Welcome to This Week in Mobile Development! September 11th-18th.
This week’s blog section has tips on the advantages of soft launch, smart home development and solo game development. Read on to find out about top marketing tips, how to bring back inactive users and user acquisition costs. You can’t miss it!
The dislike button, stress relief through mobile gaming and the new iPhone on track to break sales records dominate this week’s news section! Don’t forget to subscribe to get all the latest mobile development news sent straight to your inbox. Every Friday from Felgo!
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Blogs
Games that spend more than one month in soft launch can increase retention by 20% says deltaDNA
Soft launching is becoming more and more important as developers try to deliver a finished product to major markets. Jon Jordan of Pocketgamer.biz caught up with Dr. Isaac Roseboom of DeltaDNA to find out how to do it right. Dr Roseboom says “The most obvious and important thing to focus on during soft launch is your game’s onboarding funnel.”
70% of Smart Home developers are hobbyists
Smart home technology is looking like a golden goose to a lot of companies but it’s still an area dominated by the hobby developer. Although 700 million homes are predicted to be connected by smart technology by 2020, the market is struggling to move beyond early adopters and find it’s place in mainstream markets.
Trying To Be A Solo Game Developer? Think Again.
BlackShell Media cast a skeptical eye over one-person development teams this week, and whether you agree or not, their piece is definitely worth a read. Their argument is based on the fact that the majority of one-person projects seem to fail. Can one person really develop a game, market a game, and find users on their own? Let us know what you think.
Start Small, Stay Nimble: 4 Mobile Game Marketing Tips from Joel Dreskin
Joel Dreskin is about as experienced as they come where video game marketing is concerned. Despite working for a number of large studios, he prefers helping out indie devs and is currently writing a book for them on how to market their game. Get his top tips free of charge from the Chartboost blog and get a head start marketing your game.
Raising the dead: 5 techniques for bringing back inactive players
Have some of your users gone “dead”? Bring them back to life with these 5 techniques and regain that lifetime value. According to Venturebeat, the key to achieving this regeneration is measuring your metrics, push messaging, planning events, launching an update and special versions. Read the article to find out more about breathing new life into your app or game.
Mobilepocalypse: Why mobile-user acquisition costs could double in the next 12 months
This heads-up from Venturebeat could save you some cash in the months to come. Revenue from advertising is set to increase, which is good for publishers, but it also means a rise in the cost of user acquisition. The most important take away for mobile developers is probably the fact that organic acquisition is about to become more important than ever.
News
iPhone 6s And 6s Plus Sales On Track To Break Last Year’s Record
After last week’s first look at the new iPhone 6s, Apple have already announced the phone is set to break sales records upon release. In order to beat last years record for the sales of the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6s will have to sell more than 10 million units when it gets released later this month.
Facebook to Begin Testing Dislike Button
After years of users almost begging for this feature, Facebook is set to begin testing a “Dislike” button. Mark Zuckerburg said during the week that the development of this feature had been “surprisingly complicated”. At the moment there’s no clear indication if this features will also work for existing Facebook pages.
Litesprite uses mobile games to treat chronic stress problems
Some great news during the week was Litesprite’s announcement that they’re using mobile games to treat chronic stress problems. Their new game, Sinasprite, uses wearable, mobile, and biosensor devices to monitor the condition of users. It then leads them on a journey through soothing and relaxing levels.
This Week in Mobile Development!
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