Mobile App Europe 2014 Notes

Building, Running, Growing, Engaging, Monetizing, Measuring – 360 degree for Mobile Apps with Google

Notes on a keynote by Jens Bussmann (Google) at the Mobile App Europe 2014.

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The keynote startet off presenting two images showing the crowd in Rome from the time a pope was to be elected. The first one was taken in 2005. On this picture you could see just a single little feature phone. Remember that at time, Smartphones as we know them today were not on the market yet. The second picture was taken in 2013. On that picture, there are mobile screens just everywhere.

Since this pair of images got viral, you can easily find them by yourself, but here is the original place: What a difference 8 years makes (nbc news on instragram). Although comparing those two photos seems to be somewhat misleading (e.g. refer to Pope Election Photos Tweeted By NBC News Are Misleading), you get the point that within a few years the usage of mobile devices of all kinds changed tremendously.

Some statements

• Not only “Mobile-First”, but “Mobile-only”
  Personal side note: For some segments of the market that might even hold true as of today. But especially talking of best-ager consumers, I have the feeling that desktop computers still have a large share in their access to applications.
• There are 2.5 Billion mobile users worldwide
• Users do not only use an application, but they are socially connected
• Switching to another application is easy for the user. So keep your users engaged.
  You have to ensure that users use your application.

The first statement from Google’s philosophy - “Ten things we know to be true”:

Focus on the user and all else will follow

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Then Bussmann sketched the four steps to a successful mobile app along with Google’s offer for the particular stage:

1. Build Your Game

Google Cloud Platform

• Most important: helps focus on your user

Example Snapchat:

• 3-4B$ worth, but
• just 1.5 employees for backend services

2. Grow Your Audience

86% of the times users spend in applications,
e.g. not searching the web -> In app advertising

3. Engage Your Players

Engagement vs. Monetization (diagram)

###Google Analytics

If you have data you have to extract the information that makes a difference.
Example: World cup game Brazil-Germany: rather balanced statistics (ball contacts, goal chances, …), but 1:7 in goals.

4. Monetize Your Application

Sell your application!

Example of an application (did not catch the name):

• 1B active users on Android
• 1.5 growth in app downloads
• 2.4 growth in revenue from Q1/2013-Q1/2014

In App Purchasing AdMob integrating with Google Analytics.

http://cloud.google.com/starterpack complete with one-app

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