Mobiles are no longer just texting and calling devices. With iPhones and Android phones becoming ubiquitous, mobiles are more used as pocket computers than calling devices. With this new trend, it is only natural to consider launching businesses that cater exclusively to the mobile audience. While apps like Instagram and Vine have seen huge success in catering to such a market, it may be too early to look for a silver bullet approach to cracking that market since it is still in the nascent stages of evolution. There are 4 important factors that you should consider before investing resources into a mobile-only idea.
The concentration of the smartphone market is in the age group of 18 – 34. Though the proliferation of mobile devices among the older demography is increasing, the majority of the market is still the younger generation. This trend definitely narrows down the scope of the idea that you can come up with or invest in. The inclination of this generation is more towards entertainment and coolness than plain utility. As a consequence of the above fact, verticals like Gaming are highly competitive rat races with too many players trying to grab the attention of the few. You may not find NYTimes and WaPost fighting that hard in the mobile market anytime soon.
Mobile app marketing too is in its evolving stages. This is unlike web marketing where inbound marketing techniques like SEO and SEM are well understood. Mobile app marketing is still a Blackbox, handled more iteratively with trial and error approaches. If your business has a web element, it would be that much easier in terms of marketing – A significant portion of the web traffic can be channeled to your mobile app. Without the web presence, the only chance is to rank high up in the app store listing.
The revenue expectation from this demography varies depending on the device used. iPhone users are generally considered more willing to pay than other Mobile users. Even so, only a small percentage of the app users pay for apps. Also, advertising as a revenue channel hasn't seen big success so far. This means that you should be able to raise sufficient investment to capture the market and keep it engaged. Mobile-only apps definitely have not matured to a point where revenues from the app can sustain operations. This will be a critical factor to consider before developing or launching one.
With data prices dropping and the smart phones getting smarter, conventional wisdom points that the mobile trend is here to stay. Thus the investment in customer acquisition for mobile in any vertical will in the long run help in the overall expansion.
The idea should be to develop your app on a technology platform that is robust enough to accommodate the various changes in the OS and device landscape that is expected in the future.