Building your Mobile App:

Budget, Planning and Best Practices

Philippe Dumont @phil_du

CEO @AzetoneMobile

Board Member @ Mobile Marketing Association

Building your Mobile App: Budget, Planning and Best Practices!

• Get your objectives right

• Build your Mobile App brief• The right budget for the right development

• The 4 phases of your development cycle

• Overview of development technologies you can use

« Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterwards »Oscar Wilde

Setting the Stage: Today’s Mobile Platforms

iOS Android Windows

Company Apple Google Microsoft

Market Share (Global Installed Base) 15% 81% 3%

Market Share (France Installed Base) 23% 64% 9%

Languages Objective-C, Swift Java C#, .Net

Common APIs accross smartphones,tablets and PCs

No Yes Yes

Typical App Submission delays 7-10 days 24 hours 1-2 days

App Check and Validation Prior to posting on the store

Post availability Prior to posting

Developer registration fee $99 per year $25 per year One-time $19 set-up

What does it take to build a Mobile App?

• Your initial plan:

• The reality:

I have the best idea!We have an App

for that!

I have the best idea! ?

Why is that?

• An App is more than just a few lines of code

• An App is more than a website

• An App is both a boon and a curse

• The day you decided to build a Mobile App, you effectivelydecided to become a Software and Service Provider!

Mobile App Unique Benefits

• UX and UI capabilities

• Access to device capabilities

• Offline Access

• Push Notifications

• Ease of (re)use

• App Store and customer ratings

Mobile App Unique Constraints

• Development cost

• Users need to download the App

• App availability and agility

• Maintenance costs

• Customer reviews & ratings

• App discovery (ASO…)

• App instrumentation

Top 10 Reasons for App Rejections (Apple)

1. 14% More information needed

2. 9% Apps that exhibit bugs will be rejected

3. 6% If user interface is complex or less than very good, Apps may be rejected

4. 5% Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations or use names or icons similar to other Apps will be rejected

5. 4% Apps with names, descriptions, screenshots, or previews not relevant to the content and functionality of the App will be rejected

6. 4% Apps that require users to share personal information, such as email address and date of birth, in order to function will be rejected

7. 4% Apps or metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected

8. 3% Developers are responsible for assigning appropriate ratings to their Apps.

9. 3% App names in iTunes Connect and as displayed on a device should be similar

10. 3% Multitasking Apps may only use background services for their intended purposes:

Source Apple 2015: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/rejections/

Get Your (Business) Objectives Right

• Build revenue stream?• Hint: Paid downloads are dead (except few games)

• In-App purchases: OK

• Advertising: Getting there, but do it the right way (native…)

• M-Commerce: Very serious trend

• Mobile-To-Store: Retailer El-Dorado

• Mobile-In-Store: In progress…

• Build customer loyalty?

• Optimize costs/streamline service?

• Other? (???)

Building your Mobile App brief

• Analyze where you stand now, Strengths and Weaknesses

• Analyze your market and your competitors

• Analyze your customers and their behaviors

• Identify customer needs and pain points

• Set key objectives and KPIs

• Define App positioning and key features

• Identify resources and select platforms, tools and technologies

• Define Budget, Timeline and Methodology

TestingDevelopmentUX / UI

Conception & Design

Analysis & Planning

The 4 Phases of your Development Cycle

Maintenance

UX / UI Conception & Design

• Why is it important? • Because it ultimately drives user retention, engagement and ratings (ie

70% of your ROI!)

• What it delivers• Makes your App optimally usable across all devices and technologies

• Makes it easy and quick to get things done

• Makes your service and your brand credible

• Makes your App competitive

• Builds user engagement and trust

• Builds user satisfaction and recommendation

What MakesAirbnb one of the Very

Best Apps?

« Simplicity »

Anne-Sophie Frenove, Head of Partnerships Airbnb

Development: From “V-Model” to “Agile”

• Why is it important?• In a fast-shifting environment (OS, your competition, you - startup…),

you have little choice but to go for Agile methodology

• What it delivers• Not necessarily “agility” per se…

• But faster iterations between (internal) releases

• Better visibility to deliveries and fewer risks of delays

• Stronger fit between final deliverable and your expectations

• FYI different methodologies exist (XP, RAD, Scrum…)

What MakesUber One of the VeryBest Apps?

« Server-side Algorythms »

http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/25/ubernomics/

Testing

• Why is it important?• Because your entire Mobile App project will be a permanent Test-and-

Learn adventure

• What it delivers• User Testing for usability and reliability of your App across all devices,

screen sizes…

• Virtual (Machine) Testing for performance and crash testing

• A/B Testing for usability and conversion optimization

Maintenance

• Why is it important?• Your App ROI is unlikely to materialize in less than 1 year and your App

will be obsolete within 3 months

• What it delivers:• Addresses usage bugs and platform-related issues

• Needs to cover some key user feedbacks

• Some level of UI changes as well

• A (budgeted) plan for major new features/releases is required on top of on-going maintenance

The Right Budget for the Right Development

Stages Typical Length Expected Budget Weight

UX/UI Conception & Design 3 to 6 weeks 20%

Development 1 to 6 months per platform 65% (usually 50% dev and 15% project management)

Testing 2 to 6 weeks 15%

Maintenance 12-month period 10 to 20% of initial costs

Bottom line Simple App: 2 to 3 months 10 to 30K€ per platform

Average App: 4 to 6 months 30 to 50K€ per platform

Complex App: 6 months++ 50 to 100K€ per platform

Prices can vary based on location of resources, capabilities, experience and many other factors…

Technologies: Native vs. HybridPros Cons

Native (Swift/Objective C, Java…)

• Optimal UX• Maximum platform leverage• Best performance & size • Fewer dependancies

• Re-write of code on each platform• Higher dev costs (?)

Hybrid Native (Xamarin…) • 60 to 100% code reuse to iOS, Android and Windows,

• Compiles natively on mobile OS• Uses C# language

• Slower load time• Bigger App size• Uses C# language• Paid license ($25/mo+)

Hybrid « Semi-Native »(Titanium Appcelerator…)

• Up to 100% code reuse to iOS, Android, Windows if no coding to specific UI

• JavaScript with native APIs and UI• Resulting UI can feel close to native

• More sluggish UI• More complex development• Need to learn Titanium API• Paid license ($39/mo++)

« Full » Hybrid (Apache Cordova, PhoneGap…)

• Up to 100% code reuse• HTML5, CSS and JavaScript• Small and simple APIs

• App pages run within browser sosignificant UI issues

• Lowest performance• Fragmented landscape for

frameworks and libraries

Technologies: Native vs. Hybrid

• Bottom line: Spend no more than 60 seconds on this issue, there is no clear winner!

• (My) Recommendation:• Don’t make it a project, technology, philosophy or budget issue, make it

a resource issue!

a) If you have access to capable resources, go for native

b) If you don’t, arbitrate based on your resource language knowledge(but always think platform-specific)

Additonal Elements to Consider

• Develop your App with a user-centric approach

• Don’t trust experts, user groups, panels, your guts… only trust your users! • Au moins 50% de vos hypothèses ne vont pas produire le résultat attendu --Håkan Forss

• APIs: Structure how you access your data servers and how to integrate with third-party services/Apps

• Opt-in & Privacy: bet on transparency and control to the user

• Deep Linking and other App Store Optimization techniques

• SDKs: your App will quickly be invaded with tons of SDKs (Analytics, Crash

Monitors, Trackers, Push Notifications, Heatmaps, A/B testing…) so choose wisely

One More Thing…

It is an App World!

It is an App World…

So the World is Yours!

Thank You!@phil_duphildu@azetone.com

Some References You May Want to Look at:

• Mobile Marketing Association: http://www.mmaglobal.com/ and http://www.mmaf.fr/

• Mobile Marketing Playbook (Global): http://www.mmaglobal.com/mobile-marketing-playbook/

• MMA Yearbook (France): http://mmayearbook.com/

• Quarterly Mobile Marketing Barometer (France): http://www.mmaf.fr/barometre-trimestriel-du-marketing-mobile-en-france-4eme-trimestre-2015-infographie

• 2016 Mobile Trends (Azetone): http://www.slideshare.net/Phildu1/2016-mobile-trends-by-azetone