad simulator running.
Please let us know if you need any more help. We would be more than happy to assist you!
Thank you.
Regards,
Mobisoft Infotech
iPad – Is it a business plan changer? yes, it is indeed, in some cases!
Jan 28th
With launch of this revolutionary product from Apple, there are category of traditional businesses which needs to understand the power of this masterpiece. I would like to mention some points where it can be used with great effectiveness:
1. It would be useful to do simple tasks with clients and use as a planner. It’s Calendar has really amazing features and it looks stunning to have it on 9.7 inches display.
2. Great way for voice communication! Yes, it will be.
Just only minutes after updating the SDK, Apple approved its very first 3G VoIP app.
I imagine we will see many more VolP apps approved in the next few weeks.
‘Just because things weren’t talked about at the Apple Conference doesn’t mean they aren’t happening in the technology world’.
3. Publishing of digital media is going to be largest beneficial business area by the launch of iPad.
It is designed for the consumption of digital media: games, music, photos, videos, magazines, news papers and e-books. iPad’s primary purpose is to help you consume the ever-expanding amount of digital content on the go.
4. iPad would be document reader, couch surfer and e-book reader. Media companies now have to use imaginative and attractive way to make best use of iPad’s browsing experience.
5. We can build awesome HTML5 web apps and using the screen real-estate to create a magical experience.
6. I can see many apps would come up for Medicals, hospitals etc. iPad can be really effective device to log & share diagnosis information, prescriptions for patients. Easy to carry and also has best display to see many relevant images/photos.
7. Many industries where readings/observations are to be noted and shared, iPad will be really useful and handy. Like, Restaurants, Examination Centers, Conferences where sign-ups can be digitized.
8. Engineering – where calculations are important and if people get the power of handy iPad with right softwares/apps/tools in their hand then jobs are made easy to do maths, take decisions and report the result back to company office server.
9. Many more….
Some negatives:
Lack of Flash the most important one and support for multitasking.
Camera is also a major miss. however you may wanna catch external camera connection kit with at http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/ipad-has-optional-keyboard-dock/
We have other tablets coming to market to give us capability to make best use of technology and innovation like,
- HP Slate: A Windows 7-powered tablet
- Asus Eee Tablet: An upcoming tablet that may run on Google Android
- Notion Ink Tablet: Another Android-based tablet
- Google/HTC Tablet
To sum up, we have nice blend of innovation and technology for better user experience! We are ready to drive in for awesome products development. Are you ready for rich experience?
Regards,
Shail