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Our Top 5 Featured Products from CES

The Consumer Electronic Show 2014 saw a slew of all new gadgets ranging from tables to giant television sets to tiny processor chips.The show was only open to those affiliated with the industry, and it presents previews of everything that is new in technology related products. TheAppLabb team could not attend the convention in Las Vegas, but we were covering the latest news about it on our social media!

This is our team’s input on the CES 2014 top 5 products:

1. Nvidia’s Tegra K1 Chipset:
The latest chip in the Tegra series for mobile devices brings the core count upto 192! It brings Nvidia’s Unreal Engine 4 to tablets and mobile phones, so expect stunning graphics on new Tegra devices!

2. EyeLock Myris:
The myris is a mouse side device which scans your eye. This new device brings biometric security based upon your iris to Windows PCs, Macs and even Chromebooks.

3. The June bracelet:
The June bracelet by Netatmo is the first bracelet to keep track of the sun’s impact on your skin. The bracelet alerts the user when they have had too much exposure to the sun.

4. Makerbot’s 3D Printers:
Have you ever wanted to 3D print ten items at once? Now you can! Makerbot has announced three 3D printers one of which can print 10 items at once.

5. Ford’s solar powered concept car:
Ford’s concept car is fueled entirely by the sun without depending on power outlets or charging stations for fuel. The car can last 21 miles fueled only by sunlight.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Advantages of defining a mobile strategy

Research conducted in 2012 indicates that by 2015 the tablet sales will out- number the desktop sales in North America.

Today’s consumer prefers smaller portable devices. This behavior is instigating brands to define or redefine their mobile strategies at a much faster rate.

Here are some findings of Google’s latest mobile survey:

• 96% of mobile users said that they encountered a website that is not mobile friendly
• 67% of mobile users said that if the site is mobile friendly they are more likely to purchase something.
• 48% of mobile users said even if they like a brand a non-mobile friendly site annoys them.

Here are some more unfathomable statistics:

• Over 65 million tablets were sold in 2011
• Smartphone usage tripled in 2011
• Apple sold more IOS devices in 2011 than MACs in 28 years

These statistics definitely make the mobile platform lucrative to target for the brands.

There are several distinct advantages of defining a mobile strategy, as follows:

Advantage #1

First advantage is that, it makes your organization to start thinking about moving with the change. Most companies relate to online presence only through desktop browsers and not through mobile yet. But what do consumers want today? Do they want the ability to reach your brand only at home, on a desktop? No.

Consumers want to be in touch with your brand everywhere. That’s why Mobile user experience (UX) is a common topic for debate. There are many devices, but the information shared needs to be narrowed down.

Today, customers might be forgiving for not having a mobile site or mobile app, but within the next 6 to 12 months they will end up choosing your competitor who caters to their convenience through mobility. Mobile strategy should be considered as an essential exercise to create new ideas and concepts to appeal to your customers on a new platform.

Advantage #2

Second advantage is to leverage off the overwhelming adoption rate. Mobile Adoption is happening in a much more uniform way. Now, mobile applications are prevalent in every age group. It does not fall under a young demographic only anymore.  Moreover, mobile-use is not confined to developed countries, but is becoming a global phenomenon. According to a recent article, 75% of the world’s population has access to a mobile device, by 2016 – 80% of North American population will have smart phones.

Prices are low and performances are high. That’s the reason why the adoption rates are so high in present times.

Brands should realize that there are no more barriers. There is a market that counts up to 75% of the world. This is your market! Developing an effective mobile strategy makes you think about getting new customers that you have not targeted earlier.

Mobile strategy is planning, practice and performance.  It is the meeting of business goals, user needs and evolving mobile opportunities.

Here are some tips on how you can kick off creation of mobile strategy:

• Current mobile experience: 

Test the current mobile experience of your brand. How easy and seamless is it to view your website on various mobile devices and engage with it, by making purchases, browsing, contacting, commenting etc. Is it annoying or difficult to get through?

• Analytics:

Check your website analytics to check how many users are accessing your website using mobile devices

• Competitor Analysis:

Analyze the mobile strategy of your competitors. Do they have mobile apps?

• Customer Analysis:

Ask your customers, about what features they are looking for in an app. Also analyze the mobile usage statistics among your customer demographic.

• Ask the Experts:

Ask leaders in mobile app development in Toronto like TheAppLabb for insights, experiences, best practices, recommendations. Feel free to email us at info@theapplabb.com anytime.

• Introspect:

Brainstorm internally to confirm your business goals, so that mobile strategy can be designed to support your goal, without changing your business focus

• Act:

Pen down your thoughts, determine the success factors, put together a team that will take the onus, engage a partner like TheAppLabb.

A successful mobile strategy involves inspection of your business, customers, competition and market to derive strategic insights on what should we do and how? Mobile Strategy involves weighing impact of mobile against need and costs to identify effortless gains, tactical investments and radical goals.

Mobile Strategy definition will ensure that mobile efforts are consistent with actual user needs and expectations; aligned with overall business strategy, using best technology practices, pursued with clear accountability and inter-disciplinary involvement.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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What revenue model should you choose for your Mobile App?

So you are planning to launch a mobile app on the app store. How do you plan to monetize it, to ensure the Return on Investment made on your mobile application development? Here are some options to consider:

Option 1: Free – Ad Revenue

Price: Free
Audience: Mass Market
Model: Advertisement Supported
Example: Facebook, Yelp, etc.

The main goal is to deliver content in multiple formats and extend reach.

Pros

• It is advantageous to have an established brand name and established sales team, as that can help package sponsors within the free application to generate incremental revenue.
• It is easy to build traffic initially for a free app, although may not be long lasting
• Ratio of downloads for free to paid apps is 400:1, or 95% of apps downloaded are free

Cons

• New companies looking to follow the straight advertising model may have a challenge as ad budgets are have been sliced across the board. eCPMs are very low, so to get profitability the traffic has to be extremely high.
• Companies in this category should have scaled back expectations as a profit center.

Advertisement Type:

1. Independent Ad PlatformAds and Revenue managed independantly
2. 3rd Party Ad Platform, e.g. iADs / Ad mob services
   • Ads are rendered through the 3rd Party.
   • Revenue based on impressions, clicks etc.
   • Better option if one doesn’t have big advertisers or own ads inventory
3. Ad Exchange
   • Hybrid option to use both of the above
   • Increase in development costs

Option 2: Free – Alternate Revenue

Price: Free
Audience: Mass Market
Model: Alternate revenue
Example: Urbanspoon, etc.

The main goal is to create a huge buzz around their product by offering it for free and getting it into as many hands as possible, in order to promote an alternate business or an alternate revenue model

Examples of alternate revenues:

• Data collection/business intelligence/analytics
• Re-direction to sales on another site (e-commerce)
• Ads/deals/ coupons can pushed using tools like www.appoxee.com

Option 3: Paid – Low Price

Price: Paid applications, at a low price point
Audience: Mass Market
Model: Direct Revenue
Examples: Sim City, etc.

• Range from 99 cents up to 4.99
• In the short term, getting hundreds of people to try it out for uniqueness factor, can lead to quick revenue.
• However, long term revenue is achieved by apps that provide clear value, amazing utility or function that the target market cannot live without.
• Important to have a very good growing traffic source.
• Potential to lose out on a lot of potential customers.

Option 4: Paid – Freemium

Price: Paid applications, at a low price point, with free trial version/in app purchases
Audience: Mass Market
Model: Ads on Free Trial Version, Direct revenue on paid version
Examples: StickTennis, Angry Birds etc.

Two options:

1. Separate App Freemium
   • Free trial provision for limited time or limited use
   • Can be upgraded by purchasing a separate paid app with all features
   • E.g. Only 3 sports are available in the free version, and users can pay for the full version
   • Need to develop and manage 2 separate apps
   • Free version can have ads, while premium version can be ad-free
2. In-App Freemium
   • Additional Features or Content can be purchased within the app
   • E.g. Only 3 sports are available in the free version, and users can pay per additional Sport
   • If a betting feature is created, it can work on a virtual currency model, which can be another source of revenue
   • In-App upsells usually convert better overall
   • In-App purchases are successful when the flow for purchasing feels natural to the App.

Option 5: Brand Takeover

Price: Free
Audience: Mass Market
Model: Free to Users, Brand buys or sponsors the app

• The entire App is essentially one big brand campaign.
• For this strategy to be successful, the audience for the application has to be segmented and have a well-defined niche in order to attract brands and marketers, who can then offer targeted, branded ad campaigns.
• The app can either be sold to a brand, or sponsored by the brand

Statistically, Option 4 has proved to be the most lucrative model.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]