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

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

Monetization CS 4720 Mobile Application Development CS 4720 Making Money Lets 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


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CS 4720

Monetization

CS 4720 – Mobile Application Development

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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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CS 4720

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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