Monetising your applications: Part two: in-app payment and direct commercialisation

Following on from part one of our look at monetising applications, it's time to look at the most prevalent method. The direct sale of the application, be it from a shareware model or the dual nature of lite/full applications in an App Store, to time limited apps and in-app purchasing, there are a number of choices to get the money straight out of the user's wallet.

Monetising your applications: Part one: introduction

The modern smartphone landscape places a huge emphasis on third party applications, but those applications don't simply appear. The developers behind them need to make a living, or at least justify their investment of time. The monetisation of apps is at the forefront of many in the industry, including us here at All About Symbian. Over the next month or so, we're going to look at monetising applications, the choices open to developers, best practices and implementation strategies. First up, an overview of the landscape as it stands today, and how we got here.

Qt in the mix: An interview with Chris Watt of TigerSpike

TigerSpike is a Sydney, Australia, based business — with offices in London and New York — that has been offering solutions in the personal media space for eight years. The company has recently started working with Qt and I (Richard Bloor) caught up with Chris Watt, product director at TigerSpike to find out about the company’s initial impressions.

Is Amazon's variable pricing the solution to developer income woes?

While not yet directly relevant to Symbian developers, it looks like Amazon are going to address the issue of mobile app pricing with the launch of their Android App Store (reports Technologizer). Along with the fragmentation of the “Android app story” and leveraging their recommendation engine, Amazon are going to introduce variable pricing of applications. And while that’s the biggest gamble, I’d love to see this on more platforms including Symbian and Meego.

In-app ads currently a fiasco, (much) more imagination needed

The pendulum swings regularly in the software world, with different ways of making money from software being in 'vogue'. The latest fashion, somewhat predictably, with most applications and games needing a price of 'free' in order to get serious numbers of downloads, is to put adverts inside the app or game and rely on income from these to bring in a similar amount of money to that which you'd have expected if you'd tried to sell the item by more conventional means. The concept is indeed sound - but I'm finding the implementation often lacking. What's needed is more imagination.

Nokia, taking apps local

While “global” apps, such as Foursquare app and games such as Hero of Sparta HD, grab the headlines, local apps and services play a significant role in Nokia’s future. The new local app focus was revealed at Nokia World in September. Last week I got the opportunity to see how it’s starting to play out at the grass roots, in the form of the inaugural Forum Nokia developer breakfast in Auckland, New Zealand.

The future of the Symbian platform

Last week Nokia announced a focus on Qt as its sole developer framework across both MeeGo and Symbian and that Symbian would move to a continuous improvement model, with Nokia building future applications and user interface in Qt. Developers were promised that there would be no binary compatibility break and consumers were told that many future improvements would be compatible with, and available for, existing Symbian^3 devices. In this feature article we look at some of the technical details, which explain how some of this will work.

Getting Started with Qt: The Symbian Way

Considering starting Qt development for Symbian? Well if you are there is an interesting series of blog posts over on Symbian.org that’s worth checking out. The final part is due to be posted today, probably by the time you read this post. In four relatively short posts, Salvatore Rinaldo takes you from installation of the Nokia Qt SDK, though the development of a web browser app to the installation of the app on a Symbian phone.

Sell, Sell, Sell! How the Ovi Store changes will benefit developers

“Follow the money.” It’s a slogan that’s true in pretty much any walk of life, including the mobile world. If developers are keeping this rule in mind, then the recent announcements regarding purchases and payments in the Ovi Store should have them very excited. What’s on offer is by far the best deal for developers in terms of major App Stores.

The top ten software gaps for developers to exploit

With the upswing of developer interest in the new Symbian^3 platform, one of the questions that might be lingering in their minds is “what could I write for Symbian?” With all the promise of millions of devices and a perceived empty application store, what titles and areas should a developer concentrate on to make a big splash in the market?

Plug and Touch - Turning your TV into a touchscreen

On show at Nokia World 2010 were several exciting examples of future technology. One of those was a research project brought from Nokia's Beijing research and development labs. Named "Plug and Touch", it's an application which can turn any type of visual display (TV or projector) into a Symbian-powered touch screen display. Click through to read our commentary and see the demonstration video.

The smartest X-Factor entrant this year is Nokia and the Ovi Store

How do you let everyone know you have an App Store? That's a question that Nokia are still answering over the Ovi Store (and to be fair even Apple continue to think about this question), as the availability of Apps has become one of the key marketing lines in 2010 for the smartphone. Someone in Nokia has been smart though, and they've not only lined up as the 'brand sponsor' for The X-Factor this year, but put together a Qt application to feed the fans of the show.

Vodafone's Vitorri Colao on mobile usage

David Gilson sat in on Vodafone's Vitorri Colao's keynote yesterday, at Nokia World 2010. He spoke about real world mobile usage and what needs to be done to increase this, in both existing and developing markets, breaking down what mobile consumers currently do and where Vodafone would like to see the market move. Overall, it's a useful snapshot of the 2010 mobile world across the globe - at least, as seen by Big Red. 

Qt for Symbian for Linux and Apple

Hopefully you will have seen Steve’s posting about Lucian Tomuta’s video on using Qt to develop apps for Symbian devices. If, however, your computer runs on Linux or Apple you may have run into a small problem, there is no compiler for Symbian apps on these platforms. But never fear, there is a solution.

Can the cloud replace mobile applications?

David Gilson explores the relative benefits of native applications and cloud applications, both from a consumer point of view, and from the point of view of the developers who ultimately supply our applications. Will the cloud replace the traditional app?

PIM ideas for Symbian and ideas.symbian.org

MWC Video Content

List of video content from MWC related to Symbian as part of the AAS / Mobile Industry Review collaboration.

Supporting developers through diversity

Ulf Wretling is a nineteen year veteran of Ericsson and Sony Ericsson. He headed up Sony Ericsson’s developer program for a number of years and recently has been responsible for setting up the processes to manage third-party application sales through PlayNow arena.

Sony Ericsson Makes Web Application Play

Sony Ericsson has introduced WebSDK, offering developers cross-platform web applications development for its latest Symbian and Android devices. So, what is Sony Ericsson's offering and how does it measure up?

Ovi Developer Day

Rafe reports back from the recent (September 2009) Ovi Developer Day in London.