By Tim Kridel

Android has a bigger market share than iOS, so a bigger pool of potential users should mean that Android apps drive more revenue, right? Not necessarily. For example, at the LeWeb conference earlier this year, Evernote CEO Phil Libin said that his app’s average revenue per user (ARPU) for Android is $1.06 versus $1.79 for the iPhone and $2.01 for BlackBerry. Its iPad ARPU, meanwhile, is $2.18.

Why such big differences by OS and form factor? To find out, we asked Ken Gullicksen, Evernote’s vice president of corporate development. One takeaway echoes our Q&A with FourBros Studios earlier this year regarding Windows Phone: When developers fixate on OS market shares, they risk overlooking nuances that point to revenue opportunities.

By Tim Kridel

If the term “Cabir” rings a bell, it means you’ve been in mobile app development since at least 2004. That’s when Cabir, considered the first known mobile virus, showed up as a proof-of-concept effort.

Since then, mobile devices have become more sophisticated in terms of processing power and connectivity -- which in turn creates more opportunities for malware writers. Just as important, the plethora of real-time operating systems (RTOS) has given way to a handful of smartphone OSs, which make it easier to write once, hack many.

We recently spoke with Trey Wafer, McAfee senior product manager, about how mobile operators, enterprises and security companies are responding to the mobile malware threat.

 

 

By Tim Kridel

Sometime over the summer -- no one is sure exactly when -- Apple quietly launched a portal where developers and other entities can alert the company about possible app copyright infringements. “Once you have identified the app and described the alleged infringement on the following pages, we will respond via email with a reference number and will put you in direct contact with the provider of the disputed app,” says the portal’s main page.

Apple’s new process doesn’t change one thing: the need for developers to periodically check what else is available in their target markets. That’s also an opportunity to see if rival apps have added features that give them a competitive advantage.

By Tim Kridel

It takes guts to quit a good job to launch a company, especially during the worst economy since the Great Depression. But that’s what George Christopher and Suresh Kumar did in late 2011, when they launched Blue Innovations, a Chennai, India-based developer of apps for Android, iOS, Windows and other platforms. Their experiences are worth pondering if you’re a developer considering striking out on your own.

Childhood friends, Christopher and Kumar were working at separate software companies in 2009 when they started to develop apps in their spare time under the name 5dollarapps. Soon they were winning competitions and awards such as Intel’s Black Belt, successes that helped convince them to rebrand their effort as Blue Innovations and turn it into a full-time company. We recently spoke with Christopher and Kumar about how they decided when to quit their day jobs and what they did to increase their odds of success.

 

By John Tyrrell

Emotions have been running high in the HTML5 application development space in recent months. With the current worldwide explosion of mobile and web app use currently underway, many feel HMTL5 is the bright future of cross-platform development.

The vision is simple: one single, straightforward web programming language that allows the creation of anything from a basic service app to a complex game that works across any platform without the need for native development. In theory, HTML5 is a developer’s dream, reducing costs, leveling the playing field and, for app and game studios in particular, opening the floodgates to a wealth of new potential development talent. But in practice, as is often the case when disruptive new technologies enter the marketplace, the road ahead for HTML5 has some twists and turns.

But after initial exploratory efforts across the breadth of the cross-platform game development community, many reluctantly admit that HTML5 remains a promise for the future, not a current reality.

By John Moore

Crowdfunding has taken off as a financing vehicle for a variety of projects, from music albums to software. Websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo bring the funding appeal to the Internet public, and they sometimes even offer rewards to people who pledge support.

Crowdfunding may sound like an apps-to-riches story. But executing a crowdfunding campaign isn’t as simple as it may sound. Here, Scott Steinberg, CEO of strategic consulting and product testing firm TechSavvy Global and co-author of The Crowdfunding Bible, explains why.

What do you see as the most dangerous misconceptions regarding crowdfunding?

Scott Steinberg: The most common mistake is that people expect crowdfunding to be very straightforward, very easy and right for any type of project. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to run a campaign --  30 to 45 days is standard. We call it a marathon, not a sprint.

Crowdfunding tends to work best for projects that are easily communicable visually and can be summed up in a sentence. For a crowdfunding campaign to be effective, you need to capture the viewer’s attention very quickly and provide a strong call to action. You need to create a sense of urgency around the campaign and get people to dip into their pockets then and there.

 

What’s clear is that HTML5 is here to stay and it will change the face of application development. Whether it reaches its full potential next month or two years from now, its evolution is continuing apace, bringing new capabilities and new kinds of developers into its sphere of influence. Intel continues to show a keen interest in optimizing the platform for its hardware, as both the power of available hardware and of the platform continue to grow.

One advantage of a true cross-platform technology like HTML5 is that developers no longer need to rely on native technologies to deploy their apps on specific hardware platforms. That means being able to potentially circumvent app stores that demand costly native development and take a portion of the profits. The downside is that often the support of these proprietary app stores can make the difference between sinking without a trace and being the featured app of the month and reaching an audience of millions. For developers that perhaps have less need for the support that app stores can offer, HTML5 offers a significant advantage over native development, particularly when combined with native code whenever it makes sense.