Using app stores to distribute your mobile service - @mippin #mweb09

Mippin are a mobile content aggregation and portal company based in London and one of the most advanced companies in the world in terms of using applications stores as distribution channels.  The clever thing mippin realised early on was that you don't need to invest huge amounts in creating full applications for each platform - by using a "wrapper" or "launcher" driving to a mobile website, you can have the best of both worlds - the distribution power of an appstorea and the screen real estate of an app on the device but with the lower development costs of a mobile site.  

Here's some notes on a great presentation on how they use application stores at the Mobile Web Summit from Robin Jewsbury Co-Founder and VP Development.  I actually got them the slot for this presentation as I knew they would have loads of useful points and I wasn't disappointed. 

- initially mippin was 100% focused on an application business (Refresh Mobile) but out of every 100 people that downloaded their app only 20 would open and use (they couldn't find apps on their phone!)

- not so long ago a lot of people therefore thought that mobile apps were dead RIP Mobile Applications and it was all about mobile web - until iphone appstore came along...

- iphone app store not perfect - QA process abysmal, not really a sustainable model? - mippin only getting 100 downloads per week on the app store - need to also look at Ovi etc

- however ... fragmentation of appstores and platforms is a problem

- Nokia - Java, Symbian, WRT, Flash, Blackberry - Java, iphone - C++, Windows Mobile - .net, Silverlight, Android - Java, Palm - Web OS etc etc

- but there is a way around this - use HTML, CSS and Javascript as a common platform and then create a "wrapper" for it -  Phone Gap framework can be used for iphone, android, blackberry mobile web apps, WRT for Nokia/ Symbian

- this has allowed mippin to quickly and cheaply launch a presence on a range of different appstores and be one of the first services on the likes of Ovi and Blackberry App World

- 400% growth in RIM traffic since launch on Blackberry appstore

- 21% increase in page views from Nokia handsets since launch on Ovi with a WRT app

You can find mippin in the mjelly directory

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