From Idea to BlackBerry App World: One Developer's Story

1. From Idea to BlackBerry App World: One Developer's Story November 9, 2009 Marcus Watkins Versatile Monkey

2. Introduction • Who am I? • What will we be covering? • Getting started with BlackBerry development • Pricing and protecting an app • Selling it through various retailers • Marketing it • Interacting with customers

3. Development – The BlackBerry Platform Choice of Two Development Environments Eclipse plug-in and RIM JDE

4. Development – The BlackBerry Platform Choice of Two Development Environments Eclipse plug-in and RIM JDE Many Devices

5. PodTrapper Users’ Device Families Over Time As Reported By PodTrapper’s Update Check

6. Development – The BlackBerry Platform Choice of Two Development Environments Eclipse plug-in and RIM JDE Many Devices Different OS Versions

7. PodTrapper Users’ Operating Systems Over Time As Reported By PodTrapper’s Update Check

8. Development – The BlackBerry Platform Choice of Two Development Environments Eclipse plug-in and RIM JDE Many Devices Different OS Versions Likely result: Multiple builds

9. Development – Look and Feel Built in widgets are plain I’m not a graphic designer

10. Development – Look and Feel Result: PodTrapper 1.0 "The UI, although quite usable, looks like a 7th graders programming project. It's not slick, as you'd expect an app on newer mobile devices to look. The UI needs some graphic love."--Review of PodTrapper

11. Development – Look and Feel “Oooh, shiny” beats technical prowess every time How to fix? Hire someone Steal it! With pre-4.6 OS it’s a bit of work

12. Development – Look and Feel Result: PodTrapper 2.0

13. Development – Networking Pro: Many transports for communicating Con: Many transports for communicating

14. Development - Networking Transcript of Conversation with Network • You: “I need an HTTP connection, is WiFi available?” • BB OS: “No” • You: “How about BES?” • BB OS: “No” • You: “How about the carrier network?” • BB OS: “Yes.” • You: “Great, thanks!” • BB OS: “I meant to say this carrier mangles your traffic”

15. Development – Background Apps Opens many possibilities Very easy to kill a user’s experience Memory availability varies significantly Garbage collection is not a panacea Need to use resources carefully

16. Pricing the App First priced at $9.99 Reviews suggested that was low Preferred incredible value to outrageously overpriced User feedback on pricing was extraordinary Unsure about future revenue

17. Protecting the App Trial required Needed some mechanism for activation Registration code tied to PIN Registration code not tied to PIN Online check-in No mechanism is optimal

18. Protection Considerations People switch devices *a lot* Not all retailers are created equal Should they pay again if their device fails? Check-in relies on me Haven’t seen any abuse

19. Selling the App Lots of retail options on BlackBerry Handango Direct Sales MobiHand BlackBerry App World Many others

20. Handango 50% Royalty for small developers Plus promotions I averaged ≈45%

21. Direct Paypal for payment processing Lots of time invested to make it work I average ≈95% No need to redirect and lose money

22. MobiHand/MobiReach 80% royalty direct, 60% if through ‘channel-site’ Lots of value-add I average ≈60%

23. BlackBerry App World 80% royalty always $200 to get started Covers 10 submissions Price floor $2.99

24. Sales – Percent Sales By Retailer Measured in units sold

25. Sales – Early Sales Near zero marketing Selling through Handango only

26. Early Sales

27. Crackberry.com Review

28. Post Crackberry.com Review Whoa, potential - Time to get serious Could track downloads Not sufficient Needed better metrics Implemented update check with anonymous usage Opened up many views into the data

29. Downloads vs. Detected New Users* Average Ratio: 20 downloads to 11 new users *Counts only App World and Direct downloads

30. New Trial Users

31. Registration Rate by First Use Date

32. Active Trial Users

33. PodTrapper Sales Per-Day Total* *7 Day Moving Average

34. PodTrapper Sales Per-Day By Retailer* *7 Day Moving Average

35. Marketing • Marketing is everything • It’s a lot of work • Critical for a new app • Create press releases • Let people know what you’re doing

36. Customer Interaction • Critical for a new app • My favorite part • Mini marketing force • Great source of new ideas • Not as much work as you’d think

37. Don’t take it personally From: XXXXXXX Fri, May 15, 2009 at 2:32 PM To: PodTrapper Support support@versatilemonkey.com This program is bull !%$# thanks for ripping me off.be talking to you soon 3 hours later… From: XXXXXXXX Fri, May 15, 2009 at 5:19 PM To: Marcus Watkins marcus@versatilemonkey.com No I'm sorry I didn't know what I was doing I got it working I love it good job

38. Closing • Extremely rewarding • Lots of fun • Keep your users happy See the end of this presentation for actual source data for most charts, or my site http://versatilemonkey.com/bdc for more.

39. Questions?

40. Thank You November 9, 2009 Marcus Watkins Versatile Monkey

41. Caution: Overwhelming Amounts of Data Ahead

42. Crackberry 12/23/2008 http://crackberry.com/podtrapper-blackberry-podcast-aggregator-and-playerCrackberry 12/23/2008 http://crackberry.com/podtrapper-blackberry-podcast-aggregator-and-player BB Geeks 26-Dec-08 http://www.bbgeeks.com/blackberry-applications/podtrapper-podcast-aggregator-for-blackberry-881792/ Blackberry cool 2/27/2009 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/02/podtrapper-podcast-software-for-blackberry-free-trial/ Rimarkable Comment 3/3/2009 http://www.rimarkable.com/5-more-free-blackberry-storm-applications-worth-downloading IAG podcast interview 3/11/2009 CNET Real Deal 3/31/2009 Engadget Mobile Podcast 4/7/2009 Sent out all PR emails 4/13/2009 Giz Wiz 4/13/2009 sent out twitter Blackberry cool 4/15/2009 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/04/podcast-software-for-blackberry-podtrapper-20-10-free-copies/ In App Store 4/15/2009 Crackberry 4/15/2009 http://crackberry.com/podtrapper-podcast-downloader-and-player-updated Mornin Paper 4/15/2009 http://www.morninpaper.com/2009/04/podtrapper-updated-download-your-favorite-podcast-onto-your-favorite-blackberry/ Leo Laporte Radio Show 4/19/2009 answer to user email was podtrapper! Extralife 4/22/2009 twittered the link Gadgetell 4/22/2009 http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/comment/blackberry-app-looks-to-handle-podcasts-better-than-itunes-podtrapper/ Berry Review 4/24/2009 http://www.berryreview.com/2009/04/24/podtrapper-20-released-podcast-downloader-gets-a-ui-facelift/ Blackberry Blog 4/24/2009 via auto feed Pimp My Berry 4/24/2009 via auto feed Berry Helpful Site Launch ??? PodTrapper not included in giveaway Ron Butler Blogspot 4/27/2009 http://ronbutler.blogspot.com/ (typo in link) Ron Butler Blogspot 4/29/2009 http://ronbutler.blogspot.com/2009/04/podtrapper-blackberry-podcatcher-and.html Berry Review (in comments) 5/11/2009 http://www.berryreview.com/2009/05/11/top-10-free-applications-on-my-blackberry-what-about-you/#comment-24605 Engadget 5/15/2009 http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/14/exclusive-blackberry-storm-2-shots/2#comments Electric Pig (UK) 5/15/2009 http://www.electricpig.co.uk/index.php?s=pod+trapper Crackberry Podcast 5/27/2009 mention from user email (Episode 36) Crackberry 6/1/2009 http://crackberry.com/podtrapper-updated-version-2-1-0#comments Blackberry News 6/1/2009 http://www.blackberrynews.com/2009/06/01/podtrapper-app-updated-to-v210/ My BlackBerry Storm 6/7/2009 http://www.myblackberrystorm.in/2009/06/07/more-podtrapper/ Blackberry Cool 6/18/2009 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/06/podtrapper-podcast-download-manager-reviewed/ Slashdot 6/22/2009 19:30:00 need I say more? Berry Review 6/23/2009 http://www.berryreview.com/2009/06/23/hot-podtrapper-dev-details-the-blackberry-development-process/ Fierce Mobile IT 6/24/2009 http://www.fiercemobileit.com/story/developer-popular-blackberry-app-shares-his-experiences/2009-06-24 Blackberry Cool 6/25/2009 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/06/podtrapper-developer-on-blackberry-development-pricing-and-marketing/ IntoMobile 6/26/2009 http://www.intomobile.com/2009/06/26/viigo-goes-live-with-podcasts-and-audio.html CrackBerry Podcast 7/10/2009 http://crackberry.com/crack-team/podcasts BlackBerry Board News 8/4/2009 http://blackberryboardsnews.com/?p=1248 (3 apps bundled) Crackberry (HD review) 8/26/2009 http://crackberry.com/honeydew-your-synchronized-todo-and-taks-list-makes-paper-lists-obsolete PodTrapper Events This is useful for seeing what caused spikes in the data

43. Trial to Register Time Trial Period: 30 days

44. PodTrapper Sales By Retailer (Data)

45. Operating Systems Over Time (Data) Operating System By Distinct PodTrapper User

46. BlackBerry Device Families Over Time (Data) Device Family By Distinct PodTrapper User