Mobile app business is harder to succeed

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"Sohu It News" Beijing time July 12 News, the past in the mobile area of the growth method no longer used.

Once upon a time, there was a formula to win the move:

1, the development of super good things.

2, let Apple Google help you, in the launch of a good PR.

3. Watch your app climb up the charts.

4, buy some inexpensive installed capacity, further promote the development of the program.

5, wait for success.

This has worked well in the past few years, and is particularly effective for new startups and independent developers. The slow approach is ineffective and there is no way to replace it. Although you are looking forward to a richer and larger mobile ecosystem that brings opportunities for mobile growth, it is increasingly difficult to achieve early success in the mobile arena.

It's just a matter of time. As I've said before, eventually all marketing strategies will be slow to expire. In marketing, first-time winners (at least in the first stage), if you develop some new gadgets, using some small strategy to promote, people will respond, whether you are innovative, or buy a channel to promote. But ultimately your strategy becomes the best way to operate across the industry, and the responder drops because your customers are getting used to the technique.

History repeats itself in the channels that drive the success of mobile apps. We'll talk today about how the ecosystem matures, including some aspects: increased competition in app stores, increased CPI costs per installs, editorial changes, and changes in overall investment trends.

1, the program shop is bigger, the product difference is more difficult.

First look at the most obvious changes: the number of apps is obviously getting bigger. Apps that were successful from 2009 to 2010 now face 4-8 times more competition.

Whether you develop photo programs or develop shopping, information, local, movie, and news programs, there are 2-3 of the best quality competitors in all fields waiting. For new mobile developers, the goal is no longer the first round of getting into the amateur app. Today, more difficult.

The following figure shows an increase in the number of apps:

2, the cost of each installation is rising

Initially, it was relatively inexpensive to buy app installed capacity. You have a lot of options, from mobile ad networks, to buying free app services every day, and so on. More importantly, there was not a large number of enterprises to buy, so the price is relatively low.

Now, the price rockets are rising every time they are installed, one because demand is growing and the other is lack of supply. Once, only a short period of time paid for the installation of the supply shrank, because Apple blocked some providers, and some other warning. At the same time, mobile games are beginning to understand the huge monetization capabilities of iOS and Android, and they are scrambling for installed capacity.

The figure below shows CPI growth in the first half of 2012:

3, editorial team further incline to the strategic goal of the platform

Indeed, Apple and the Google App Store's editorial team have helped some apps develop, but now they are more inclined to consumer demand and more concerned with platform goals.

Apple, for example, is more concerned with the number of user installations in the top 25 apps, which have a great experience, from well-known brands, and are less concerned with the entire 1 million program's needs. This is easy to accept as a consumer, but it is bad for new developers to enter the market.

As for Google, it has been more concerned about tablet devices in the past few quarters. Although it has a large share of the handset market, the ipad and the Andorid tablet are a completely different situation. Although the Android tablet market is small, Google is still trying to encourage you to develop a tablet program. It also cares about Google +, but the product is also in a completely different situation.

4. For new consumer mobile apps, investment has dried up.

Investors are still optimistic about the entire mobile market, but it is hard to convince investors that there is a high risk of capital being put on the nascent consumer mobile ventures. The Golden age of consumer mobility experiments from 2009 to 2012 has passed, when many seed funds entered a large number of mobile companies, and now the situation has changed.

Look at Combinator Demo day to know that, in the late 2011, more than 50% of the participating enterprises are consumer mobile class. Now, SaaS, consumer hardware classes prevail. Movement has always been an aspect, but it is no longer the main focus.

5, a glimmer of hope

Despite the fact that these difficulties do exist, I am still confident of future movements. It is still the best platform for creating new businesses, but there must be a choice, which must revolve around the new difficulties of the 2013, and it will not work to simply repeat the effective methods of the past.

Even more difficult, but since the birth of the computing industry to this moment, the opportunity to move inside is still the biggest. Although some good program installed capacity of billion, but the entire market has billions of of equipment, we have just begun. Let's look forward to the next 10 years.