Welcome to This Week in Mobile Development! September 4th-11th.
This week’s blog section has tips on soft launching, the green grass of mobile development, and valuing users. Read on to find out about improving LTV, segmenting users, and topping the charts. You can’t miss it!
The new iPhone, improved google analytics, and Whatsapp dominate this week’s news section! Don’t forget to subscribe to get all the latest mobile development news sent straight to your inbox, save yourself the time and stay informed. Every Friday from Felgo!
Blogs
12 Top Games in Soft Launch: From Star Wars Uprising and Rayman Adventures to Dawn of Titans and Deadheads
Even the top games are starting in soft launch nowadays. With more mobile games now being released as “games as a service”, there’s a need to refine your game as it goes. Pocketgamer are tracking the top games now in soft launch and giving you the insights into what they’re trying out and how they’re doing it.
The Grass is Not Always Greener on PC and Console, Warns Rami Ismail
One of the biggest names in mobile game development in recent years, Rami Ismail took the stage at PCG Helsinki to tell developers that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. In fact, the green grass of mobile development is looking pretty good at the moment. Rami says, “A lot of mobile companies say they’re going to put their mobile games on PC, but PC manufacturers are saying ‘PC is really hard at the moment, so we’re heading to console’ and console guys are saying ‘console is too expensive, we’re heading to mobile’.”
It’s All About the Players
Don’t chase after white whales is the message of this next post. Allison Bilas gives her expertise on using google analytics to target valuable customers. After some research at gamesindustry.biz, she’s found some great insights about finding the best users. The main one being that once a customer converts and spends some cash, they’re more likely to stick around.
How to Calculate the Lifetime Value: the Review of Methods
If you’re serious about your app or game, then you know how to calculate the lifetime value of your users. But are you sure you’re using the very best methods? In this post from Gamasutra, both simple and complex methods are well explained and the pros and cons of all techniques are weighed up. Get into the nitty gritty of this post to find the method you need.
The Mobile Dev’s Ultimate Guide to Segmentation
Segmentation is one of your best friends when it comes to finding out which customers to focus on. In this guide from Chartboost you’ll learn how to gather data, create your segments and then target those segments. After segmenting your users, you can supply your users with the best app experience possible.
6 Ways Your Indie Mobile Game Can Top the Charts
Can your game or app top the charts? With this guest post from Gur Dotan, co-founder of Soomla, you can certainly give yourself the best chance possible. Gur gives his 6 top tips in this in-depth guide to improving your game’s performance in the charts. Have you optimized your game for search engines? Do you have a localized strategy?
News
Apple Introduces The iPhone 6s And iPhone 6s Plus
You can get your first look at the new iPhone here. At Apple’s latest keynote, both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were revealed. Both will be released near the end of the month and will feature improved camera functionality and a new 64 bit chip. The biggest news of the keynote is that Apple are improving the iPhone camera for the first time in years by increasing the pixel count by 50%!
image via techcrunch.com
Google Updates its Play Games Analytics Tools for Developers
In this day and age, most developers are harnessing the power of their in-app analytics to continually improve their product. So in response to this, Google are stepping up their analytics with two new ongoing reports being added to the Google Analytics dashboard. This will enable developers to gain an even better understanding of how their app or game is used and how it can be improved.
image via venturebeat.com
WhatsApp Tops 900 Million Monthly Active Users
Finally for this week’s round-up, WhatsApp have acquired a staggering 900 million monthly active users. With over 10% of the world’s population now on the mobile messaging app, the WhatsApp team had great cause to celebrate. However the news was broken with a little less fanfare. WhatsApp co-founder, Jan Koum, told the world about reaching this milestone in a Facebook post that simply said, “WhatsApp now has 900 million monthly active users”.
image via adweek.com
This Week in Mobile Development!
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