Posts tagged Purchases
Study: U.K. Mobile Search Survey Reveals U.K. Consumers In Less Of A Hurry To Make Purchases Than U.S. Mobile Users
Apr 11th
Mobile-location based advertising network xAd joined forces with mobile call measurement provider Telmetrics to release their first U.K. Mobile Path-to-Purchase study, focusing on U.K. mobile search behavior. Conducted by Nielsen, the online study, surveyed 1,500 U.K. smartphone and tablet users to…
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View full post on Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Crashlytics: Twitter Purchases The iOS App-Crash Reporter
Jan 28th
Crashlytics, the Boston-based crash reporting solution for iOS apps is moving on up – from independent startup to the newest wrench in Twitter’s tool box. The announcement was made Monday on Crashlytic’s blog and quickly circulated the Web.
INTERESTING M&A. Twitter buys Crashlytics. This may signal Twitter pushing out its own mobile/devices SDK. techmeme.com/130128/p54#a13…
— Spencer Chen (@spencerchen) January 28, 2013
Was This A Man-quisition?
The service, which debuted in late 2011, has quickly become known as a useful tool for app developers looking for a streamlined method to find the root cause of product bugs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it could represent a major payday for co-founders Jeff Seibert and Wayne Chang. It’s not yet clear if Twitter is interested in the Crashlytics product line, or just its engineering talent in an acquihire.
“With us, developers gain instant visibility into the precise line of code that caused a crash, enabling them to more easily fix issues,” Seibert and Chang wrote in their announcement Monday. “Since our iOS launch, we’ve had the privilege of working with thousands of incredible app developers, from those building independent passion-projects to many of the top iOS apps available today – Twitter, Vine, Yelp, Kayak, TaskRabbit, and Waze.”
Now What?
Coming on the heels of the Vine acquisition, it’s likely that this will be the newest addition to the Twitter family continuing to operate as a third-party service, post-purchase.
In their post, Seibert and Chang wrote “much will remain the same. Development of Crashlytics will continue unabated and we remain dedicated to working with all of our customers – current and new, big and small – to deliver the key app performance insights they need.”
So why did Twitter make the deal? “It seems like a strategy to grow the mobile team,” says Jad Meouchy, a mobile app developer in Los Angeles, and co-founder of Osurv, a custom mobile survey app. “It looks like a straight talent acquisition.” But Meouchy also calls Crashlytics a strong and mature mobile additive that gives Twitter “the people they need to start making their own mobile apps.”
Spencer Chen, the senior director of business development at Appcelerator agrees that this is a strategic move by Twitter to expand their offerings.
“I believe Twitter is going to take the extension of their service onto mobile and devices very seriously by coming out with their version of a mobile SDK (software development kit), which will include key features that every developer wants, crash test reporting via Crashlytics,” he said. ”Right now Twitter pushes everything out via their APIs, which is all backend services. If they had a real mobile SDK, then they can really optimize development productivity and mobile performance by having certain capabilities into the third mobile (and) device apps itself.”
With Vine, Twitter’s planted its flag in the ground to announce its plans to conquer mobile social video. Could Monday’s Crashlytics move be the beginning of a new era for Twitter mobile app development? And a tool to help address problems with Vine?
We’ll know soon enough.
Photo courtesy of Twitter.
View full post on ReadWrite
Internet Marketing Ninjas Purchases SEOROI.com And Publishing Rights Of … – Daily Markets (press release)
Jan 21st
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Internet Marketing Ninjas Purchases SEOROI.com And Publishing Rights Of …
Daily Markets (press release) Jim Boykin, CEO of Internet Marketing Ninjas (IMN) and SEO/author Gabriel Goldenberg announce the purchase of Goldenberg's website, SEOROI.COM, and the publishing rights to his book, Advanced SEO Book, by IMN. This announcement comes on the … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Facebook-Datalogix Partnership to Track Offline Purchases by 100 Million+ Households
Oct 4th
Facebook is teaming up with a market analytics company that uses loyalty programs to track purchases to launch a program that will track offline purchases of Facebook users from over 100 million households. Privacy concerns abound.
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
5 Tricks App-Makers Use To Boost In-App Purchases
Sep 21st
Even as developers continue to churn out more and more mobile apps – especially games – they’re all struggling to figure out how to get enough people to download and use their apps. Perhaps even more important, developers need a way to make money on their apps, and that combination increasingly results in the freemium model – free apps supported by in-app purchases.
The trick, though, is to give people a robust enough free app to get them to download it in the first place – but still find a way to convince enough of those downloaders to part with their hard earned dollars?
Do it wrong and you’ve just given away something for nothing. Do it right and it can be a lot more lucrative than charging everyone $.99 upfront.
What’ the secret? Here are 5 ways app developers get users to pony up real cash:
1. The Bait and Hook
The psychology here is simple. Lure in the customer with an all-too-accessible free download. With that initial barrier removed, developers then only need focus on creating a fun and engaging gaming experience. After those first few minutes (or hours) of play, it’s that much easier to get the customer’s buy-in to spend a little something to continue the experience. The desire to make it to the next level can be almost addictive. A fully invested customer will be more willing to pay to play.
2. Make It Easy
Some of the most successful games are relatively simple – Angry Birds is a perfect example. But even for the more complex games, the early objective should be to make it as easy as possible for customers to understand the rules of the game and get started. According to veteran game developer Mike Amerson, maker of the hits My Virtual Girlfriend and My Virtual Boyfriend, this is a key strategy. “Make sure the initial engagement isn’t frustrating. Use techniques like tutorials and tips, then allow the user to practice and gain a few wins before she has to face any real challenges. Then as the game progresses, it becomes harder to achieve those same results.” But by then, the customer is already invested.
3. Timely Offerings
Only after the customer has downloaded the app, has a good feel for it, and may be feeling fairly confident in their ability to win, is it time to drop the in-app purchase suggestion. At key “choke points” in the game, when the developer knows the customer will need just the right tool to obtain a higher level of achievement, a friendly pop up alerts players of the opportunity to make a purchase that will keep the game experience going. The U.K’s Natural Motion, makers of CSR Racing, have mastered this strategy – and have $12 million in monthly in- app purchase revenue to prove it. After working through a few easy levels, it is nearly impossible to win a race without making upgrades or purchasing another car.
4. Introduce New Items
Mobile game developer TinyCo is a proven leader in this next strategy. In its game Tiny Zoo Friends, where kids manage a virtual zoo, the company introduces new farm animals for purchase every week. One animal, “The Cash Cow” (not sure if pun was intended or not), cost one young fan nearly two months’ allowance. According to TinyCo CEO Suly Ali, the revenue from this character alone was in the neighborhood of $50,000.
5. For A Limited Time Only
Once customers become accustomed to making in-app purchases, developers then introduce the limited-time- only scenario. Make the next purchase for half off, or at a reduced rate, but only if you buy before the offer runs out. Most shoppers will recognize this strategy from a wide variety of retail environments – because it works. Imposing a time limit to a discount provokes that buy-now-or-lose-out feeling of urgency. It’s the ultimate pay reward system.
By some estimates, in-app purchasers spend on average $14 per transaction, which is why freemium has become the dominant means of monetizing apps.
For serious players, though, buying a game for $.99 up front is almost always cheaper than a freemium model where you’ll need to ante up a lot more over time. Keep that in mind the next time you download a “free” app.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Google Play: Developers Make More From In-App Purchases Than App Sales
Jun 28th
In 2012, developers using Google Play have pulled in more revenue from in-app purchases than from the sales of the apps themselves, a validation of the “freemium” model and digital purchases.
Google Play engineering director Brad Yerga disclosed the news in an afternoon session here at Google I/O, where Google announced it had surpassed 20 billion app downloads in total at its morning keynote. All told, there are more than 600,000 apps on the Play Store, with more than 1.5 billion downloads per month. Those figures still lag Apple, which claims that of the 650,000 separate apps included in its own app store, users have downloaded 30 billion.
But the real moneymaker, Yerga said, has been the “almost magic combination of carrier billing and in-app billing,” Yerga said, that has appealed on an international level and revolutionized the way app developers make money.
“This has been a huge breakout for Google Play, for developers, but users have embraced it as well,” Yerga said of the in-app purchase option.
Google announced the Google Play brand last year, which encompasses its app store, e-books, music and movies. Google’s Android platform is also the world’s largest in terms of smartphone market share, giving Play a proportionally large share of the world’s consumers.
Although the United States still represents the largest market for Google Play app downloads, more and more overseas customers are downloading apps as Android aggressively expands overseas. About 67% of Google Play revenue comes from overseas markets, Yerga said; besides the United States, the largest Play markets are Japan, Korea, Germany and then France, he said.
From April 2011 through April 2012, app revenue from Japan and Korea increased fourteen-fold, he said. To drive this further, Google announced a new version of its app development console, which taps into Google Translate to automatically translate the description and name of an app into a foreign language, such as Korean.
Part of the reason for Google Play’s international success has been embracing foreign purchasing customs. For example, customers in Japan and Korea virtually demand the ability to purchase real-world items from their phones, Yerga said.
Simply adding in-app purchases to the API has allowed developers to develop creative ways of monetizing their games, Yerga said, allowing so-called “freemium” and “paymium” models to succeed. For example, developer TinyCo., developer of “Tiny Village,” said that Android delivered the most revenue per user of any app store, as users downloaded the free app, then purchased virtual items.
Another developer has begun offering a one-time, discounted upgrade to the full version of the app after the user plays a demonstration version for 30 minutes or so. And developers such as FarSight Studios have released “DLC packs” of new pinball tables for their app, Pinball Arcade.
The next chapter of Google Play’s app monetization story will be subscriptions, allowing users to automatically charge their credit card for additional or supplemental content. “No matter what the game, you can still get the benefits of a subscription,” Yerga said.
Apple has offered in-app subscriptions since February 2011.
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New NAB Report Shows Australians Spent $11 Billion for Online Purchases in 2012 – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
May 28th
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New NAB Report Shows Australians Spent $11 Billion for Online Purchases in 2012
San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Perth, Western Australia (PRWEB) May 29, 2012 Oracle Digital, considered as one of the top SEO specialists in Perth, has honed its inventory of products and services to cater to the ongoing popularity of the online world as a business platform. |
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With In-App Purchases, has Amazon Improved its Relationship With Mobile Developers?
Apr 10th
A year into its life, the Amazon Appstore for Android is kind of like the quirky stepchild of the other major app stores. It is not directly tied to a platform, the way Apple’s App Store or Google Play are, but it is distinctly different from other third-party app stores like GetJar that are not controlled by a large, trusted brand. Its uniqueness provides both benefits and pitfalls to Android developers, including the chief concern of many app publishers: How am I going to make money off my app?
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Amazon Listening to Developer Needs
Today, Amazon announced that it is unveiling the general availability for Android developers to institute in-app purchasing through the Amazon Appstore for Android. This is a big step for Amazon and its continued evolution in developer relations. As we have noted before, the preferred method of monetization for most game and app developers is the in-app purchase, as opposed to mobile ad libraries. This move by Amazon fulfills that promise and gives it a leg up on other third-party app stores that do not have the type of clout to implement their own transactions system for in-app purchasing without going through the likes of Apple, Google or Amazon.
The Amazon Appstore now has 34,000 apps, according to Aaron Rubenson, director of the Appstore. The decision to create an in-app purchasing solution arose from listening to developers; he acted upon their wishes. After launching on March 22, 2011, the first thing that Rubenson and his team heard from developers was that discoverability of apps was an issue. This should have come as no surprise, as all the major app stores have discoverability issues. It is one of the reasons that Apple bought Chomp, a search engine for apps that had also worked with Verizon in improving discoverability for its app store on Android phones. After working on launching the Kindle Fire, the Appstore team turned its eyes to another developer wish, better monetization.
“Amazon has always done a great job in supporting our retail customers but for the Appstore, one of our core tenets is to treat developers as kind of our first-class customers, as well. We are definitely making strong efforts to make sure that we promote and help monetize developers’ content in the most effective way that we can,” said Ameesh Paleja, director of engineering for the Amazon Appstore.
As Easy as Possible?
Transactions and in-app purchasing are often one of the trickier issues that developers can deal with, especially on the Android platform. Apple makes it easy to institute in-app purchases because it holds the credit card numbers of millions of consumers through iTunes. Google works with a variety of payments processors in Google Play. Amazon is more like Apple, in that, as the biggest e-commerce retailer in the world, it also holds the payment information of most of its customers on file. The goal was to make in-app purchases simple to set up for developers and easy to interact with for consumers.
“The process is pretty straightforward. You come to the site and, if you already have an account and are all set up, you basically upload your application, you define the items that you would like to sell and upload the appropriate metadata and pricing for those items, the list price,” said Paleja. “Then, in your application it is just a handful of steps to set up IAP (in-app purchasing). You register the intent that you want to use IAP, you implement a way for your customer to actually trigger a purchase. So, if you are making a racing game and you go to the pit stop and you want to buy some tires. You press that button and it will call the API on our side that will bring up a purchase dialogue to buy that item. Then, you implement an API to handle the response back from the server that says that this has been successfully purchased, please give the customer the tires or the new car or whatever they chose to buy.”
Amazon has set up its 1-Click payment processing for in-app purchases, taking advantage of its backend transaction system that drives purchases on the entire Amazon platform.
Is This the Android Store you are Looking for?
Amazon’s relationship with Android developers has not exactly been roses since it launched last year. No recourse for bad or incorrect reviews, shifty behavior concerning the “free app of the day,” cheap pricing and a slow review process have been the primary complaints against the Amazon Appstore since it launched. When talking with Rubenson and Paleja, we asked about some of the developer issues, but their answers were noncommittal.
“I think I would say that we have very strong momentum in the store when it comes to developers,” Rubenson said. “We definitely have gotten more intelligent about the right way to market and merchandize apps now that we have been running the business for a year and feel that we have strong momentum.”
Just like with paid apps on the Appstore, Amazon is using the classic 70-30 split of revenue for in-app purchases. That split comes from the “list price” of the item, something that the developer controls. So, if an item is discounted by Amazon as a promotion, the developer still theoretically makes 70% of the original price. This is where certain developers have had problems with Amazon before in that Amazon has not paid the percentage of the list price. The three-month private beta of in-app purchases was done with some of the biggest app publishers in the mobile realm, including ZeptoLabs (Cut The Rope), Disney and Conde Nast. It is unlikely that Amazon would try to pull any fine-print tricks with those types of publishers, but we will see in several months how other Android developers are treated.
Developers: With 1-Click processing, Amazon’s brand recognition and the ability to monetize through in-app purchases, are you more likely to look at the Appstore as a destination for your titles? Or have other developers’ experiences left you wary of dealing with the e-commerce giant? Let us know in the comments.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Recent Trends In Online Purchases Push Retail Stores to Go Online – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Mar 19th
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Recent Trends In Online Purchases Push Retail Stores to Go Online
San Francisco Chronicle (press release) Digital marketing company Oracle Digital markets its latest SEO services to support the surge of online retail businesses. Perth, Western Australia (PRWEB) March 20, 2012 Oracle Digital, one of the leading SEO companies in Western Australia, … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Recent Trends In Online Purchases Push Retail Stores to Go Online – Virtual-Strategy Magazine
Mar 19th
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Recent Trends In Online Purchases Push Retail Stores to Go Online
Virtual-Strategy Magazine Digital marketing company Oracle Digital markets its latest SEO services to support the surge of online retail businesses. Oracle Digital, one of the leading SEO companies in Western Australia, has recently released its new SEO services that have been … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
