Session held by Matthew Langham at Mobile Tech Con 2011 in Mainz on why mobile projects can fail and ways around common problems

2. Why do mobile projects fail?
Presentation & Discussion
Matthew Langham
Indiginox GmbH
Warning: There is no source code in this presentation!

3. Short answer
• Because it’s harder than it looks!

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameronparkins/3220496811/
• Thanks and have a good journey
home....

5. 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

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

7. 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

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

9. • Eric Schmidt (Google) said: “Mobile
First!”
• I say: “Think First!”

10. Mobile projects present
additional challenges
• Challenges affect the different phases
of a project
• Conception
• Implementation & Testing
• Deployment
• Business

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

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

13. 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”

14. 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!”

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

16. The perspective challenge

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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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)

21. Technology cracks
• Fragmentation will remain the
problem
• And I don’t just mean Android...
• e.g. Mobile browsers or BlackBerry operating systems

22. 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

23. 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

24. Choosing resources

25. 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/

26. 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)

27. 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?

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

29. Implementation & Testing

30. Before we begin
• Storyboard the application using
mockups
• Use a tool like Balsamiq
• Test out your concepts with a target audience

32. 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?

33. 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!

34. 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
•

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

36. 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

37. Did you pick the right
technology?
• Web Apps vs. Native Apps

38. 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

39. 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)

40. 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 $$$

41. 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

42. Web Apps on Steroids
• Phone Gap
• Provides access to native functionality for Web Apps
•

43. No silver bullet!
• Don’t let anyone tell you it’s “either
or”
• It should always be a well-informed
use-case based decision

44. What type of App?
http://www.zokem.com/2011/03/youtube-top-installed-app-facebook-leads-in-unique-users/

45. 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

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

47. Testing

48. 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

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

50. 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?

51. 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

52. 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

53. 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

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

55. “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)

56. 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?

57. 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

58. 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

59. Before you get too excited

60. 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

61. 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

62. 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

63. 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”

64. 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/