How to develop your idea for a mobile app and make money from it

Dr. David Bozward

No straight lines

Vegas

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (Terms & Conditions Apply)

The Class NDA• A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a

confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties. It is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets.

• As such, an NDA protects everyone’s business ideas.

Your Idea

How many apps are in the Google Play Store?

its not a school project

You have to be fast

Innovation: technology, gameplay

Quality: an excellent player experience

Community: family values, non violent, inclusive

Optimism: aspiration, hope, positive

Decency: opportunities, enjoyment

values statement

The Process1. Market Research2. Business Model3. Design App4. Build the App5. Test6. Market7. Launch8. Market9. Upversion10.Market

Time & Budget

• <50% Development

• >50% Social Marketing & Sales

Web vs App• which?

Market Research• https://www.appannie.com/• http://www.statista.com/statistics/26

3794/number-of-downloads-from-the-apple-app-store/

• http://www.iosappstats.com/stocks/appstats.php

Customer personas

Name Tracy Joe Wayne Emily Ricky

Profile 22Yr Old, Single 28 yrs old, Single 36 yrs old, married 36 yrs old, married 55yrs old, divorced

Social Life Lives with her friend in a flat in Oxford

Lives on his own Lives with his wife and six children

Lives on own Lives with his girl friend

Work Life Works at the Tax Office as a computer officer in London

Runs a design agency in Central London, Employs 12 people

Sales man for international coffee company

Part time art gallery

Owns his own business making tables

Game Experience Uses games on 1.5 hourcommute to work and home.

Plays at work and at home

Plays games with the children

Plays games with partner

Play games to relax

Design Process

Design Best Practiceprovide a consistent and well thought

out UI experience

design for a target audience

focus on MVP and build for that

learn from competitors

Business Model• Free

– Collect Data and sell it• Free Download with in-app Adverts

– Collect Data and sell it– Revenue from ads, click through

• Freemium– Pay for features, levels, content– Collect Data and sell it

• Paid App– Pay to download– Collect Data and sell it

Who uses apps more: tablet or mobile users?

Device and App Review • Current iOS– iOS 9 = 57%– iOS 8 = 33%– Earlier = 10%– As measured by the App Store on October 5,

2015.• App Review Status– Submissions reviewed in the last 5 business

days.– New Updates– iOS 83% 89%– Mac 92% 84%– Updated: October 9, 2015

Online App Tools• App Factory• Appery.io• AppMachine• AppMakr• appsbar• Appsme• Appy Pie• Bizness Apps• Build Fire• Canvas Business Apps & Forms• Como• EachScape• GameSalad• MobileRoadie• Salesforce1 Platform• Taplytics• Zengine• Zoho Creator

Online App Building

Including API’s• Text, Telephone, Contacts• Camera• Voice : Recognition, Actions, • Keyboard• Social Media• Payment/Billing (Google, Apple, Paypal…)• Geolocation, Maps, Places, Compass• Fitness Sensors, Accelerometer• File storage (on phone or in cloud)• Multi Screen – Stream to other devices• Analytics• Adverts• Sign in (Google, Facebook, …)• Notifications

How many people in the world use a smartphone?

The range of OS + code• IOS (9.x)• Android (5.5.1 = Lollipop, 6.0 Beta)• Windows Phone – (10)• Blackberry – (10.3)• Firefox OS• Sailfish – Ex Nokia Team• Tizen – Linux (Intel & Samsun)• Ubuntu Touch OS – Uses Android but not

Java

Sketch

Wireframe Design

MenuAllow Users to see all optionsEasy Navigation

The screen currently has 4 menu options (version 1.0).1. Play2. Difficulty Level3. Highscore4. Save & Exit

The player selects by touching each of the iconsto then move to the next screens

Splash Screen

Play, Level, Highscore,

Activity to Design our Apps

Prototype

Lean Start-up Methodology

Scalability Challenge

Pivot

BREAK

Development

Development Options – Languages• C

– Android• C++

– Android• C#

– Windows• Java

– Android UI, Blackberry• Objective-C

– Apple• HTML5

– Javascript– Web Apps

• Swift– Apple, Introduced 2014

Development Options – TechnologyDevelopment Environment

Android Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, Project Kenai Android plugin for NetBeans

Blackberry Eclipse, BlackBerry JDE

IOS Xcode, AppCode

Windows Mobile Visual Studio 2010, 2008, 2005, eMbedded VC++ (free), Satellite Forms

C, C++

Phone Support

PhoneGap/Cordova – Adobe Systems

• OS: Android, BlackBerry, Firefox OS, iOS, Symbian, Ubuntu Touch, webOS, Windows Phone, Windows 8

• http://phonegap.com/• HTML5: CSS + Javascript• Free with paid options

game engines• No.10: Torque 3D• No.9: Vicious Engine 2• No.8: Bigworld Technology Suite• No.7: Vision Engine 7.5• No.6: Infernal Engine• No.5: BlitzTech• No.4: Unity 3D• No.3: CryENGINE 3• No.2: Gamebryo Lightspeed• No.1: Unreal Engine 3

Unity• Games Based• Multi Language Support– C#, Javascript/UnityScript,

• https://unity3d.com/• Free to paid versions• Multi Platform– Console, PC, Mobile,……

DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS - OUTSOURCE

Development Options - Outsource1. Don’t state your budget and timings2. Fixed price model means fixed design3. Make sure you & they understand your requirements, state what

is expected4. Get three quotes5. Make it “Waterfall” not “agile”6. Break the timeline down into milestones7. Get and test the build at regular interval8. Make it collaborative9. Create a communication plan10. Provide clear written feedback11. Stagger payments with milestones12. Get App Store approval before final payment13. Get a copy of the project files

Your Project Brief• A detailed list of functions and features • Screens of all of the different sections of the app with labels pointing to the app

buttons and areas outlining what they are, and what function they do.• A simple, step-by-step user flow of what happens when the user interacts with your

app. – Example: when they press this button it goes to this screen, when you press back it goes to

this screen etc.• Clearly mark up all of your apps graphic interface assets, labelling which piece is

which.– The developer will need to know which graphics go where, what their file names are and

where the files are located in your assets folder supplied.• For the document itself, a Word doc is all you need, or PowerPoint slides if your like

me.– It doesn’t have to be fancy or well designed. Just make it a very clear, a detailed brief of the

entire app written up with the above points explored and expanded on.• The same goes for amends to the app, I detailed all of the amends in a similar

document with screen shots, mark ups of all of the amends listed in a numbered point form. – Lastly when you list all of the amends in a formal document they can never get lost or

overlooked in an email or over chat.

Test

Testing• Develop a plan• Use real devices• Get– You and the team test everything ALWAYS– Friends to test the alpha – Beta users to test the beta

• Tools– Testflight–Ministry of testing

TestFlight• Makesit easy to invite users to test

your iOS apps before you release them on the App Store.

• You can invite up to 1,000 external testers using just their email address.

• Connects into Xcode & Itunes Connect

Submit

App Stores

The App Bundle(ALL of THESE are VERY VERY IMPORTANT)• Category• Primary Language• Privacy Policy• License Agreement• Copyright• Trade Contact Information• Icon• Screenshots• App previews• Ratings• Made for Fids• Available Localizations• Keywords• App Description• Price• SKU – x.x.x• Cleared for Sale• Marketing URL

App Name• You can not have one which is

already reserved or in use• The longest name can be 255

characters but …• Check: https://sensortower.com/

App Icon Design• Simple and Iconic• Consider Lighting, Reflections &

Shadows• Consider the classic sets• Colour?

iconsmoreicons

The Process

Why they get rejected• App states its beta• Long time to load• Outside payment schemes• Mentions another app store• Localization issues• Improper use of storage• Crashes• Misuse of trademarks and logos

Cross Platform• Getjar: Getjar is a cross platform mobile app store that is available worldwide. According to downloads, it is the

largest 3rd party app store with over 900,000 downloads and 18,000 apps to date. GetJar was the first app store to release Angry Birds for Android, which took off in popularity, and even crashed the Getjar servers for a few hours.

• Dell Mobile Application Store: Dell now has over 40,000 apps in its app store and supports multiple platforms. One differentiating factor with Dell's store is that developers get a 60% rev share, as opposed to most other channels that work with 70% for the developer.

• Handmark: Handmark is an app store available worldwide and also features apps from various platforms including desktop and mobile web apps. In addition, Handmark has a downloadable app for Windows Mobile devices. According to recent stats, Handmark has over 4,000 apps hosted on its platform.

• Handster: This app store launched in 2005 for Windows Mobile, but has since expanded to Symbian, BlackBerry, Android and Java.Handster has over 27,000 mobile apps in its directory.

• Mobango: Mobango competes with Getjar for the largets independent app store. Mobango is unique in that all apps are free. At 45,000 apps, Mobango apps have been downloaded over 700,000,000 times. As of now, Mobango supports app for Android, Java, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Flash Lite and Palm.

• PocketGear:  PocketGear recently acquired Handango and now hosts over 140,000 apps and works with over 30,000 developers. Pocketgear supports apps from Symbian, Palm, Windows, BlackBerry, Android and Java.

• Opera Mobile Store: With support for Android, BlackBerry, Java, Symbian, and Windows, the Opera app store is available in 240 countries worldwide.

• Appitalism: Well over 100,00 available apps and support for all major platforms, and a discovery and discussion channel for new apps. Appitalism launched in September 2010.

Android• Android Market: The Android Market is Google's official storefront for Android apps.

However, unlike iOS, Android is open and that openness comes to fruition in possible distribution channels as well. The Android Market currently has 135,000 apps, and launched in October 2008. The Android Market is well known for its relatively lenient approval process as compared to Apple's App Store.

• Amazon Appstore: As you have probably heard, Amazon decided to throw its hat into the mobile ring with its own Android app store. The Amazon store now offers over 4,000 Android apps, but has some serious advantages over the Android Market. These include help with discovery by recommending apps to users, special promotions to keep users coming back, and many more unique features. The Amazon Appstore made headlines when it launched the Angry Birds Rio game exclusively.

• Archos Appslib: Archos offers its own Android app store for high end Android devices with larger displays. This app store has over 21,000 apps and Archos aims to make it the premier app store for Android.

• SlideME: Launched in April 2008, SlideMe is an alternative to the Android Market and now hosts over 3,000 Android apps.

Single Platform / Phone• Blackberry– Blackberry App World– Crackberry Store

• Apple App Store• Windows Store

Tax and Stuff• VAT– If you make over £81,000 in the UK you need to

register for VAT• VAT MOSS– If your business sells digital services to

consumers in EU member states, VAT is charged at the rate due in the consumer’s country.

– Union VAT MOSS - for businesses based in the EU, including the UK

– Non-Union VAT MOSS - for businesses based outside of the EU

What is the total global mobile app revenue in 2015?

what revenue do you want?• our aim is to make you a full time

revenue

$29,600

14%

13%

10%

10%

10%

9%

6%

5%

5%

3%

3%

2%2%

2%

2% 1% 1% 1% 1%

Titles No.

Kids

Puzzle

Educational

Arcade

Family

Action

Board

Strategy

Adventure

Simulation

Card

Sports

Word

Trivia

Role Playing

Casino

Racing

Music

Dice

the app store - games

Marketing

Marketing

x

Social Media• Why?– Awareness– Downloads– Usage– Revenue

AnalyticsHow• Facebook• Google• Apple• Appannie• Flurry

Why• Awareness• Clicks• Views• Play

– Number– Hours– Level, Stage, ..

• Purchase• Referrals• Phone Types

our marketing approach• make it personal• make it direct• say it and say it again• all online media channels are used• print and national press addressed• guerilla marketing designed for

game’s target demographic

The End

BREAK