Services Mobiles

Tic Tac Toe? Ten!

Brandon Middleton est un developpeur passionne qui vient de sortir une nouvelle application sur Android...

C'est toujours une actualite interessante pour essayer de comprendre ce qui se passe reellement sur Android, et la comparaison avec une application iPhone reste un repere utile a cet egard.

J'ai pose quelques questions a Brandon...

ServicesMobiles : Why developing this kind of application ? In what consist Tic Tac Toe Ten?

  BM:  I created this application in college because I'm a big fan of strategy and puzzle games.  I thought that this concept would be something interesting for people both young and old.  Until mobile apps came about I really didn't have another outlet to get my game into the hands of lots of users.  So I'm thankful for the creation of things like the Android Market and the App Store.

 

    Tic Tac Toe Ten consists of 10 3x3 grids (1 master grid and 9 small grids embedded into the master grid).  The object of the game is to win on these 9 small grids.  You can configure the game's winning condition to be "first to win one grid", "first to win two grids", "first to win three grids", or "first to win three grids in a row".  Playing against my killer AI algorithm and being able to change the winning condition is something that I felt would keep the user coming back for more. 

ServicesMobiles : In terms of development, submission to Android platform, any tips ?

BM:    In comparison to the iPhone development process, coding up Tic Tac Toe Ten for iPhone was pretty much a breeze.  It was a lot less expensive and a lot less restrictive than coding for the iPhone platform as well.  I was more comfortable with Java than with Objective-C prior to starting mobile development, but once that learning hurdle was crossed, the playing fields leveled out a little.  As far as tips are concerned, I'd say check, double check, and then triple check that your app is as bug free as possible before you submit.  Apple has a very strict review process to police apps, but Google leaves the responsibility with you for the most part.  Make sure what you're putting out there is a quality product, if it is people will love you and praise you but if it's not then you'll damage your reputation and the people might never give you another shot.

ServicesMobiles : Why Android ? How do you see this platform developing?

 BM:   It's easy to see Android catching up with iPhone in terms of mobile market share.  I respect Google and the way they make decisions and I believe that this pretty much open Android platform might be able to swallow up Apple's more closed approach to mobile computing.  We'll have to wait and see but it's not a big stretch of the imagination to see Google closing ground quickly.

 

    I see the platform developing to integrate Google Apps and services into an 'everything device' (maybe the Droid or Nexus One . . . who knows?).  Google's intelligence in the cloud coupled with these devices will ultimately make people's lives easier because they will have ubiquitous contextual data at their fingertips on a 24/7 basis.  So I see Android as a platform that will enable ideas and transactions to happen quicker and hopefully easier and this is all because it's closer to open source approach than Apple's way of doing things.

ServicesMobiles : Any figures to give us ? How to make money on Android?!

  BM:  I'd like nothing more than to tell you that I'm retiring from my day job because of how successful I've been with my apps but it's just not true . . . yet.  Honestly, I'm pretty new to this Android mobile marketing stuff.  As far as monetization goes I'm going to try to partner with a couple of brands to have some mobile challenges and competitions that their customers/fans take part in.  These types of activities create good publicity for all parties involved and turn into a little money for me hopefully.  I learned on iPhone that you don't really make that much money by serving ads in your app so I've decided to make Tic Tac Toe Ten for Android ad free for now.

ServicesMobiles : more on your background ? Any new plans out of iPhone,  or android ? Like iPad?!

  BM:  My background is a lot like Superman or Batman.  By daytime I'm an IT guy and an app developer (Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne) but by night I'm a hip hop artist, a producer, and a gigging musician (Superman, Batman: check out http://www.myspace.com/brandontimothy).  I live in Silicon Valley, CA now but grew up in Chicago, IL not far from where the Obamas used to live prior to the White House.  I'm a big fan of sports as well: spectating and playing.  I play soccer everyday and basketball occasionally to keep in shape.  Ok I think that's enough for the background . . . I don't want to bore you too much.

   As far as plans for the future, I just released an update today for the iPhone version of Tic Tac Toe Ten and I'll keep quiet on my iPad plans for now.  Don't want to give away too much info before it's time.  I'll be having fun for the next couple of months trying to figure out how to make this Tic Tac Toe Ten idea of mine a worldwide phenomenon.  Watch out France, watch out Africa, watch out China, watch out everywhere . . . Tic Tac Toe Ten is coming to a computing device near you soon!!!

Brandon Middleton, un developpeur bien sympathique !

Voici une video de l'application, c'est toujours mieux en image !

Ceci est un reportage de l'envoye special dans la Silicon Valley Phil Jeudy

Zong, la belle histoire continue avec le paiement sur mobile !

Zong vient d’annoncer récemment lancement d’une nouvelle offre, ZONG+.

L’occasion de revenir sur le parcours de cette entreprise, basée a Palo Alto, initie avec Echovox en Europe, avec son fondateur, David Marcus... et le mieux de le laisser présenter cette nouvelle option ! (Intw réalisé par Philippe Jeudy Altaide Valley)

SM : L’implantation de Zong a Palo Alto semble etre tres fructueuse... Quelle est cette nouvelle option de paiement désormais disponible ?

David Marcus : Il s’agit de la combinaison du paiement operateur et du paiement par carte bancaire (crédit/débit/carte bleue). Il s’agit d’une première car les systèmes de paiements existants font soit l’un, soit l’autre, mais jamais les deux. Dans le cadre de ZONG+, une fois que l’utilisateur a fait un paiement via son opérateur, on lui propose de doubler son achat (dans le cadre d’un jeu, ses points/monnaie virtuelle), s’il lie sa carte de crédit a Zong. L’expérience utilisateur après cette brève inscription reste la même, l’utilisateur tape son numéro de mobile, reçoit un code PIN, et complète son paiement sur le web après avoir saisi le code en question, le tout en moins de 5 secondes. La grosse différence est la diminution considérable des couts de transaction, l’accélération des temps de paiement au marchand, et la disponibilité de palier tarifaires plus nombreux. En somme, si seulement 15% de la base utilisateur d’un marchand souscrit a ZONG+, celui-ci doublera ses revenus provenant du paiement mobile.

SM : En rappel, comment Zong se positionne-t-il par rapport a ses concurrents ?

DM : Nous offrons la solution de paiement en ligne qui converti le mieux. En moyenne, plus de 7 utilisateurs sur 10, qui cliquent sur notre bouton de paiement, complètent une transaction avec succès. Le taux équivalent pour un paiement par carte de crédit est 10 fois inférieur. Nous tentons d’aider les marchand a faire payer les 95% de leurs utilisateurs, qui ne consomment jamais. C’est la que la plus grosse opportunité de revenu se situe pour les marchands, soient-ils des reseaux sociaux, des développeurs de jeux, ou encore des fournisseurs de contenus numériques.

SM : Pour un entrepreneur travaillant dans l’industrie du Mobile, etre dans la Silicon Valley (et loin des sièges des principaux opérateurs Américains) n’est donc pas un handicap ?

DM : Non, bien au contraire. Le nombre de conférences et d’évènements attirant les dirigeants des opérateurs mobiles, qui sont éparpillés partout aux Etats-Unis, est sans pareil. Nous pouvons donc les rencontrer fréquemment.

SM : Quels sont les nouveaux chantiers possibles pour Zong, a travers ce marche des paiements poutr "virtual goods"

DM : Nous avons une énorme distribution via les reseaux sociaux et les jeux sur lesquels nous sommes présents. Nous avons déjà traite des paiements pour plus de 10 millions d’utilisateurs cette année. Si les couts de transactions continuent a baisser, nous allons tres prochainement pouvoir adresser de nouveaux marches verticaux, tels que le e-commerce.

SM : En tant qu’entrepreneur, etes vous toujours aussi satisfait de cette implanttion Americaine ?

DM : Plus que jamais.

Rien ne vaut une video pour visualiser le parcours client, avec cet exemple..

Qipit lance White sur iPhone

Qipit, société basée à San Francisco avec des bureaux a Paris et en Asie, vient juste de sortir son application iPhone, Qipit White, qui devrait simplifier la vie d'un bon nombre d'étudiants, de chefs de projets... bref de toute personne qui sort d'une reunion, d'un cours et qui souhaite capturer en un clic ce qui a été écrit sur le tableau blanc.

La technologie de base de Qipit (www.qipit.com) permet de rendre exploitable sur le web toute sorte de photographies de documents prises sur des telephones portables... un peu comme si Qipit transformait les portables en copieurs de poche. La technologie a ete poussee pour la rendre plus accessible, notamment aux possesseurs d'iPhone, et specialisee pour la capture de tableaux blancs et autres paper boards.

Qipit et qipit White sont des produits de Realeyes3D, connue entre autres pour ses applications de traitement d'images commercialisées en OEM et équipant a ce jour plus de 80 millions de téléphones portables (les applications sont pré-chargées dans les téléphones portables par les fabricants).

 Comme le souligne Benoit Bergeret, CEO de Qipit et Président de RealEyes3D, "Qipit a prouve, avec pres d'une centaine de milliers d'utilisateurs inscrits, la validité du concept de "copie mobile". Avec Qipit White, nous apportons aux utilisateurs d'iPhone un service encore plus rapide et plus simple a utiliser, qui trouvera sa place dans le quotidien de chacun. C'est l'outil idéal pour le travail collaboratif et pour les personnels mobiles."

L'application iPhone a le grand intérêt de pouvoir s'adresser en quelques semaines a un large marche, et devrait permettre a ce nouveau produit Qipit de poursuivre l'évangélisation sur un marche de niche et tres pointu, qui ne cesse de grandir en part de marche années apres années...

Simplification de la prise de notes (dans un contexte bien cible, les tableaux blancs), transmission digitale facilitée (on pourrait presque parler de technologie verte...), White est une première étape dans la maximisation de l'utilisation des technologies développées par Realeyes3D depuis 2003... d'autres projets devraient aboutir tres prochainement sur la partie online développée a partir de la Silicon Valley.

L'application est vendue 3,99 Euros 

La vidéo du lancement de Qipit lors de la Conference DEMO en 2006

Drumkit pour jouer de la batterie sur son iPhone : Time is money in Silicon Valley

Shane Vitarana est un bel exemple de développeurs qui a su bien tirer profit de la possibilité de diffuser et vendre une application sur l’AppStore pour iPhone.

Je ne l’entends pas suffisamment dire : malgré les reproches que l’on peut faire a Apple sur l’AppStore en terme de réactivité (les délais de validation sont variables), d’exigence (attention aux mots clés utilises par exemple, ne pas choisir des noms de ses concurrents), de blocage de fonctionnalités (comme la possibilité d’enregistrer des videos sur la premiere et la seconde version), la compagnie de Cupertino a ouvert une vrai voie de distribution sur produits mobiles comme jamais cela n’a été possible jusqu'à ce jour. Alors je dis : merci Apple !

Clairement, Shane est passionne de musique et il a eu l’idée de développer une application que l’on n’utilise certes pas tous les jours, mais qui a du succès : Drum kit, pour jouer de la batterie avec son iPhone !

Comment développe-t-on une application sur iPhone ? Comment ca marche ? Combien on vend ? Shane nous donne ses recettes, en anglais dans le texte pour ne pas déformer quoi que ce soit......

YVT : Why developing this kind of application ? Do you plan some upgrades ? SV : The App Store is crowded with games that are very similar and hundreds of to-do apps. The best way to have success in the App Store is to find a niche and own it. Drum Kit is the most successful drum app in the store. I update it with new features every two weeks, or as soon as Apple approves updates.

YVT : In terms of development, submission to Apple, any tips ? SV : Read Apple’s SDK Agreement before starting development on your idea. If you make an app violating the agreement, there’s a good chance it’ll get rejected. Make Apple happy and they will make you happy.

YVT : How did you make the decision on pricing ? SV : I experimented with $0.99 and $1.99. The app sold pretty much the same amount at both price points, that’s why I decided on $1.99. Don’t price your app too high. If you have a mass market app, make it cheap, and make money on volume.

YVT : Any figures to give us ? SV : I can’t release any figures on Drum Kit, except to say that sales have been steady after the initial launch period. This is most likely due to the app being featured in Apple commercials and billboards. Drum Kit Lite has over 1 million downloads however (Drum Kit Lite est la version gratuite).

YVT : more on your background ? Any new plans on iPhone, android ? SV : I’ve been programming since I was 12 and have had many jobs programming in Java, C, and Ruby, so learning Cocoa APIs and Objective-C wasn’t a big deal. Objective-C has become my favorite language.

I do plan on making more apps, and have another music app in the works. I don’t plan on doing any Android development in the near future. The Android market just isn’t big enough to warrant development right now.

Shane est passione, bon developpeur, mais pragmatique. Time is money in Silicon Valley. Plus qu’ailleurs sans doute !

Investisseurs Japonais recherchent developpeurs sur iPhone !

Je suis plutôt censé publier des informations sur la Silicon Valley, mais quand il s'agit de l'iPhone, les informations passent toutes (ou presque) Ici, même si cela concerne un marché qui se trouve de l'autre cote de l'Océan... Pacifique !

Toshi est blogueur au Japon, et publie des informations utiles pour développer des applications sur le marche Japonais.

Il a transmis récemment sur un forum de la Silicon Valley dédie a l'iPhone l'information selon laquelle NGI group, un incubateur Japonais qui a récemment ouvert un fond dédie a iPhone. Il recherchent des développeurs pour investir dans leur compagnie. Le Business Model est base sur le principe du "profit share model". Voici comment fonctionne le fonds (volontairement en anglais pour être très précis sur le mode opératoire) :

- Applie fund selects plans for application development and seeks 
investors publicly. (The amount of the fund for each project is 
estimated to be $50,000 - $100,000, but not limited.)
- Developers are responsible for the development, promotion, release, 
and support of the application.
- The revenue is to be shared with investors, Applie fund and 
developers. The investors will receive the shares preferentially until 
the break even point. (It is assumed that the developers portion will be 50% 
after Apple's deduction until the break even.)
- The details such as term, IP(intellectual property), share potion, 
roles&responsibilities, plan after the break even, application 
maintenance plan after the release, need to be discussed after the 
project is picked up.

Je ferai suivre les informations pour ceux qui sont intéresses, avec les informations suivantes (toujours en anglais) :

1. Application Overview: what does it do, target platform other than 
iPhone if possible, target price
2. Application Detail : detail description about the application
3. Appealing Point : special features, why users buy the app, what is 
better than other competitive applications
4. Pricing Model : Paid/Subscription/Ad
5. Target : user target and volume
6. Download Simulation : number of download estimation based on actual 
numbers
7. Revenue Simulation : revenue projection time line estimation after 
the release
8. Cost Simulation : cost for development, promotion, etc.
9. Promotion Plan : detail plan for the application promotion
10. Schedule : schedule for planning, design/development, release, 
upgrade, etc
11. Application Development Record : name of application, release date, 
number of sales
12. Organization Overview : contact, description of business, financial 
information, core members background
13. Enthusiasm : how seriously you are working on this application

Je connais des studios Français qui ont d'ores et déjà commence a attaquer le marche Japonais avec leurs applications iPhone... et localement !

Nouvelle rubrique : En direct de la Silicon Valley

C'est une rubrique (En Direct de San Francisco) qui sera rédigé par Philippe Jeudy fondateur de Altaide Valley basé à San Francisco (4 ème auteurs sur SM), observateur privilégie des usages et tendances dans la Silicon Valley, la Vallée du Silicium ! l'idée n'est pas de publié des news mais un point de vue, un zoom, une prise de parole de sociétés qui font le mobile à 10087 km de chez nous. Philippe couvre pas mal d'événement sur place, il nous tiendra informé des innovations qui émergent bien souvent des US.

Autre particularité de cette rubrique c'est l'organisation d'un voyage sur le Web et le Mobile, le prochain aura lieu en Avril 2010 juste après l'édition Le Mobile 2.0, si vous voulez voir à quoi ressemble 1 semaine organisé par Philippe, allez voir le site du voyage en 2009. 

Voulez vous venir ?

Cooking Capsules est une startup de la Silicon Valley

Maybe you could describe your project in 4 steps, to describe shortly Cooking Capsules story : the idea, and why developing a mobile application on Android ?

The idea of Cooking Capsules is to take everything you need to cook a great meal, or meals for a day, and "encapsulate" it, providing an entertaining how-to cooking show for each dish, alongside a shopping list, and step-by-step directions for when you get home from the market.

We chose mobile because you can find a recipe and watch a two to three minute episode after work (while you wait for the bus, for example), stop by the market and check off your list, then go home and set your phone on the counter to guide you through each step you saw in the episodes. This could only work with mobile since it is used in multiple locations.

Android was chosen because it was the only open platform at the time. It hadn’t launched yet, but we knew that once it did, distribution wouldn’t be the hurdle it once was. As it turns out, Google and the OHA’s approach with Android was then copied throughout the US market, and the Apple App Store then rushed to open to indie developers before the Android Market did. Now the whole industry has opened considerably, finally removing the barriers to distribution once imposed by the carriers, enabling new innovation and smaller players like us to compete.

Can you tell us more how you made this project : development, resources, financing...

There were two of us working on it for phase 1 of the Android Challenge. I’m a developer in a sense, but not a programmer, so I designed the architecture and visual elements and found a programmer online (in India) with whom to enter the Android Challenge. After we won Phase 1, we split the $25,000 and went on to Phase 2, where we brought on four more guys who had entered their own apps but didn’t win. They were in China, The UK, The Netherlands, and Bulgaria. We worked around the clock, using Skype as our base for communication. Together we won $100,000 from Google for landing in the Top 20 for Phase 2.

I then took some of my portion of the prize money to hire the UK developer, Tom Gibara, who helped me take a pared back but more solid version to the Android Market, where we were invited by Google to be among the first apps available. We then further polished the interface and included a series of screens that allowed each recipe to contain a series of screens with deeper information. Our first release is called the Cooking Capsules Taster and it is comprised of four Indian dishes, and four that are French-inspired.

We are thus far self-financed and looking at the best method of continuing to move forward financially until we start making money from the sale of the collections, advertising, and sponsorship. Bootstrapping seems ideal, if possible, but we are assessing that now. The vision for Cooking Capsules is big, and the goal is to figure out if our objectives are best reached with some infusions of Angel or VC money (and expertise), and also how possible that is with the cutbacks in investments.

Because we have created a nice platform for food related companies to share their recipes, we are very keen on those types of partnerships. We are not merely interested in a recipe to sell a product, but instead, in an outlet for companies we are in alignment with to provide their recipes and cooking tips and engage people in learning how to cook, by sponsoring collections.

The nature of the Cooking Capsules concept spawns a multitude of ideas and possibilities. We allow time for those brainstorms and listen to user feedback, and then review one feature at a time, and if we decide to implement it, we make sure we do it right. I’d rather have fewer features and a quality experience for each recipe than tons of features, volumes of recipes, with an app built merely to show off a new technology or advertise at every opportunity. That said, we have created a considerable demand for more content, and are looking at ways to get more out within a realistic time frame. The best business model, as I see it now, is to work with like-minded partners to release small, high quality, well-integrated collections and look at doing a larger scale app in the future with the ability to organize and share the recipes along with a growing variety of other rich features we would add along the way. Deeply analyzing each interesting feature and the resulting interface implications (primarily maintaining the desirable simplicity of navigation) are considerations of quality, efficiency and economy for our business. As an interface designer, I’ve notice that too often overlooked is usability. Ours is a very simple to use application and that is much of the reason for it’s popularity. We want to continue to lead the way there. Usability is not just nice. It is very, very important. And the more simple, attractive and satisfying our applications are to users, the larger the user base, the more potential sponsors and investors will understand the enormous potential. The same holds true for our shows : simple, attractive and satisfying. Any more would be too much.

What about Android ?

I’ve covered Android a bit here, but if you want more of my thoughts on it (I have a lot), you may read the rather passionate blog post I wrote about it after being on the panel of the Techcrunch Mobile Web Wars Event : Android is a Volcano

What is the situation now, and your conclusion

The past year has granted us awards, media coverage and the ability to bring our unique app to the Market. As of today, Valentine’s Day, we have over 40,000 downloads (since the launch of the Market in late November), over 600 ratings (most asking for more recipes), and have received hundreds of e-mail messages. There is obviously a huge demand for what we are offering. So now comes the difficult work of matching supply with demand. We want to continue to produce high quality shows, because that is part of what people appreciate about Cooking Capsules. The challenge is that people are used to large quantities. They are accustomed to Google searches or giant recipe sites where they can find hundreds of thousands of recipes.

Our offering isn’t a search engine, it is an outlet for our integrated cooking media and that of our partners. And while we are considering some user generated elements, we don’t aspire to be the mobile "YouTube of recipes". We are creating something new. This comes with it new challenges, particularly in this economy. But I believe the time is right for quality of experience over quantity of selection.

In fact, since this is for a French audience, let me say that I believe this to fit into the French culture. My cousin lived in France most of his life and I recall years ago, walking in Paris in the morning with his girlfriend to the bread shop to buy bread, the meat shop to buy meat, and the produce market to buy produce. She wasn’t buying for the next week or month- she was buying for the day. While France may have changed since then, I like to think that ethic of quality and resourcefulness remains. Instead of buying masses of food because it’s on sale, the French buy what is fresh and seasonal. They may spend more on some fresh-off-the-boat fish, but they will buy just the amount they need and eat it, not freeze it for a month or let it go bad because they waited a week to make something with it. They buy quality food and use it to their best advantage.

Times are changing and I think Americans have much to learn from the French approach to food. Recipes are like a wardrobe. You don’t need closets full of clothes and shoes, just a small, high quality collection that you love and can creatively interchange and rely on. You might layer some of the same items a bit differently one day from the next and add a different scarf and shoes for a new look. Because they are all quality items, each look is unique and elegant. The same with cooking. We want to provide people with an arsenal of methods so they begin to feel comfortable experimenting. We want them to have convenience, but not at the expense of the true joy of cooking and sharing food. And what better time for it than now ? So that is a taste of our manifesto and our goals.

We may change the technicalities of our approach as we grow and learn what works and what doesn’t, but the main thing is that we stand by this basic ethos, and make partnerships with those with the same lifestyle approach. We are a small company with economic concerns like everyone else, but if we stay on task and continue to produce a quality experience, we believe a greater selection of content and any money needed to achieve that will come (and in the right way) and we will grow and thrive, all the while provided entertainment, fun and learning to those who seek to cook in a new way.