A how to guide on how to get ideas for your next multi million dollar app from ideation to submission and beyond

1. From Idea To
App Store
Gibson Tang
Managing Director, Azukisoft Pte Ltd

2. ABOUT THE SPEAKER
• Mobile and web software engineer
• Started developing applications since 2003
• Worked with startups and big companies
• gibson@azukisoft.com or gibtang@gmail.com
Gibson Tang

3. 1. What makes a great idea
2. Target demographic
3. How you can start
4. What you will need
AGENDA 3
5. Native vs mobile web
6. iOS vs Android
7. App store submission
8. What’s next

4. 4From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?
Watch this

5. • Mobile apps are unique
• They serve only one function well
• Find an idea that solves a pain point
• Talk to people about your idea
• Iterate until you get an idea that people are willing to use
• Find a monetization model (Without monetization, you can’t survive)
5From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?

6. 6From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?
Watch this

7. Instagram
• Solves the pain of taking ugly photos
• Upload the photo and apply a filter
• Snap, upload and share
7From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?

8. WhatsApp
• Solves the problem of expensive messaging
using SMS
• With internet access, you can chat with your
friends and close ones
• Open the app and chat. It’s easy
8From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?

9. Uber
• Push a button, get a ride
• Easy to use, compared to calling a taxi
• Credit card payment
No need to worry taxi uncle will scold you for giving him $50
9From Idea to App Store
What makes a great idea?

10. The world is so big. Different countries
and regions have different cultural
differences. These will affect platform
popularity and influence your use cases.
10From Idea to App Store
Target Demographic

11. • In countries where purchasing power is smaller
• Look at Android platform as your first platform to target
• Android phones are more popular as they are cheap
• Example, Vietnam, Indonesia, India etc
11From Idea to App Store
Target Demographic - Android

12. • Android apps tend to monetize via advertising such as AdMob
• Advertising is Google’s strong suite
• Not all Android phones have access to Google App Store. Example,
Android phones in China
• It is common for individual countries to have their own Android App
Store
• Your app need to look strongly into advertising for a monetization model
12From Idea to App Store
Target Demographic - Android

13. • In countries where the population have higher spending power
• Less price sensitive
• Places value on branding
• Countries such as Australia, Singapore, USA
13From Idea to App Store
Target Demographic - iOS

14. • Each country have their own localized App Store
• But you can submit an app to Apple and it will be available in all
countries where Apple has a presence
• Apps tend to be monetized via a pay-per-download or a subscription
model
• In-app advertising is still popular
• iOS apps have a wider variety of monetization models
14From Idea to App Store
Target Demographic - iOS

15. • Do market research on apps that resemble your idea
• Sources include App Annie https://www.appannie.com/apps/ios/top/
• Look at the top ranking apps on the app store
• Download them and assess them to see what works and what does not.
Example, graphics, usability, features etc
15From Idea to App Store
Market Research

16. • Think of an idea
• Create the app
• Profit??
16From Idea to App Store
How to start?

17. • Think of an idea – Is the idea good?
• Create the app – What happens if you cannot code?
• Profit – How do I make money from it?
17From Idea to App Store
Not so easy

18. • Buy a Windows or Mac computer
• Android development – Windows or Mac
• iOS development – Mac only
• Learn how to code
• Look into outsourcing (Perils???)
18From Idea to App Store
Create the app

19. • Outsourcing is popular now, but it has it’s pros and cons
• Popular outsourcing countries are China, Vietnam, Indonesia and India
• Generally cheaper, but it has it’s pitfalls
19From Idea to App Store
Create the app

20. • You need to deal with different time zones
• Languages barrier (both written and spoken)
• Different working cultures and habits
• Example, it is normal to have slow internet or power blackouts in India
or Vietnam
• Sending the outsourcing team a large file can take hours instead of
minutes
20From Idea to App Store
Create the app

21. • Daily Skype calls or virtual meetings are a must
• To ensure that the outsourcing team is doing exactly what you want
• Make sure that you get a daily update of their progress
• Hire someone as a technical liaison to do the project management for
you
21From Idea to App Store
Create the app

22. • www.google.com
• Referrals from friends and network
• Websites such as upwork.com or elance.com
• Referrals are the preferred method as it reduces your risk of the project
going haywire
22From Idea to App Store
Where to look

23. • Prepare a document outlining your app functionality, requirements and
specifications
• If you can hand draw or sketch what your app looks like, then this will
be a plus point
• Work with a designer who can create the user interface and advise you
on the style and art direction
• Pass it to the outsource team to review and initiate discussions
23From Idea to App Store
After that?

24. • Keep in close contact with your outsource team
• Be prepared to answer questions or reply to emails
• The outsource team will have a lot of questions at the start of the
project
• The amount of questions will reduce as time goes by and more
progress is made
24From Idea to App Store
The Process

25. • Pay them according to predetermined milestones mutually agreed by
you and the outsource team
• Do not pay them in full upfront. Example, pay them X dollars for
developing the login, registration, profile update functionalities
• Prepare an NDA if you prefer to maintain confidentiality of your idea
• Ensure that all IP, data, source code, design and things related to the
project belong to you or your company
25From Idea to App Store
The Process

26. • Start rounding up friends, relatives, colleagues etc to test your app
• Make sure they have the devices that your platform support. No point
asking your friend who has a Samsung S7 to download your iPhone
app
• Collate feedback and issues that they encounter
• Submit the feedback to your development team
• Start preparing submission materials for the submission of your app to
the App Store
26From Idea to App Store
End of the road

27. • No need to worry about Apple or Google reviewing your app as your
app will not appear in the app store
• But you will need a server to host the web application
• Great for use cases where you do not want to submit your app for
review by Google or Apple
• Titianium Appcellator, PhoneGap, Xamarin
• You need internet connectivity to work
• iOS and Android apps can work even without internet access
27From Idea to App Store
Mobile Web App?

28. You will need the following :
• App Name which is not too long (preferably < 10 characters),
descriptive and must be unique
• Screenshots which is important as people tend to download apps based
on the screenshots
• App description which people will read to know more about it
• Price ($0.99 or $1.99 etc) or even free with in-app purchases
28From Idea to App Store
Submission

29. • Company website (This can be as simple as a 1 page website with
description of your app and a screenshot of the app)
• Contact email for Google or Apple to contact you for any queries
• Finally, how much do you have to pay Apple or Google to put your app
on the app store?
29From Idea to App Store
Submission

30. • $99 USD a year for Apple
• Submit an unlimited number of apps and app updates
• Submitted apps needs to be reviewed by Apple for virus and content
quality
• Time from submission to Apple approval to appearance in the App Store
can range from two days to a week or more
• Apple has strict guidelines on what is acceptable
• Apple will pay you via bank transfer on a monthly basis provide your
revenue hits a minimum amount of $50 USD*
30From Idea to App Store
Apple Submission

31. • $25 USD a year for Android
• Submit an unlimited number of apps and app updates
• Submission will be checked by Google for virus and malicious code
• Time from submission to App Store appearance is normally less than 6
hours
• Google does not adopt such a stringent policy for apps compared to Apple
• Google will pay you via bank transfer on a monthly basis provided your
revenue hits a minimum figure of $50 USD*
31From Idea to App Store
Android Submission

32. • Promote, promote, promote
• Approach bloggers, newspapers and websites
• Get them to write articles or blog posts about your app
• Give them a good narrative
• Approach social influencers
• Buy Facebook Ads or Google Ads to drive app installs
32From Idea to App Store
After app is released

33. 33Case Study
The Asian Parent iOS/Android

34. • Started in early 2016
• 3 months for iOS application
• 2 months for Android application
• Android was faster to develop as the functionalities were finalized
during the iOS app development
• Worked with a development team in India
• Faced issues such as slow internet, language barriers and blackouts
34Case Study

35. • Android to grow in strength in less developed countries
• There will be iPhones released that will target a less affluent population,
such as iPhone SE
• Mobile will still grow in popularity all over the world
• A lot of people will skip the PC era and move directly to the mobile era
• AI will play a big part in mobile applications
• Market will be dominated by Android and iOS and no other competitors
will be able to enter
35Trends

36. • Android to grow in strength in less developed countries
• iPhones will be released that target a less affluent population, such as
iPhone SE
• Mobile will still grow in popularity
• A lot of consumers will skip the PC era and move directly to the mobile
era
• AI will play a big part in mobile applications
• Market will be dominated by Android and iOS and no other competitors
will be able to enter
36Trends

37. 37Trends

38. • http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/16-crazy-mobile-trends-for-2016/
• https://blog.kissmetrics.com/mobile-marketing-trends-2016/
• http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Five-tech-trends-that-will-
change-the-mobile-world-in-the-next-10-years
• https://possiblemobile.com/2016/06/mary-meekers-2016-internet-
trends-mobile/
38Related Links

39. 39From Idea to App Store
“To me, ideas are worth
nothing unless executed. They
are just a multiplier. Execution
is worth millions.” – Steve
Jobs

40. 40From Idea to App Store
Q&A