AppWorks o2 Oslo- Summary of Mobile Tech Conference

App works olso location everywhere 05.2011 rf slideshare

View more presentations from Ric Ferraro

OSLO- Appworks is one of the leading mobile conferences in Scandinavia (organized by Mobilen.no, famous for their Telecruise conference that takes place on a cruise ship) and it was a real pleasure to speak about Location-Aware apps during the 1-day event at the end of May.

The conference attracted a great mix of mobile entrepreneurs, developers and 'big guns' like Samsung, LG, Blackberry, Nokia and HTC, with a conference format running in parallel to a workshop format (Klubbscenen).

Location-based services were one of the main items on the day's agenda, so it was perhaps provocative of me to kick off my keynote by stating that Location-Based Services were extinct today. The reasons for stating this is that location is no longer a service but a feature that is embedded everywhere. You can see my full slide deck above, by the way, and check out the other themes I presented.

Location on mobile is also firmly in the mainstream today -with Facebook in particular achieving what Foursquare couldn't.I'm a big believer in the fact that contextual search (with mobile apps knowing what I'm more likely to be interested in according to time of day, previous searches, ambient temperature etc) will unlock the full potential of location. It is still early days for this, but as Google (and others) invest in research in this area and processing power on mobile devices keeps increasing, we will see some real examples of this soon.

There were some great presentations at the event by other speakers - I particularly enjoyed the ones by John Valentine (from SCVNGR), Megan Miller (on usability of iPad apps) and Ola Larsen (from RIM). Ola showed a video that I thought was pretty cool, on Hyper-Augmented Reality. You can see the video below and get an insight into what one version of the future of AR could be like. Enjoy!


Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Monetizing Mobile Apps- A Value-based approach

Apart from deciding whether to charge on a one-off or a subscription basis, mobile app developers need also to consider whether their application has mass market appeal as well as perceived value. This can help determine which strategy to follow when deciding how to price the application (free or not). It can also help to determine whether to include advertising or not.

In my book, Building Location Aware Apps (2010 Manning Publications, R Ferraro and M Aktihanoglu-AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON.COM) I present a model of how the perceived value of the app and target market can be combined to decide on the charging strategy for the app itself:

'Freebie' applications are shown in the lower left-hand quadrant of the matrix. When it comes to monetizing an application, there is clearly no interest in giving it away for free, especially if it is not supported by ads. However, in the case of low value/low market potential applications this is often the only choice available.

'Long Tail Kings' are those applications that address a small, but definable niche within the market with a high-value proposition. They can charge for their application a premium price, and don’t need to include advertising as a result.Long Tail Kings can try over time to extend their appeal to other market segments.

'Killer Apps' rule over the mobile landscape. By offering great value to the consumer within a mass market, they can use their dominant position to not only charge for their application but also generate regular advertising revenue. Other applications continually aspire to become killer apps, though most never make it.

'Boot Campers' are those applications that hold great promise, because they have a large market potential, but that do not hold a great deal of perceived value in the eyes of the consumer. Boot Campers have to work extremely hard (hence the name) to work their way out of their quadrant by convincing consumers of the value they can offer.    

There is a lot more on this and other approaches to determine how best to monetize your mobile app (including a full range of mobile advertising options) in my book. I also explore the freemium model in more detail, as it remains one of the key ways of successfully commercialising digital products.

GeoMe and IRL announce Partnership

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS and BARCELONA, SPAIN--(Marketwire - January 27, 2009) - In Real Life (IRL), the only presence-based social networking company that adds presence to social networks and social media, and GeoMe, a mobile phone service that allows users to explore, share and connect via messages on a map, announced today the creation of a central platform for location-based social networking services on both mobile phones and the Web. This is the first time a Web-based social network has partnered with a mobile, location-based social network, providing full access privileges across the two communities of users.

The partnership extends the services of the IRL Connect Web-based social networking platform (www.irlconnect.com) to the mobile, as well as brings GeoMe's (www.geo-me.com) expertise in delivering location-based solutions on mobile to the Web. The combined platform features a social network toggle that allows members to seamlessly cross between communities. Both services bring the best of the mobile and Web worlds to users for an optimal social networking experience where they can access and exchange information and find friends online with the least effort, rather than a walled garden format of many of today's mobile social networking services.

"Many competitors focus on mobile and then try to extend their service to the Web by themselves, creating a half-baked Web solution," said Frank Schuil, founder and CEO of IRL. "By allowing aggregation with external parties, such as GeoMe, it is easier to grow our user base and give IRL Connect users the opportunity to explore mobile social networking using the GeoMe platform."

"Both IRL and GeoMe are focused on developing fresh concepts within the context of social networks. By partnering together, we combine resources to reach out to a wider public than would have otherwise been possible," said Ric Ferraro, managing director, GeoMe. "Instead of just aggregating different networks, GeoMe and IRL are sharing our communities openly in order to provide a richer experience for members."

GeoMe is launching its public beta in February 2009. IRL Connect members will be able to access the GeoMe service on mobile and on the Web in Q2 2009.