AdMob, in its latest Mobile Metrics Report for January 2010, focused on how consumers are interacting with mobile apps on the four major platforms; iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and WebOS.

In addition to the normal metrics AdMob reports on, last month’s special section included an opt-in survey of consumers on iPhone, iPod touch, Android and webOS devices to learn more about how they are engaging and interacting with applications.  The survey included 963 respondents across all of the platforms and revealed some interesting points on app purchasing habits.

iPhone and Android users download a similar number of apps on a monthly basis, with each platform producing around 8.8 apps downloaded per month by its users.  Of the total apps, 7 out of every 8.8 downloads were free apps on the iPhone, compared to 7.6 out of 8.7 on Android devices- indicating that iPhone users are more prone to paying for apps over Android users.

The iPod Touch, however, produces 12.1 app downloads per month on average by its users, with 10.5 being free apps.  Interestingly enough, the report indicates that iPod Touch users download 37% more apps on average than iPhone and Android users.  WebOS users download roughly 5.7 apps per month on average, with 5.1 being free apps, indicating that WebOS users are far more apt to downloading free apps over paid apps, likely because of a much smaller selection over Apple/Android app stores.

Read the rest

Share This

iVdopia is set to introduce its unique “pre-app” and in-app advertising solutions to Android developers, adding to its offerings of similar solutions for iPhone developers.

iVdopia incorporates elements of social networking, video and other aspects into its offering to provide developers a unique method for monetizing their apps.  Its “pre-app” ad-model utilizes short commercial-like videos that run when a user opens an app, before the actual app is presented.  Though it may turn off a large group of users, the company says response has been strong so far.

During the pre-app and in-app ads, a user has several options to interact and respond with the brand; by sharing via Facebook and Twitter, bringing up location and contact information via Google Maps, visiting the brand’s Website and more.  Developers will also have the option to add “Talk2Me” ads, which are rather self-explanatory.  iVdopia has already released its Android SDK for developers, so it should be interesting to see the response from a developers perspective.

The included elements iVdopia provides are pretty comprehensive, but again, I can’t help but wonder why a developer with Android or the iPhone would utilize a third-party solution like this over the inevitable built-in monetization tools both Google and Apple are planning.  During the interim, developers will likely utilize these types of solutions, but once Google and Apple define their strategies with their respective ad-network purchases, third-party providers will become obsolete.

Share This

With Google being criticized over trying to take over the wireless industry with its broad initiatives, the company seems to be shifting focus away from re-writing the rules, and instead is working within the mobile supply chain to make its voice heard without stepping on any toes.

This is the message detailed in a new report from iSuppli entitled, “Google: The Elephant in the Wireless Room”.  In it, a strategy is chronicled that could help Google remain successful in its bid to transform the wireless industry from its traditional voice-subscription model to one supported by broadband-based mobile advertising revenue.

Like much of the rest of the mobile value chain, Google is seeking to uncover new user behavior patterns and to drive social networking services through the promotion of cloud storage and computing, mobile advertising, and a variety of location-based services. All of the free Google offerings are driving toward this goal, and has the intention to strengthen the mobile industry, not dominate it.

“During the past three years, Google has continually targeted the mobile communications industry with a series of initiatives,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst at iSuppli. “From offering free Wi-Fi services, to developing a free and powerful open operating system for smart phones — Android — to offering free maps and turn-by-turn navigation services, to introducing a Google branded phone — the Nexus One — the Internet search giant is revolutionizing the mobile value chain in an attempt to unlock new value and to expand an industry desperately searching for the next inflection point.”

Read the rest

Share This

Opera subsidiary AdMarvel today announced the availability of its Android Advertising Toolkit, version 1.5, which enables Android developers to easily integrate rich media advertising, including advertising from various global ad networks, into their applications.

The latest iteration provides a comprehensive set of tools for developers, encompassing everything from rich media advertising on the mobile web on Android phones, to advertising metrics and analytics that are provided via an online web console to provide a near real-time view of the application’s advertising performance.  In addition, AdMarvel also features a rich media ad-server, supporting the provisioning and management of direct-sourced or in-house advertising.

The AdMarvel toolkit seems to cover all bases, with support for JavaScript, expandable ad units, animation, interstitials and transparent overlays of content and user interaction, as well as the ability to contain an ad experience to within an application for the promotion of new features or content channels.

In terms of calls-to-action, the new platform supports click-to-call, click-to-maps, click-to-app, click-to-video and click to YouTube actions, as well as support for server-side tools to create, manage and track rich media ad performance and analytics.  From what it seems, AdMarvel has baked just about every mobile ad-serving technology available into its latest iteration of its Android Advertising Toolkit.

Read the rest

Share This

Software piracy has long been a problem, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the mobile app ecosystem that’s growing larger everyday.  A new report published by 24/7 Wall St. has estimated that Apple’s App Store alone has lost $450 million to piracy since its inception a few short years ago.

While some are questioning the methods used to arrive at such a high figure, the problem of mobile app piracy is apparent nonetheless.  Justifying it’s figures, 24/7 Wall St. estimates that 17 percent of the 3 billion apps downloaded from the App Store were paid apps, or roughly 510 million.  They then multiply that by three and assume that 1.53 billion apps have been pirated.

Multiplying that figure by $3, which is the average price of a paid app, equates to $4.59 billion.  Assuming that 10 percent of app pirates would have actually purchased the app in question, that’s how they arrived at the $459 million in lost revenue estimate.  Whether you agree with their reasoning or not, the numbers are impressive.

Reports like this raise the question of what’s the best way to monetize mobile apps in the first place- via in-app advertising or the traditional one-time cost model.  Utilizing a one-time cost structure makes you as a developer vulnerable to piracy and the subsequent lost of revenue it brings, but maintaining an in-app monetization model via relevant advertising takes most, if not all of the risk away.  As the problem of piracy grows larger, we’ll undoubtedly see a shift to in-app advertising, which has always seemed to make more sense in the first place.

Share This