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A Sneak Peak
APP DEVELOPERS
IN 2013, THE BIG
THREE, AND
SAFTEY BELTS
ANDROID 4.2
JELLY BEAN SDK
AVAILABLE
JUST PEACHY: PEACH
PELLENS MUSINGS
ON WINDOWS 8 DEV
DEV INTERVIEW:
ABOUT GLITCH
GAMES
EASIER TO DO:
FIND BIGFOOT OR DEV A
MILLION DOLLAR APP?
WWW.APPDEVELOPERMAGAZINE.COM
www.appdevelopermagazine.com
EDITORS NOTE
App Developers in 2013, The Big
Three, and Safety Belts
AppDeveloperMagazine.com
changes, so will we but we will always
be an advocate for only the best information to provide to you.
There will be monthly snapshots of
who's on top in the app stores, one of a
kind interviews, secrets from the pros,
monetization tips, articles to help you as a
developer, and so much more. The best
part is it's all going to be compiled in a
monthly magazine that you can hold in
your hands and take time away from all of
the electronic distractions that surround
you daily. Also, our website is going to
provide up to the minute news and information as well, and is a place where you
can read all of our issues online.
One of my favorite all-time quotes
comes from the famous NBA basketball
player Michael Jordan, Never be afraid to
fail. I know as our magazine grows and
many talented mobile developers get their
hands on our publication there might be
some mistakes pointed out, and errors
that need corrected. That is part of our
maturing process and my personal goal
for you the reader, is that we will always
be here to take your criticisms and your
praises, and pour them into making App
Developer Magazine the best publication
that a mobile developer can have.
2013 is already looking to be a huge
year in the mobile industry. I think it will
be the year iOS, Android, and Windows
phone square off, perhaps the year we will
finally see the Gold Rush stabilize, and
possibly even the year that mobile piracy
finally gets squashed. Whatever happens
you can bet that will be right there in the
middle of it, with our pen and paper ready
to report back anything we find.
On a final note, I want to extend a
warm thank you to all of the developers
who have already shown an overwhelming response of support to our announcement of bringing this magazine to fruition.
And to our publisher for seeing our vision
and recognizing the importance of the
information we provide to the mobile
developer community.
Yours Truly,
Richard Harris
Executive Editor
Daily News
The most complete outlet for news
affecting app developers with breaking
news updated daily.
Mobile Tech
Find out emerging trends and new introductions of smart phones, tablets, and
other technology utilizing apps.
App Markets
Coverage of top app development markets
including Apple, Android, Windows as
well as coverage of HTML5, Amazon and
emerging third party markets.
Monetization
Find tips, tricks and other strategies to
maximize the revenue potential for your
apps.
And Much More!
App Developer Magazine is published monthly by App Developer
Magazine, LLC. Bulk rate postage paid at Dallas, Texas, and additional
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part of this publication or its Website may be reproduced without written permission of App Developer Magazine, LLC. App Developer
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currency, or adequacy of any facts, views, opinions, statements, and
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App Developer Magazine, 2754 East Division Street, Springfield,
Missouri, 65757 or e-mail at info@appdevelopermagazine.com.
|3
APP STORE
OUR TAKE
In the Google Play store
apps can be named
exactly the same thing
even if from different
developers because they
use the package name to
distinguish the app. Its
interesting that a simple
word like memory can
be restricted from being
used because its so
common and describes
more of a function than
a title. But developers
always need to be careful of infringing on copy
written material.
BETA 3
PUSH
NOTIFICATIONS
FROM AZURE
SERVICES FOR IOS
Apple developers now have
another choice for push
notification services from
within their app via a new
Microsoft offering called
Azure. The service uses a
Microsoft cloud server in
the back-end to communicate with iOS apps for
authentication, notification,
and saving data to the
cloud. The service is free
for the first 10 services registered. Microsoft says
Azure is the easiest way to
fire notification to your
users. Get more info at
windowsazure.com
ANDROID
Amazon Appstore
Comes to Japan
screen in locked.
Also available is
multiple user support,
which allows separate
accounts on any
Jellybean device. The
system settings have
been updated to support multiple users as
well.
RTL (right-to-left)
allows you to build user
interfaces that gracefully transform layout orientation to support languages that use rightto-left (RTL) UIs and
reading direction, such
as Arabic and Hebrew.
You can now
embed fragments
inside fragments. This
is useful for a variety of
situations in which you
want to place dynamic
and re-usable UI components into a UI component that is itself
dynamic and re-usable.
Renderscript computation functionality has
also been enhanced.
OUR TAKE
This API update
has been a long
time coming but it
looks to be worth
the wait, with the
multi-layering
feature and inside
maps I'm sure
developers will find
creative ways to
utilize.
WINDOWS
Windows 8 Hacks
Could jeopardize developer
revenue streams.
Visual Studio 2012
Microsoft has released
Visual Studio 2012
Update 1.
Surface App Development
Microsoft should encourage app development.
Rubicon Mobile
Shares dev tips for
Windows app store
SURFACE PHONES
BY MICROSOFT
RUMORED
It looks like Microsoft is
out to extend its Surface
brand
into
mobiles
and start
selling
handsets
under its
own
brand.
Rumor has it that the
software giant has signed
a contract with Chinese
manufacturer Foxconn,
which is also the manufacturer of iPhone. The making of the new Microsoft
Surface handsets is set for
next year.
Also rumored is
information that upstream
suppliers are also going
to provide part of a new
Amazon phone, which
could mean that next year
could be really interesting
for mobile tech.
APP STATS
TOP APP
MOVERS AND
SHAKERS
Each issue we will to provide a
snapshot of the top apps in each
market. While rankings change
daily its nice to see something that
stamps out a whos who in the
app stores that you will be able to
compare month to month.
What surprises us most this
month is that we dont see more
Holiday themed apps in the top
rankings, usually developers can
ride the wave of the season, but I
think developers are starting to
think more long-term success
rather than bursts of seasonal
revenue.
In the iOS store for this issue
weve seen little movement in the
paid realm with the giants like
Facebook, Pandora, and Angry
Birds ruling there. Its no surprise to
see Gmail is in the top 10 free
apps, with the release of their new
client for iOS (partially HTML5
based).
Google Play top 10 paid is
dominated mostly by games, as is
the top Free. But apps like Foxfi
that turn your Android into a
Bluetooth or Wifi hotspot have also
made their mark this month.
The Amazon app store is a
mixed bag ranging from utility apps
to games all of which play nicely
on the Kindle Fire of course, well
keep our eye on movers for our
premier issue that use the new
Amazon map API.
And in the Windows market its
no surprise to see Facebook,
YouTube, and Skype in the top free
because they were missing on the
initial release of Windows 8. In the
top paid its interesting to see more
utility apps than games being
downloaded.
Everything that
can be invented
has been invented.
Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, 1899
Yeah Right!
Yes there are now over half a million apps, yes 1% of
apps make 90% of the revenues, so whats the use right?
Wrong! Yes, its not easy and yes, there is still money to
be made. Work smart with real world information at App
Developer Magazine and AppDeveloperMagazine.com.
My Thoughts on the
Windows Phone 8
Marketplace
JUST | PEACHY
By Peach Pellen
ketplace,
questioning whether
or not they
might benefit from
the added visibility
that goes with having a fraction of
the apps to compete with compared to the App Store or Google
Play.
Honestly, it's a tough call. On
the one hand Microsoft just doesn't
have the audience Apple or Google
do. Gartner Inc. reported back in
November that Microsoft's current
(global smartphone) market share
was only 2.4% - ouch.
There's also the fact that with
120,000 apps in the store as of
October increased visibility for your
app isn't a sure thing. Statistically it
may be around 7 times less crowded the iOS or Android marketplaces
but bloated / 7 doesn't exactly
equate to empty.
On the plus side a developer's
license is only $99, (the same as
Apple charges,) and you get to
keep 100% of your revenue until
you hit the $25,000 mark, at which
point Microsoft will start taking
20% instead of the 30%
which has become industry
standard.
At the unveiling of the first
Nokia Windows 8 phone, (the
Lumia,) Steve Ballmer said "The
next app developer to hit it really,
really big will be a developer on
Windows." and to be honest I'm
pretty skeptical about
that; I think the next
app developer to hit
it big will be, as we
so often see, someone developing
cross-platform for
iOS and Android.
Like RIM,
Microsoft seems to
be trying to sell
developers the same gold rush
dream but without the same history of huge payday stories we see
coming from iOS and Android. It's
a nice gesture but without the market share to really back it up.
On a personal level I'd like to
see Windows Phone 8 take off; not
because I'm a Microsoft fan, (I'm
I'm a f irm
believer in
giving every
marketplace
a fair go
Peach Pellen has been involved in mobile app development for iOS and Android devices since
2009 and has over 60 published apps in the mobile market. She is also a support engineer for
Ansca Mobile, and operates PeachPellen.com and Techority.com in her spare time.
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DEV | INTERVIEW
We have a simple
system implemented. We
work on one large app,
which at the moment is the
episodic adventure game
Forever Lost, and during
this process we take
temporary breaks to work
on smaller projects
which take around one
week to create.
Ideas come to you at
the strangest of times and
it is important, especially
with the increasing number
of apps available now, to be
as innovative and creative
as possible. It is not simply
a case of sitting down and
thinking of an app idea.
During the development
process of the larger game
our minds are constantly
flowing and creating new
ideas for apps. As soon as
we think of an idea, no
matter how basic, we write
it down and when we feel
like a break we put together prototypes of the ideas
we like the most.
About
Glitch Games
Tell us about
Glitch Games
Glitch
Games consists of one artist, Simon, and one
coder, Graham (shown above),
and we have been developing
DEV | INTERVIEW
with the in-app structure.
From our experience, if a
customer expects to receive
an app for free and then is
required to pay for content
from within the app, then
many feel like they have been
conned.
We used the in-app function for our first few apps so
that the customer could get
a feel for the game before
they had to fork out any
money. We thought this
would be a bonus for our
customers, but in the end it
was more hassle than its
worth. Our two most recent
paid apps were released for a
set price and these have
brought in around 90% of
our total revenue for the year
alone.
Which mobile ad networks
do you prefer?
We havent had much
success with monetizing
from adverts however that
may be less to do with the
networks themselves and
more to do with our apps. So
far we have tried both
Inneractive and InMobi and
although were not really the
right people to talk about
which one is better in
regards to monetization we
can say that they both have
great customer support from
our experience with the few
times we needed any help. If
we try adverts again we are
going to test RevMob.
Share some general
revenue numbers on a
monthly or yearly basis.
Our revenue for the first
C om i ng S o o n !
G e t S ch o o le d!
App Developer Magazine and AppDeveloperMagazine.com are the definitive ers and offers big picture analysis on the App development industry.
resources for the App developer. The magazine is offered in print, digital, and AppDeveloperMagazine.com provides a comprehensive review of daily
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DEV | INTERVIEW
process of the larger game our
minds are constantly flowing and
creating new ideas for apps. As
soon as we think of an idea, no
matter how basic, we write it
down and when we feel like a
break we put together prototypes
of the ideas we like the most.
Which development platform
do you use most, any favorites?
We have been using the
Corona SDK since the early days
of its life and even though it has
its issues and limitations, just like
any other framework, we have
stuck with it because it allows us
to build prototypes very quickly
which, more times than not, we
can then use the same code to
actually create the non-prototype
builds.
Corona also makes cross platform development across iOS and
Android very easy, even though
Android hasnt really made us any
money yet were hoping that the
Android version of Forever Lost
will do better.
Biggest challenges in mobile
development for you?
For us the biggest challenge
has been in marketing, before
starting out we had no experience
with this side of things and essentially we were naive. We simply
assumed that if we make something good then people will buy it,
which to the most part is actually
true, but the phrase should really
be that if you make something
good, and people know about it,
they will buy it.
We have been getting better
at marketing with each successive
app and one of the things we
have learned the hard way is that
marketing starts from day one.
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Imagine Develop
Launch
Elements
DEV | ADVICE
To A Successful Game
One of the
most exciting
parts of being
at Ansca, is
that I get to
see a lot of
your great
games all the
way from
inception to
being released
on the App
Store and/or
Android
Market.
By Carlos Icaza
A lot of you
send me your
games to figure out a problem here and
there, or ask
me questions
about how to
do XYZ or thisand-that. Some
of you send me assets without
blinking; other of you are reluctant to send me your assets
because your game is the next
Angry Birds and you dont want
anyone to see your creation.
Some of you are reluctant to
send me the code because the
code is not pretty. Trust me,
What makes a
game successful?
And with apologies
to Cookie Monster,
here we go
Imagine Develop Launch
DEV | ADVICE
E for the key elements to a successful game
1. The game must be
engaging.
2. The game must be
entertaining.
3. The game must be
enjoyable.
4. The game must be elastic.
5. The game must be
expandable.
6. You must game must
expose the user to other
players.
7. A game starts in an
endemic area.
8. A game, once it reaches
mass appeal, it becomes
an epidemic. It is viral and
at this point unstoppable.
While it is difficult to articulate
everything in detail, I will do my
best to see if I can make sense for
each of the elements I mentioned
for a successful game.
A game must be engaging!
Think of having an engaging conversation the conversation can
be enjoyable or entertaining. Not
all conversations are enjoyable, nor
all conversations are entertaining.
But if it has one or the other, you
at least have three items from the
list: engaging, entertaining, and
enjoyable.
Now, think of a movie that is
entertaining not all the movies
that you consider to be entertainment may be enjoyable, but they
could be engaging. The movie can
have a plausible story that makes it
entertaining, but may not be
engaging. But certainly a movie
that is enjoyable can be quite
entertaining and engaging at the
same time. Think of it this way:
Entertaining = mass appeal.
Simple.!
Now onto the rest! A game
must also be expandable, some-
And remember:
all apps and games
no matter how
successful are
ephemeral.
tion is no elixir. It doesnt guarantee your game to become a 40 million download juggernaut.
Nevertheless, having some of
these key elements in your game
will make your game that much
more enjoyable, entertaining,
and/or engaging to play and if
you get to that, you will automatically get more exposure.
After that, you could become
endemic, and turn out to be the
next big gaming epidemic!
Carlos Izaca has been shipping industry standard software since 1991 shipped software titles
such as Adobe Illustrator, Flash Authoring, Mobile Flash-Lite, Deneba Canvas and a others. He
started a mobile framework company in 2007 called Ansca, Inc. and games/apps created with
the Corona SDK have been played by over 55 million users. Currently he is a technical advisor to
several startups.
DEV | ADVICE
Easier to Do:
Find Bigfoot
or Develop
the Next
Million
Dollar App?
By Richard Harris
Tired of fighting to
get your app noticed?
www.appdevelopermagazine.com
AppDeveloperMagazine.com.
DEV | ADVICE
it hard to play, is it easy to
play, etc. If it's a utility app, does it
do something that I will use every
day or is it a real niche type of
app that I'll only use once in a while
and thus probably wouldn't be
curious to know if it worked in the
first place.
It's a Buzz
This one is obvious. Does everyone have this app? Is every
one talking about this app? If you
can get a social buzz working about
an app, your chances have more
than tripled to be successful in the
market.
Named Well
Million dollar apps also have
catchy names. When you think
of a successful app such as
Angry Birds you immediately
know what the app is, what
the app does, and what it
looks like.
Just
Richard Harris has worked in mobile development since 2003, and has been in IT administration for 15 years. He is the CEO of Moonbeam Development with over 200 apps published in
the market. He is also the founder of LunarAds mobile cross promotion and mediation platform.
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