We are at LeWeb in Paris today and tomorrow and are pretty excited about the event. It will host more than 2000 participants from more than 46 countries. We will definitely post a recap of the event, especially regarding mobile and iPhone app topics. Apart from meeting people and exchanging thoughts with others that are in the same industry, these are the events/presentations we will most likely attend (find the entire program here):
 
December 9th

• Fireside Chat with Jack Dorsey, Inventor, Founder & Chairman, Twitter & Loic Le Meur, Founder, Le Web
• LeWeb Iphone App demo By Michael Schneider CEO, Mobile Roadie
• App Star Awards: Iphone apps contest presentation
• Mobile  Apps Roundtable
• Special announcement by Christophe Francois, Vice President Mobile Multimedia,  Orange
• Niklas Zennstrom, Partner, Atomico Ventures
• Fireside Chat with Chad Hurley, Co-Founder & CEO, YouTube & Loic Le Meur, Founder, Le Web
• Workshop: NOKIA: Simpler, bigger, faster. How Nokia brings together millions of  mobile users and web developers!

 
And of course, as much of the Start-Up Competition as well as the Google-Program (especially “Android and Mobile Monetization”), find the entire program here and here (bottom of page).

December 10th

• Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com
• The rise of emotional Web
• Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Timothy Ferriss, Author, The 4 Hour Workweek
• Start-Up Competition Awards Ceremony
• European Gang Live
• Gillmor Gang Live
• Workshop:  PAYPAL X code N’Build (Room#3) – remark: rumors are you get a free netbook for participating.
• “Deep Discussion”: How brands and marketing have to adapt to this new worldwide real time “word of mouth”
• “Deep discussion”: Mobile Apps Opportunities: How to generate revenue?

 
See you there!

We just came across an article over at MobileCrunch and find its content quite shocking. It tells the story of app developer Molinker, which had more than 1,000 iPhone apps on the App Store. Yes, you read that one right: “had”. Because they were pulled of the App Store for faking reviews. To be honest, if the accusations are true (and they appear to be true) in this case pulling the apps seems more than justified.

We know of quite some developers that have “helped”  their app reviews and sales. Some may consider this cheating others might just call it a “promotion technique” or “keeping up with the app joneses”. Of course, basically it is cheating.  And if there were an App Store dictionary the Molinker-logo would probably appear right next to the definition of “review faking”. They appear to have systematically created as many as 90 % of their reviews.

But, although the lines may be blurry and this one was a clear case, it reminds us of some other points, which we wanted to share:

• Dependency on Apple: yes, we already knew it, but this one really makes it clear: all developers are at the mercy of Apple. They have the power to make or break a business in an instant.
• Dependency on you: okay, maybe this is a new one. Apple actually does not need you. If you go wrong and Apple finds out, they will cut you off. And pulling more than one thousand apps is different from pulling a few. But their game, their rules.
• Competition on the App Store is tough and cheaters make it harder for the honest ones (to remain honest). We predict we will see a lot more cheating, “helping out” and the like in the future.

 
Think differently? Let us know.

Rumors, rumors! We usually don’t like to indulge in them and moreover wouldn’t want this blog to become a place of guesses and wishes. However, there sometimes seem to be the kind of “news” that, even though rumors, seem to be quite relevant for iPhone app developers in general – regarding product and marketing. And so we just felt compelled to do it: here’s another round of “Is Apple Taking Over Your App Category?” .

Not to imply that Apple is becoming an app-product company, but it seems to position itself strategically in some app categories. After taking steps to strengthen their gaming know-how, MacRumors.com now reports a job listing in which Apple is specifically looking for a software engineer for it’s built in maps app. Sure, if anything, this should be good news, right? There are so many maps and navigation services out there, Apple strengthening its infrastructure to support these kind of services is great news. Or maybe, they are even taking steps in the Google direction? Or this is all about being able to compete with Google wherever deemed necessary? Apple just recently acquired Placebase, a mapping company.

Before the guessing gets out of hand, we sure hope Apple will use its competence to enable third party developers and not to compete with them. Otherwise, not only would they make for a pretty strong competitor, they would also be able to exclude the services they see as competition or the like.

Yet another exciting week in the iPhone universe comes to an end. No internet connection for the last seven days? Here’s what you have missed:

• Apple’s very own Schiller talks App Store approvals with BusinesWeek
• Augmented Reality will make it big – just hang in there for 2-3 years
• The iPhone will be sold in the UK equivalent of Walmart – what are the implications?
• Apple launches (has launched) new iPhone ads – check ‘em out
• As this was a topic on this blog as well, here’s some insider thought on native vs. web apps
• Interesting: Google updates movie search – also for iPhone
• The iPhone is coming to the probably most mobile-crazy country in the world: South Korea
• And for your future Christmas memories:  the NY Times is having a look at the best out of more than 2000 iPhone camera apps

 
Enjoy the weekend!

We recently blogged about the long term perspective of the App Store and issues regarding the app approval process that still have not been resolved. There are more issues than just app approval adding to many developer complaints. Again picking up this topic, we wanted to add that all of these are probably not issues that will make or break the Apple App Store in the short term. Android has been picking up momentum in terms of numbers of apps and devices, so there were a few articles picking up the topic of Apple risking to lose their developer to Android or other platforms.

This article reveals what the situation is probably really like for almost every developer. It also reveals a simple truth: it’s about (potential) traction and users. The mentioned article refers to a Gameloft earnings call on Q3 2009 sales. In this call Gameloft revealed that for the three-month period sales of iPhone apps were 400 times higher than for Android apps. At the same time, this implies that Gameloft has made about 10,000 Euro from their Android titles in that quarter. We think these numbers speak for themselves. As a consequence, Gameloft has now cut their investment in the Android platform, which, regarding the mentioned numbers, appears only to be common sense.

So summing it up without delving further into the pros and cons of the different App Stores: Android appears to have some work to do to get its users to download and pay for apps. Until a competitor with the same kind of traction and usability shows up, the complaints and discussions about the Apple App Storewill probably only lead to minor improvements.

It’s been a great week for us, as we’ve won a 2nd place at the WebFuture Awards – thanks and congrats again to Till, who did the entire pitch/speed-dating session by himself.
Apart from that, the iPhone world hasn’t stopped moving either, so here’s what we found interesting throughout the last days:

• This is what’s probable to happen in every country where the iPhone is sold by more than one operator
• The iCarte device will turn the iPhone into in RFID reader (but probably only until this is added by Apple) and if you want to get puzzled – here’s a puzzle
• Read more on revenues and perspective on Android and iPhone from major iPhone developer Gameloft
• These are Gizmodo’s best iPhone apps of the week
• For your weekend reading, if you want to further go into the topic of the app approval process, which we also blogged about this week, read this Paul Graham article

 
Enjoy your weekend!

We just had to use that quote for the headline! It’s time for another developer insight talk, this time with Alexander Blach, developer of the extremely successful “Rezepte“-app and also an apprupt Performance Analytics user (also check out his homepage – it’s in German). Alexander gives a lot of great insight regarding what works and what does not in terms of app positioning. Njoy!

1. Tell us about you, your company and the type of apps you offer.

My name is Alexander Blach, 28, and I am the author of “Rezepte” – one of the most popular German recipe/cooking apps.

When I bought an iPod touch in 2008, I really wanted to learn how to create apps for this awesome device. So, I learned Objective C in my spare time and released my first app – “Fundus”. The idea was the same that made “AppBox Pro” from AllAboutApps a huge success in 2009: provide the features of several apps in one app for less. However, my app didn’t become very popular, so I looked for another idea.

I quit my day job as a developer of business software (CRM and human resources software – a lot of database related stuff) and started my own little one-man-show in February 2009. I was asking a lot of people for ideas and one of my former colleagues (thanks, Harald!) wanted an app that he could use to quickly find recipes on the go. So I looked around the Internet for recipe sites I could use. I discovered www.rezeptewiki.org and got in contact with their founder – Daniel Beyer. They now get a revenue share and, in turn, I can use their database of really great recipes. They also agreed to advertise the app on their front page. I think this is a typical win-win situation where my app and their site profit from the popularity of each other.

While I was in the list of top 100 paid apps, I also got contacted by quite some people who asked me to create apps with them. I developed an app called “Food Guide” for the ditter.projektagentur GmbH that recently went on sale worldwide. With this app, you have the most important information regarding almost all of the common food products in Europe at hand – in text and pictures in many languages.

I’m currently working on a new, big project that will be great for car owners. I’m pretty excited about that.

2. What kind of marketing/promotion have you done for your app(s)? Any insights on what worked and what did not?

With “Rezepte” v1.0, I could participate in the “appsforsale.de” Easter-Special a few days after the release of the app. A lot of German developers reduced the price of their apps, and this was covered on a lot of blogs and news sites – including iFun.de. I ranked first in the Lifestyle category and, soon after, was number 16 in the overall paid apps list.

Following that, Apple featured me on the App Store front page. I made it in the overall Top 5. This was in May 2009 and was the best thing that could happen. Sales exploded and I never reached the same numbers after that.

Next, a lot of reviews showed up – the iPhone podcast “Mein iPhone und Ich” (My iPhone and I), Chip.de and many more.

Updates also helped to drive sales. I don’t know exactly why, but I guess that users remembered that they have the app on their device and showed it to other people. Having a large customer base helps sales in the long term.

I tried a lot of other marketing strategies: AdMob (I’m not sure if it really helped – but it can burn a lot of money really fast), Twitter (can be great if you have the right followers), Blogging, YouTube, magazine advertisements (can’t really say that it helped much), web site advertisements (not really helpful), Google Ads (does not work at all for iPhone apps), and lowering the price and advertise that (this helped a lot – in August 2009 I lowered the price to 79 Cent and made number 6 top overall paid app in Germany).

To sum it up: the best thing is to get featured by Apple. To accomplish that, you have to get some media coverage by yourself so the right people notice you.

3. In general: any tips for creating and promoting an iPhone app? What would you say are the most important things to consider?

First you need to decide if your app has mass appeal or if it is a niche app. Then, you need to set the price accordingly. Don’t start at 79 Cent so that you can lower the price later. If it’s a niche app you won’t get into the Top lists anyway – so you have to get your money through higher prices.
You also need a really good idea, a lot of luck as well as time and effort. You have to love making apps and value your customers. It’s quite tough considering that your app is one in over 100,000.

We have been wirting a lot on this blog about selling and making money from apps and how the two may or may not be the same. Furthermore we are strong believers in that In-App-Purchase poses a great chance for developers to actually create a business model that works – through upselling, selling virtual goods, selling additional levels, selling additional content etc. As a matter of fact, we did not really just come up with this point of view – many mobile experts view in-app purchase as a huge chance for app monetization and thus for the entire app industry.

But what do phrases like “finally a business model that works” or “a great chance for building a business around apps” actually imply? What about the other main business model around? We know you know what we mean: mobile advertising.

We do not want to argue that mobile advertising is not really working for developers (how could we), but it is pretty obvious that the industry is craving for additional (and alternative) business models. Despite the recent acquisition of AdMob by Google, Mobile Advertising just does not appear to be something that really works for app developers. To prove this, we would have to go deep into numbers which officially are only available to some extend. Additionally, we do not think this model is really broken. But basically, from an app developers perspective, there are only two things he or she should be worried about when using advertising in apps:

• eCPM or effective cost per thousand impressions: if this one sucks – it sucks.
• Fill rate: no matter how high the eCPM achieved on 5% of the traffic, if 95% of the traffic go unadvertised an app developer will have a hard time living from the 5 % actually filled.

 
So is using advertising in your apps a great way for you to make money from your app? If the answer is no (which is the feedback we get from many developers), at least one of the above mentioned points (if not both) doesn’t work out, yet. We know, the reasons could be plentiful (it’s a recession!) and we are hoping for advertising to be(come) a great way of making money for you. But right now, it just doesn’t feel that way, does it? Let us know if we are completely off track here.

A week full of exiting and interesting news has gone by. Here’s what we came across:

• Of course, the biggest news this week was Google buying AdMob – exciting for the entire app/mobile industry, though not everyone is sure what this will mean for and in the future.

• The Volkswagen app was downloaded more than 2 million times – impressive!

• An iPhone developer sells his entire app-portfolio (87 apps – go grab it, it’s “only” a hundred thousand dollars, you’ve got 5 hours left) on Ebay and if you want to go GaGa, here’s a karaoke app for you

• Apple shows developers some love: makes the app approval process more tansparent. Let’s see if this helps

• Gizmodo has this weeks 10 best iPhone apps for you as well as “10 iPhone Apps To Augment Your Sad Reality” (we love the headline)

 
Have a great weekend!

We do not want make this blog the 500th industry review and also do not want to judge other companies active in the mobile market industry. But this news is big: yesterday it was announced that Google is buying AdMob for 750 million US Dollars, as you probably already know.  There are several rumors about the deal, especially about the reasons for the purchase price. But the reasons for the acquisition itself seem to be quite clear: Google wants to control the mobile advertising space. And according to some sources, AdMob is controlling about 80 percent of in-app advertising on iPhone.

Whatever way this is going in terms of effective monetization of mobile traffic, it substantiates the obvious fact that the iPhone and iPhone apps are here to stay for the long term (we know: common sense). And now we have a big player working on matching your app traffic with relevant advertisers. We have picked up the topic of increasing the customer value per download before on this blog, which is why we also think this news is relevant to every developer out there.

More money from ads means more money to spend on customer acquisition. Of course, the opposite holds true as well. So is this deal a positive for the app industry? A few comments on this post on Techcrunch and by now also several blogs are concerned that the increased market dominance will only lead to higher dependency on Google/AdMob and accordingly to lower revenue shares for publishers. Sure, no or less competition is never good for any market. On the other hand, this may enable AdMob to innovate even faster and leverage Google’s sales force and network, among others.

We are not so sure – what do you think? Will this have a positive effect on your app monetization? Maybe even make you forget about other strategies to increase your customer lifetime value and “go free” forever?