Presentation on Marketing and Monetizing Mobile Apps. Focusses on opportunities offered by the iPhone and Android Platforms and contains detailed sales stats for iPhone platform. Presentation given at "Beyond Mobile 2.0", Manchester, UK, 24th February 2009 - a Northern Startup 2.0 event, UK. By Katie Lips, Mobile Apps Strategist at Appostles.com

1. Marketing and Monetizing
Mobile Applications.
Katie Lips.

2. Appostles.
★ iPhone and Android Specialists.
★ Agency with growing team of experts. Hiring!
★ Strategy. Concept. Design. Build. Marketing.
★ Partners with agencies. Works for brands.
★ Liverpool. London. Amsterdam.

3. Why are we here?

5. Oldskool Mobile.

6. “While the mobile data industry holds
considerable promise in future, the
existing ecosystem is challenging for the
grassroots entrepreneur.”
- Ajit Jaokar, Open Gardens.

7. 1.0 Landscape.
★ Complex Development & Testing
★ Poor End User Experiences
★ Bureaucratic Walled Garden Mentality
★ Low Financial Incentive
★ A Stagnated Industry
★ Little Incentive to Innovate or Take Risks

8. Mobile 2.0?
★ It’s all about Platforms
★ iPhone
★ Android
★ Blackberry
★ ... and others

9. Ecosystem
iPhone &
iPod Touch
Developers & Customers
App Store

10. iPhone Focus.

11. iPhone Sales by Quarter
Q3 07 Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1-09
Units sold
270,000 1,119,000 2,315,000 1,703,000 717,000 6,892,000 4,363,000
in Quarter

12. Cumulative iPhone Sales
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
Q3 07
Q4 07 0
Q1 08
Q2 08
Q3 08
Q4 08
Q1 09

13. Handset OS
Market Share
Operating System Share
Symbian 44%
iPhone (and iPod Touch) 32%
RIM (Blackberry) 9%
Windows Mobile 8%
Palm 4%
Other 3%
Source: AdMob - using Admob
Analysed Apps

14. Snapshot Feb ‘09
★ 17 Million iPhones in 80 countries
★ 32% Worldwide Smartphone market share
★ Apple #3 Mobile Phone manufacturer
★ 20,000 Apps / 2.2 million downloads each day
★ 500 million apps downloaded (half a billion!)

15. App Store

16. The Opportunity?
★ Investors - speculate (KPCB’s iFund)
★ Enterprise - mobile workforce
★ Brands - your brand in 17m pockets
★ Web Services - extend reach via mobile
★ Mobile Services - The App business
★ Disposable Apps - apps as accessories
★ Games Developers - a new platform

17. Example Apps
★ Investors - Loopt
★ Enterprise - Salesforce.com
★ Brands - Carling’s iPint, Audi,
★ Web Services - Facebook, Remember the Milk
★ Mobile Services - Urban Spoon, Flirtomatic
★ Disposables - iFart, Sonic Lighter, Ocarina
★ Games - Rolando from ng:moco

18. Marketing your
App

19. What we learnt...
Coffee Buzz
www.coffeebuzzapp.com

21. App Store Catch 22
★ Ratings are based on volume and revenue.
★ You need to sell a lot to get in the featured /
top 25 list.
★ You need to be in the featured / top 25 list of
you’re to sell lots of copies!

22. Hard Facts!
★ You need to market / advertise / promote your
app however you can.
★ Apps with great reviews from happy
customers can still be at the bottom of the
list.
★ There’s a lot of bad apps in the App Store.
Being at the bottom of the list is bad!

23. Tactics!
★ Use launch momentum (you’ll be ‘new’).
★ Do what you can to build that momentum.
★ Get early good reviews.
★ Maximize off App Store PR (web, social
networks, ads).
★ Pay to grow volume (via AdMob ads or similar
in other apps for example).

24. Insider Advice: Ads
★ Once you’ve sustained being in the top 25 for
a while, it becomes organic.
★ If you spent $5000 getting there, you should
be able to make it back by including ads in
your app!
★ (...Says an Ad Network Rep!)

25. Insider Advice: Price
★ Start high. You can always drop the price.
★ Time limited price drops rebuild volume and
listings position.
★ If you were selling at £2.39, selling at 59p (a
quarter) wil increase sales by more than four
fold.

26. Cheaper = More
Volume = Higher
Ranking = More
Sales = More Profit

27. However this theory
has lead to
downward pricing
pressure.
Which we don’t like!

28. Models
Paid App Low price Mid price
Ad supported
Free plus a ‘Lite’ e.g. Tier 1 e.g. Tier 4
Free App
version 59p £2.39
++ ++ + - --
Volume
Reward if
-- +++ ++ +++ ++
your app
stays in top 25
Reward if
-- -- -- -- --
your app gets
lost

29. Strategies for
Marketing your
Apps

30. PR
★ App Store is not a marketing magic wand
★ Reviews, your App Store page, and even icon
are important
★ Blogs, App Listings, and review sites are very
useful
★ Get Social Media Savvy (tell your friends, and
their friends)
★ Resort to ‘traditional’ PR!

31. Easy Advertising
★ On Blogs, App Listings, and review sites
★ Via Google AdWords Ads & Facebook Ads
★ Within other related social networks, and yes,
iPhone owners seem to like Twitter!
★ In trade press (e.g. Coffee related magazines)
★ Plus........

32. Pro Advertising
★ AdMob - Ads and Analytics
★ MobClix - Ads and Analytics
★ Pinch Media - Ads and Analytics
★ PurpleTalk - (Ad Sharing)
★ Chillingo - Print Ads Partnerships

33. If you’re serious
about your App as a
Business you need a
robust strategy!