How much does it cost to develop an iPad app or Android tablet app?

Business Insider has a great article about the cost of developing one of the most popular and more advanced iPad apps available for download on the Apple appstore. This is by no means an indication of the average cost of developing an iPad app but demonstrates the range in cost between very simple apps of below 20.000 USD and the top utility apps at closer to 250.000 USD. On the other hand some of the top apps such as Google Maps, Facebook, BBC iPlayer have all costed considerably more to develop.

Generally the cost of adapting an iPhone app to iPad is about 30-40% on top of the original development costs but to develop an original iPad app with a rich and optimal user experience, the requirements are considerably more complicated. Just like for a website or an advanced iPhone or Android app the development team needs to

a)      Start by coming up with the concept

b)      Design the app including user interface, use flow, wireframes and creative assets/graphics

c)       Produce a technical architecture and specification

d)      Develop the app in various iterations of testing and feedback loops

e)      Test it with real users as a beta to further enhance the app before public launch

f)       Launch the app and continuously improve it

The cost of developing an Android tablet app is essentially exactly the same based on our experience although there are great synergies if planning and development is carried out on both platforms for the same service.

Read the full article on Business Insider:

http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-developing-an-app-2010-10

How to market and distribute mobile app

You've developed a great mobile app for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Palm WebOS, WM7 or any other platform and now you want people to download it whether it's free or paid for. Yet, even the world’s greatest mobile app will deliver no results unless you make people aware of its existence. Over the past year Golden Gekko has produced a basic guide based on 5 years of application development and distribution and over 50m downloads to date on how you get the most out of your mobile app through various different distribution channels.

The white paper is available in 2 different parts that will be published on the blog over the next month. The parts are:
1. Mobile App Distribution - Mobile Distribution Channels including Mobile Advertising, Messaging, Appstores, Search, Communities and Operators - Download
2. Mobile App Distribution - Other Distribution channels including Web, ATL, BTL, PR and sharing/viral - Download

Use links above to download white papers.

Mobile apps one of the 3 biggest drivers behind mobile data growth according to McKinsey

When McKinsey talks business leaders and government officials listen. Therefore it was interesting to hear McKinsey Partner Venkat Atluri talk about the main forces behind mobile data growth on the McKinsey High Tech podcast a couple of weeks ago. Mobile applications were mentioned as one of the 3 key contributors of mobile data growth together with highly compelling devices and high speed networks. Although the research and interview doesn't bring any new insights to our industry it's amazing to hear that a business area that barely existed 3 years ago is now acknowledged as the driving factor behind the 100 Bn USD telecom industry.

Listen to the podcast here:
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/hightech/HT_mobile_data/HT_mobile_data.html

Golden Gekko talking about iPad apps on Swedish Television (TV4)

This week Golden Gekko attended Mobile Future and Mobilgalan in Stockholm and our sales and business development director Michael Eriksson had the opportunity to appear on the Swedish television channel TV4. The short appearance where he demonstrates the Mango iPad app is in Swedish and available here:
http://www.nyhetskanalen.se/webb_tv?videoId=1.1901850

The Beauty of Fragmentation

Having developed mobile apps for over 5 years we have an enormous amount of good and bad experience from different platforms and fragmentation. So can there actually be good things about fragmentation?

Good

• Working within standardisation is a slow and complicated process. To innovate, technology companies must sometimes divert from the standard
• The agreed standard is not always the simplest or smartest way to do something. Therefore platform developers constantly strive to improve the future standards by implementing them as proprietary components before the standard has been established
• Proprietary technology creates de facto standards – Microsoft Windows, iPhone OS and Adobe Flash are great examples of this
• Differentiation is good – we want different screen sizes, keyboard inputs, sizes and colours. Not everyone wants a black or white iPhone

Bad

• Applications have to be tested on all different variations of e.g. the Android or Symbian OS, display resolutions, user input methods (Touchscreen, QWERTY, etc) and hardware configurations
• The cost of optimising and testing the applications is substantially higher for Android, Symbian, Web Runtime and J2ME due to fragmentation
• The development phase is longer due to the time consuming additional device optimisation and testing that is required

At Golden Gekko we constantly work on improving our platforms and tools to get around these challenges and instead leverage the positive differentiation of fragmentation.

But the title of the blog was the beauty of fragmentation and not pros and cons or how to battle fragmentation. The following graph from Tweetdeck illustrates the enormous variety of Android devices now being used to download and use apps from the Android Market. Beauty or Beast? You be the judge.

Why do iPhone apps look so much better than Android apps?

One question we often get asked is why the Android version of most original iPhone apps looks so bad in terms of design and feel. A quick comparison reveals that even Facebook has failed to develop an Android app which is anywhere close to the iPhone equivalent.

Facebook example

Facebook app on Android

Facebook app on iPhone

              

Strengths and weaknesses

	good	bad
iPhone	Great combination of facebook look and feel and utilizing the iPhone app design principle	No option to show time and coverage while using the app
Android	Nothing better than the iPhone	Icons look old, not correctly sized and the colour schemes don´t seem consistent with the Facebook website or Android design Search requires two clicks In notifications, links open up the browser

Why is there such a big difference? Is this simply because Apple is so brilliant in terms of design? But why would Google with their simplicity and great usability across most online services not be able to take their skills to the mobile? Is there another explanation?

To answer the question we've looked at 3 different factors including the SDKs, the developers and the expectations.

1. SDKs and approval process

The main purpose of the iPhone SDK and App Store approval process is that Apple has signification control of the user experience, therefore they provided a framework for developing "standard" looking UIs. Google on the other hand took a much more liberal approach with Android arguing that developers should have total freedom in almost everything they do. Although Apple has loosened up requirements since the app market's inception, the effects of the original approach are still very obvious.

2. The developers

This is going to be a sensitive one but the truth is that most iPhone developers were originally web designers / developers with HTML, Java Script, CSS and maybe flash experience. They are usually not hard core coders. This means that they are very focused on the look and feel of a product.

Most Android developers on the other hand are Java developers with a background in coding PC applications and other more technical coding experience. Apple made iPhone development as easy as Microsoft made PC development with Visual Basic which means that the creative and design centric people can make their own apps without deep coding knowledge.

3. Expectations

In addition to this there are different expectations from users. Historically, Apple customers have been more interested in fashion and design whereas Android originally had a perception of being more techie. With both operating systems now reaching a much wider audience this is no longer true but maybe the expectations are still different between users. Despite the big differences between the iPhone version and Android version of the facebook app they both have the same rating (3.5)

So does it have to be this way?

The answer is simply NO. The Android operating system has the same capabilities as iPhone to create great looking apps even though the UI framework doesn't go as far. The only people to blame for the deficiencies in Android apps are the individuals and businesses developing the apps. In an attempt to assure that every Android app developed looks at least as good as the equivalent iPhone version, Golden Gekko has developed an own UI framework that simplifies the creation of graphics and improves therefore the outcome, This way Android apps do not fall short on iPhone apps and the results speak for themselves.

Cross platform mobile app development methods for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Java

Cross-platform support is one of the greatest challenges for developers, advertisers and service providers that offer their service through mobile apps. During the past 4 years we have evaluated the pros and cons of different cross platform development methods and tools and assorted the key advantages for a company from an app development point of view. The main methods and conclusions are presented below.

1. Web runtime apps (sometimes referred to as widgets)

For web runtime apps (sometimes referred to as widgets) the development is done in script languages typically using HTML, Javascript and CSS. Later they run within a shell on each platform (iOS, Android, Blackberry OS, etc). Solutions, such as Phonegap (adaptations thereof and other in-house tools) using this technology will only work for simple apps and are always behind in terms of supporting new OS versions and devices. The advantage is write once / run on many but the disadvantage is that most proprietary features won't work, e.g. pinching on maps on the iPhone. This is the lowest cost solution other than just developing a mobile website.

2. Source code porting

Source code porting means writing for one platform (e.g. Java) and then cross-compiling the code to other languages or OS. Innaworks is an example for a company using this technology. Although it looks very promising at first, we think that this is primarily a solution for game developers that don't require proprietary platform support. The advantage is that the developer can stick to one code base. The disadvantage is that the user experience usually becomes a compromise and that proprietary platform functionality is not supported.

3. Native development for each platform

Native development means to develop the app individually for each platform. Usually the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile development will be done by different developers as each platform requires specialised skills and experience. The advantage however is that the apps are optimised for the best experience and
to exploit the functionality on each platform. The disadvantage is that, for each platform version of the app, the developer almost has to start over from scratch. This generally means very limited synergies in terms of cost and lead time. Even worse, the maintenance of the multiple platforms become more and more expensive over time.

4. Component based cross platform development

What developers want the most are tools and methods to make the native development and app maintenance more efficient. Golden Gekko has developed a proprietary platform called Mobile Media Engine (MME). It simplifies the development by though components for common challenges such as memory management on iOS, screen size scaling on Android, User Interface on Android (similar to iOS but with platform specific advantages), keyboard input on Blackberry, etc. The components allow the developer to use similar coding conventions across all platforms which vastly increases the quality and speed of development. At the same time it reduces the cost of maintenance when updating multiple platforms. Currently this platform is only used internally but in the future we plan to open this up for partners and third party developers.

For more information about the cost of mobile app development for each platform see our previous blog on the costs of developing a mobile app.

O2 expands into the world of apps with Golden Gekko

O2 Media has formed a strategic partnership with Golden Gekko, the leading developer of creative mobile marketing applications and widgets in Europe and North America.

The partnership will allow O2 to extend its capabilities and offer further unique and engaging products and services within the fast growing mobile advertising space. In addition to the services O2 media currently provides, from now on it will be able to offer a range of products from building mobile sites to developing mobile applications. The move reflects a growing shift in the advertising industry from traditional, one dimensional media to more personalised, truly accountable and multi-faceted opportunities.

O2 Media was formed last year with the aim of providing personalised media opportunities for brands. Since its launch, over 1,000 successful campaigns companies have been deployed, including Adidas, Cadbury, Blockbuster and Interflora, leveraging O2’s unique customer data. Success stories include a NatWest campaign that targeted its app at iPhone owners which received a 26% response rate, while targeting families with teenage children gave Thorpe Park a near one-in-three download rate for its App. The company has since expanded into new areas, like Top Up Surprises and Priority, to offer brands unique and innovative solutions that stand out from the traditional clutter.

Shaun Gregory, Managing Director of O2 Media, said: “Brands are beginning to see the full potential of mobile, but it is a complex ecosystem with a multitude of emerging players. What makes us different at O2 is that we are developing the full end-to-end range of opportunities. This is an intelligent strategy that delivers the right solutions to unite customers and brands by putting equal importance on customer experience and campaign impact.

“Because we know our 22 million customers, we are in a unique position to deliver better, more engaging and thus more effective campaigns. Mobile is developing so fast that brands and agencies are seeking a guiding hand through that challenge. At O2 we see our role in that space as pivotal.”

Golden Gekko is the leading developer of cross platform mobile applications and services in Europe including award winning campaigns for Lynx, McLaren and Absolut Vodka. It provides a range of mobile application development choices, including bespoke development, tailored from the ground up to meet customer needs; an off-the-shelf product range available for customisation; and Tino Mobile App Studio, a web based tool that allows anyone to create their own mobile apps in five easy steps.

One of Golden Gekko's unique advantages is the platform GG Mobile Media Engine. It enables rapid, high quality, easy-to-use and cost efficient implementations of mobile applications across more than 3000 different mobile devices including iPhone, Android, Java, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Palm.

Magnus Jern, CEO and Founder of Golden Gekko said: “Production of content and services for mobile including apps, mobile websites and other creative has grown exponentially in the past two years with the proliferation of smartphones. It's no longer a question of having a presence on mobile but what kind of presence and how to generate the best results.

“By partnering with O2, we at Golden Gekko can leverage our experience and insights from delivering over 300 mobile apps and campaigns to give our clients advice on how to best achieve their desired objectives. O2 Media complements us perfectly as we can jointly deliver an end-to-end offering including creative, production, marketing and distribution of mobile services and campaigns to O2’s significant customer base.”

A team from Golden Gekko will join O2 Media at their offices on Ganton Street, Soho.

There´s an App for everyone!

Magnus Jern, CEO of Golden Gekko speaks at Ad:tech, London

Most major brands are already aware of the importance of mobile marketing and included mobile campaigns in their marketing plans. But as always, important is not only what you do but how you do it.

Magnus Jern, CEO of Golden Gekko will talk about challenges and opportunities of mobile applications at the Ad:tech in London. After 10 years of experience in mobile content he knows how to harness advantages and disadvantages of different platforms and development models. He will discuss how to choose them according to target group and objectives and what to consider in order to launch a successful mobile campaign.

The free seminars will take place on the show floor. “Mobile Marketing and Apps” is one of seven streams within the seminars and will feature Golden Gekko on Wednesday 22. Sept. at 12.30h.

http://bit.ly/9sSm8j

Throughout the entire conference Golden Gekko will inform about insights and achievements in the MMA Pavilion at stand nr. 8.

Let Jimmy Nordbeck, Marketing Director and Magnus Jern, CEO tell you, why everyone should have an app and how any business of any size can make the most out of mobile marketing. To make an appointment fill out the form from the link below or just pop around.

http://bit.ly/c0mshi

Golden Gekko at EADP Congress in Venice

15.-17. September the world’s largest players of the lead generation business are gathering for the yearly EADP Congress, featuring most of the most influential people in the directory business.

Golden Gekko's Ric Ferraro, VP Sales & Business Development and Jimmy Nordbeck, Marketing Director will be promoting MODISO, a new plug-and-play yet customisable mobile directory solution born out of Golden Gekko´s partnership with European Directories.

It is already successfully running in 8 countries and has now evolved into a proven tool for rapidly reaching success in the mobile space, generating substantial revenue increase every month.

For more information email modiso@goldengekko.com

How much does it cost to develop a mobile app on iPhone, Android and other platforms?

The most frequently asked question we hear about mobile app development is: "How much does it cost to develop a mobile app?"

The easiest way to answer will be with a counterquestion such as "How much does it cost to develop a website?" But this clearly is not very helpful. Although it is a difficult question to respond to we will make an attempt to give our clients and partners the answer they are entitled to.

The budgets quoted here are based on the costs of outsourced development. Our experience and feedback from clients is that this is almost always cheaper than in-house development when taking into account total costs of internal resources including specification, wireframes, design, planning, development, several delivery iterations and quality assurance.

1. Developing an app for iPhone only

iPhone is the easiest platform to develop for to start with. The UI is well defined, the development tools are great for creating apps with basic content and web feeds and the more advanced functionalities are well documented. More advanced iPhone apps with back-end integration, non-standard animations and apps with a lot of media handling require completely different development skills and therefore developers with many years of programming experience.

Budget for:

• Simple apps: 10-20.000 euro
• Average cost of branded apps: 30.000 euro
• Advanced apps 60.000+ euro

The costs of iPad apps are currently slightly higher as they require even more finishing work on the UI.

2. Developing an app for Android only

Developing good looking Android apps is considerably more difficult than iPhone apps. The main reason is that the SDK provides less default UI components which means that you can basically make the apps look however you want (more about this in a separate blog). In addition to this, Android is more designed for developers with several years of experience in programming Java, whereas iPhone requires very little to start with. For more advanced apps and games the complexity is the same or you might actually consider Android to be purer. Furthermore there are differences in the development language. Android has more fragmentation as there are currently 10 handset manufacturers with over 80 devices that use Android in comparison to only one for iPhone. There are also 4 different screen resolutions (starting at 240x320), more input mechanisms (e.g. Qwerty keyboards) and multiple OS versions that need to be supported. Therefore the QA period is usually about 1-2 weeks longer for Android and more resource intensive.

Budget for:

• Simple apps: 15-25.000 euro
• Average cost of branded apps: 40.000 euro
• Advanced apps 60.000+ euro

3. Developing for Blackberry only

The complexity and cost of developing for Blackberry are similar to Android. Some of the challenges to face are the many OS versions currently running, the range of screen resolutions and the requirement to cover both touch screen and Qwerty keyboards.

Budget for:

• Simple apps: 15-25.000 euro
• Average cost of branded apps: 40.000 euro
• Advanced apps 60.000+ euro

4. Cross platform development for iPhone and Android

With normal coding standards there is very little synergy between Android and iPhone development and few developers that can develop for both in a proficient manner. This means that most of the time the costs are the same for the second platform as for the first platform, excluding functional specification. Even the user flows and designs are different since Android uses the menu key and back button differently and supports multitasking on all devices.

There are various different ways to reduce the cost of cross platform development (see our blog next week on this subject). During the last couple of years Golden Gekko has taken on this challenge and tried all methods. We have finally developed our own framework for more efficient development of native apps for each platform. This currently reduces the average cost by more than 30% for the second platform but the goal is to fall below 50% in the long term and at the same time vastly reduce ongoing maintenance costs. In some cases we were already able to do so by compromising on user experience and functionality.

Budget for:

• Simple apps: 20-37.000 euro
• Average apps: 58.000 euro
• Advanced apps: 100.000+ euro

5. Other platforms

• WebOS (Palm) and other Web Runtime platforms (JIL, Opera, OVI, etc) – Budgets are similar to iPhone development to cover one platform and comparable to Android to launch web based apps on multiple platforms

• Windows Mobile – Budgets are similar to iPhone to support one OS version (e.g. 6.5) as Microsoft provides great development tools and closer to Android for multiple OS versions

• Symbian – The 2nd most complex platform for development due to lack of skilled developers, slightly out of date SDK and complexity of e.g. memory management . This means that the budgets are currently 30% higher than e.g. Android

• Java ME – Budgets are similar to Android with the platforms used by Golden Gekko but with higher QA cost depending on the number of target devices for each market

• Meego/Qt – Too early to tell but we believe budgets will be similar to Android

• Samsung Bada – The most complex platform to develop for due to lack of maturity of the SDK. We currently recommend using Java ME on Samsung Bada phones

Update version:

For an updated version of this blog please visit:
http://goldengekko.blogspot.com/2011/04/update-what-is-cost-of-developing.html

What's going on in the world of mobile apps and devices?

What's going on in the world of mobile apps and devices?
The mobile echo system keeps on evolving faster than ever and it's often difficult to see the macro trends with all the day to day announcements and comments about winners and losers. One of the most exciting things is that nothing is certain.

Here's a short summary of the trends that we are seeing and longer term impact:

Handset Operating Systems and Development Platforms

• iPhone - Continues to evolve with OS4 being a great leap forward and with the best UI and SDK for developers but overall market share is stablising at about 13.5% of smartphones globally and with only one new device release per year growth is likely to be tempered going forward
• Android - Outsold iPhone in Q2 and increased their market share by 886% since last year with more handset manufacturers continuing to launch devices and competing against each other with vastly improved hardware including QWERTY keyboards, better cameras as well as very competitive prices and is expected by most to be the nr 1 smartphone OS in 2011
• RIM continues to hold on to a big share of the smartphone market with 18% based on a wide range of communication and utility focused devices for business users as well as the youth market with an amazing usage adaption among teenagers in the UK thanks to Blackberry Messenger but market share is expected to decline unless Blackberry 6 delivers improved app support and user interface 
• Nokia has gone from the undisputed leader to an underdog despite still being the global leader in overall market share (36% in Q2) and smartphones (43% in Q2) due to lack of great new devices and unclear strategy of Symbian and MeeGo but we would definitely not rule them out as they still have deep pockets and a very loyal base in emerging markets and a partnership with Intel with even deeper pockets and long term bets riding on the success of MeeGo
• Palm WebOS went from being a dead horse to a joker when HP acquired Palm earlier this year thanks to having developed the 2nd best OS to iPhone in terms of user experience and based on open standards and as the largest PC manufacturer worldwide HP won't give up in the first place
• Microsoft Mobile has constantly failed to deliver a really appealing user experience since they first launched the SPV in 2002 and although they undoubtedly provide the best PC - Mobile integration it hasn't been enough but with Windows Mobile 7, the biggest development community in the world and a track record of not giving up they might still have a chance to find a market and slowly grow over the next couple of years from 5% of the smartphone market in Q2
• Samsung Bada Wave is another unexpected player in the smartphone OS space as they also deliver devices with Android and Windows Mobile but Bada has outperformed most people’s expectations in terms of user experience although it essentially is a Android copycat based on Linux and Java and won’t have much chance in the high-end smartphone segment
• Webruntime Widgets are not really a OS or a platform but with the popularity of webkit based mobile browsers and the push for standardisation among carriers the widget standard (also referred to as JIL by Vodafone, webruntime by Nokia and WebOS by Palm) it's becoming an important platform and might actually have a good chance of establishing a standard for apps that don't require the latest and greatest from each of the individual platforms.
• Java ME continues to be the leading platform in terms of installed base and handset sales supported by Symbian, Samsung Bada, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and most proprietary OS from Nokia (e.g. S40), Sony-Ericsson, LG and Samsung with well over 2 billion devices worldwide and over 0.4 billion downloads per month with majority of Java downloads now in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Brazil and China
   

The full Q2 smartphone market share report is available here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10839034

Handset manufacturersRather than speculating over their futures we think that it's simply interesting to look at their worldwide market share of sales today and which operating systems they are betting on.
1. Nokia (36.1%) - S40 for low-end, Symbian S60 in transition and MeeGo as the future strategy
2. Samsung (20.7%) – Mix of proprietary OS for low-end and Android, Windows Mobile and Bada on mid to high-end
3. LG (10.0%) – Transitioning from proprietary OS to Android as their main platform for consumers and windows mobile for business with more than 10 devices planned to launch in the next 3-6 months
4. RIM (3.6%) – Full focus on Blackberry OS
5. Sony-Ericsson (3.6%) – Selling devices based on Proprietary OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android but betting on Symbian as main device going forward
6. Apple (2.8%?) – iPhone OS
7. Motorola (2.8%) – Returning from the dead with Android as their core platform and extremely strong performance in the US during the last 2 quarters thanks to Droid
8. HTC (2.5%?) – Fully focused on Android and Windows Mobile and by many considered the leading Android manufacturer

And don’t forget about Huawei and ZTE from China and of course HP/Palm.

More stats available from:http://mobile.downloadatoz.com/article,global-mobile-phone-market-statistics-in-q2-2010.html

In conclusionsThe media and financial community seems to believe that there can only be two or maybe three winners in the smartphone space like in the PC world with Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX and various Linux versions. What if it’s possible with more? Maybe the market is so big, the technology development so fast and customer preferences so different that there is room for more than three? Google Android definitely looks like the favorite of the day but we don’t think the battle is close to being over. Like we said in a previous update. “In mobile fragmentation is forever. Deal with it.”

Blackberry 6 - Good enough or Not?

The media has not been kind to RIM in reviews about Blackberry OS6 so far. See e.g. Mobilecrunch and Moconews. So is Blackberry OS6 good enough or not for RIM to compete with Android, iPhone, WebOS, Windows Mobile 7 and other smartphone OS?

Blackberry has taken the UK teens market by storm thanks to Blackberry Messenger, the QWERTY keyboard and a great camera. Is it possible that not everyone wants a touch screen phone with a big screen? Having had the opportunity to use the iPhone 3GS, Google Nexus One and various other Android phones for a fairly long period of time I must say that the Blackberry Bold (9700) is the only phone I want to use every day for calling, texting, e-mailing and social networks. The touch screen phones are great for games and rich media but not necessarily for the basic communication and organisation features. Almost everyone with both a Blackberry and iPhone or Android phone will admit this.

Having said this Golden Gekko relies on iPhone, Android and other great multimedia OS for mobile app development revenues and have no intentions of defending RIM for providing a poor SDK for apps. With OS6 we hope that RIM will catch up in terms of providing a similar app experience to iPhone and Android and we think that this is actually good enough. What do you think?

The opportunity of iAds

What do we think?

When iAds was launched earlier this year the Financial Times called me and asked what we thought about the announcement and it's impact on the industry. I said I was excited about the richness and simplicity and that I was convinced it would give the mobile advertising industry exactly what it needs in terms of strong backing (Apple) and setting a new industry benchmark.

Since then Apple has officially launched the product and sold inventory for about 40m USD so what do I think now? When should you use iAds?

iAds are fantastic in terms of attracting customers to engage with rich media. If you want guaranteed eye balls and engagement then iAds can be a great start. Especially now that media is excited about iAds and will write about it therefore generate positive PR.

Does iAds replace mobile apps?

In my opionion iAds replace mobile microsites and not apps. The advantage of apps compared to iAds are...

1. Apps are available offline and iAds are not
2. Apps can give you very low cost engagement per customer if you have a strong brand and/or concept, e.g. an app that costs 40k USD to develop and generates 100k downloads cost 0.4 USD per engagement vs 1 USD per click for iAds at the moment which would cost you 100k USD for the same engagement

How do you reach customers on other platforms such as Android and Blackberry?

Our expectation is that other mobile advertising platform providers such as Google and Microsoft will quickly follow with similar formats based on HTML5 and that mobile web and iAds will merge over time as the user experience will be almost exactly the same.

Posted by Magnus Jern CEO of Golden Gekko

Golden Gekko continues to expand in Cambodia

Golden Gekko has been growing very rapidly over the last couple of years and we are currently expanding our operations in Cambodia, Spain, Sweden and UK with new markets soon to be announced. The Phnom Penh Post recently wrote about our recruitment workshops in Cambodia which is an excellent example of how we grow by mixing top international talent from all over the world with highly skilled local people in Cambodia to deliver amazing value to our customers and partners in Europe and North America. We will talk more about this in our blog over the next couple of weeks.

Read full article in the Phnom Penh Post

Golden Gekko quoted about iAd in NMA

In the latest issue of New Media Age Apple claims its iAd network is the best way to serve ads to the mobile app generation. Golden Gekko's CEO Magnus Jern was asked how he looks upon the hottest topic in digital advertising right now. Sean HArgrave writes "While many questions have been raised about the iAd platform, Magnus Jern, co-founder of app developer Golden Gekko, believes it represents an exciting opportunity. The company develops scores of iPhone apps every year, including for Universal Pictures and Yellow Pages, in many European countries outside the UK.

“For a developer it’s exciting to be able to add iAds to an app from within the developer kit and have good-looking, creative ads appear which don’t take the audience off to another page,” he says. “One downside is that it represents another format for brands and agencies to have to work with, but the positives of opening up in-app advertising outweigh this. We’ll certainly be using iAd.”

Read the full article... (you'll need an NMA subsribtion to be able to access the article)

What is the cost of developing a mobile app?

The most common questions we get are
1. What phones should I develop and launch my App for (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Java, Mobile Web generally, etc)?
2. How much will it cost to develop an app?

Since Golden Gekko might not be seen as an objective source for the answer to these questions we will point you to the Silicon.com has a great article which answers the following questions. How do I convince my CFO to invest in a mobile app? How much does building a mobile app cost? How can you make an app successful? What are the mistakes to avoid?

Read more on http://www.silicon.com/technology/mobile/2010/02/11/want-to-build-a-mobile-app-heres-how-to-convince-the-cfo-39745366/

More coverage of Tino Mobile App Builder in the media

Mobile Entertainment has an article about how you can develop mobile apps for as little as 100 USD with Tino Mobile on
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/36766/Monetising-Mobile-Make-an-app-in-an-hour-for-100


CITV has a great interview with Head of Products Caroline van den Bergh. now been published available online at http://c-i.tv/

Golden Gekko appears as part of this 20 minute documentary on monetizing the mobile space. Caroline is on camera from about 7:30 and then cut back and forward between comments until about 11mins.

Recipe for success with mobile apps

I'd like to take the opportunity to update you on what's being going on in the mobile space during the past 6 months and some exciting opportunities going forward. I've tried to pick out the areas that are most relevant for you from our massive knowledge base consisting of over 150 mobile apps and services launched in the past 6 months.

1. Why brands should launch branded mobile apps?
2. In mobile fragmentation is forever. Deal with it.
3. How to choose mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc)?
4. Why is mobile web not enough?
5. Producing your own apps using Tino Mobile


1. Why brands should launch branded mobile apps?

Over the past year there has been an enormous hype around iPhone applications in particular and mobile applications in general. After 10 years of uphill struggle, mobile marketing and services finally took off with a big bang. Companies ranging from global consumer brands such as Coca Cola, Mercedes, Kraftfood, Nike, Zara and Pizza Hut to small and medium size organisations including festivals, restaurants, local touristboards, hotels and publishers.

An overwhelming 64.8% of marketers and publishers reported planning to invest in mobile apps this year, according to a December 2009 survey conducted by DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless. The most successful from a reach perspective are no doubt those with a great entertainment value (e.g. iPint, Barclays Waterslide, Volkswagen Polo Challenge and Malibu Bowling) while the ones delivering the greatest ROI are applications that provide a relevant
service to customers (North Face Snow Report, Yellow Pages, Timeout sponsored by Smirnoff, Absolut Vodka cocktail guide, etc). 25.000 people using a branded application every week potentially generates a lot more value than half a million people downloading a game which they play ones.

Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director at OgilvyOne probably describes it in the best way when talking about "mobile" advertising: "Never dismiss branded utility. It's a lot easier to be repeatedly useful than repeatedly funny."


2. In mobile fragmentation is forever. Deal with it.

A couple of weeks ago TechCrunch had a great article about mobile fragmentation by Richard Wong at Accel Partners. The article (http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/04/mobile-fragmentation-forever/) highlights the fact that there is no long or short term solution to fragmentation and nor is there a simple answer to which platforms companies should invest in. As one of the pioneers in cross-platform development Golden Gekko has invested heavily in R&D and education of customers and partners. We have managed to make it easier and more cost efficient to develop and maintain cross-platform apps but there is still no simple solution. Multiplatform development platforms work for simpler apps but in reality there is no out-of-the-box solution if you want to deliver the best experience for each platform.
Our recommendation is

1. Plan for cross-platform support from day one unless you are absolutely certain that you only want to launch on one platform - fixing it later is very expensive
2. Ensure that your development partner has the experience to develop for multiple platforms and that if an porting tool or multi-platform tool is recommended that you understand the limitations agree on processes and scope for design, testing, acceptance, appstore uploads and other distribution early on for each platform as this will save you a lot of time and effort throughout the project

3. How to choose mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Java, Widgets, etc)?

The number of mobile OS platforms and development SDKs keep on increasing with new platforms including Samsung Bada, MeeGo, 5+ different widget platforms, Palm Webapps, Windows Mobile 7, etc. Which platforms should I chose?
We think there are 4 key considerations:

1. What is your objective? PR or Mass market reach?
2. Who is your target audience? Markets? Niche segments?
3. Where will you get the most attention for the least money? Many operators and handset manufacturers offer very attractive distribution deals.
4. How much are you willing to spend?

Our platform recommendations vary from case to case but our general advice is:

• PR, communication and experience - iPhone apps
• Innovation & controversial - Android is the first choice as there are few restrictions in terms of APIs and approval
• Youth market - J2ME for non-connected apps
• Mass market reach - Launch on as many platforms as you can afford starting with iPhone and Android
• Business users - Blackberry and J2ME

Android or Java are our preferred base platforms for cross-platform development as there are clear development synergies between J2ME, Blackberry, Android and e.g. widgets whereas iPhone development has limited synergies with anything else. One of the main limitations with J2ME today is that most users won't connect to the network due to issues with settings, data costs, security prompts, etc but the number of downloads for a like for like iPhone and J2ME app is still 5x to the advantage of the J2ME app.

Finally the other key considerations is distribution and media spend. Many of the handset manufacturers and operators are desperate to get new innovative apps on their appstores and will therefore give you all kinds of free promotions and traffic. A free promotion by e.g. Nokia OVI could easily be worth 50-100k Euro in media budget and will give you a lot more reach and downloads than an iPhone app would without putting the same kind of media budget behind it. We are currently getting similar offers from Vodafone, O2, Samsung, RIM/Blackberry and various other partners so it's always worthwhile discussing these opportunities.


4. Why is mobile web not enough? Consumers are disappointed with mobile web experience.

A recent survey of 1001 mobile Web users found that users have high expectations for mobile Web performance. Ultimately, the majority stated they expect Web sites to load as quickly, almost as quickly, or faster on their mobile phone, compared to their home or work computer.

The survey "Why the Mobile Web is Disappointing End-Users" also revealed how unsatisfactory mobile Web experiences can negatively shape a consumer's opinion of an organization. In the survey:

• 60 % of respondents have encountered problems when accessing websites on their mobile phones in the last 12 months
• More than half are unlikely to return to a Web site that they had trouble accessing from their phone, and 40 percent said they'd likely visit a competitor's mobile Web site instead.

What do we think?

The mobile web is great for text based services like news, search, directory, etc but as soon as you want an interactive experience with maps, embedded video & sounds, location, animations or anything more advanced then apps are currently the best solution.

For more information about the survey see a summary here http://www.slideshare.net/Gomez_Inc/gomez-mobile-web-experience-survey-why-the-mobile-web-is-disappointing-end-users


5. Producing your own mobile apps using Tino

Finally we want to give you an update on our self-service tool for mobile apps Tino Mobile. Tino allows you to produce your own mobile apps with more standardized features. This does not replace bespoke development of innovative new apps but allows all kinds of great apps to be produced.

During the past 3 months we've continued to enhance the tool with

• New features including carousels, embedded video and audio, questionnaires, more flexibility for image/text formatting, SVG fonts, banner ads and lots more
• Major UI enhancements for larger screens
• Enhanced device support for Blackberry
• Making the online tool easier to use

During the coming month we will also introduce support for Android and iPhone as well as a myriad of other features.

If you want more information visit http://tinomobile.com or contact us for an online demo.


Magnus Jern, CEO

Golden Gekko talks about Tino Mobile in Financial Times

We've had several reminders of this as we completely forgot to link to the great article about Tino Mobile in the Financial Times on 15 February this year. Our CEO Magnus Jern was interviewed by Alan Cane.

Here you can read the full article from the print edition in PDF:
http://media.ft.com/cms/12b86e80-1a28-11df-b4ee-00144feab49a.pdf

Vodafone Updates Vodafone McLaren Mercedes application for 2010 season

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes updates the mobile app for the 2010 season for more platforms including iPhone and Android and with new features such as social networking.

The application brings you exclusive news and behind the scene interviews with Hamilton, Button, the pit crew and lots more. Daily team news, Formula 1 news, real time race information, results, championship standings and new videos added throughout the season.

Download application for free or visit mobile site on http://vodafoneracing.mobi/. The application connects to the Internet to download the latest news and results.

For more Vodafone McLaren Mercedes content visit http://www.mclaren.com/ on your computer.

You can also find the application on
* Getjar
* Mobile9
* Mobango
* Mobilerated
* and various other app stores...

In Mobile, Fragmentation is Forever. Deal With It.

TechCrunch has a great article about mobile fragmentation by Richard Wong at Accel Partners. The article highlights the fact that there is no long or short term solution to fragmentation and nor is there a simple answer answer to which platforms companies should invest in. As one of the pioneers in cross-platform development Golden Gekko has invested heavily in R&D and education of customers and partners.

Our platform recommendations vary from case to case but our general advice is:

• PR, communication and experience - go for an iPhone app
• Innovation - Android is the first choice as there are few restrictions
  
• Youth market - J2ME for non-connected apps
  
• Mass market reach - multi-platform is a must
  
• Business users - go for Blackberry and J2ME
  

Java/J2ME is our preferred base platform as there are clear development synergies between J2ME, Blackberry, Android and e.g. widgets whereas iPhone development has limited synergies with anything else.

One of the main limitations with J2ME today is that most users won't connect to the network due to issues with settings, data costs, security prompts, etc but the number of downloads for a like for like iPhone and J2ME app is still 5x to the advantage of the J2ME app.

Read more on
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/04/mobile-fragmentation-forever/