Practical recommendations for iOS developers (Part 1) - Globalization of the mobile application market
The process of globalization is irreversible. Globalization affects all areas of IT technology, including the development of mobile applications. If earlier the market of mobile platforms was shared by at least 5-6 companies (Symbian, Blackberry OS, Android, Palm, iOS, Bada, etc.), then at the moment there are only 2 main platforms: iOS and Google Android, which share about 90% of the total market. By the way, the share of Google Android in the fourth quarter of 2012 reached 75%, i.e. Three of the four smartphones are running the mobile platform from Google.
Globalization also directly affects application developers, including us, the company Little Beetle . Therefore, we would like to express our opinion on this issue, as well as give a couple of tips based on personal experience to novice developers.
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By the nature of our business, we constantly have to analyze the educational segment of the Russian Apple App Store market. We must monitor the release of new products from other developers, track TOPs, factors affecting the duration of being in TOP, analyze search queries inside the store, track comments, reviews, ratings, etc. The data obtained by us in the analysis process allow us to draw the following conclusions:
- In the TOP 10 of the paid category "Education", 5-6 applications have been there for more than three months, the rest, getting into the TOP and having lasted there no more than 1-2 days, begin a smooth fall down;
- Almost exactly the same trend is observed in the "TOP Cash" in the "Education" section;
- In the TOP 10, 7-8 applications in the paid section "Education" are children's applications;
- If you take the first 20 applications, then 15 of them belong to 5 companies, i.e. On average, 1 company has 3 of its applications in the TOP-20.
It is the last conclusion that makes you think seriously. Indeed, a year and a half ago, when we were just starting our activity, this was not the case. Moreover, it cannot be said that all applications that are in the TOP-20 are better than others - no, they are simply better promoted . It even happens that a new application of very poor quality breaks into the TOP and can stay there for a week. What, then, depends on the natural time spent in the TOP?
You can immediately say that it is constantly in the TOP without any advertising and marketing campaigns is impossible. Developers even applications such as Angry birds, Fruit Ninja, etc., constantly pour money into advertising or other distribution channels. As an example, you can take one of the most famous games in the genre of “Tower Defense” - Plants vs Zombies, which can be in first place in the general story or even fall out of the TOP-100. For ourselves, we made a certain conclusion: the natural time spent in the TOP directly depends on the quality of the implementation of the application itself and the idea, i.e. a high-quality application will stand in the TOP longer, but, in any case, after a while it will lose ground - it is inevitable if you do not pour additional funds into advertising.
Speaking of globalization, let's consider the company Toca Boca , which, of course, occupies a leading position in the "Education" section not only in the Russian side, but in almost all others. How can young novice developers compete with such large companies? This seems impossible, but in reality it is still worse . Large companies, such as Rovio, Electronic Arts, Zynga, Disney, Toca Boca, etc., are increasingly strengthening their positions every day and becoming more and more inaccessible, because Constantly expanding their client base (here is a link to one very interesting article published by Distimo). Of course, you can turn to a major publisher, for example, Chillingo, but this is not for those who want to create and promote their brand and brand.
The cost of entering the market has now increased significantly. If a year ago it was possible to get into the TOP-5 within the limits of $ 800-1000, now this figure has increased 2-3 times.
Let's now consider the following example: 2 roughly identical applications are released. One was developed by novice developers, and the second by Toca Boca. It is difficult to say what distribution channels young developers have, but you can say for sure what Toca Boca has:
- 224,000 likes on the official facebook page;
- about 6000 followers on twitter;
- more than 3,500,000 video views on youtube;
- the most powerful distribution network through its applications (banners, links within its applications), etc.
It is safe to say that it is easy to promote a new application for Toca Boca, using at least only its own distribution channels. Moreover, for them it is all free. They should post on Facebook a release of their new application or a discount on some old one, and they immediately gain more than 1000 likes.
So what do novice developers do? Below is a list of recommendations that are directly related to further long-term marketing. It is these actions in the future will allow the developer to achieve certain results.
1. Starting to develop your first application, think about choosing a section , because then you will have to work on the same subject. You should not first make an e-book, then a game, then some useful utility. It is better to devote yourself to a specific section and there to gain a foothold. This is how the thematic client base will be gradually recruited. It should be understood that it is the thematic base of clients that is important, and not heterogeneous.
2. When developing the first application, be sure to provide for and reserve in advance a place for a banner . On this banner in the future you will be able to advertise your second application. It should be noted that the banner should not be intrusive and in any case should not cause negative emotions among users.
3. You should think in advance about the social component of the life of the company or the application itself. It is the social factor in the future that will help you pay for new applications in a matter of days. This includes promotion and promotion of your page on the social networks Facebook, VK, Twitter, etc. In other words, traffic must be two-way.
4. When the number of your applications will be more than three, you should think about adding a link within your applications, which will lead to a page with a list of your applications . Those. User's purchase of one application will encourage the purchase of another. Again, in this case the same subject matter is very important. As an example, you can take a regular shelf on which you can accurately arrange all your applications.
5. For some reason, many developers neglect the site, make it just “for the sake of a tick,” but, as mentioned above, traffic is needed from everywhere (from the site, from Facebook, from iTunes, etc.), so take care of SEO and SMM in advance .
6. It is very important to understand that all Apple App Store's are different, and each approach needs its own approach. Therefore, you should not immediately scatter over several stoors, it will be much better and safer to consolidate at least one (you can start with the Russian one).
7. All this is done in order to win the fans of their applications , so the most important factor is the high-quality implementation of applications and constant global updates that will extend the life of the product. Moreover, if the game is interesting, users will visit it more often and, accordingly, will see banners of your other applications more often.
The above recommendations are designed specifically for future growth and build a customer base. Here we did not consider the methods and methods of quickly getting into the TOP. We will try to write about it in our next posts.
In conclusion, I would like to add that the market is gradually shrinking, whether we like it or not. Powerful companies remain on the market (these are the fruits of the globalization process) that will generate the main profits. This is happening now, so it's up to you to be in the boat or overboard.
Globalization also directly affects application developers, including us, the company Little Beetle . Therefore, we would like to express our opinion on this issue, as well as give a couple of tips based on personal experience to novice developers.
')
By the nature of our business, we constantly have to analyze the educational segment of the Russian Apple App Store market. We must monitor the release of new products from other developers, track TOPs, factors affecting the duration of being in TOP, analyze search queries inside the store, track comments, reviews, ratings, etc. The data obtained by us in the analysis process allow us to draw the following conclusions:
- In the TOP 10 of the paid category "Education", 5-6 applications have been there for more than three months, the rest, getting into the TOP and having lasted there no more than 1-2 days, begin a smooth fall down;
- Almost exactly the same trend is observed in the "TOP Cash" in the "Education" section;
- In the TOP 10, 7-8 applications in the paid section "Education" are children's applications;
- If you take the first 20 applications, then 15 of them belong to 5 companies, i.e. On average, 1 company has 3 of its applications in the TOP-20.
It is the last conclusion that makes you think seriously. Indeed, a year and a half ago, when we were just starting our activity, this was not the case. Moreover, it cannot be said that all applications that are in the TOP-20 are better than others - no, they are simply better promoted . It even happens that a new application of very poor quality breaks into the TOP and can stay there for a week. What, then, depends on the natural time spent in the TOP?
You can immediately say that it is constantly in the TOP without any advertising and marketing campaigns is impossible. Developers even applications such as Angry birds, Fruit Ninja, etc., constantly pour money into advertising or other distribution channels. As an example, you can take one of the most famous games in the genre of “Tower Defense” - Plants vs Zombies, which can be in first place in the general story or even fall out of the TOP-100. For ourselves, we made a certain conclusion: the natural time spent in the TOP directly depends on the quality of the implementation of the application itself and the idea, i.e. a high-quality application will stand in the TOP longer, but, in any case, after a while it will lose ground - it is inevitable if you do not pour additional funds into advertising.
Speaking of globalization, let's consider the company Toca Boca , which, of course, occupies a leading position in the "Education" section not only in the Russian side, but in almost all others. How can young novice developers compete with such large companies? This seems impossible, but in reality it is still worse . Large companies, such as Rovio, Electronic Arts, Zynga, Disney, Toca Boca, etc., are increasingly strengthening their positions every day and becoming more and more inaccessible, because Constantly expanding their client base (here is a link to one very interesting article published by Distimo). Of course, you can turn to a major publisher, for example, Chillingo, but this is not for those who want to create and promote their brand and brand.
The cost of entering the market has now increased significantly. If a year ago it was possible to get into the TOP-5 within the limits of $ 800-1000, now this figure has increased 2-3 times.
Let's now consider the following example: 2 roughly identical applications are released. One was developed by novice developers, and the second by Toca Boca. It is difficult to say what distribution channels young developers have, but you can say for sure what Toca Boca has:
- 224,000 likes on the official facebook page;
- about 6000 followers on twitter;
- more than 3,500,000 video views on youtube;
- the most powerful distribution network through its applications (banners, links within its applications), etc.
It is safe to say that it is easy to promote a new application for Toca Boca, using at least only its own distribution channels. Moreover, for them it is all free. They should post on Facebook a release of their new application or a discount on some old one, and they immediately gain more than 1000 likes.
So what do novice developers do? Below is a list of recommendations that are directly related to further long-term marketing. It is these actions in the future will allow the developer to achieve certain results.
1. Starting to develop your first application, think about choosing a section , because then you will have to work on the same subject. You should not first make an e-book, then a game, then some useful utility. It is better to devote yourself to a specific section and there to gain a foothold. This is how the thematic client base will be gradually recruited. It should be understood that it is the thematic base of clients that is important, and not heterogeneous.
2. When developing the first application, be sure to provide for and reserve in advance a place for a banner . On this banner in the future you will be able to advertise your second application. It should be noted that the banner should not be intrusive and in any case should not cause negative emotions among users.
3. You should think in advance about the social component of the life of the company or the application itself. It is the social factor in the future that will help you pay for new applications in a matter of days. This includes promotion and promotion of your page on the social networks Facebook, VK, Twitter, etc. In other words, traffic must be two-way.
4. When the number of your applications will be more than three, you should think about adding a link within your applications, which will lead to a page with a list of your applications . Those. User's purchase of one application will encourage the purchase of another. Again, in this case the same subject matter is very important. As an example, you can take a regular shelf on which you can accurately arrange all your applications.
5. For some reason, many developers neglect the site, make it just “for the sake of a tick,” but, as mentioned above, traffic is needed from everywhere (from the site, from Facebook, from iTunes, etc.), so take care of SEO and SMM in advance .
6. It is very important to understand that all Apple App Store's are different, and each approach needs its own approach. Therefore, you should not immediately scatter over several stoors, it will be much better and safer to consolidate at least one (you can start with the Russian one).
7. All this is done in order to win the fans of their applications , so the most important factor is the high-quality implementation of applications and constant global updates that will extend the life of the product. Moreover, if the game is interesting, users will visit it more often and, accordingly, will see banners of your other applications more often.
The above recommendations are designed specifically for future growth and build a customer base. Here we did not consider the methods and methods of quickly getting into the TOP. We will try to write about it in our next posts.
In conclusion, I would like to add that the market is gradually shrinking, whether we like it or not. Powerful companies remain on the market (these are the fruits of the globalization process) that will generate the main profits. This is happening now, so it's up to you to be in the boat or overboard.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/167329/
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