Why do mobile projects fail?

Presentation & Discussion

Matthew Langham

Indiginox GmbH

Warning: There is no source code in this presentation!

Short answer

• Because it’s harder than it looks!

• Thanks and have a good journey home....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameronparkins/3220496811/

Matthew Langham

• Co-Founder - Indiginox GmbH

• Independent enterprise consultant for Mobile strategies

• Mobile project management for Mobile operator and corporate customers

• Mobile development

• Author & Speaker

• matthew.langham@indiginox.com

• @silentpenguin or @indiginox

Goal

• Pin needles into the map of mobile project development to provide you with some “focus points”

•

Why do mobile projects fail?

• Of course - for the same reasons other IT projects fail ...

• Too little stakeholder involvement

• Poor or unrealistic requirements

• Unrealistic time scales

• Scope creep over the development period

• No management of change control

• Quality assurance

But most often ..

• “No matter what they tell you, it's always a people problem.” • Gerald Weinberg (The secrets of consulting)

• Eric Schmidt (Google) said: “Mobile First!”

• I say: “Think First!”

Mobile projects present additional challenges

• Challenges affect the different phases of a project

• Conception

• Implementation & Testing

• Deployment

• Business

• The biggest mistakes are made before a line of code is written

Conception

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukluk/174688752

Do you know what you’re doing?

• Starting the project without understanding what you are dealing with can be deadly

• “We’ve bought 500 iPads - and now we need an app!”

• “We need a native app for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry - oh - and Windows Phone”

• “Have you thought about a cross-platform Web app?”

• “huh”?

• “Our budget is xyz € and we need two apps that work on both iOS and Android finished by the 1st of December - can you do it? We haven’t completed the requirements list but we know someone who knows someone who did a prototype in 5 days”

Are you sure?

• Functional requirements from people who don’t understand the technology

• “Build a mobile widget that is just like ‘need for speed’”

• “Build an Android Facebook home-screen widget for this low cost device that is just as fast as the native app on my high-end device”

• “I want the App store to launch with 1.000 Apps!”

The challenge

• How can we educate all project stakeholders so that they know enough about the technology to make informed decisions?

The perspective challenge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Handshake_(Workshop_Cologne_%2706).jpeg

Technology “ripening”

• Operating systems for mobile devices are often released too early

• Very short release cycles during device and system development

• Often several times a week

• Functionality comes and goes depending on the release

• Example: Changing the browser rendering engine during device development

• “iOS devs: is it just me or is iOS5 getting even more buggy with each beta release?“ - kevinrose (01.09.2011)

Technology influence

• Vendors and operators influence what goes into the device (and operators own the network)

• Don’t make assumptions!

• The underlying operating system plays a major role for your application

• Even if you’re designing a Web app

Who’s leading Who?

• Mobile technology is still developing very rapidly

• Make sure your project won’t be obsolete by the time it’s finished

• Plan iterations to make sure you keep up with new developments

• Did you develop for WebOS?

• Today, software innovation outpaces network innovation by at least a factor of five: application developers often reach market in only three to six months, while operators take 18-24 months to launch a new service.

• Mobile-Developer_Econonomics_2011 (VisionMobile)

Technology cracks

• Fragmentation will remain the problem

• And I don’t just mean Android...

• e.g. Mobile browsers or BlackBerry operating systems

Choosing resources

• “Developers, Developers, Developers!”

• “Readily available” mobile development is still relatively new

• Downloadable SDK

• Accessible devices

• Testing via simulators

• It’s difficult to find an all-rounder

• iOS, Android and BlackBerry please

Choosing resources

• Google releases first “early look” Android SDK

• November 2007

• Apple released the first beta version of the native iOS SDK

• March 2008

• So, don’t go looking for the mobile developer with 10 years of Android development expertise!

• And also don’t trust anyone that experienced

• Choose motivated and technically savvy resources with “mobile” experience and an eye for the challenges

Choosing resources

Choosing resources

• Does your developer really know mobile?

• “They don’t seem to grasp that one must understand the native environment you’re working in before going ahead and writing a program to run within it.”

• Andy Firth - http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/08/06/demise-low-level-programmer/

Choosing resources

• Developers are increasingly experimenting with more and more platforms

• Developers use on average 3.2 platforms concurrently based on a sample of 850+ online respondents. This represents a 15% increase from last year’s figure, indicating how developers are more willing to experiment with new platforms and actively transitioning to new ones

• Mobile-Developer_Economics_2011 (VisionMobile)

Choosing resources

• But it’s not just developers...

• Great application user interface design

• Not every UI designer knows mobile

• Photoshop is not a mobile development tool!

• Find designers who understand the technology implications

• resolution, screen size

• touch vs. non-touch

• mobile vs. tablet

• browser vs. app flow

• You attended the sessions on these topics - right?

Choosing resources

• Find experienced mobile project managers, designers, developers and testers who can lead the team and act as mentors

Implementation & Testing

Before we begin

• Storyboard the application using mockups

• Use a tool like Balsamiq

• Test out your concepts with a target audience

Before we begin

• Design the application with an understanding of the technology you’re targeting for

• “Well it looked fine on an iPhone...” -

• “But we were targeting a BlackBerry with OS 5”

• Did you remember not just to design for portrait mode?

Before we begin

• Make your design “intelligent”

• Use things like CSS media queries to be responsive

• Computers aren’t the only piece of hardware with a web browser anymore

• Look at “Mobile First” and add other layers as needed

• Make sure your application is designed to look as though it is doing something

• Mobile networks can be slow - so pretend they’re not and cache if you can!

Before we begin

• A single bad screen can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue and brand value

• You get only one chance to make a first impression

•

Mobile UI Performance

• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/18/seven-guidelines-for-designing-high-performance-mobile-user-experiences/

Mobile Browsers

• “I thought everyone used WebKit now”

• Yes, well, not quite - around 55%

• And they are all different!

• http://www.quirksmode.org/webkit_mobile.html

Did you pick the right technology?

• Web Apps vs. Native Apps

Web Apps vs Native Apps

• Web Apps

• Advantages

• Developers only need know-how in HTML, JavaScript and CSS

• A single application can run on a variety of devices

• Libraries available to make customization easier (e.g. SenchaTouch, jQuery Mobile )

• Applications can be customized for individual resolutions and orientation if needed (landscape vs. portrait)

• HTML5 and browser implementations are becoming increasingly standardized

• Deployment to a Web Server instead of app store, updates are immediately available

Web Apps vs Native Apps

• WebApps

• Disadvantages

• Browser != Browser

• User interaction / interface can be limited compared to a native application

• Performance of things like transitions, animations can be poorer

• Integration of device specific technologies (camera, GPS) is lacking

• Evaluate using something like PhoneGap

• Enabling “native” look and feel (like swipe on iOS) may mean including several different libraries

• Discoverability (how do customers find your app)

Web Apps vs Native Apps

• Native Apps

• Advantages

• Performance on specific devices

• e.g. Angry Birds on HTC Wildfire

• Usability, Design can be implemented specifically for a device

• Integration of things like camera, GPS, device notifications

• Integrated development tools (design, test, simulator)

• Discoverability through app store

• Sell apps for $$$

Web Apps vs Native Apps

• Native Apps

• Disadvantages

• Loss of customer retention through app store model

• Apps need to be developed for individual platforms (higher skill level)

• Deployment of apps for a targeted audience (e.g. enterprise) is difficult

• Updates via store (iOS) take longer

• App store “owner” can refuse your app

Web Apps on Steroids

• Phone Gap• Provides access to native functionality for Web Apps

•

No silver bullet!

• Don’t let anyone tell you it’s “either or”

• It should always be a well-informed use-case based decision

What type of App?

http://www.zokem.com/2011/03/youtube-top-installed-app-facebook-leads-in-unique-users/

Testing

• Testing a mobile application is time consuming

• Simulators are available

• Often part of the SDK (e.g. iOS)

• HTML 5 - Ripple - http://ripple.tinyhippos.com/

• Testing on actual devices is mandatory!

• Make sure you test on the correct OS version

• Also consider services such as DeviceAnywhere.com

Testing

• Make sure you know which device your boss / customer is using - and test first on that one

Testing

Engaging Mobile developers• Getting others to increase the value of your

offering by building an application eco-system around your core business

• Provide APIs into your data (REST based)

• Provide a signup-service for applications (signup, get key etc.)

• Provide an SDK including a sample application

• Provide support (e.g. via a google news group)

• Highlight good applications on a showcase Web-site / & go to conferences

• Make sure communication is 2-way

• Make sure you have a channel from the outside into your company

Deployment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isawnyu/4566381520

Deployment

• Deploying an app into an App store takes time and effort

• Plan for signing (if required)

• Plan for the acceptance period (dependent on App store)

• Plan for iterations as you need to update assets such as screenshots, descriptions (multi-language anyone?)

• Is the App store set up to support the devices you wrote the app for

• If the App store is available in different countries - have you tested with foreign sim-cards? Do you know what the limitations of those countries are?

War of the App stores

• App Stores today: 121 (August 2011, Wiconnector)

• But growth is slowing!

• And quite a few will disappear again

• Whitelabel solutions (from companies such as Appia) mean that the variety of App stores will increase

• e.g. Appia powers the new Opera app store

War of the App stores

• Which one?

• Reach

• Billing process

• How attractive is the app store (i.e. volumes)

• How good is the revenue share and overall revenue

• How easy is it to upload an app

Not just an App store

• Complex infrastructures

• Upload platform

• Shop / Discovery platform

• Recommendation platform

• Search Engine

• Download platform

• Routing gateways

• Billing system

• Reporting system

• SAP

Business

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/5474437939

“Your cell phone has more computing power than all of NASA in 1969.

NASA launched a man to the moon. We launched a bird into pigs.”

(via Twitter)

Hot sellers

• Angry Birds

• Over 250 million downloads total (June 11)

• 80% of owners do updates

• 30 million downloads on Android (March 11)

• $1 million / month through ad revenue on Android

• Advantage - turnover through whole app lifecycle (including free updates)

• iOS - Sold for a price - only monetization on initial purchase

• Now additional monetization through in-app purchase - Mighty Eagle

• Costs € 0,79 and has been downloaded over 2.000.000 times

• ... and then ... cuddly toys, movie tie-in (“Rio”), TV series ..

• So it was easy .... right?

Hot sellers

• Angry Birds .. not quite so simple..

• Rovios 52nd title

• Titles written for companies such as EA, Digital Chocolate

• Initially spent € 100.000 to develop Angry Birds

• When it was released in December 2009 in the English speaking App Store - it was a flop!

• Tough to break into that market from the get-go

• Rovio tried to get a following in the smaller markets

• Sweden, Denmark and Greece

• Then published via Chillingo and with Apple’s help featuring the app on the UK App Store - launched new versions in February 2010

• And the rest is history

Hot sellers

• What makes Angry Birds successful?

• Simple to play - difficult to master

• Constant rewards in the game

• Active continuous relationship with the customer

• Regular updates for free and new versions with a theme (halloween etc.)

• Cared about feedback from the customers

• Phoenix bird that ignites the structure was a suggestion from a customer

• Rovio were able to create a “buzz” around the game

Before you get too excited

Before you get too excited

• The average smartphone user in a study added just 2.5 new apps per month.

• 37 percent of users added no new apps at all.

http://www.wirelessintelligence.com - Study was based on an analysis of more than 2,100 smartphone users (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian) in the US and UK during January 2011

Keep track of your users

• App Analytics

• Track app users, sessions, platforms, demographics, ...

• Solutions

• Flurry.com

• Localytics.com

• Google Analytics

• Let Facebook do the work

It’s just business

• “Mobile apps aren’t a get rich quick scheme where you can be oblivious to best practice. “

• “Usual business rules apply and there are extra mobile rules for the unwary.”

• Simon Judge

Mobile in the enterprise

• Consumerization of the enterprise

• Employees expect the same seamless experience with mobilized enterprise applications as they have with the ones they use privately

• This is further enhanced by “bring your own device” policies

• Porting an enterprise application UI to a mobile device can be challenging

• Additional enterprise challenges

• Resistance to change

• Legacy systems, data security, personal data ....

• Limited peer sharing of experience or “best practices”

Thanks for staying to the end!

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better” - Samuel Beckett

matthew.langham@indiginox.com

photo on slide 1 (c) Frank Köhntopp - used with permission - http://www.flickr.com/photos/koehntopp/