Apple and Google dominate the app store game – but only in terms of size. Senior Analyst Andreas Pappas discusses the key success factors for app stores, why Google is lagging behind and how Amazon fits in the whole picture.

Appsfire Infographic shared figures for the iOS App Store in 2012. The growth in the amount of apps, while still high, seems to be slowing. This might indicate that the market is maturing. Only 1 in 10 apps gets any reasonable traction at all. Only 1 in 1000 manages to get to the top 10 of […]

Cross-platform tools (CPTs) are a class of developer tool that aim to enable a single implementation of application functionality to run across multiple platforms. If that definition seems very broad it’s because the category covers a wide range of use cases, technology approaches and forms of app deployment. In our analysis of this sector from February 2012 we identified over 100 tools across three forms of app deployment (native vs. web vs. hybrid) and five different technology approaches

In our 2012 analysis of the cross-platform tools (CPT) sector, we have identified five distinct technology approaches being used:

• JavaScript frameworks
• App factories
• Web-to-native wrappers
• Runtimes
• Source code translators

Each technology targets a slightly different developer audience – from non-developers to seasoned programmers – and addresses different application use cases.

With the wide selection of cross-platform development tool (CPTs) available in the market, how should a developer select a development tool? The exact selection criteria will vary depending on the project and the individual developers involved. However, it’s valuable to look at the criteria other developers have used to select development tool and, even more […]

W3i, the in-app offer exchange provider, released a report on December 6th showcasing recent trends in mobile app monetization. The W3iNSIDER Report breaks down data from its hundreds of game developer partners and 66 million monthly active users across iOS and Android.The data shows that smaller microtransactions ($0.99-$1.99), long thought to be the backbone of […]

How do various forms of fragmentation of the potential audience impact the development economics? The answers will vary significantly depending on the specifics of each app but some general issues are worthy of consideration by everyone.As we pointed out recently, Android is now way ahead of iOS in terms of share of new device sales […]

Many of the most engaging and popular apps connect to cloud services which either regularly deliver new content, enable users to interact with one another or both. Unlike a standalone application, such apps can incur ongoing hosting costs throughout their active usage life. Ideally your revenue model should mirror the cost structure. Using a Backend-as-a-Service […]

Microsoft is set to unveil its next generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8, on October 29th in San Francisco. There’s a slight problem though. Most developers don’t have access to the Windows Phone SDK. Microsoft is providing key partners with a beta of their SDK so they can have apps in the Windows Phone […]

Apple pushed out iOS6 to its customers earlier this month. According to Pocket, a popular service that lets you “bookmark” articles you might want to read at some point in the future, over 60% of their users have already updated to iOS 6. Chitika, an analytics company, reported similar adoption rates. Within 48 hours of […]