The APP rush

Udipi is a small place in Karnataka known more for its hot masala dosas than cool software apps. But a bunch of techies there came up with a simple word game for the iPhone which has hit the big time.

Wordsworth gives you a jumble of words in a hexagonal grid on your iPhone and you have to make a word by connecting a certain number of letters in a pattern.

This is something a lot of people apparently like to do on their iPhones because the game quickly became one of the top 100 apps on Apple’s App Store, an online store where users find and buy software applications for the iPhone.

“We were totally thrilled,” says Anila Andrade, one of the developers of Wordsworth. Apart from being thrilled, she’s laughing all the way to the bank, because Wordsworth has been clocking 500-800 downloads a day. And each download earns the game developers $1.4. With around 100,000 downloads to date, Wordsworth has notched up a cool $1,40,000 already and it cost only $15,000 to develop.

When Apple enabled third-party applications to run on its iPhone, tens of thousands of software developers, both casual and hardcore, individuals and companies, jumped in.

Apple puts up the apps that pass muster on its online store and takes a 30 per cent cut. In other words, a $2 app will earn the developer $1.40 per download.

99games, the small outfit Andrade works in, was founded by Rohith Bhat soon after Apple launched the App Store. According to Bhat, prior to the launch of the App Store, developers were dependent on cellular operators who decided which app should be put up on their WAP site. This made it difficult for developers to reach their customers.

“With the App Store, iPhone redefined the rules. Finally, here was a tool to easily distribute the games we built. You could be an indie developer and yet sell your app to a worldwide audience,” explains Bhat. 

Standing out
Of course, only the apps that become really popular will make real money, and it’s getting harder by the day to get noticed on the App Store with so many apps being developed (1,00,000 so far for the iPhone).

But then, the field has opened up too, with all the other smartphone manufacturers taking the cue from Apple and launching their own app stores — Nokia’s Ovi Store, BlackBerry’s App World, the Windows Mobile Marketplace and the Android Market.

For the developer, the challenge lies in differentiating the app in the crowd. “It really doesn’t matter how good your product is, unless it can do something users need and which no other product can do,” says Atul Chitnis, chief products officer, Geodesic, which has produced apps such as Mundu Radio and Mundu Instant Messenger.

99games’ Andrade would know what Chitnis is talking about.

“Wordsworth was released soon after the App Store was launched. By the time we released our next game Wordulous, the App Store was flooded with word games. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t do as well as Wordsworth even though the development cost of Wordulous was higher than that of Wordsworth.”

For their latest game, Chess Elite, 99games put a lot of thought into how it could be made different. “There are so many chess games already in the App Store. But in these games you play against the computer. In Chess Elite, you can play against other iPhone users anywhere in the world who have downloaded the game. We already have 500 registered users and 400 bouts of chess being played everyday. I think we have another Wordsworth in the making,” laughs Andrade nervously. 

Free apps
Apps developed by 99games and Geodesic compete with thousands of free apps in the market. But the success of paid-for apps contradicts the assumption that users would always choose ‘free’ over ‘paid’. 

Mumbai-based Geodesic’s Mundu Instant Messenger (IM), which allows you to chat with your GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and Jabber buddies, is one example, says Chitnis. Mundu IM, priced at $11, competes with free apps like Fring and Nimbuzz, which pretty much perform the same function.

“But when the person you are chatting with sends you a link in Fring, you cannot directly open the link. You have to write down the link on paper, fire your browser and then open the link. In Mundu IM, you can click on the link and the page will directly open in the browser. It might seem like an obvious feature, but it makes a huge difference to our sales,” explains Chitnis.

Also, by using the same technology that is used for chatting on GTalk, Mundu IM enables users to connect with their corporate instant messaging system. “Competing IM apps are targeting end-consumers, but how many of them treat IM as part and parcel
of everyday business life as well?,” says Chitnis.

To ensure that they are tuned in to user-needs, Delhi-based Mobimonster, which develops business apps, relies on a multinational user-group, to get feedback and also to get a feel for what solutions can be provided on the mobile phone. “That’s how we got the idea for Flight Services,” says Ankur Srivastav, founder of Mobimonster.

“The app taps into the data pipelines of all major airports and airlines around the world to provide real-time information on flight status and schedules.” This means the user can check details like departure times and even the departure terminals. Though the app has a pricy subscription model where users pay $15 every year, it is one of Mobimonster’s most downloaded apps.

Sustainable model?
But even with a healthy download rate, it is still difficult to grow substantially with just a few apps in your basket, according to Srivastav. Each time the app is downloaded, Mobimonster gets roughly 50 per cent of the selling price in its kitty. “The development cost of Flight Service, for instance, is around 25,000 euros, and we earn revenues of around 40,000 euros. The profit roughly is 10,000 euros.” This, he says, might be enough to live on but not to grow.

So, there are still questions about how much one can grow in the mobile app space. At the same time, the mobile phone is very different from what it was  meant to be — a device with which to call and to text.

Today, a smartphone is vital to stay in touch with your Facebook or Twitter friends. It can be used as a gaming console, to listen to music, watch videos, as a personal digital diary, an education tool... And you can bet that there’ll be apps and apps to fulfill each of these needs and new ones emerging by the day.