Mobile Entrepreneurs Meet @ Mobile Application Conference


Bangalore: Mobile applications have changed the way we communicate, from day planners to business presentations. Market research firm Gartner estimates that this year alone, mobile users across the globe will pay more than $6.2 billion to buy "mobile applications" - games, social net- working tools, productivity and entertainment-based mini programs for mobile phones. And this despite the fact that 80 percent of these will be free downloads anyway this year. Apps have become the business with the fastest turnaround time in the software industry. Another study predicts the Mobile App market in 2012 will be worth $17.5 billion with an expected 50 billion downloads as internet usage on mobile devices, making some people predict that mobile internet usage will surpass desktop computers.. Siliconindia had organized a Mobile Application Conference on 25 August, 2012 in New Delhi. Dr. Abhinav Mathur, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer from Si2i Mobility started the conference with a keynote speech on "Mobile Apps: The New Face of Engagement". The first interesting panel on "Mobile applications explode, who wins and who loses" was discussed by Rajiv Kumar, CEO and Founder from RockeTalk; Pushkar Chitale, DGM, Product & Developer Community from Mobango; Dev Khare, Principal from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Salman Husaain, VP-Business Development-APAC from VuClip. The second Panel was "Running Your App Business with a 360 Degree Approach". And panelists for this panel were Dr. Abhinav Mathur, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer from Si2i Mobility; Akhil Minocha, Former Head - VAS & New Product Development from Videocon Telecommunications; Jagdish Harsh, Co-founder from Halosys Technologies and Bijoy Singhal, Technology Evangelist from Microsoft India. Answering the question about his perspective on mobile app business, Akhil said that "Consuming Applications from the Mobile App Store today is like drinking water from a hose pipe. You know what you want, but are unable to consume it. The App ecosystem has to work to make Applications more discoverable." He further said that " It's integral for the objective of an App to be clearly defined to reach out effectively to the targeted audience. The objective of a gaming app for instance is winning with a high score." "App Marketing needs to start much before the App hits the market. Getting the right keywords to define the App, creating services and support page, getting the App beta tested are as important as marketing the App. " " There are various models for monetization emerging today including Advertisement Monetization, monetization through operator billing, Direct-to-consumer model of Applications sold through an Appstore. Mobile Apps are slated to exponentially grow with various user screens like Mobile phone, Television and even cars adopting Applications." One of the entrepreneur panel on "Opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Mobile space" was explained by Rahul Chandra, Managing Director from Helion Venture Partners; Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director from Sequoia Capital India; and Vinish Kathuria, Member from Indian Angel Network. The final interesting Panel was on " Designing and Optimizing for Monetization", which was discussed by Rico Wyder, Asia Pacific Manager from Fiksu; Suresh T Kumar, Asst. Vice President, Asia MU from Comviva Technologies and Anuraj Gambhir, Strategic Advisor and Innovation Evangelist from Steadworks. Here are some key points that were explained by Anuraj. 1) Amongst this clutter of apps and digital fatigue there are tremendous opportunities to deliver the most compelling and meaningful experiences for end users since that is what matters most. "Simplicity" sums up the critical need providing simplicity for the customer interface is key by hiding all the complexity in the back end. 2) Design thinking needs to prevail across the entire process from ideation / seeding of the app to taking it to market. 3) Prime mantra to follow is: "Failing faster to succeed sooner" - apps developers need to use rapid prototyping for new products/solutions and very much with trying new business models. For example - Rovio's big success story which had Angry Birds as the 53rd offering in the market, now this company is flying the Finnish flag high with over 1Bn downloads, EURO 75m in revenue per year and new categories of offerings like merchandising. 4)"Freemium" is the most deployed model although emerging business models like the "retailification" trend for 'apping the unapped' are bound to disrupt in countries like India where DIY has less significance and the need is for DIFM (Do-It-For-Me) i.e. handhold customers to start using Apps. There is enormous potential to transform digital divides to digital dividends/opportunities. Some of the eminent speakers like Marcus Tan, Managing Director from Smaato and Binay Tiwari, Head - Global Marketing from Vserv.mobi explained the concepts of "The Future of the Mobile Ecosystem" & "App Monetization: 5 Secrets to Success!" respectively. This Mobile Application Conference witnessed 10 promising Apps Companies battling it out to lay hands on the most coveted 'Best Mobile App Award 2012'. With eminent VCs comprising the jury the competition got tougher and electrifying. "On Graph Technologies", a Noida based Mobile App Company won the Best Mobile App Award 2012. OnGraph Technologies is a niche software products and outsourcing Services Company in the field of enterprise/consumer web and mobile applications. Companies were judged based on company overview, market opportunity, applications they have, the team, solution value proposition, competitive positioning, growth plans, go-to-market plan, and current status and investment prospects. The judges were: * Rahul Chandra, Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners * Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India * Vinish Kathuria, Member, Indian Angel Network * Dev Khare, Principal, Lightspeed Venture Partners This event was sponsored by Intel, Vserv.mobi, Start App, Migital, Smaato, and Airpush.