Apps market to be worth $15 bn in 2012

BANGALORE, INDIA: Mobile application development is a key factor when it comes to growth of any company. To address the growing market, Logica has set up a Centre of Excellence for mobile applications with skilled resources.

Logica, business and technology service company, is one of the companies that have successfully developed apps on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Symbian platforms with skilled resources having expertise in latest mobile technologies.

In an interaction with CIOL, Rakesh Aerath, director - Telecom & Innovation, Logica said, “Looking at the growth of growing mobile apps industry, we have developed innovative apps for business intelligence, journey planning, location-based services, energy trading, e-cards and insurance planning on various mobile platforms.”

He also shared his views on how 3G will add opportunity for developers to build mobile apps and how developers can monetize their apps...

Excerpts:

CIOL:  As we witness the surge in mobile apps development from the Indian developer community, what according to you are the best tools for mobile application development?

RA: Mobile platform market is fragmented with a number of operating systems. This has exponentially increased the cost of application development as developers struggle to create applications for the widest range of platforms.

Use of cross-platform tools is very helpful in such a scenario as it results in writing a single code base for the application, with minor adaptations for the compatible mobile platforms. Also as organisations increasingly adopt Bring-Your-Own-Device policy, cross platform development tools to support enterprise mobility applications on a multitude of mobile platforms provides the best solution.

CIOL: With growing market for mobile apps, smartphone data privacy is one of the key issues that a user faces. What are your tips to budding developers to address this issue?

RA: As uptake of mobile phones increases and people use it increasingly as device of choice to get online, data privacy is becoming a key issue. In addition to private information such as contacts and emails, ability to locate the user with GPS and cellular technologies adds another dimension to privacy issue.

It is therefore critical for the developers to make data privacy and security a key cornerstone in mobile app development — it should be integrated into every aspect of the application rather than being thrown in as an afterthought. Developers should incorporate data privacy and security early in the apps development lifecycle and run thorough tests. Also care should be taken to comply with local laws and regulations around data privacy.

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CIOL: How do you think 3G will add opportunity for developers to build mobile apps?

RA: Availability of bandwidth is the key factor that affects the mobile apps development. The higher bandwidth offered by 3G will provide the developers with an opportunity to develop innovative apps combining location information, real-time data and streaming multi-media content. These apps tend to be data intensive requiring good connectivity and bandwidth.

For example, navigation apps can integrate real-time traffic data to provide dynamic routing for drivers, helping them avoid congestion points by taking alternate routes. Travel apps can build augmented reality to provide layer of useful information such as interesting facts on historic buildings to users who simply point their mobile phones at point of interest. 3G opens up opportunities in online gaming and entertainment as well.

CIOL: How do you see the market for social networking, gaming and Internet in India? And what are the contributions that we can expect from Logica in these growing areas?

RA: As mobile usage increases in India and connectivity and bandwidth improves, market for social networking, gaming and Internet will grow. Further, as smartphones and feature phones become cheaper and data charges fall, more people will get online, opening up huge potential for social media and gaming /entertainment, in particular social games that can be played with a network of friends. We are focusing on this growing area through innovative application of social media in retailing, citizen services and mobile advertisements among others.

CIOL: Do you have any plans to motivate Indian developers to develop innovate applications? If yes, how?

RA: Yes. We believe in collaborative innovation and we engage with business organisations and educational institutes in India to build innovation ecosystem. We work closely with a number of engineering institutes on innovative projects using cutting edge technologies. We conduct annual Global Innovation Partnership Programme across major countries we operate in, including India, to identify innovation partners.  Enterprise Mobility is a focus area for us and forms a key part of these innovation initiatives.

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CIOL: How do you define a killer app? And what are the best practices that a developer should follow to develop mobile apps.

RA: A killer app is an application that a large number of users see value in, leading to wide adoption. Killer apps often tend to be viral in nature spreading by word of mouth or critical reviews. The large user base will create a potential for monetization for the developers. 

A few best practices to follow:

Mobile apps should be designed keeping user experience foremost in mind. Apps should be simple, easy to use and consistent with the guidelines provided by the platform. Particular care must be taken to ensure that the apps work well on all the supported devices with different form factors and hardware capabilities.

Importance of security cannot be overstated. Developers should incorporate security into every aspect of mobile apps development. They need to ensure that their apps are protected from malicious attacks and user data is not compromised in any way.

Developing apps for multiple mobile platforms will enable the developers to reach larger audience and increases monetization opportunities. However, this increases the cost and time of development as well. Developers should therefore consider the use of cross-platform development tools that will make it easier to develop applications targeting multiple platforms.

CIOL: Your tips to budding developers who wants to monetize the apps developed by them...

RA: Understand each of the payment models well to determine what will work best for your app — paid apps, freemium, ad-supported. Not all models will work for all apps. The choice will also depend on what the competition is doing — if a competitor product is offering the same benefits for free, try and create a differentiation in your product to charge for the additional premium.

Also determine whether a recurring revenue stream is possible for your app through the availability of additional content. For example, a freemium model where the base product is free but users pay for additional content allows for a recurring revenue stream that increases the lifetime value of a customer as opposed to a one-time payment model.

CIOL: How is 2012 for apps development market and what are the avenues that would open for app developers in India?

RA: App development market is expected to be worth over 15 billion dollars in 2012. While the market for consumer apps will continue to grow, we believe the real potential to be in the market for enterprise apps. The increasing availability of smartphones amongst employees has created demand from employees to be able to access organisation content on their phones.

As a result, enterprises across the globe are increasingly looking at enabling business specific apps for their employees to give them access to information on the move. Most large companies in India as well as globally are now considering incorporating smartphones into their IT plans. We believe these trends will create a surge in the demand for enterprise apps and lead to a large and growing market.