According to the Developer Economics report from VisionMobile, app stores have streamlined the route to market for mobile applications, however,there is sporadic use of app stores outside the Apple and Android platforms
The report explores mobile app development issues from surveyed mobile app developers including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Java. On the good side their findings show that app stores have reduced the average time-to-shelf
by two thirds: from 68 days across
Top Obstacles and Issues to App Developers:
1. Exposure
The number one issue for mobile developers to be the lack
of effective
marketing channels to increase application exposure, discovery and
therefore customer acquisition. This was an issue mostly for Flash and
iPhone developers, followed by Symbian, Android and Java ME developers.
Developers reported persistent challenges with getting traffic, customer
visibility or in short "being seen". One developer put it succinctly:
"It's like going to a record store with 200,000 CDs. You'll only look at
the top-10."
2. Submission and Certs
Application submission and
certification are two of the top four
challenges for mobile developers, according to our survey. Overall, the
most important issue related to certification that was raised by nearly
40 percent of respondents is its cost
3. Low Revs for Devs
The
economics for long-tail developers is dubious. At least 25 percent of
Symbian, Flash, Windows Phone and Java ME
respondents reported low revenue share as one of the key go-to-market
challenges. Most app stores are still playing catch-up to Apple in terms
of the revenue share they are paying out to the developer. As one
developer put it. The revenue share
was not a major challenge for iPhone or BlackBerry respondents.
Less than 25 percent of respondents stated that revenue
potential was one of the best factors of their platform; on average
revenue potential ranked last among "best aspects" of each platform,
showing how mobile software development is still plagued by poor
monetisation in 2010. Only five percent of the respondents
reported very good revenues,
above their expectations, while 24 percent said their revenues were
poor.
Challenge 4. Localization.
Another issue highlighted was the lack of localizedd apps. The lack of localizeed apps on Android presents the number one
opportunity for alternative app stores.
Challenge 5: Application planning and testing
Application planning and testing is a core part of taking an
application to market. Research confirms that planning techniques
are near-ubiquitous for application developers. Yet, small development
firms have limited means today to beta test and peer review their
applications with a cross- section of representative users. Full report is available for free
download,