Building Momentum in the Mobile Ecosystem
Posted on: November 23, 2010 – Filed under: Global
Delivering an appealing set of mobile applications to consumers is not without its challenges, even for a company with the scale of Vodafone Group. The developer ecosystem is characterised by a mixture of small and large developers, with a handful of the former complemented by large numbers of the latter, and with companies in both camps requiring different levels of engagement and support. And the introduction of new developer options such as WAC-backed technologies complicate the picture further.
Vodafone has already used a number of methods to engage with the developer community, with Hemant Madan, Head of Developer Marketing for Vodafone Internet Services, arguing that in order to succeed the company has to be proactive with its efforts. “Whenever we talk about developer engagement, it’s not a question of us sitting back and waiting for the developer to come to us. You have to take the horse to the water and not bring the water to the horse, always,” he says.
As part of its strategy to improve its engagement with the developer community, Vodafone has recently sponsored events such as DroidCon in Germany and Mobile 2.0, and it is working with groups including Mobile Monday. In addition, it already has a number of relationships with developers and brands through its previous Vodafone live! mobile internet activities, which can be carried forward into the mobile app market.
The winner of the most recent Mobile Clicks was Cardmobili, developer of an application which aggregates customer loyalty cards, and enables retailers to push vouchers and reward points to subscribers. This company has apps products available for a range of platforms including Android, BlackBerry, Java, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7, iPhone and – perhaps unsurprisingly – Vodafone 360/JIL. As first prize winner, the 12-person company landed EUR100,000 in cash, which it said it would invest in marketing, and to encourage sign-ups among consumers and retail partners. Full article via: Mobile Business Briefing.