Category: Mobile Apps

By: Vince Kattoula

Apps are one of the biggest things in tech. Whatever the technology, it’s almost a requirement that it has a smartphone component. There are over 2 million apps in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. And there’s still room for a phenomenon like Pokémon GO. Since its release a couple of weeks ago, the app has already passed 30M downloads and $35M in revenue.
At jacapps, we understand that the mobile scene can be overwhelming. So, here’s a list of things we think agencies should know about mobile:

1. Time spent with mobile continues to grow. You probably already know this, but it’s important to reinforce. In 2015, the number of global mobile internet users exceeded half the world’s population. During that year, time spent on mobile devices increased 117% from the previous year. Furthermore, time spent on phablets (larger, tablet-like phones) grew 334% year-over-year, or almost three times the average. For advertisers and marketers the best way to reach your targeted audience is on mobile.
2. Mobile keeps users engaged. Nowadays, nearly anything you can imagine doing can be done using a mobile device. Ask yourself this question: Is my app integrated into the rest of my audience’s digital life? If your app fails to address how your consumers want to engage with your brand, you’re failing.
3. There’s revenue to be made. And a lot of it. In fact, by 2020, consumers are projected to spend over $101 billion on mobile apps via app stores. This means that the annual gross revenue from mobile apps may double in just four years. If your client’s brand doesn’t have an app yet, or even worse – has an app that isn’t optimized for monetization, you are missing out on an opportunity to add revenue to your client’s bottom line.

4. Mobile isn’t just about smartphones anymore. While the phone is still at the center of the mobile ecosystem, there are lots of other devices getting in on the act. Media and marketers need to be thinking about things like the automotive entertainment system, smart TVs, wearables, and the whole universe of devices that make up the Internet of things.
5. Be picky about choosing your app developer. Many agencies know about mobile only from a user standpoint. And, since many agencies don’t have the necessary resources to develop mobile apps themselves, often times they turn to a third party app developer. Unfortunately, not all mobile app developers are the same, which means that asking the right questions can prove vital. Asking specific questions can definitely help your agency understand whether or not the app developer is a right fit for your organization.

If you want input on your mobile strategy, or want to learn more about monetizing your mobile assets give us a call at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.

By: Vince Kattoula

Apple on Sunday celebrated its App Store’s eighth birthday. While we didn’t know what to expect at the time, we now know one thing – Apps are here, and they’re here to stay!

We learned a few months ago that Apple has been working on an unscripted television show that revolves around mobile apps, specifically app developers. Recording artist and record producer will.i.am has teamed up with executive producers Ben Silverman and Howard Owens to finally make this a reality. This is the first time that the Cupertino-based tech giant has moved forward with a full-blown series of original content.

The purpose of the show is to discuss with app developers, who have the vision to shape the future, how they can solve real problems and inspire change within our daily lives. Participation in the show is limited to 100 of the world’s most talented app creators. According to the company’s website, Planet of the Apps isn’t just a show, it’s a launch pad and accelerator for exceptional developers. Members of the show will get a chance to receive:

• Mentorship: Hands-on guidance from some of the world’s best experts in tech and entertainment.
• Funding: Those who make it to the final round will meet with top-tier VCs investing up to $10m over the course of the season.
• Marketing and Promotion: Featured placement in the App Store at the end of the show. Also, the potential to reach millions of viewers around the world on Apple platforms.

Online applications are being accepted now through Friday, August 26. A page on the show’s website states that Planet of the Apps will be visiting the tech hubs of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Austin. The inaugural season will take place in Los Angeles and film over a non-consecutive period from late 2016 to early 2017.

If you want input on your mobile strategy, or want to learn more about monetizing your mobile assets give us a call at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.

By: Bob Kernen

This past Sunday was the eighth anniversary of Apple’s launch of the App Store. It was originally part of an add-on to iTunes (remember that?) and designed to enable iPhone users to download small pieces of software (apps) that would provide all manner of tools and toys to make their iPhone more useful. Essentially, it did for the iPhone what iTunes had done for music – made it simple and easy to get what you wanted whenever you wanted it.

But the road to apps was circuitous for Apple. The iPhone first came out a year earlier in 2007. While it was a hit, it was not a breakthrough device for Apple. A big sticking point was Steve Jobs’ reluctance to allow third party app developers (like us) to create mobile applications for iPhone. In fact, Forbes contributor, Mark Rogowsky, calls it Jobs’ “biggest blunder.”

In his Steve Jobs biography, Walter Isaacson tells the story of how Apple board member Art Levinson phoned Jobs a dozen times to lobby on behalf of outside developers creating apps for the iPhone. The rest, as they say, is history.

Amazingly, Apple’s App Store launched with just 522 apps. Of those, 80% came with a price tag of at least 99¢. That trend has reversed as most apps now are free. As Statista’s dynamic chart shows, there are now 2 million mobile apps in the App Store. And Apple takes a 30% cut of all revenue produced in these apps.  For them – and for us – apps have turned out to be a pretty scalable business model.

The late Gordie Howe would agree this trajectory is even better than so-called “hockey stick growth.”

Once those apps were out in the world, people fell in love, and before long, Apple was selling its iPhone 3 with a catchy ad campaign pointing out that, “There’s an app for that.” And there was. Things quickly evolved from apps that mimicked the sound of flatulence to ones that told you just how many calories you were burning, or that made the concept of “getting lost” obsolete.

Of course it wasn’t long before Google jumped into the game with its Android platform, and we were off to the app races. Over the past eight years, everything from time spent (almost 41 hours a month) to apps/phone (30+) has grown as we’ve become increasingly addicted to our phones and their many little tools. Today, the Facebook app accounts for the majority of the social network’s traffic, and mobile streaming recently passed desktop streaming in total hours delivered.

jacapps owes its very existence to the existence of the App Store. It was just 100 days after this Apple launch that jacapps was born, after an employee of our sister company Jacobs Media (and an iPhone early adopter), Tim Davis, declared, “We should make apps.”

Those guys saw it coming through their Techsurveys that clearly showed the meteoric rise of smartphones. Of course, jācapps was launched during the worst of the Great Recession, so you have to give the Jacobs Media team kudos for vision and nerve.

And they helped us better understand the public’s addiction to apps in the “Goin’ Mobile” ethnographic study they put together with Arbitron that provided depth, clarity, and human stories to the growing app culture.

So clearly the mobile app is no flash in the pan. Apps are here to stay, and in fact, have influenced the way software tools are delivered everywhere. Beyond smartphones, apps are now ubiquitous (in fact jācapps has addressed this with our App Everywhere℠ program). We develop apps that work in your car, like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, on your television (like AppleTV), and even on your wrist (AppleWatch). Apps have thrived because they are efficient little problem solvers, and they keep evolving, and becoming ever more powerful and useful. It seems that today, everything’s an app.

And at any point in time, apps can become a runaway hit. Right now, the Pokémon GO app has an estimated 8 million downloads in the U.S. alone, netting $1.6 million in daily revenue. Yes, Apple (and Google) are collecting a lot of money from this phenomenon that just started a few short days ago but have become buzzworthy and very profitable.

So for us, the conversation of mobile apps is very much rooted in radio.  In the early years, many stations simply bought (or bartered for) the least expensive app they could find just to check off that digital requirement. Today, we’ve learned that a one-dimensional app or one that simply does not feature a great UX (User Experience) is tantamount to not having one at all.

Like everything else in the digital ecosphere, apps require a strategy, a strong connection to the brand, and a plan that includes marketing and revenue generation. With so many apps in both Apple and Google’s respective app stores, the bar has most definitely been raised.

The Apple App Store’s birthday means that jacapps will soon celebrate its 8th birthday, too. During this wild and woolly period, we’ve created more than 1,000 apps, and we’ve learned a ton about the space and what it means to the radio broadcasting industry.

So hats off to Apple for setting us all on this path. Yes, Virginia, there’s an app for that. The only question you have to answer (to quote another popular tech slogan) is: “Where do you want to go today?”

And I’ll be sure to use the Zippo Lighter app when jacapps’ birthday rolls around this fall.

If you want input on your mobile strategy, or want to learn more about monetizing your mobile assets give us a call at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.

Uber announced Monday that it has partnered with online radio station Pandora to offer a new feature within its Uber Partner app: ad-free internet radio. This feature allows drivers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand to play music from their favorite Pandora stations, for free and without advertisements (until 12/28/2016). The company plans to start rolling out this feature as early as this week.

Drivers for Uber should view this as a positive change since it puts the control back in their hands. To qualify, you must be an active driver-partner in the US, Australia, or New Zealand. This feature is currently only available to drivers. According to the company’s website, a music experience for riders is coming soon.

For Pandora, as monthly listeners slowly decline, this new feature will provide a way to keep interest in the service up in the months ahead. The company will retain data about the music drivers listen to during trips.

This deal is in addition to an earlier deal between Uber and Spotify. To read more about the Uber-Pandora partnership, click here.

To learn more about getting your app into the car dashboard contact us at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

YouTube announced that it will bring live streaming right to its mobile app. The Alphabet (Google) owned company has released a few screenshots of what live streaming on the app will look like, which can be viewed here and here. Users will have the choice of making their stream public or not. Also, they will have the option of whether or not to utilize the chat feature while live streaming.

Similar to Periscope, from rival Twitter, the interface provides a full screen for whatever it is the user is streaming. The company indicates that live streaming will have all the regular features of standard videos, including search, recommendations and playlists. YouTube claims their live streaming feature will be “faster and more reliable than anything out there.”

What’s interesting is that the company has been live streaming on computers since 2011, so they have more experience with it than Facebook or Periscope. Just this year, YouTube became the first to ever broadcast a 360-degree live stream during Coachella. As of right now, only a select few partners will have the ability to live stream from the YouTube app. With no official date set, the company has stated that a wide rollout will take place soon. Looks like we will have to wait and see.

To read more about the new chapter in YouTube’s live stream, click here.

To learn more about promoting your app or your mobile strategy contact us at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

By: Bob Kernen

We get asked all the time: “How much does an app cost?” And we always give the same answer: “As much as a car.” You see it all depends on what kind of car you want to drive. You can get a nice compact sedan for a few thousand dollars, but a luxury sports car with all the bells and whistles could easily run into six figures. It’s the same with apps.

There are a number of key variables that drive the cost of an app. A good app developer can work with you on those variables to help you create an app that accomplishes your business goals within your budget.

Here’s what’s driving that quote you get from your app developer:

1. Customization
   A bespoke suit always costs more than one bought off the rack! If your business needs special features and functions that’s going to cost you. The good news is that usually you don’t need anything special. Chances are your app falls into one of a half-dozen categories for apps (media delivery, location guides, ecommerce, etc.) and so if you find the right developer, who has the expertise you need, and has built apps like what you need before, you’ll save a lot. Even if you need a few custom features, if you can pull most of your app’s functions off the shelf, you’ll be okay.
2. Design
   It’s easy to get caught up in beautiful design, and certainly there are some really great looking apps out there (we’ve built some of them here at jācapps). But, speaking from personal experience, the apps I use every day – Facebook, Instagram, Michigan Radio, the NY Times and my favorite solitaire game – are less beautiful than utilitarian, and that’s as it should be. Getting caught up in design returns only limited benefits. Mobile apps aren’t like websites – there isn’t a lot of room for pretty designs and images. Easy user interface is the most important thing. If websites are epic poetry, mobile is haiku.
3. Back-end
   Many clients call us up and say, “I need a mobile app,” but upon further conversation with them, they need a lot more than that. In most cases, whatever the functionality of the app, something needs to be powering it. It can be something as simple as a web content management system, or something as complex as a relational database, and sometimes both. Those elements are not technically the “app,” but they are a crucial part of the product. And they cost money to build.
4. Integration
   Integration with other digital systems is another thing we work with a lot. The good news is that clients frequently already have some of those back-end elements mentioned above, and our job as the app developer is simply to integrate with them.
5. Maintenance and upkeep
   Mobile never stands still. New devices, new operating system versions keep the space as dynamic as anything I’ve ever seen. We believe that part of our job as an app developer is to make sure that no matter what happens in the mobile space, your apps should keep running and up to date. So we usually charge our clients a small monthly maintenance fee to protect them from the whims of Google and Apple.

To learn more about what drives the cost of your mobile app, or to discuss your mobile strategy contact us at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.

By: Bob Kernen

We frequently get calls from our clients concerned about downloads or the usage of their app. The calls are usually similar – “We got a lot of downloads and usage when we first launched, but we’ve hit a plateau.” I always ask the same question: How are you promoting the app? Almost invariably, I hear the same thing: “Well, we promoted it heavily for the first few weeks, then moved on to other things.” There’s the problem.

Ask anybody who has an (non-radio) app and they’ll describe the pain of getting people to download and use their app. Typically, marketing costs for an app can run upwards of $1.50 per download. Radio has such an amazing advantage in this area. Namely, their 24/7 broadcast is an effective (and free if done properly) marketing channel. With the Nielsen digital SDK, and great opportunities to monetize your app, getting your listeners to download and use it can have real impact on your business.

Here are three key elements to successfully promoting your app:

Be creative

Asking listeners to download through a generic promo just doesn’t cut it. Have some fun with it! WCSX (Detroit) PD JT Tarrants and production director, Paul Buck have created a great and ever-changing set of promos that use classic rock songs (The Who’s “Goin’ Mobile,” sure, but tons of others, too) and their lyrics to remind listeners that there’s an app that allow them to take WCSX with them everywhere.

Be contextual

I learned back in my days at the History Channel that “visit our website for more information” is a total loser. Nobody’s moved to action by “more information.” But if they know what that information is and that it matters to them, then they act. So “download our app” is boring, but “if you missed the show this morning, listen to the podcast on our app” gets audiences moving. Also, calls-to-action like “photos from last night’s concert are on the app” give listeners a sense of urgency, and also create the kind of check-the-app habit that will drive more listening and more engagement.

Be timely

Urgency is a huge driver with mobile. So make sure you promote the app in ways that create a sense of what’s happening now. Use push messaging or other tools to keep you audience checking in with you on a regular basis. Then make sure that the content delivers.

To learn more about promoting your app or your mobile strategy contact us at 248-353-9030 or email sales@jacapps.com.