There’s been much talk about App Store Optimizations (ASO) and tools are emerging to get that extra attention in app store search rankings. The good folks at XYO have been studying app search behavior since 2010. Recently, they talked to all the major ASO companies and got their feedback for their presentation on the topic. In this guest post, they’re happy to share the comments of ASO players and their own insights on the state of ASO.

The world is getting ‘App’ified – and India is entering the fray at full force! With India rapidly growing as a major app destination, it is important to understand the underlying drivers of this rapidly growing ecosystem. Is there an “apportunity” for your app in India?

The “write once, run anywhere” concept may be pure fantasy for most apps but sharing code across platforms is desirable and in some cases essential to making projects economically viable. With the application frameworks for all the biggest platforms being in different languages, the market for Cross-Platform Tools (CPTs) to enable code reuse is understandably the largest one (in terms of number of competing solutions) we track. The time required to evaluate all of them is far beyond what most developers can afford to spend on such research. So, which tools are the best?

As mobile apps become more sophisticated and expand their user base, the requirement for remote storage and user management becomes more important in terms of both functionality and scalability. Off-the-shelf mobile Backend-as-a-Service can save a considerable amount of time for developers that require backend support for their apps. Our Developer Economics 2013 report puts Parse firmly in the lead of BaaS services. But which selection criteria and features do developers really value?

Advertising is the most popular revenue model, while ads can also act as a promotion channel that facilitates app discovery. With 100+ ad networks and exchanges, there is intense competition, regional specialisation and niche solutions, but out of the fray, one service emerges as a leader: AdMob.

When viewed as just another form of advertising, with a cost-per-action model, in theory Cross-Promotion Networks should work out fairly well for developers. User acquisition costs are predictable for advertisers and those displaying ads have reasonably good targeting built-in before any extra targeting logic used by the cross-promotion network – everyone viewing the ad has a smartphone and downloads apps on it! How does the theory work out in practice?

How do app developer revenues vary by country, or platform? Does the number of platforms make a difference to app revenues? Which models bring in the most revenues? We revisit Andreas Pappas’ November analysis of app monetisation with more insights from our Developer Economics 2013 survey across 3,400+ developers.

Of the tools and services for developers we asked about in our last survey, one category stands out by miles as having the wealthiest developers: voice services. Of course there’s a lot of variety in the voice services sector and the revenue is not at all evenly distributed.

Voice communication is one of the core functionalities of every mobile phone. However, telephony is up for a big shake-up, as Internet telephony companies like Skype and voice application platforms like the ones below are challenging century-old assumptions about how people speak with each other remotely. Voice Application Platforms allow you to make creative solutions that integrate voice communication deeply in your app: as voice messaging, click-to-call, person-to-multiperson, voice search and more. But despite catering to many use cases, their use is relatively low among developers. An opportunity to stick out of the pack?

There are a wide variety of products that can be considered Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings. At the time of writing we list 43 of them on our sector summary page. We have previously discussed whether or not they’re a good idea and how much development effort you could save by using one. In our most recent survey we asked developers about their use of some of the most popular options. By comparing developers’ use of BaaS with their average revenues and active user bases, we can determine how well these products are working for them.