Build Your Brand: There’s an App for That!
The modern age of technology has given birth to mobile applications (apps). They have made, and are continuing to make, huge waves in how consumers interact with their mobile phones, which in turn has created huge marketing opportunities for brands.
There are two giants of the mobile application world, Apple and Google Android, but how did they get there?
Apple has become the most valued brand on the planet, with a total of $153.3 billion, and this is no fluke.
Since 2009, Apple’s brand value has increased by 84%. The catalysts for this immense growth have been the iPod and iPhone. Both these devices have seamlessly amalgamated several features, providing mass audiences with an entirely new and exciting world to interact with.
While the iPod changed the way we listen to music, the iPhone has caused monumental shifts in the way we digitally interact. Applications have contributed in no small part to the digital revolution, and the critical success factor to the application industry has been the contributions made by third parties, people who have designed and built their apps to submit to the Apple or Google Android markets. These marketplaces are where the vast majority of applications are downloaded and are incredibly important marketing vehicles, critical in the distribution of applications.
Apple has had to develop several important technological facets, instrumental for the adoption of this new technology to take effect.
Bill Wong, Electronic Design, highlights important characteristics every smartphone requires to facilitate high-performance applications.
- The fundamental operating system of the device must be sufficiently complex to allow application development
- The programming framework used by app developers must be flexible and provide endless opportunities
- The interface that end users interact with must be swift and simple to use
- High-resolution touch screens & low-power, high-performance multicore processing platforms are essential to the consumer’s experience
Take a browse around the Apple iPhone 4 and you’ll witness just how all of the above have been ticked off with a massive marker pen!
Steve Jobs confessed that Microsoft’s success had been built on the “strong relationships it had made”. It’s no wonder, then, that Apple is endlessly trying to develop interesting and practical apps, whilst also building relationships with its third-party app developers. Apple has designed every feature of their mobile devices with the consumer in mind.
The software used to develop Apple apps (iOS) allows the build and submission of apps to be as easy as possible. To date, there are over 500,000 apps in Apple’s app store, which have been collectively downloaded 15 billion times. CNWIKIS.com reports that as of May 2010, Apple’s app store accounted for 59% of mobile web consumption in North America.
Apple rewards app developers by giving them a massive 70% of all revenue made by the application, and only 30% goes to the Apple Store. Apple protects successfully submitted apps by rejecting future ones that mimic them, thus safeguarding the developer’s revenue streams and brand.
Smartphones are paving the way for online interaction, engagement and entertainment. Online browsing via mobile devices is looking to surpass pc browsing by 2014, which demonstrates the sheer enormity in the shift by consumer’s to adopt this new technology.
Apple aims to pilot the take-off of the app industry and knows that the investment in the relationships it builds, specifically with app developers, will fuel its flight.
