Freemium Comes of Age.

In a previous blog post, dated April 2011, we shared insights into the different ways of monetizing apps.  Since then we have seen many developers adopt the freemium model as they became more adept at balancing the proportion of free they give away and the premium they charge.

Key of course is increasing traffic (to your app) and securing premium conversions while minimizing cost. In 2011, Djuzz distributed more than  90.7 million downloads of 20,000 free & freemium titles, at no charge to brands and developers. 

App Monetisation Secrets (Part IV)

By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games

Try & Buy, Virtual Goods, Mobile Ads, Mobile Rewards, Service Subscriptions, Upgrades & Updates, Cross-selling, Mix & Match . . . the number of revenue strategies has blossomed along with the market for mobile apps.

Which strategy works best? Which is the most lucrative?

I can't answer that . . . because there is no single monetisation strategy that will work across markets. You really have to do your research. And it's extremely important to have a business model in mind from Day 1. Waiting until a new app is finished before sorting this out is a sure way to lose money.

Don't despair, though. While it's particularly difficult to build a game that will be successful in both developing and developed markets, I think there are three inter-related key variables for developers to keep in mind as they create games and take them to market.

App Monetisation Secrets (Part III) : 2007 - 2011

By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games

Apple's introduction of the App Store in 2007 revolutionised the mobile industry. Games and application developers were freed from the shackles of phone manufacturers and carrier portals. They could sell directly to consumers and in multiple markets. Development cycles shortened, go-to-market strategies were refined. But the iPhone platform only represents three percent of the global market and all the hype led even more developers to try their luck, making it harder and harder for a single app to stand out (and be profitable).

Faced with yet another crossroads, developers innovated and found a new business model: freemium, a mix of free content and premium paid services.

There are at least half-a-dozen freemium models. Each offers a potential solution to the issue of distribution and profitability. The techniques can be used anywhere – websites, wapsites, OEMs, on-deck portals, indie store fronts like Djuzz and even via email. But of course there are also pitfalls. Today, join me, as I try to make sense out of Try & Buy, Mobile Ads, Virtual Goods and more.

App Monetisation Secrets (Part 2)

By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games

At the turn of the millennium (which sounds very cool to say, but was really just a little over a decade ago), app developer houses were popping up all over the place. 

Large developers made money by selling content directly to phone manufacturers like Nokia.  Sometimes they received one-off payments, but more often revenue sharing was the preferred model.  Garage developers, meanwhile, struck deals with bigger companies, which could bundle their content for sale to the Nokias and Ericcsons.

But as the number of development houses mushroomed, margins became smaller and smaller and it just became too difficult to turn a profit. Pay-per-download seemed the way to go, but like the other models, this revenue stream was highly dependent on the carriers, which created a number of problems for developers.

App Monetisation Secrets (Part 1)

By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games

"Freemium". Is it the golden grail for application developers? It's certainly the key buzzword in the industry right now. But not that long ago pay-per-download and embedding were on top.

Developing cool and useful mobile applications isn't easy. Making money off them can be even harder. Even if you believe in freemium, there are so many different models – Try & Buy, Upgrades, Mobile Rewards . . . what to do?

Well, let's start with a sense of history. Today's piece is the first of a multi-part series in which I'm going to take a closer look at the evolution of mobile monetisation, explore why some business models work and others don't, then share reflections about what's to come in the near future.

ADIDAS, INDIA & THE WORLD CUP

By Romulo “Je” Alipio and Manish Mishra

This week we'd like to share with you an interesting story about adidas, which launched a hugely successful

mobile application in India during the World Cup and used the BuzzCity Advertising Network to promote it.

Now, you don't normally associate football with India, but during the World Cup a lot of us were just as crazy about the game as fans elsewhere.

Adidas made it easy for Indian users to follow the action.

And the combined reach of the Djuzz platform and the BuzzCity ad network ensured that adidas' targeted audience knew all about the application.

DISCOVERY

By Romulo “Je” Alipio, Executive Producer, Games

DISCOVERY is the big buzzword in mobile now. Everyone is talking about application discovery, content discovery, game discovery, social network discovery . . .

Not long ago, application development was a dying industry. Content was tied to telco portals, which restricted the content available to consumers. Then, along came the Apple App Store whose success is fostering imitation by Nokia, Google and others.

But if you're a mobile consumer, how do you find what you want? And how do you do it quickly?

Mobile users have demonstrated they do not want to spend much time looking for content. Time searching is time not-playing. And the extra time online also often adds to consumer phone bills.

So, at Djuzz, we spent time thinking about how to make it easy for consumers to find what they're looking for, whether it's a specific title or a genre. We also designed the portal to dynamically highlight the most popular content.

Let's take a closer look. In this blog, I'd like to walk you through the user interface.