Monetization CS 4720 Mobile Application Development CS 4720 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

CS 4720

Monetization

CS 4720 – Mobile Application Development

CS 4720

Making Money

• Let’s stipulate that working for a company to

build custom apps (either for that company or as a consultant) is the “safest” way to make money building apps

• Plenty of developers head to the app store

hoping to strike it rich with the next Flappy Bird

• Let’s consider this for a moment

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CS 4720

Making Money

• Let’s look at some facts:

– There are hundreds of thousands of apps in each store – The platform holders take up to 30% of your revenue – Most of the software costs for mobile apps is up front, i.e before people have paid you

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CS 4720

Making Money

• How are you going to get noticed?
• How are you going to earn enough to make the

next app?

• How do you get the money to make the first

app?

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CS 4720

Monetization Strategies

• Paid Apps

– Users pay up front to download and use the app – Picking the right price point is key – Updates to this particular app are free

• Challenge

– Generating enough downloads to be profitable

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CS 4720

Monetization Strategies

• Ad Supported

– Give away the app for free – Incorporate a supported ad framework, like AdMob or AppleAds

• Challenge

– Ads take up real estate – You have to plan around where things will be on screen – Bandwidth / resources to process ads

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CS 4720

Monetization Strategies

• Free-to-Play (games only)

– Give away the game for free – Incorporate a gameplay mechanic that encourages players to spend money – This could gain a game resource, reduce a timer, add cosmetic elements, etc.

• Challenge

– A good game mechanic built around this without frustrating the user is difficult to find

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CS 4720

Monetization Strategies

• In-App Purchases

– Give away the app for free (or at a low cost) – Only have some of the functionality available or

• ffer more complex options for a fee

– Users can “custom build” the experience they want to pay for

• Challenge

– Making the app useful enough to download the first time and still enticing people to pay money

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CS 4720

A Lesson from Games

• The challenges of pricing

– How can you do an effective sale to drive download when your price is $1.99? – Race to the bottom of pricing

• Free-to-play dominates the app stores

– Highest grossing paid game? Minecraft – Game of War makes 45 times what Minecraft makes (est. $1.46M per day in 2013)

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CS 4720

A Lesson from Games

• A $1.99 app makes the developer roughly

$1.40 per download

• The app needs 8,407 downloads per year for a

solo developer to hit the 2015 US poverty line ($11,770 per year)

• This does not include:

– Other devs – Tools and resources – Equipment

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CS 4720

Let’s Do It!

• Make an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation)
• In case your app does something really, really

bad, an LLC will protect your personal assets in case you are sued

• Also nice for tax purposes

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CS 4720

Which Platform?

• We’ve discussed this!
• Where are the users you want to target?
• How much do you plan to charge?
• How much do you want to invest?
• Where do people expect a premium

experience?

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CS 4720

Which Platform?

• Some thoughts:

– iOS users spend roughly 3x more than Android users on apps – Android has the larger market share – Android is more the choice of businesses

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CS 4720

Marketing

• Getting noticed makes all the difference
• Getting on the landing page for the store

makes a HUGE difference

• Limited opportunity to get noticed

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CS 4720

Marketing Strategies

• Physical (fliers) w/ QR codes
• Google AdWords (or other search engine
• ptimization)
• Have a website!
• Partner with another app
• Social networks
• Review sites

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Investment

• Looking for money to get started?
• Well… don’t count on it
• #1 request CS profs get from non-CS students

at UVa?

– “I have this totally sweet idea for an app/website. I just need CS students to build it for me.” – It’s usually a reskin of Facebook…

• Sometimes you have to take the plunge

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