Enjoy!

Shanghai Apple Store from Freddie Laker on Vimeo.

If you know me, I am obsessed with analytics … So I noticed today a massive spike in mobile traffic:

Interesting … I did change something this week, I finally added tracking to the iPhone template … but that was not it.

I checked top content people are browsing through mobile and I found a couple of curious facts …

1) iPad users had much longer sessions than web users … apparently their exploring the site and discovering new content, as opposed to web users who found the site through a link, read the article, and leave.

2) 90% of the iPad traffic went to post I wrote Wednesday about Adobe trying to get into the iPad. In fact, more people visited that post from an iPad than any other OS:

Wow, iPad at 37.81%, very impressive. What’s also impressive is that iPad + iPhone + Android = 46% and Mac + Windows = 52% … Mobile is almost surpassing all desktop traffic on this one.

So now I’m totally curious to see where is this traffic coming from. Is it that iPad users search to iPad content? Are they such Mac-heads? Or is it that Google has special algorithms based on device, and return iPad related content in iPad based searches? Or is it a community thing where someone found it and posted into an iPad blog or forum that’s only browser through iPads? I’m not making any sense, am I?

Let’s see, analytics should tell us:

The answer is: I have no idea … all this spike in traffic is coming from an iPad with direct traffic … and I also checked if it was a bot, but apparently they’re all unique users …

So question to you: do you see iPad traffic on iPad content? Is this a cult or a coincidence?

Adobe released a video showcasing the new capabilities, available to watch at Adobe TV and embedded below. You will noticed they added tons of capabilities around content … such switching images, embedding video and rich content … but it’s all about content? What about gesture navigation? what about the experience? For how long will Adobe keep missing the experience aspect that makes Apple, Apple.

The new magazine experience in a tablet is not based on technical capabilities of the tablet, it’s all about providing a richer experience to the user… making it more natural, seamless, human per-se.

Adobe definitely in the right direction … there’s a huge market of publications trying to reinvent themselves and salvage their business, and the tablet is one of the elements that’s a must … Perhaps Adobe is thinking of all these usability issues, but they should really makes a point to let us know… can change orientation? instead of clicking, can you flick those images? can contextually zoom in? Drag and drop bookmarks?

It’s all about the details. Would really love to see Adobe understand it as their produce some of the best design and publishing software in the market … Adobe,  you’ve for the tools, content, lifecycle … once you add usability and experience to it, it could be a home-run.

Mashable reads: “Adobe to Bring Flash-Based Ads to iPhone: Adobe has partnered with ad company Greystripe to deliver Flash-based ads to Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Greystripe makes this possible by converting Flash ads (which the devices do not currently support) into the competing HTML5 format”

Now, has Adobe stopped for a second to think, if you can do everything Flash can do in html5, why using Flash at all?  The one advantage that I see is to re-tool banners in multiple media and leverage assets for web & mobile — which is a strong statement … but it does not mean Flash will run in the iPhone, and it most likely mean that not all Flash functionality will work either …

Every step Adobe makes to expand Flash to the iPhone just takes them a step backwards and make people start saying Flash is dead. I do not believe Flash is dead, but that deserves a full article which I will post soon.

Thank you Gigaom

So I’m an iPhone user, and so are most of my friends … but I really think the new gold mine is Android; I was playing with the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment today, Droid Eric over the weekend, and can’t wait to get my hands on a Nexus One … With 50 new Android phones coming out this year, an open app eco-system, and 4G coming out this year, I really can’t wait to see the outcome …

Oh, I was playing with some custom phones I bought from China with Video conferencing over Wifi and it works awesome… so 4G/Wiki, Android OS, free cloud hosting, Google Voice / other VoIP providers … New communications are here, this will be an interesting year.

Before answering what does it take to make a successful iPhone application we have to define what makes an application successful. Sapient always asks why are we building something, what are we trying to achieve, and how are we going to measure it; so starting from top down, what are the business objectives, the key performance indicators, and all metrics. iPhone applications usually serve one of two purposes: drive brand or drive revenue.

Objective: Drive brand
Applications that drive brand most likely are free since they have to target a broad reach. Objective is usually increase awareness, brand recall, or word of mouth, and is traditionally measured based on simple downloads, usage, and extended with how many share with friends, stickiness, and engagement levels. A good way to take it one step further is tie in social media monitoring and analyze share and velocity of voice, general sentiment, and overall impact of the application within social conversations.

Now that we understand how to measure it, what will the application do? Nowadays brands cannot push messages to the consumers, they have to provide value and we generally call it brand as an enabler. Applications that drive brand usually fall under one of two categories: be entertaining or be useful. Entertaining applications usually have a wider adoption, more downloads, but less engagement as users open it just a few times before they get bored. Useful applications have a smaller reach but higher engagement; less users will download the application, but they will use it much more than simple entertainment applications. However the key for both types is simplicity.

Objective: Drive Revenue
Revenue can be driven directly by the application, or indirectly but multi-channel tie-in with retail and stores. Indirect revenue usually aims to drive users to store fronts, partners, or provide reasons for the user to purchase products or services. Whereas direct revenue is generated by the application. Measurement towards these objectives are always dollars.

Direct revenue can be generated from advertising or downloads, and both have different strategies. Revenue from advertising is similar to brand-driven applications: it aims to reach as many users as possible by providing free entertaining or utilities, and collect revenue through 3rd party advertising. However, download revenue can be a little more complex as it involves pricing strategy.

The secret to maximize download revenue is pricing. The most popular paid applications are priced between $0.99 and $3.99, with predominant 99 cent applications. These applications are what we call the big-fast-sales. Most users download them and use them once or twice; they’re predominantly entertainment and provide small value to the consumer, but the mass download provides great initial revenue and then stops. The most grossing applications are actually priced between $4.99 and $9.99 at 44% and account for 44% of revenue. These applications are downloaded less, but used much more often as usually they do provide value.

Here’s a simple framework to determine your iPhone application strategy

• Set objectives – what is successful?
  • Drive Brand – Free
    • Entertaining
    • Useful
  • Generate Revenue
    • Direct Revenue
      • Business models
        • Free apps
        • big fast sales
        • sustained sales
      • Revenue Models
        • Thru ads
        • Thru downloads
          • Pricing Structure
            • Most popular $0.99 at 50% and 0.99-3.99
            • Most grossing $4.99-9.99 at 44%
    • Indirect Revenue
      • Cross / Multi-channel
      • Point of Sale

Conclusion
So what does it take to make a successful iPhone application? You need a strategy, know what you want, how to get there, and how to measure. Keep it simple, make it engaging, and provide means to share and pass-along.

Panelist |   Jeannette Kocsis, SVP Digital Marketing, Harte-Hanks, Inc.
Panelist |   Ujjal Kohli, CEO, Rhythm  Media
Panelist |    Kyle Outlaw, UX lead, Razorfish
Panelist |    Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi
Panelist |    Jamie Wells, Director, Global Trade Marketing, Microsoft  Mobile Advertising
Moderator |   Rob Gonda, Director of Digital Strategy & Innovation, Sapient

Topic was Mobile Web Vs. Mobile Applications; it was pretty interesting, Ken and Jamie as more vocal and Ujjal with some nice comments for debates. Jamie plugged Microsoft so much that it almost became a game, and I had to get back at him towards the end; he said he wanted to pick up a fight, crowd always loves that.

Please check it out, it’s long, but hopefully you’ll find it useful and entretaining.

Finally, AT&T’s long-awaited MMS update for the iPhone is finally ready. Just plug your iPhone into iTunes and hit the “Check for Update” button.

You should get the dialog message above, saying: “An update to your carrier settings for your iPhone is available. Would you like to download it now?”

Hit “Download and Update” and wait a few seconds, then go to your iPhone and launch the Messages app. There should be a little camera icon to the left of the text input box at the bottom. Hit it, and you’ll be able to send pictures or video with your text messages.

Some users are reporting they have to manually reboot their iPhone after installing the carrier update.

PS: Haven’t tested if this has any effect on the tethering profile update

The ongoing debate over Flash on the iPhone appears to be over after Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced last week at the World Economic Forum that Adobe and Apple are working together in an effort to bring Flash to the iPhone.

While Narayen didn’t answer the question of whether Apple had strengthened its commitment to putting Flash on the iPhone he did point out that the ball was now in Adobe’s court. “We have the developer kit and the onus is now on us,” he said.

During the Bloomberg interview, Narayen said that Adobe plans to have over a million devices shipped by the end of the year that have Flash and he’s not just talking iPhone; the company is working on the Android platform, the Windows mobile and the Symbian platform.

Watch the five minute interview below.