This deck was presented by Bobby Gill at the General Assembly on March 13, 2013 for the Mobile App Development Bootcamp class. It outlines the steps and decision points that face startups and entrepreneurs in going from an idea to a mobile app. This deck outlines much of the content you'll find in the book "Appsters: A Beginner's Guide to App Entrepreneurship" (available on Amazon.com), in addition to being a companion to the Idea to Appster online blog. (http://www.ideatoappster.com)

1. So I have this idea for an
app…
Mobile App Development Bootcamp
Bobby Gill – March 13, 2013

3. The different kinds of apps

4. What makes a great app?
1. They deliver great user experiences.
1. They give users a reason to come
back.
1. They are designed to be easily
shared.

5. What makes a bad app?
1. They are buggy and/or poorly built.
1. They do not scale.
1. They have poorly thought out user
experiences.
1. They aren’t useful or interesting.

6. Great ideas do not make great
apps

7. 2 FLAVORS OF MOBILE APP
Mobile web app Native app
vs

8. THE APPSTER DILEMMA: NATIVE OR W

9. Hybrid Apps: Best of both
worlds?

10. CHOOSING THE RIGHT MOBILE PLATF
iOS Android Windows Phone HTML / Hybrid
• ~80% of all app • ~60% global • Strong enterprise • Write once, run
revenue smartphone pull and relatively everywhere!
generated on market share and sparse app store.
Apple iOS. rapidly growing. • Can’t do
• Nobody has one. everything a
• Saturated • Very difficult to native app can.
marketplace, hard make one app
to find niche. that runs on many
phones.

12. Android vs iOS:
marketshare vs revenue

13. How to make money with an app?
Paid Download Display Advertising “Freemium”
• Charge from $0.99+ • Earn revenue through • Give it away for free,
for each download of CPC/CPM/CPC ads and lure people in for
app. shown in the app. purchases after.
• Few people buy apps, • Very easy to setup. • 90% of app
especially on Android. downloads are free.
• Requires scale to be
successful. • Wave of the future!

14. Free version has ads,
Trial / Full Mode while full version doesn’t.
Allow purchases of
In-App Purchases “goods” or in-app
“services”
Tease with limited
Pay-walls amount of free content,
require subscription for
more.

15. Display advertising
CPM - Cost per Thousand
Impressions
• Earn revenue for each 1000 displays of
an ad.
• ~$0.20 - $5.00 CPM
CPC - Cost per Click
• Earn revenue based on the user clicking
on an advertisement.
CPA - Cost per Action
• Earn revenue based on a user completing
an action (i.e. signing up for a service,
filling out a firm, installing program)

16. Mobile app development
process
Iterate
Design &
Build Release Measure
Planning
2 – 3 MONTHS FOR FIRST RELEASE
3-6 WEEKS FOR NEXT RELEASE

19. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Mockups are easy to make and incredibly powerful
• Mockups are non-functional prototypes of
your app designed to illustrate the look and
feel of your app.
• Create a mockup before looking for quotes
or approaching engineers.
• PowerPoint and Keynote are easy to use
and powerful mockup tools.
• Keynotopia.com, Windows8Templates.com,
BlackBerry10Templates.com

20. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
3 things to remember when designing your
app:
1. Batteries don’t last forever.
1. Data plans aren’t unlimited.
1. Small screens, busy hands, poor eyes,
fat fingers.

21. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Use established mobile design metaphors
Tabs
Navigation
Flow
List - Detail

22. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Don’t leave your users hanging!
1. Use progress bars.
2. Leverage transitions and overlays.
3. Minimize time to launch app.

23. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Who will build your app?
• Optimal solution, find
CTO / Co-Founder someone to join your team
who knows how to code.
• Single developer working
Independent on a project basis.
• Cheaper and riskier than
using a development lab.
• Firms which specialize in
developing apps.
App Development Lab • Contract manufacturing.
• Larger the firm, the more
expensive.

24. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Where to find app developers?
They Make Apps ODesk Guru
http://www.theymakeapps.com http://www.odesk.com http://www.guru.com
Elance VWorker
http://www.elance.com http://www.vworker.com

25. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Tips to Offshoring development
1. Be involved, you are the project manager.
1. Specify everything! Don’t assume things are im
2. Easier to work with S. American teams due to t
3. Remember cultural differences!

26. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Tips to getting development quotes
1. Use mockups!
2. Be consistent in your
description
3. Ask for unbuffered
estimates.

27. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Keeping development costs in check
1. Reduce the number of screens.
2. Eliminate backend web
components.
3. Use out-of-box colors, fonts, and
controls.
4. Choose a small set of devices to
support.

28. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Testing is an ongoing process
• Use testflight to distribute and
test intermediary builds.
• Insist your developers create
unit tests.
• Test offline, landscape, 3g
scenarios!

29. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Your app release checklist
1. Incorporate your business.
1. Sign up for developer account.
1. Prepare app icon, screenshots, etc.
1. Finalize app name, description, tag line.
1. Reserve domain, launch support site.

30. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
3 Tips to the apple review process
1. Your app needs to pass the uptight citizens
1. Your app can’t be crap.
1. Your app can’t be hacked together.

31. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Download metrics tell you how many people tried your a

32. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
mobile analytics tell you how people use your app

33. Design & Planning Build Release Measure
Take what your learn and iterate!

34. Just because you built it, doesn’t mean anyone
will use it!
Getting people to use your app is tough!

35. Marketing your app
1. Create a promotional web site for you
2. Write press releases to announce you
3. Get your app reviewed.
4. Leverage app promotion sites.
5. Social media out-reach.
6. app focused pr agencies.
1. Paid advertising

36. Create a website to promote
your app
• Wordpress makes it easy to create a dedicated web site for your app.
• Templatic offers a Wordpress theme that makes creating a web site for your app
simple

37. Get your app reviewed
• Reviews on the app store and independent review sites are critical to getting
your app noticed.
• Integrate prompts in your app to ask users to review app on app store.
• Independent review sites inundated with review requests, expect to pay.
Site Cost to Review
148apps.com Free
The iPhone App Review Free + Paid ($39 - $270)
The Daily App Show Paid ($55 - $280)
Fresh Apps Paid ($100)

38. Facebook app advertising
• Studies show the Facebook mobile app
ad-unit is one of the best paid
advertising channels for apps. (0.74%
CTR vs 0.072%)
• Target your audience based on age,
gender, location and mobile platform.
• Cost per install typically ranges $2.20 -
$5.50

39. Social media outreach
• Use tools like Tweepi and
TweetAdder to target Twitter-
users and automate out-reach.
• Integrate your app into Twitter
Cards to have your app content
featured in-line with tweets.
• Leverage social sharing sites like
Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious
to promote your app.

40. Designing viral loops
1.) User snaps a photo with 4.) Web site asks the user
the app to download and try the
app.
Every social
media share
drives new
2.) User shares photo users to the
to their Facebook or app 3.) Friend sees photo on
Twitter through the app feed and clicks the link

42. FOR MORE information Visit the
Website
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Amazon kindle version / Amazon print
version/EBOOK version
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43. Looking for an app developer?
Blue Label Labs is a NY-based app development lab. We build
apps!
Visit http://www.bluelabellabs.com to find out about us.