Business And Leadership, Ireland's Business News Service

Two years ago the mobile apps industry was confined to the walled garden portals of mobile operators and if you asked the average phone user what an app was they’d look at you as if you had two heads.

And then something mysterious happened. Apple brought out a phone, or an iPhone to be precise. Simultaneously, an App Store was created on the iTunes service and funny little widgets or applications known as apps, ranging from free and paid-for games, utilities and entertainment software, became all the rage.

A revolution was born – there are now over 85,000 apps available on the App Store, while some two billion apps to date have been downloaded, including over half a billion in the second quarter of 2009. Apple netted some US$1bn in app sales in the first year and shares 70pc of revenues with the 125,000-strong developer community in the iPhone Developer programme.

What people are beginning to realise is that each and every app – a piece of software that can do everything from manage your bills, teach you to speak better French, make rude noises, Twitter with friends, Skype your family, consume a mobile version of your favourite media brand or access the entire Irish phone book – could represent the new frontier of advertising.

In the US, major brands from Pepsi and Dunkin’ Donuts to MasterCard and Audi have developed apps that ensure continued loyalty and brand affinity, and overall provide useful services to users.

One of the best examples of a business creating an app that has struck widespread brand appeal is US lighter manufacturer Zippo, which created an app that replicates an image of a typical Zippo flame. The popular app was downloaded by over five million people – many of whom don’t even smoke – and is becoming a regular fixture during ballads at gigs.

Kraft Foods’ popular app, the iFood Assistant, is one of the most sticky iPhone apps with 50pc of people who downloaded it continuing to interact with it three months after their first download, giving the brand continued loyalty.

Media brands BBC, Time magazine and Sky News are all prominent fixtures on iTunes because they realise that being on the screen that users carry with them at all times is a good way of ensuring reader loyalty.

The Irish experience

Compared with their US counterparts, Irish brands have yet to fully embrace apps opportunities. But that is changing. Irish software firm Avego focuses on the public transport market worldwide. The company’s app provides personalised information for bus passengers, tailored maps and online payment on the go. Avego’s iPhone application has been used in over 60 countries worldwide, and sparked a global media buzz on its release, with Avego being featured prominently by The New York Times, CNN, Fortune, and named by Silicon Valley’s San Jose Mercury News as one of the most innovative technology companies at that time.

The Irish Times-owned property portal MyHome.ie recently teamed up with Phoneware, a Wicklow-based software development company, to deliver the MyHome search experience on the iPhone. The clever application offers users access to GPS-based search listings, photos and floorplans, as well as agent contact details and integrated mapping through Google maps. Users can also search using a range of filters such as house price, property type or number of bedrooms.

New kids on the block

While Apple got the apps revolution rolling, it must be noted that other mobile platforms are entering the fray. The omnipresent Google is in the middle of bringing out the second version of its Android mobile operating system, which could feature on a number of manufacturers’ handsets. Unlike Apple, which has strict criteria around who can put an app on its store, the Android Marketplace will be for open source applications, making it easier for brands to build and sell apps.

Cork-based consumer review website LouderVoice has become the first Irish company to launch a Google Android application, putting the power of user reviews into the hands of Android users everywhere on the planet. The LouderVoice application enables people to write and find reviews when they are out and about with their Android phone, making full use of cell tower location and GPS to give users the reviews they need for where they are.

Other manufacturers like Research In Motion are creating app stores, and Microsoft, which is bringing out a new Windows 6.5 mobile operating system, will create the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

The biggest mobile manufacturer in the world, Nokia, has created the Ovi Marketplace, and Ireland country manager Alan O’Hara says the company is open to talking with app developers, including brands, with something interesting to offer.

“We’re very much letting the consumer decide what content we publish on Ovi. As a developer, you can have an app up there within five days and you get 70pc revenue share. It’s a nice, juicy deal. In terms of what Nokia Ireland are doing, we are completing an analysis of the development community. This is a new play for us: who are the developers, what areas do they work in, what’s their expertise? The next step early next year is to engage with these. But we’re not just offering a developer access to the Irish market, it’s a global market.”

Mobile operator Vodafone is also getting into apps with its 360 Store in collaboration with Verizon, Softbank and China Mobile that could potentially open a brand up to a market of one billion people. Its apps will be targeted to work on Vodafone 360 devices as well as all other manufacturers’ handsets. Chris Handley, head of Vodafone internet services in Ireland, says that for brands an app is the ideal opportunity to create context for staying with a customer longer than traditional branding allows.

“It extends the life of advertising too. You may have an ad campaign that runs for six weeks, but if you provide an app it provides some value or service that would extend the campaign in the mind and eyes of the user. It is no longer a flash in the pan, but the trick is to provide something of value that mobile users will continue to interact with.”

In Ireland, Vodafone is working on a promotional campaign with the GAA where if local clubs sign up new Vodafone users, they get a percentage of the contract. “We have developed an app for each GAA representative that tracks how much Vodafone is giving back to local clubs.”

A growing market

Handley says that outside of the iPhone ecosystem, the market for apps is still at an early stage and this is an opportunity Vodafone aims to capitalise on. “At present, only 25pc of phones in the market support apps, but that will change, especially when we launch the 360 devices and as soon as Android-based devices appear in the market. When these things happen, very quickly you will see a powerful new way of interacting with consumers emerge.”

The other major mobile operator in the Irish marketplace, O2, brought the iPhone to Ireland over two years ago and very early on saw the potential for apps. “Smartphones are changing the market. The iPhone led the field and still does but others are catching up,” explains Karl Aherne, category manager, Digital and Entertainment, at Telefónica O2 Ireland. “The Android is going to be an interesting platform. In terms of brands we see a huge range of opportunities.

“Apps developers are seeing niche opportunities and are creating apps that meet peoples’ needs,” says Aherne, pointing to clever Irish apps like Tapadoo, which can give the users access to the entire Irish phone directory.

If Irish brands do take to creating apps as a way of elongating their interaction with customers, then local apps developers are going to be very busy.

Bright young things

So far, Ireland’s exposure to the mobile apps revolution has been confined to efforts of individuals such as Stephen Troughton-Smith, who makes an income from creating iPhone apps, and Patrick Collison, whose Wikipedia app has been downloaded 300,000 times and has been named by The New York Times as one of the seven must-have offline apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Troughton-Smith, who is a digital media student at Dublin City University, says that developers and brands need to be realistic and aware that not every app is going to be a sure-hit success. “A ‘surefire hit’ is defined differently depending on whether you’re gunning for quality and overall sustainability, or just out to make a quick buck. If you’re designing a high-quality application and aiming to sell it at the 99c price point, you’re doing it wrong.”

He highlights a shooting game by Coca-Cola that is available for free as a good example of a relatively inexpensive app that will keep a brand fresh in users’ minds. “At this point, because the market is so new, people are still trying to figure out what to do with it. Advertising systems like AdMob allow you earn revenue from your paid or free apps by inserting ads, with other advertisers working with developers to create applications to promote a brand (à la Coca-Cola’s game). I’m fascinated to see how the market matures over time.”

Another prominent app developer in the Irish marketplace is Vinny Coyne, who created the EirText app that allowed Meteor, O2 and Vodafone customers to use their allocated webtexts to send free text messages through their iPhone. It was submitted to the App Store as a free app to test the water and ended up being downloaded 1,000 times a day for the first few weeks. He followed this up with a premium version, which has since stayed in the top 25 Irish apps for the past year and has created a My Bill app with O2.

“One of the main trends right now is that companies are using the App Store as a form of advertising. Marketing companies are seeing a nascent area to advertise their products and are flocking to developers to create little gadgets and mini-games that help push their clients’ brand onto millions of devices worldwide. Currently, there are over 40 million iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide.

“A recent app I have worked on was the free Tour of Ireland app, which was developed with the blessing of the Tour of Ireland cycling group, as well as Fáilte Ireland and the Livestrong Foundation. The app tracked the race over the three days, providing up-to-the-minute updates on the race, as well as photos and related links. The app was a huge success, getting about 10,000 downloads over the course of the three days, which in turn provided great exposure for the Discover Ireland site, as well as the Livestrong campaign.

“Just looking at the App Store, you can see big names such as Skype, Sky News and Facebook all providing apps that help promote their brand, as well as provide very useful services to the user. I expect that, over the next year, we’ll begin to see an increasing number of official apps from Irish brands emerge and make a place for themselves on the App Store,” says Coyne.

Conor Winders and David McMahon of Redwind Software created the most downloaded movie triva app on the AppStore Movie Challenge Lite. Winders has some good tips for marketing apps.

“When the App is released I definitely recommend contacting every single relevant website and blog with a press release or even just a brief email and if possible free copies of the application. Our sales have always improved when a review or article of one of our applications hits the web.

“Building Twitter and/or Facebook integration into your application is always a great idea. Both services are very, very easy to interact with and well worth the time invested. By allowing users post to Facebook and Twitter from your app you are spreading the word about the app far better than any paid advertisement will ever do.”

This article first appeared in Marketing Age magazine