Author Archives: Gary Lewis

App Monetization Insights: How MobiSystems adapted their way to success

Originally posted on the AdMob blog

 Posted by Joe Salisbury, Product Specialist, AdMob
This is post 4 of our 5-part blog series featuring monetization tips straight from successful app developers. If you’re interested in further exploring the question, “what’s the best way to monetize my app?”, check out our free No-nonsense Guide to App Monetization.

Our guest this week is Elitza Bratkova, Director Business Development at MobiSystems, the company behind a few of the most popular business and productivity apps on Google Play.  Their flagship product, OfficeSuite, is a successful mobile office solution for Android with a user base of over 200M download and preloaded users.

A clear company value surfaced as a big part of MobiSystem’s success – flexibility. Check out ways you can also use flexibility to your advantage with these tips:


1. Adapt quickly to promising platforms and opportunities.

MobiSytems started over 10 years ago. In its early days, they created dictionaries for the most popular platforms – PalmOS and Pocket PC. When a new platform popped up called Symbian, they were quick to build for it, with some success.

Then Android came along in 2007, and Elitza saw the opportunity, despite the business being resource constrained.

“It was clear that mobile devices were becoming more popular for working professionals. The trend was clear. While we did opt-out of building for smaller platforms, this opportunity was in line with our vision and it seemed promising. It seemed like a platform where our target users would be. It was a risk, but we took it.”

The risk paid off. Being one of the earliests apps on the Google Play Store, and being pre-loaded on thousands of devices helped boost MobiSystems presence. Android as a platform significantly grew, expanding the user base that MobiSystems had access to.

MobiSystem’s most recent analysis of their target audience revealed that 15-20% of their users have devices on more than one platform. They’re now working on a new iteration of their products that allows users to use one license to access the app on multiple platforms.

2. Be flexible with your monetization strategy.

MobiSystem’s early users were accustomed to only one type of app monetization model from business apps – paying for access to premium versions. As consumer apps became successful with new models, the MobiSystems team was eager to adopt new monetization features in Android.

Since profiting from in-app purchases was a business model they could easily adopt, they decided to offer a version of their app for free with an in-app subscription to gain access to premium features. They saw a huge spike in downloads but some initial decline in revenues.To solve this, they turned to a monetization model that business apps never tried before—in-app advertising.

Transitioning to ads did take some time, but worked out positively. By starting slowly, experimenting with placement, being committed to showing high quality ads, and being clear that ads were critical in supporting their free version, MobiSystem bridged their revenue gap and built a successful business. Best of all, they’re able to sustainably offer a useful app for free. One of their products, OfficeSuite, has over 100,000 daily installs and has been consistently on the top free apps list in the the Play Store’s business categories.

When considering your app’s monetization strategy, consider all of your options thoroughly. There may be potential to use business models that are unusual in your space.

We hope you enjoyed the tips from MobiSystems. If you found this information helpful, don’t forget to check out The No-nonsense Guide to App Monetization. Also, stay connected on all things AdMob by following their Twitter and Google+ pages and be sure to connect with MobiSystems on Twitter here.

Introducing a new developer show "Machine Learning: Recipes for New Developers"

Posted by Josh Gordon, Developer Advocate

To help you get started building applications with machine learning, we’re excited to launch a new developer show, Machine Learning: Recipes for New Developers. In the first few episodes, we’ll teach you the ropes of machine learning without requiring any major prerequisites (like calculus). As the series progresses, we’ll walk you from “Hello World” to solving some real world problems.

Episodes will generally publish bi-weekly, and be only about 5-10 minutes in length to keep the material lightweight. Occasionally, we’ll have guests on the show who work with machine learning on different teams around Google.

Ep #1: Hello World.

  • Six lines of Python is all it takes to write your first machine learning program! In this episode, we'll briefly introduce what machine learning is and why it's important. Then, we'll follow a recipe for supervised learning (a technique to create a classifier from examples) and code it up.

Also: Coffee with a Googler came to NYC! Laurence and Josh talk about the importance of machine learning for developers, and reducing barriers to machine learning education. Check out the video!

Introducing VR view: embed immersive content into your apps and websites

Posted by Nathan Martz, Product Manager

Travel apps may include turtle photos, but they're nothing like diving into the open ocean. Real estate websites may include descriptions of the dining room, but it's nothing like actually touring the home. For developers, having immersive elements in their apps and websites can be the difference between meh and magical. That's why we're introducing VR view—a quick and easy way to embed immersive content on Android, iOS and the web.

VR views take 360 VR images or videos and transform them into interactive experiences that users can view on their phone, with a Cardboard viewer, or on their desktop computer. For native apps, you can embed a VR view by grabbing the latest Cardboard SDK for Android or iOS* and adding a few lines of code. On the web, embedding a VR view is as simple as adding an iframe on your site. We’re open-sourcing the HTML and JavaScript for web developers on github, so you can self-host and modify it to match your needs.

From travel and real estate to news and entertainment, we hope embeddable VR views make it quick and easy to share your story and build immersive and engaging visual experiences your users will love. We're excited to see what you create.

*Yes, you read that right! Starting today, there’ll be a native Cardboard SDK for iOS. Provided in idiomatic Objective C, and packaged as a single, easy-to-use CocoaPod, this new SDK includes all of the features already available in the Cardboard SDK for Android.

Introducing the Google API Console

Posted by Israel Shalom, Product Manager

Every day, hundreds of thousands of developers send millions of requests to Google APIs, from Maps to YouTube. Thousands of developers visit the console for credentials, quota, and more -- and we want to give them a better and more streamlined experience.

Starting today, we’ll gradually roll out the API Console at console.developers.google.com focusing entirely on your Google API experience. There, you’ll find a significantly cleaner, simpler interface: instead of 20+ sections in the navigation bar, you’ll see API Manager, Billing and Permissions only:

Figure 1: API Console home page

Figure 2: Navigation section for API Console

console.cloud.google.com will remain unchanged. It’ll point to Cloud console, which includes the entire suite of Google Cloud Platform services, just like before. And while the two are different destinations, your underlying resources remain the same: projects created on Cloud Console will still be accessible on API Console, and vice versa.

The purpose of the new API Console is to let you complete common API-related tasks quickly. For instance, we know that once you enable an API in a new project, the next step is usually to create credentials. That’s why we’ve built the credentials wizard: a quick and convenient way for you to figure out what kind of credentials you need, and add them right after enabling an API:

Figure 3: After enabling an API, you’re prompted to go to Credentials

Figure 4: Credentials wizard

Over time, we will continue to tailor the API Console experience for the many developers out there who use Google’s APIs. So if you’re one of these users, we encourage you to try out API Console and use the feedback button to let us know what you think!

Register today for Google Code Jam

Posted by Chelsea Lax, Google Code Jam Team

Google Code Jam is here! Registration is now open for Google’s 13th annual algorithmic, global coding competition. And back for the second year is the Distributed Code Jam track, giving contestants even more ways to test their programming skills. This year, the competition is bigger than ever…

Join us for your chance to:

  • Compete at the 2016 World Finals held in New York, NY USA on August 5-6,

    • where 25 Code Jam Finalists will compete for the $15,000 grand prize,

    • and 15 Distributed Code Jam finalists will compete for the $5,000 grand prize;

  • Win a limited edition Code Jam T-Shirt;

  • Take home the titles of Code Jam and Distributed Code Jam Champion!

Registration will be open until the close of the first online round. The Online Qualification Round will take place on April 8 @ 23:00 UTC. Visit g.co/codejam to learn more.

Are you up for the challenge? Register today at g.co/codejam.

Learn about Android for Work over Coffee with Janice Wong

Posted by Laurence Moroney, Developer Advocate

Android for Work balances an IT admin’s need for security with the needs of users for simplicity, making your favorite smartphone or tablet a great business tool. Laurence meets with Android for Work Product Manager Janice Wong to catch up with what’s latest and greatest in the Android for Work space, and how developers can get started with developing Business Apps.

Over the past few years, Android has become a reliable mobile platform for the enterprise. Janice describes her role in unleashing Android for the workplace and providing users more choice over their devices. Janice shares about her passion for productivity in the workplace, including work that she’s done on apps, for example working with mobile versions of popular enterprise email and calendaring applications. To learn more about where you can get started with developing, visit http://developer.android.com/work.

Designing for Mobile Micro-Moments

Posted by Jenny Gove, UX Research Lead, Google

Mobile has shaped the way users interact with businesses and brands alike. Nowadays, businesses cannot simply replicate their desktop strategy on mobile; they need to re-think how to build mobile experiences that are useful for clients in their moments of need - those I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments throughout the day.

To help app and mobile site developers learn what comprises a best-in-class mobile experience, we’re launching a new mobile design hub on Think with Google: Designing for Mobile Micro-Moments. The new hub features in-depth research on exactly what people expect from a mobile experience.

Learn what makes a best in class mobile experience

We partnered with AnswerLab to run user studies with more than 100 people, where we tested user's behavior on more than 100 different apps and mobile sites to undercover what led to a seamless experience and what design experiences were problematic or caused frustration to users. The results are two new sets of UX principles with specific recommendations to help you improve your mobile experience and drive conversions:

Start building better mobile sites and apps today

After you’ve identified how to improve your mobile experience, you can find tools and resources to start making improvements. Here are just a few of the resources that are available on the hub:

  • For mobile sites, consider using the latest technologies to create an Accelerated Mobile Page. This dramatically improves the performance of the mobile web and allows rich content to load instantaneously for a speedy, delightful experience.
  • Research shows that the bounce rate can be as high as 58% for web pages that take nearly ten seconds to load. Check Pagespeed Insights to gauge your mobile site’s speed.
  • Building a native app? Take advantage of Google API and Services to simplify development, grow and engage your user base, and earn money.
  • Improve the look and feel of your mobile site and app with Material Design.

Learn More

Visit the Designing for Mobile Micro-Moments hub on Think with Google to view the studies and get additional resources to start developing and marketing great mobile sites and apps.

Student applications now open for Google Summer of Code!

Posted by Mary Radomile, Google Open Source team

Are you a university student looking to learn more about open source software development? Look no further than Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and spend your summer break working on an exciting open source project, learning how to write code.

For twelve years running, GSoC gives participants a chance to work on an open source software project entirely online. Students, who receive a stipend for their successful contributions, are paired with mentors who can help address technical questions and concerns throughout the program. Former GSoC participants have told us that the real-world experience they’ve gained during the program has not only sharpened their technical skills, but has also boosted their confidence, broadened their professional network and enhanced their resumes.

Students who are interested can submit proposals on the program site now through Friday, March 25 at 19:00 UTC. The first step is to review the 180 open source projects and find project ideas that appeal to you. Since spots are limited, we recommend a strong project proposal to help increase your chances of selection. Our Student Manual provides lots of helpful advice to get you started on choosing an organization and crafting a great application.

For ongoing information throughout the application period and beyond, see the Google Open Source Blog, join our Google Summer of Code discussion lists or join us on internet relay chat (IRC) at #gsoc on Freenode.

Good luck to all the open source coders out there, and remember to submit your proposals early — you only have until Friday, March 25 at 19:00 UTC to apply!

Become a Highly Productive Web Developer with Udacity

Posted by Paul Bakaus, Web Developer Advocate at Google

There’s a lot to learn when you start to become a web developer. What’s often forgotten though is that the best web developers don’t just know the right JavaScript APIs and frameworks and the mysteries of CSS, but have access to a myriad of tools that dramatically increase their every-day productivity.

In the recently launched Web Tooling & Automation course at Udacity, we’re giving you access to information that most other developers have been learning gradually on the side, so you can kickstart your developer life.

Regardless of whether you’re just beginning your career or whether you want to refresh your picture of the productivity tools landscape, head over to Udacity to learn about setting up your editor, creating powerful build scripts, live editing, linting and all other sorts of awesome optimizations.

We’ve got a new URL!

You may have noticed the Google Developers Blog has a new domain: developers.googleblog.com. That’s because starting today, Google is moving its blogs to a new domain to help people recognize when they’re reading an official blog from Google. These changes will roll out to all of Google’s blogs over time. The previous address will redirect to the new domain, so your bookmarks and links will continue to work. Unfortunately, as with a custom domain change in Blogger, the Google+ comments on the blogs have been reset. Thanks as always for reading—we’ll see you here again soon at developers.googleblog.com!