Tonight the DC chapter of Mobile Monday put on an event titled Making a Successful Mobile App: iPhone, Android, and More at the Embassy of Finland. I am not sure how they secured that space, but it was pretty awesome with great food and drink. The crowd was not the usual one I am used to seeing at the local events, but it was great to see and meet some new people.
The event was a panel hosted by Viq Hussain, Consultant, Intridea Inc, and the panel was made up of
Ken Burge, President of InfoMedia and creator of iFart, the wildly successful iPhone application
Jason Siegel, Managing Director of Qorvis, creator of the Washington Post’s Going Out Guide iPhone app
Isaac Mosquera, Co Founder of PointAbout
Samuli Hanninen, Director, Head of Ovi Product Marketing, Nokia
They touched on a range of subjects on the world of mobile. The first question posed to them was what they felt the “next big thing” was going to be in mobile with regards to geolocation. The consensus was that the personalization of the mobile experience in conjunction with the geo location’ing was going to deliver a better user experience. Especially when combined with features on the platform like the camera and navigation capabilities. Of course the voice of reason that went along with this conversation was the topic of privacy and to make sure the services provided were of the opt in type, allowing the consumer to decide whether or not to participate.
Viq then went to the next topic, Mobile Advertising. He mentioned that spending on mobile ads wilr increase almost 36% over the next year by the end of 2010. The key is how are ads delivered in an unobtrusive manner. Samuli, of Nokia, said one of the most important steps was to actually define what mobile advertising was. The other points were:
- Make sure you brand properly since there is not much screen space
- Make the ads interactive. In some cases the application can be the ad
- Make the ads relevant and make sense to the customer
Viq then posed to the panel what advice they would have to startups looking to build a mobile application. There was some great advice from the panel.
- context with location and address book, make the service and advertisement more relevant to the consumer
- dont put all eggs in one basket and pace your self on $$, odds a great against you
- how to leverage the crowd, aggregate view
- create niche and focused message
- get the right people on your team
- create different apps to go with different business models (some may monetize data on the backend, not the app itself)
- build in the ability to direct message your user to move them to look at other of your apps
They added that it was important for startups it was important to be careful and not spend too much money on the application. They need to ensure the app is on a scalable platform, that it works across mutliple platforms, and finally, choose your target audience before you begin.
One of the final topics posed to the panel was how to properly market the mobile applcation. All of them said, the days of just throwing an app into the app store were over. Pains need to be taken in order to get the word out there.
- blogging, mashable, techcrunch, friends and family digging to make sure if it was in the news
- just get people talking about it, bad press is still press
- pitching traditional media is still good, earned media still provides big hit
- Word of mouth
- sharing functionality embedded in app is a must
Over all this was a great event with a great crowd at a terrific venue. Would have been nice if there was wifi so we could have streamed some of the event, or twtitered a little more of the vibe and wisdom. I am looking forard to their event next mont (June 22) Is Mobile Advertising Recession Proof.
