iPhones and Smartphones

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iPhone Development

Since the launch of the API, many independent developers with a little know-how and a great idea have become rich, almost over night. Here’s a guide into some of the gadgets under the hood.

The iPhone operating system is based on the same principles as Darwin, the backbone of the Mac OS X, and is less than 500 megabytes in size. The most recent version, iPhone OS 3.X, was released on June 17, 2009.

iTunes is used to manage the media, with the iTunes store as the merchant for applications (currently available in 77 countries), and also as the conduit for the free OS updates. Access to the iTunes store can now be made via the cellular network with the iPhone 3GS, no longer requiring WiFi access.

Apple encourages developers to create applications, market themselves and drive users to the store. The store has exclusive rights to the applications on their virtual shelves, making them the official app authority and merchant. An average of 96% of all possible applications submitted to the store, are approved.

The CFNetwork framework outlines the programming standards for creating applications using network protocols like HTTP (and SSL and TLS encryption), BSD sockets and FTP servers.

What is an accelerometer? Tilt, rotate, twist and shake, the 3-axis accelerometer adds increased control and navigation of the operating system and applications by sensing movement, velocity and acceleration.

Bonjour is a platform for iPhones to find and identify IP addresses for communication, without a DHCP or DNS server – Very handy for creating apps geared towards Location Based Services (LBS).

One can also create applications with re-skinning in mind. By leaving this option open, you can easily re-brand your application to generate advertising revenue.

vCards are not unique to iPhones, but do make exchanging contacts a lot easier. The digital business cards contain space for name, telephone numbers, URL or email addresses, geographical information, job description, picture and even an audio clip.

How to Promote your iPhone Content

There are over 40 000 iPhone applications at the store, a figure which is rapidly increasing. So getting your application noticed in the store requires a certain amount of cunning.

Setting the right price is very important. Adjust your prices to you find the balance between a worthwhile venture for the consumer and selling yourself short.

As discussed in the Social Media and Gaming chapter of the Mobile Marketing 101 series, customers are way more likely to pay for an application after a free trial session. Keep this in mind when developing an application or planning to charging for content.

Promote your content from your website, or create a dedicated site with a strong branding message and call to action around the product. A virtual tour or screenshots provide interested parties with a lot of information that might sway their decision in your favour.

Reviews are a great way to promote your content, but for obvious reasons, writing your own reviews is not advisable. Find the right channels for marketing your content (such as forums and other Social Media sites), and invite users to rate (quick poll out of 5 or 10) and/or review it to provide extended detail.

In order to market your application globally, localise the application for distribution in countries with iPhone availability (language, network carrier compatibility, ads displayed etc).

iPhone network service providers include O2 (UK), T-Mobile (Germany, Austria and the Netherlands), Orange (France), Swisscom (Switzerland), Vodafone (Italy, New Zealand and Australia) and Telia Sonera (Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway).

Case Study: Hyper and Golden Gekko Promote The Unborn

Hyper and Golden Gekko worked together to develop an iPhone application to promote The Unborn, a Universal Pictures supernatural thriller about a woman who is haunted by spirits of her past.

Using the traditional billboard style of print advert, Hyper and Golden Gekko created the themed iPhone application to spark interest in the movie.

The interactive ‘billboard’ application contained hidden content, just waiting to be discovered and provide teaser information. Users could wipe the steam off the mirror using their fingers to reveal content linked to the movie’s plot.

The iPhone application also contained a high quality trailer for The Unborn movie, high quality clips from the movie, synopsis, production notes and image gallery.

The most encouraging aspect was the fake incoming call when the user closes the application. The phone rings and a near-perfect image of an incoming call pops up followed by the creepy voice of one of the movie characters.

The application proved a resounding success with little in the way of additional promotion. Launched in February 2009, the application went to number one of the top 10 most downloaded free applications in the iTunes store - an honour it enjoyed for two weeks. The iTunes store also listed it as one of the hot applications of the week.

Simple and successful, Universal Pictures have said to be including mobile into their holistic marketing techniques in the future.

Further Discussion

  • Where are good Social Media destinations to market one’s product and encourage honest reviews?
  • Discuss subtle differences between desktop and iPhone multimedia capabilities, and use in a marketing campaign.
  • How can one create campaign for iPhone 3GS users without isolating the rest of the smartphone market?
  • What are the benefits of the Apple store business model for the developer or marketer?
  • How can smartphone development improve holistic marketing tactics (Interactive campaigns, CRM etc)?

What’s Up Next

When launching a Mobile Marketing campaign, planning your strategy carefully is half the battle.

Chapter 11 of the Mobile 101 series walks you through the process of using the right channels for reaching your target market, while ensuring that your efforts are all above board. 

References

Apple.com [Date Unknown] Introducing iPhone 3GS
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
[Accessed on July 10]

Bakhyryev, Peter [May 20 2009] Tutorial: Networking and Bonjour on iPhone
http://www.mobileorchard.com/tutorial-networking-and-bonjour-on-iphone/
[Accessed on July 10]

Biyani, Gagan [July 14 2009] SightMax brings live chat customer service to the iPhone
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/07/14/sightmax-brings-live-chat-customer-service-to-the-iphone/
[Accessed on July 15]

Boogadget.com [Date Unknown] 6 Reasons Why the iPhone 3G Still Suck
http://boogadget.com/7-reasons-why-the-iphone-3g-still-suck
[Accessed on July 10]

Chen, Brian X. [September 19 2008] iPhone Developers Go From Rags to Riches
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/09/indie-developer/
[Accessed on July 13]

Chen, Jason [June 17 2009] iPhone 3GS Review
http://gizmodo.com/5293388/iphone-3gs-review
[Accessed on July 10]

devworld.apple.com [Date Unknown] Bonjour
http://devworld.apple.com/documentation/Networking/Bonjour-date.html
[Accessed on July 10]

Evans, Robert [July 8 2009] Half Of New Smartphone Buyers Want iPhones
http://www.blogcatalog.com/search.frame.php?term=smartphone+marketing&id=f3b156533c638f7ba82a90eaf9c3d64d
[Accessed on July 15]

Facebook [Date Unknown] iPhone-3G Fan Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/iPhone-3G/19661756961?ref=s#/pages/iPhone-3G/19661756961?v=info&viewas=674416926
[Accessed on July 10]

German, Kent [June 9 2009] iPhone OS 3.0 revisited
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10260521-233.html
[Accessed on July 15]

Horwitz, Jeremy [March 17 2009] iPhone OS stats: 30M devices, 25k apps, 800m downloads, 96% approved
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/iphone-os-stats-30m-devices-25k-apps-800m-downloads-96-approved/
[Accessed on July 15]

Hughes, Jeff [May 18 2009] App Marketing 101: Introduction to iPhone App Marketing
http://148apps.biz/introduction-to-iphone-app-marketing/
[Accessed on July 10]

jailbreak.me [Date Unknown] Conceited Software
http://jailbreakme.com/history
[Accessed on July 10]

mmaglobal.com [Date Unknown] The Unborn Movie Campaign for iPhone (Golden Gekko)
http://www.mmaglobal.com/studies/unborn-movie-campaign-iphone-golden-gekko
[Accessed on July 9]

McNulty, Brendan [April 17 2009] iPhone Apps Marketing 101
http://www.brendan-mcnulty.com/2009/04/iphone-apps-marketing-101.html
[Accessed on July 10]

Shah, Pathik [July 15 2008] 7 reasons why iPhone 3G sucks
http://www.digitgeek.com/7-reasons-why-iphone-3g-sucks/
[Accessed on July 10]

VertygoTeam.com [Date Unknown] iPhone Marketing Strategy
http://www.vertygoteam.com/iphone_marketing_strategy.php
[Accessed on July 10]

Ziegler, Chris [June 10 2009] iPhone 3G S supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but 3G only supports 1.1 -- will the App Store splinter?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/10/iphone-3g-s-supports-opengl-es-2-0-but-3g-only-supports-1-1/
[Accessed on July 14] 

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