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Rogers TV Interview – How to establish a mobile presence for your business
TheAppLabb CEO, Kundan Joshi was interviewed on “In Business” with David Wojcik last monday, March 11th, on Rogers TV.
The discussion was about what is the ideal type of app for different kind of businesses and which are the important steps to take when planning and developing it: starting from which strategy to choose, to which problems the app should be solving, until its design and how to deliver the best user experience.
Click to watch the video!
[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/j-1SO3Fmiss”][vc_column_text c_id=”.vc_1496083668928″]Interview:
David Wojcik – Have you got a great idea for a new App but don’t know where to get help to comercialize it? Enter TheAppLabb & Kundan Joshi will help you with your strategy, design and mobile application development in Toronto.
David Wojcik – So, tell us in about 30 seconds exactly what you do for people who have apps because you design it, you develop the strategy and you actually build the app.
Kundan – It pretty much goes like that! Obviously it depends on who the client is. We start with the strategy, the idea mostly comes from the client, we start with the idea, we figure out what it’s the best way to put it to market, what’s the best way to create it. Then, taking all the ideas, we create a road map for the mobile app, design it (our designers do that) and then, we develop it. After development, the job is just half done, because you need to publish it and make sure the app works, creates revenue and really achieves the goal. So pretty much end to end we help our clients to ideation to making that successful!
David Wojcik – Do you ever have people come in and they give an idea for an app and you just look and you go: “This is never going fly” and is it your responsibility to tell the client that this is really not a good idea.
Kundan – In a way yes! I try to make them realize what they are really looking for. The main key is what is their audience really looking for? What problem of your user/customer are you trying to solve. If I ask the right qualifying questions, if it’s off the mark they’ll have a realization themselves and in a lot of times, ideas can be tweaked and improved as we go along. We also help clients create prototypes. We’ll create a semi-polished version of the app, which you can then publish and get user feedback and understand better, Is that app really what they were expecting it to be? Alfa version, basic – really new.
David Wojcik – What makes a good app these days? That’s gotta be over a Million Apps considerably speaking, there must be a Million Apps between Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Web Apps. So what makes a good app these days?
Kundan – It depends on what your consumers are looking for, what your business stands for, and how can you give them the best experiences, create the best amount of revenues and really be there solving their problem. If it’s not a brand that’s doing the app, if it’s a technology startup that’s trying to create the to generate revenue – that’s to solve a unique problem. Considering a Million apps, a lot of problems are getting solved every single day! Obviously is about distinguishing yourself as well. So all those factors have to be considered, you have to have a really good strategy to start with. Don’t just go into it without thinking it through. There is a sense of urgency, but you have to approach it the right way. Create the strategy.
David Wojcik – So when you are building Web Apps and apps for mobile devices. Would it be the same architecture for a web designed app as it would be for a mobile app? And if it isn’t, what’s the difference?
Kundan – A lot of differences. One aspect: within the mobile sphere itself, a basic approach would create a website and make it more responsive. Your website will look a certain way on your desktop, when you pull it up on your mobile it will shrink so that the fonts are the same size, the experience is on the same way but you can still view it on your mobile phone. Or you create a mobile site specific for your phone. Or you create a Native App specific for your platform which can work online or offline – it’s almost like downloading a software on your computer. Even with your phone apps you’ll have Native version and Hybrid version, which are different, because if you want to publish it on multiple platforms then you choose a hybrid version. Where you can publish it on the iPhone and the Android or Blackberry phones.
David Wojcik – So when you have a Hybrid version, does that mean it does not work well on any device?
Kundan – Again, it depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to build a game, you need a native app, because you need experience. If your app is all about put content from the web, than hybrid would be just fine. Again, it depends on the kind of experience you are trying to give to your audience. In some cases, you may not need an app at all. Just the web or the mobile site it’s good enough. There are a lot of advantages between web and mobile site X native app. Ability to provide push messaging, ability to view content offline whether or not your 3G is working.
David Wojcik – I’ve seen some of the apps that come out and some are free, they have a limited number of features that you can use, which causes you to now need to upgrade. And it could be 99 cents, it could be $ 9,99, it could be $ 19. Is that a strategy that you recomend? To give people a little taste, and then when you get them to hop in, then you start charging.
Kundan – That is the most successful strategy that is working right now. Just in app purchases by itself, 2 years behind were more than a billion dollars. Approaching next year, we’ll be reaching 6 Billion dollars of revenue just in in app purchases. The advantage of a free app is, you give the user the carrot and they start liking it. Angry Birds are a perfect example you can download the free version, you get addicted to it, and you don’t have a choice, you are just lured into buying the new features, the premium apps etc.. Yeah, it is a fantastic strategy.
David Wojcik – Without going in exactly what you charge for an app, maybe it’s not even your number. Give us a ball park and I know that an App can go as Sky is the limit, But if you are looking for a functional app that you would consider to be a decent one, what’s the starting number?
Kundan – One of the things that we do at TheAppLabb is trying to simplify the process of any kind of consumer, so as you said, in terms of “The limit is the Sky” in terms of smaller apps, if I’m developing from scratch a basic app. Around 5 to 10 K would be the minimum. However, companies like us would develop platforms which can help you release your app at the very minimum cost. Our cheaper version of apps cost as low as 2,000 or even lower in some cases.
David Wojcik – So when we’re at that range, if we are in the 5 to 10 thousand range and the number i‘ve heard was 15,000 as well, that’s a lot of 99 cents that you have to sell in order to make a profit. Is the goal of the app always to make a profit or are there other goals that you would put into other strategies you would put into building an app?
Kundan – There are several goals. The revenue model has to be very defined for an app. One revenue model is you’ll download individual apps and you charge for every single app that you download. The other approach is ad supported, where you have ads running on your app, whether is ads directly from the platforms or your phone sponsored ads. For that you need a lot of volume in terms of downloads. The other approach is terms of you tie-in another revenue model of yours, so say, if you have a website where you are selling subscriptions, now you have a mobile app. So you are adding another advantage, or you have an e-commerce website, now you want to sell your stuff on your mobile phone as well – that’s another way. In terms of companies, brand awareness, event awareness it’s a huge tool as a part of marketing for events, ticketing… So all those things tie in, mainly because phone is where every user or every consumer has. So you have to target them.
David Wojcik – Thanks Kundan! Lot’s of great information![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
