Archive for the ‘Mobile’ Category
App of the Week: midem
posted by Terri Kim
midem is just one day away! For those of you who don’t know, midem is an annual event held in the city of Cannes, France where “artists, technology and brands are connected by music.” Last year, 6,850 participants from 3,120 companies spanning 77 countries attended midem.
If you’re attending midem this year, don’t forget to download the official midem app powered by Mobile Roadie. Available for iPhone, Android, and even iPad, the official midem app allows you to “consult the conference & festival schedule, discover speakers & artists line up, access a practical guide to Cannes, and view official photos & videos.” App users can also “read the latest industry news and see what companies & partners are at midem.” It’s the only thing you need to get around smoothly during the 4-day event.
To download the official midem app, visit http://road.ie/MIDEM
And don’t forget to RSVP for the Music Tech Meetup that we’re co-hosting with SoundCloud, Spotify, Topspin, Webdoc, MXP4, Musixmatch, Next Big Sound, The Orchard, and midem.
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Marketing Your Mobile App
posted by Terri Kim
Unless you’re a household name, your app will need more than brand recognition to attract downloads. Don’t fall victim to the mentality that your app will market itself, because for the majority, this isn’t the case. Here are 5 simple mistakes to avoid when marketing your app .
Mistake #1: Forgetting to utilize social media channels
If you already have presence in social media sites, why wouldn’t you market your app to existing followers/fans? And don’t forget to remind them from time to time that your app is available for download. You definitely don’t want to push your app into oblivion once the initial buzz wears off.
Mistake #2: Forgetting to update your app with new content
“A year in mobile is like five years in any other industry,” said MoRo CEO Michael Schneider in a recent midem blog guest post. You don’t want to release your app only to never update it with new content. If you commit this mistake, other competitors will catch up or might even take the lead with cooler app features and more relevant technology that users will prefer. An updated app means more content for marketing posts.
Mistake #3: Forgetting to proofread
Text littered with spelling, grammatical, and format errors can make even the most awesome of apps a little less awesome. And don’t forget to proofread marketing posts related to your app before they’re uploaded; it’s important to include a download link in these posts for the viewers.
Mistake #4: Forgetting to respond to app users
Think of your app as another social network. And with any social network, fan interaction is important. For many apps, the only user feedback may be in the form of ratings. Use these ratings to your advantage; they’re end-user insights on how to improve your app, resulting in happier users and more downloads.
Mistake #5: Not launching a marketing campaign at all
You think your app will be seen by thousands of visitors in the app stores without doing anything? Most likely, this isn’t the case. Doing something, no matter how small, is better than doing nothing. As the mobile industry (and competitors) grow, it’s more important than ever to be active.
These mistakes can be easily avoided if you try. If you want help marketing your app, check out our article “5 Easy Ways to Market Your Mobile App“.
Mobile Roadie Powers Official App for midem 2012
posted by Terri Kim
midem 2012 is just around the corner. Bringing together the hottest names in music, tech, and business in the beautiful city of Cannes, France, this 4-day event aims to “enrich the passionate relationship between people & music, transform audience engagement & form new business connections.” Touted as the world’s largest music industry trade show, we’re proud to be a partner of midem for another year.
In addition to powering the official midem app for the iPhone, we’re powering their first iPad app this year. midem’s iPad app is a preview of what’s to come for our upcoming iPad product, so stay tuned.
MoRo CEO Michael Schneider is already making his presence known at midem: He gave a talk at the MIDEM Managers Village about the music potential in mobile apps, and he wrote a guest post on midem’s blog about the six mobile music trends to watch in 2012. We’ll also be co-hosting a Music Tech Meetup with SoundCloud, Spotify, Topspin, Webdoc, MXP4, Musixmatch, Next Big Sound, The Orchard, and midem on January 29th (RSVP for free here).
midem is from January 28- 31, 2012. If would like to stay updated on the latest midem news, download the official midem app at http://road.ie/MIDEM.
Mobile Roadie Powers Official DLD Conference App
posted by Terri Kim
DLD Conference 2012 kicked off yesterday in Munich, Germany. Now in its 7th year, the DLD (Digital, Life, Design) International Conference is a three day event bringing together “thought leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and investors” from all over the world. DLD doesn’t stop at the conference, however; in fact, DLD is a year-long affair creating events and experiences that are focused on “innovation, digital media, science and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and investors for crossover conversation and inspiration”.
With partnerships with renowned companies like Microsoft, HP, Audi, Google, CNBC, comScore, and many more, DLD is the place to be for those who are excited about the future. Past speakers include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Eric Schmidt, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and media entrepreneur Martha Stewart, among others.
This year, speakers include media entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, eBay CEO John Donahoe, Yoko Ono, and our very own Michael Schneider. Moderated by Hubert Burda Media’s Patrick Wolke, Michael spoke on the App World panel alongside Summly’s Nick D’Aloisio, Armen’s Felix Petersen, and Khoya’s Shila Siv Suleman.
We are proud to be a DLD partner, powering the official DLD app available for free download. The DLD app is the ultimate guide for conference attendees and non-attendees, with sections including Program (schedule), Speakers, News, Pictures, and Livestream. To download the official DLD app available for iPhone and Android, visit http://road.ie/dld.
Mobile Roadie & Friends Music Tech Meetup at midem 2012
posted by Terri Kim
Time for our first Music Tech Meetup of 2012! And what better place to kick off the party than at midem, the “world’s largest music industry trade show” held in Cannes, France. Stop on by for great networking, drinks, and to meet the teams from some of the leading music tech companies as we get together at Au Bureau on Sunday, January 29th at 6:30pm (and onwards).
Sponsors:
Mobile Roadie – The most powerful self-service app platform, powering the official midem app.
SoundCloud – The leading audio platform that makes it easy to transfer music online.
Spotify – A popular music streaming service with millions of users since launch in 2008.
Topspin – A technology-focused direct-to-fan marketing, management, and distribution platform.
Webdoc – A social platform allowing users to create digital scrapbooks from web content that they can share with friends.
MXP4 – A developer of innovative music solutions for artists, fans, brands, labels, and distribution platforms.
Musixmatch – The world’s largest official lyrics database.
Next Big Sound – Music analytics company that tracks “all the behavior and activity happening for artists both online and off”.
The Orchard – A full service marketing and distribution company that specializes in music and video entertainment.
midem- The world’s largest music industry trade show attracting thousands of participants from across the world.
Venue Information:
Au Bureau
49 Rue Felix Faure
06400 Cannes, France
Hope to see you there!
Mobile Roadie wins Interactive Award at Eurosonic 2012
posted by Terri Kim
We’re proud to add an Interactive Award to our award shelf!
Founded in 2008, the Interactive Awards is “an initiative of web agency theFactor.e, Burma/Stemra, and Eurosonic Nooderslag”, recognizing one artist and one company in Europe that pushes boundaries and makes innovations in the music market through the Internet. One of 7 award presentations at Eurosonic Nooderslag- Europe’s largest, most prominent conference and showcase festival for European music- the Interactive Awards is unique in that the nominees present themselves on stage to a jury who then chooses the two winners.
We want to give a shout out to our fellow nominees Shuffler.fm and Repudo, and we want to say congrats to Only Seven Left, the winner of the Artist Award.
Mobile Roadie’s Stephen O’Reilly and Tony Pardo were present to accept the Company Award (Image above: Left, Tony Pardo; Right, Stephen O’Reilly). To view a video of our win and a short interview with Stephen, check it out here.
5 Easy Ways to Market Your Mobile App
posted by Terri KimIf you’re ready to launch your app but don’t quite know how to build traction, follow these 5 simple tips to market your app.
1. On social media sites: Don’t be afraid to use social networks to feature your app in a post or two. Because you are targeting the news to existing followers who have already expressed interest in your brand, they will be more inclined to download your app. The San Diego Zoo used social sites to promote the launch of their official app.
*If you want to attract new fans on these networks while promoting your app, choose one social network to exclusively reveal your app, building anticipation in the days before with hints.
2. On the homepage of your website: Your website is usually the first place that interested consumers go to learn about your brand, so by featuring your app the homepage, you will be taking advantage of this targeted audience. Don’t forget to provide a link to download the app. On Adele’s homepage, her app is featured alongside her blog, videos, and news (click image below for example).
*Promote your app to users who access your site via mobile devices. With App Detection for Mobile Browsers, available in Mobile Roadie 3.3, you can input a unique code to your site which will create a popup that gives users the option to download your app or continue on to the site (See below image for example).
3. In your blog: While the most popular social media sites have character limitations, your blog is one place to really talk about all the ins and outs of your app. It’s your chance to present users with a compelling case on why they need to download your app.
Famehouse created a blog post on the release of the official Pretty Lights mobile app, which presented the app’s features and what users could do on the app.
4. On traditional advertising: Mobile consumers are just that, mobile, and thus, are everywhere. It makes sense to market your app through online channels, but it may also be a good idea to market your app through offline channels like posters and magazines. Be sure to include where to download the app; for example, you could include text like “Download the app at the App Store or Android Market (etc.)” or “Visit our website www.example.com to download the app”.
*Another idea for offline marketing collateral is to include a QR code that when scanned automatically allows the user to access the app. We provide unique QR codes for all our apps, which the FADER FORT took advantage of for their posters at SXSW (see below for example).
5. In the app itself: Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools that doesn’t cost anything. You let your existing fans spread the word about your brand for you. One way to do this is by hosting buzz-worthy giveaways or contests in your app. Uploading great content and exclusives in the app is another way.
*In Mobile Roadie 3.3., we added an engagement feature called “Share to Unlock” which lets you lock content (currently, audio) in the app that your users can unlock by sharing the app to their social networks.
In conclusion
With the influx of apps being released, it’s a good idea to have a marketing plan ready for your app. So follow these quick, inexpensive tips to make your app’s launch an even bigger success.
Marketing Your App: How About Billboard Advertising?
posted by Terri Kimsbe, one of the hottest lifestyle and hospitality brands with award-winning restaurants, hotels, and nightlife establishments across North America, recently released their official mobile app powered by Mobile Roadie.
A prominent hospitality fixture in Southern California, sbe is expanding many of its brands into other hot spots like New York City, Miami, Houston, and Las Vegas. So to give fans a way to take the sbe lifestyle with them everywhere they go and to build buzz around the app’s launch, the team over at sbe did something big.
So what exactly did they do? sbe launched a billboard advertising campaign for the app with the headline “Finally something fun for your thumbs to do”. Multiple sbe app billboards- both traditional and digital- can be seen throughout Los Angeles and surrounding areas (See the below image for the billboard).
Bilboard Advertising can be a great way to market your app to “on the go” consumers in a specific location, especially if that location is where most of your customers live. And by making your app the star of a billboard campaign, viewers won’t be overwhelmed by a flood of information. After all, billboard messaging must be short and direct as you only have a few seconds to get your message across. sbe’s billboard messaging is short, to the point, focused, and tells viewers where to download the app with one featured link, sbe.com (click the image below for a larger view).
Billboard advertising is just one of the marketing campaigns you can implement for your app; it may be effective for your brand or it may not. So remember, before you plan for a billboard campaign, take into consideration your marketing budget, your target market, and the message you want to get across. But *Thumbs up* to sbe for rolling out the billboards for their app; it’s very cool if you ask us.
2011: Top 10 Facts about the US Smartphone Market
posted by Terri Kim2011 was a dynamic year of growth for mobile. The following 10 facts summarize the highlights of the US smartphone industry in 2011:
1. By the end of November, there were over 234 million Americans (age 13 and older) who used mobile devices.
2. Over 91.4 million people owned smartphones in the US compared to the 63.2 million in 2010, an increase of over 44% (study by comScore).
3. Smartphone penetration in the US was close to 44%, up from 25% in 2010.
4. Over 62% of 25-34 year olds who owned mobile phones owned smartphones in 2011, up from 41% in 2010. Following behind, 54% of 18-24 year olds owned smartphones in 2011 (study by Nielsen).
5. Google Android was the most popular OS claiming 46% market share, followed by Apple iOS with 28%.
6. The Apple iPhone was the most sought-after smartphone device based on the fact that the only phones that are powered by iOS are iPhones. In the third quarter of 2011, the top 3 best-selling phones in the US were the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and HTC EVO 4G, according to The NPD Group.
7. Close to 7% of all US Web traffic was from smartphones and tablets, with smartphones accounting for about 2/3 of this figure (study by comScore). iOS devices accounted for around 58% of non-computer online traffic while Android accounted for 32%.
8. In 2011, the most popular activity amongst smartphone users was texting or messaging (70%), followed by emailing (60%), social networking (50%), talking on the phone (43%), and then surfing the Web (40%) (study by CloudTalk).
9. 38% of mobile subscribers downloaded apps. Among the smartphone users who downloaded apps, 83% had either an Android or iPhone device.
10. In December 2011, an average of 1.5 million smartphones were downloaded each day. On December 25th, however, it was estimated that more than 6.8 million iOS & Android devices were activated (study from Flurry).
The smartphone industry flourished in 2011, and will continue to experience growth in the new year; it is predicted that smartphones will outsell PCs in 2012 (according to multiple industry sources). So here’s to another great year in mobile!
2011: A Look Back at the Leading Mobile App Stores
posted by Terri KimIt’s been an exciting year for mobile with milestones and developments aplenty, and as the year comes to an end, we’d like to reflect back on some of the highlights of the mobile industry. First, let’s take a closer look at the two leading app marketplaces- the Apple App Store and Android Market.
Today, there are more than 1 million apps in the major app stores, according to Mobilewalla, with Apple App Store and Android Market accounting for around 91%. The App Store leads with over 590,000 apps, followed closely behind by Android Market with over 380,000 apps. Apps in Amazon Appstore, Blackberry App World, Nokia Ovi Store, and Windows Phone Marketplace account for the remaining 9% of apps.
Image courtesy of Apple
Apple App Store
The popularity of apps has grown tremendously in a short period of time. It was only three years ago in July 2008 that Apple released their App Store, the first of its kind, with 500 apps and 0 downloads. In one year, the App Store grew over 10,000% to have over 55,000 apps and over 1 billion downloads. And in two years, the App Store grew to have over 225,000 apps and over 5 billion downloads. In July 2011, the App Store had over 425,000 apps and over 15 billion downloads worldwide. According to Mobilewalla, an average of 745 apps are released daily.
Currently, there are over 590,000 apps which have been downloaded over 18 billion times in the App Store- an increase of 162% and 260% in App Store size and downloads, respectively, in a little over a year.
Image courtesy of Google
Android Market
Android Market, on the other hand, was released by Google in October 2008. In March 2009, Android Market had around 2,300 apps available. A little over a year later in August 2010, there were over 80,000 apps available and 1 billion downloads. In July 2011, the Android Market grew to 250,000 apps and over 6 billion downloads. 543 apps on average are released daily, according to Mobilewalla.
Currently, there are over 380,000 apps and over 10 billion downloads in the Android Market- an increase of 375% and 900% in Android Market size and downloads, respectively, in a little over a year.
Free Apps
While the App Store leads in the number of apps and downloads, Android Market is a leader in free apps. Out of the hundreds of thousands of apps in the Android Market, over 67% are free compared to the 37% of apps in the App Store. In fact, Windows Phone Marketplace follows behind the Android Market with 52%.
Revenue
A recent study conducted by Distimo, an app store analytics firm, found that iPhone apps in the App Store generate 4 times as much revenue as apps in the Android Market do. They found this figure by examining the top 200 grossing apps of 2011. Distimo also found that half of the revenue from the top 200 grossing apps in the App Store came from apps that follow the “freemium” business model- free apps that collect revenue by offering exclusive or advanced content- compared to the 65% of revenue that “freemium” apps in the Android Market produced.
Another study from Piper Jaffray, a leading middle-market investment bank, concluded that the App Store controls around 85 to 90% of total app revenue market share, producing around $3.4 billion in revenue for developers compared to the $240 million in revenue in the Android Market.
While results may vary, what is known is that the mobile app industry is lucrative.
What’s Next for Mobile Apps
It’s truly amazing to see how fast apps have grown in these few years- from zero apps to over one million, from no app stores to dozens, and from zero app downloads to over tens of billions, the popularity and profitability of mobile apps is undeniable. We’re looking forward to what lies ahead for the mobile industry in 2012.
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