Developer Economics 2013: Best practices for app development & marketing

[As we launch the Developer Economics 2013 online survey, Senior Analyst Andreas Pappas introduces Developer Economics 2013, the fourth in our series of developer research reports. This time we’re benchmarking the building blocks of the app economy, from analytics tools to voice APIs. Join us in Developer Economics 2013, take our online survey and win great prizes.]

Back in June 2012 we launched Developer Economics 2012, the third in our series of reports that focused on app ecosystems, developer segmentation, platform economics and global app trade routes.

Today we are embarking on the evolution of our developer research: Developer Economics 2013 focuses on the best practices for the tools, services and APIs that developers use to build, market and monetise their apps. Take the survey, have your say on your favourite tools and win prizes, including an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy SIII. The survey will soon be available in Chinese, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Korean. Developer Economics 2013 is sponsored by AT&T, Mozilla, Nokia, BrightCove, BlackBerry and Telefonica.

A service economy develops around app ecosystems

The mobile development landscape has undergone a massive transformation since the early days of the iOS and Android platforms. In the early stages developers faced a limited supply of tools and services to assist them with crossing platforms, beautifying the UI, bridging fragmentation, integrating with ad networks or analysing user behaviour. They had to create most of the building blocks from scratch using their own means.

As mobile application development continues its growth from 100,000s to millions of apps, the rush for gold has sparked a rush for spades. Across the developer journey, there is now a tool for (almost) every developer need, from app testing to ratings management. The app economy is evolving towards a service economy where developers can pick from a range of tools and services to assist them along the plan – develop – market journey. But best practices are yet far from clear.

Third-party developer services, ranging from user analytics, location APIs, bug-tracking tools, app-store optimisation services, and cross-promotion networks are, today, vying for mindshare among developers. Developer Economics 2013 aims to identify the most popular developer services among these and measure their Developer Mindshare. Furthermore we aim to understand the reasons developers choose the services they do and how they rate them across range of key performance indicators (KPIs), such as reliability, availability across platforms and ease of integration within an app.

The right tools for building an app business

Developer Economics 2013 is benchmarking best practices in a variety of developer tools sectors:Ad NetworksAdColony

AdMarvel

AdMob

AdWhirl

AirpushApple (iAd)

Burstly

Fiksu

Flurry

InMobiInneractive

JumpTap

Lead Bolt

MillenialMedia

mOcean MobileMobClix

Nexage

mopub

Smaato

warp.lyBack-End as a ServiceACS

Applicasa

Apstrata

Buddy

CloudMineCloudyRec

Deployd

FeedHenry

iKnode

Kinveykumulos

mobDB

Parse

ScottyApp

sencha.ioStackMob

Usergrid (Apigee)

Trestle (Flurry)

QuickBloxBug TrackingAirbreak

ApphanceBugSense

CrashlyticsCrittercism

Hockey AppTestFlight

UsermetrixCross-Platform ToolsAdobe AIR

Appcelerator

AppMobi

BrightcoveCorona

Marmalade

MonoMoSync

PhoneGap

QtRunRev

Sencha

UnityCross-Promo NetworksadDash

AdDuplex

AppCircle (Flurry)

Applifier

AppFlood (Papaya)Chartboost

clashmedia

Fiksu

G6PayGreatPlay Network

Jampp

maudau

RevMobSponsorPay

Tapjoy

W3i

Wavex (6waves)User AnalyticsApsalar

Bango

DistimoFlurry

Google

LocalyticsMobClix

mopappTestflight Live (Burstly)

UserMetrixVoice ServicesAT&T

Deutsche Telecom

FonYou

GetVocal

HarQenHoiio

Ifbyphone

IOVOX

Jaduka

MicrosoftOneAPI

Sendflow

Skype

Telefonica

TelekuTringMe

Tropo

Twilio

Verizon

Vivox

Which tool should you use and which one should you trust?

These sectors are becoming increasingly crowded with new entrants while merger & acquisition activity is changing the landscape almost on a monthly basis. The tools and services benchmarked in this survey are becoming the building blocks of modern apps and Developer Economics 2013 aims to establish best practices for the key developer tools sectors across the developer journey.

Developers are often at a loss when it comes to selecting the right tool or partner among the hundreds of services available to them. Cost is just one variable in the selection process but quite often, it is not the most crucial. The reliability of a service, the regional reach, key metrics (such as eCPM or fill rates), as well as the flexibility to adapt to the developer’s needs are sometimes more important than cost, particularly when developers invest time, money and resources to integrate a third-party service with their apps.

Developer Economics 2013 aims to assist developers with the selection process by benchmarking a number of third-party tools and services across a range of KPIs.

We are also helping third-party tool and service providers receive valuable information on how developer rate their services and their key decision criteria when selecting a service. If you’re a tools vendor being benchmarked, now is the time to spread the word to your developers.

If you are a developer your input into this research is very valuable to us and we’d like to invite you to take the survey.

Feedback welcome, as always

– Andreas

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