NextWala

A secret to success for your mobile application

[Photo courtesy of Rob Enslin]

As an investor, I get to see several new companies every week.  User experience is a key dimension of success for these companies, especially the mobile applications companies.  I can't tell you how many times I see UIs that are completely cluttered and don't get to the crux of the value-add fast enough.

Now the end-user perspective: In the last few months, when at home, I'm now spending more time on my mobile device than on my laptop.  Whether it's for checking email, doing a web search, getting directions, reading blogs, looking at photos, listening to music etc., my mobile device has become my preferred computing device.  So I asked myself why this was the case.  Here’s why:

Other than the need to use a smart/super-phone such as the iPhone or Android-based device with a 3G or Wifi broadband connection, the key is that the app immediately gets me to the #1 value-add of the app... and in most cases, I don't need two fingers - just my thumb.  Some examples:

• Flixster: The first menu item is "Movies I Want to See". Instant gratification.
• Google Reader: Get me to a directory where I can read all unread posts or post by category immediately.  Great.
• Pandora: Immediately starts playing the channel that I was playing when I exited the app the last time. Perfect.
• INRIX (full disclosure: Venrock is an investor) - on the iPhone, as soon as I launch the INRIX Traffic! application, it zooms in to where I am and displays road traffic flow and incident data around me.  Great.
• Gowalla: Immediately finds places around where I am and lets me check in. Done.
• Echofon: Shows the latest stream of tweets in reverse chronological order immediately. Sets my screen at the oldest tweet that I haven't yet read. Perfect.

I wish some of these mobile apps did a better job (I still like them a lot, though):

• LinkedIn:  The latest release of the LinkedIn iPhone app is a huge step up from what LinkedIn had before. What you get now is a laundry list of functionality to pick from e.g. "Status", "Connections", "Favorites", "Invitations", "Themes" etc.  Why not pick one of these items as the first screen to drop users into?
• Tripit: The mobile app is fantastic value-add. However, why not drop me into my current trip immediately instead of showing me a menu listing all my trips?

I think the wired Web has spoiled developers in one dimension - it's given them too much real estate to play with and, as a result, they have crammed too much into that interface. An example is Flixster - unlike the mobile app where I immediately can get to 'Movies I'd like to Watch', on flixster.com, I have to list all the movies I've rated and then sort them by categorization - it takes too long and is very frustrating.   The main value-add for me on Flixster is to get to the 'Movies I'd like to Watch' list.  So effectively, Flixster has put a giant barrier between my in-the-moment need and its gratification.

The moral of the story: If you're building a mobile app, think carefully about what this one key value-added feature is and immediately get your users to that portion of the app when they launch the app.  Preferably with no clicks but at most one click. 

Notes from my App Store panel (China Mobile, RIM, Qualcomm and others)

I moderated a panel at a conference held by Silicon Valley-China Wireless Technology Association (SVCW) this past Friday. Here's the video - my commentary/learnings from the panel are right below the video (this is on LiveStream, not YouTube):

In many of the conversations here in Silicon Valley, it seems like we've already moved past the app store phenomenon and are asking questions like "Is the App Store dead?".  My viewpoint is really around "What's New?" and what will sustain the spread of similar discovery/monetization/distribution  methods across different device types and across the world.  It's also interesting to note how On-Device Portals (ODPs) and app stores have been around for years, but how the success of the iPhone App Stores is now spurring more open-ness and innovation.

Some learnings from the panel:
- China Mobile - announced the Ophone last month (August 2009). 70/30 split of revenue between developers and China Mobile - however, developers will be paid in RMB - no way to convert to dollars, as far as I can tell. Also, they will open up the address book to integrate into apps as well as enable better discovery of apps through finding out what your friends have bought (interesting - this is not possible on the iPhone app store today).  When asked about censorship of applications/content (similar to what's done with the Internet in China), the answer was that there is a legimate balance to be struck between and open-ness and security - China Mobile provides verification related to viruses, non-device-friendly applicatoins, customer support costs etc. China Mobile now has a Research Lab in Silicon Valley which is hunting for new technologies to take back to China - contact Shanquan Bao at the Research Center if you're interested.

- RIM - 70%+ of RIM's customers are now consumers, as opposed  to enterprise subscribers.  RIM has ~5000 apps on its Application Center. They have launched App Centers in 30 countries so far. Lowest price-point for apps is $2.99 - they want avoid the real cheap/free apps.

- HipLogic - The company will launch an app store & development platform with Carphone Warehouse in the UK. May 2009 press release here. Interesting to note how a device retailer (with market power and a long history of providing value-added services on top of devices) is thinking about platforms, discovery and distribution for itself, rather than leaving this up to the operators or device OEMs.

- Qualcomm -Qualcomm has paid out $2 billion to developers over the past 8 years, since the launch of the BREW platform.  Qualcomm has launched its Qualcomm Plaza Retail strategy for driving foot traffic to BREW-powered operator app stores. The subscription model has been most successful for its apps over the past several years (this is completely lacking from the iPhone App Store for now).

- HiSoft - Charles Yu had a great view on the comparison between mobile app stores in different countries. Charles' view on app stores shifting power away from mobile operators toward developers was that this is the case in the US but definitely not the case in China and other emerging markets.  He said that, in China, this control is for others to pry out of the hands of the operators.  Subscription accounts for 70-80% of application revenue in China.  Charles also had a great point around how operators and developers interact around controversial apps or content in China - he said that operators essentially hold back payment from developers until they comply.

- Aeroprise -  Dan Turchin, CEO, said that the app store doesn't make sense for enterprise apps distribution or monetization - Aeroprise provides mobile enterpise apps.  However, they are close partners with RIM. He also mentioned a site that tracks how much sleep the Apple iPhone application reviewers are getting - www.148apps.biz!  8500 apps submitted per week. Reviewing 2000 per week, so backlog growing 6500 per week. Staff of 40 full-time people at Apple doing these reviews - unsustainable, according to Dan.

Ambient internet devices take hold

Photo by Laihiu

As more and more type of devices get connected to the Web, I'm seeing a new set of entrepreneurs emerge who are comfortable taking formerly disconnected devices and service-enabling those devices with audience-appropriate content and applications - this is not always easy, as the interplay of hardware, software and cloud-based services creates a complex web of engineering, marketing, support, and business model issues.   In addition, the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones as the low-end commodity magnet to any specialized CE device is a big threat.

Examples of service-enabled devices include GPS devices (e.g. Navigon), MP3 players (e.g. Zune), media players (e.g. Archos), radio (e.g. XM, Slacker) and  portable gaming devices (e.g. Sony PSP).  I believe appropriate experiences will also be created on completely new ambient Web devices such as the Chumby, wifi digital photo frames, car keys, watches etc.  Stacey Higginbotham has a good preview of a few wi-fi connected devices on GigaOm.

Some of the software elements that are getting popular across these Web-enabled devices include: Embedded Linux, Webkit browsers and web services APIs such as Twitter, Google Maps, Flickr, etc..  And software entrepreneurs are creating sets of services that work across multiple web-enabled device types - an example is Ambient Devices and I believe Chumby will also make a play here with the Chumby Widget Network.

Sekai Camera and Terminator

At the recent TechCrunch50 event, Tonchidot's Sekai Camera provided an excellent new example of how high bandwidth, high processing power/ image processing, hi-res displays, the geoweb and mobility can produce a seemingly science-fiction-like result:

Reminds me of this Terminator-like effect:

What happens when high-bandwith (3G, WiMax, Wifi) comes to digital screens in your car... can you imagine a heads-up display like this:

Photo by Erik Pawasser and Wired