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March 4, 2011

Topic: Innovation Management

Reference: Chopra, Paras. “Your app likely won’t make you rich.” Http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2011/01/11/your-app-likely-won’t-make-you-rich.html

Developing new applications for Smartphones, tablets, and other computing is extremely attractive in the marketplace. There has been an explosion in application development for iPhones, Androids and other platforms because mobility is the centerpiece of consumer adoption and mobility taps into the core of relevance-it is there whenever and wherever you want it. Applications are reasonably affordable and can be developed at attractive rates. That is one reason that most publications, content providers, and marketing campaigns feature their use as downloads, prizes and gifts. These applications are viable for product extension, customer relations and portals for feedback. Some producers have also done extremely well at developing applications for significant revenue gain.  The process of identifying exactly which application is potentially a significant revenue producer seems random, but generally tracks the process used for quality product development generally. That is that you have to have an offering that customers are willing to pay for.  You also have to offer a solution to a challenge that the market has not fully appreciated. The commentator in the referenced article amplifies this in his article. “The key to making money is to find a market where people are willing to pay for those simple…operations.” Further, he lays out the specific conditions necessary for making money. They are to find an industry where people are making money; find something that will cause your application to standout; make an application for the market and constantly refine it; shoot to make your application a market leader. This is essentially a market-first approach. Simply put you have to make applications that your target market wants and not applications that you want to make.  This is very useful logic and should formulate the support structure for all product development activities.  The problem is that you can never be fully sure of the market, the pricing structure, or the timing of your offering.  The key is to get your application in the marketplace, monitor it, and refine it with consumer feedback. That is the path to creating revenue winners.