Last month, app developers gathered in London for Apps World, an exhibition and conference that shared strategies for creating and selling successful applications. I wanted to share some more of the lessons with you from the conference sessions. If your new year’s resolution is to make more money with your apps, then I’m sure these tips will be welcome to you.
Nina Woolvett, business development manager for the Intel AppUp developer program, took to the stage to deliver a talk about turning your code into cash. She started by outlining Intel’s app store strategy, which involves making the Intel AppUp center available for free download online and pre-installing it on netbooks sold by leading manufacturers and retailers, including Dell, Toshiba, and Dixons Stores Group. Customers can buy apps from the Intel AppUp center and then use them on up to five netbooks or Intel AppUp-compatible devices. Apps can be easily shared with family members and can be recovered if the netbook is lost or damaged. All apps are validated to run on netbooks, and customers have a 24-hour period to try the app before they commit to buying it.
The ultimate goal is to create a seamless experience across the new continuum of computing devices, all of them connected to the internet and always on. While the Intel AppUp center caters for netbooks at the moment, it will expand to serve tablets, set top boxes, and smart phones.
That’s the end user proposition, but what’s on offer for developers? They can get up to 70% of the revenue from app sales, and developer incentives including funding from Intel through the Million Dollar Development Fund. Its Accelerator Program enables developers to outline their ideas and get between $10,000 and $25,000 funding to support development.
Woolvett also shared some compelling numbers. Intel’s app store currently has 1,700 apps, 30,000 registered members and seven store fronts, including those provided by retailers using Intel’s AppUp center. Intel has had 500,000 unique visitors for its store already, and was projecting two million by the end of 2010, and over 50 million by the end of 2011. Total netbook sales worldwide were on track to reach 58 million in 2010 alone, with the UK accounting for 12% of that total.
Netbooks are the start of the story for the Intel AppUp developer program, but the store will grow to cover other Atom-powered devices as they emerge, so an investment made now could enable developers to seize early adopter advantages in new software markets in the next few years.
Woolvett’s message was that if you want to make money from your code, whether it’s for an existing app or a new idea, publishing through the Intel AppUp developer program could be a strategy that pays off.
