Ok, so I may not have got the words in this quote 100% correct but if you watched 60 Minutes in Australia last week then you would have heard billionaire James Packer say this in virtually the same words.

If you’re an Entrepreneur with a great App concept, an App developer, a VC or Angel investor here’s why you should be developing your next App with the Chinese market in mind:

1. Mobile application downloads will reach 5.5 billion in China this year.
2. Apple is in negotiations with China Mobile to bring the iPhone 4 to subscribers of the worlds largest mobile carrier. They have 655 million subscribers.
3. Apple is already generating nearly $8 billion from iPhone sales in China and this is rising all the time.
4. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple recently said “For China — the sky’s the limit there. I’ve never seen so many people rise into the middle class who aspire to buy Apple products.” With Apple products comes access to Apps and opportunity!
5. In November 2011 Apple started to accept Chinese Yuan for App Store downloads making App purchases easier and more accessible to Chinese consumers.

Note: This post is focused on Apple’s Appstore. Yes, we know about Google and their China troubles. More about this in another post.

Developing Apps for the Chinese Market

Localisation is the most important factor.

Research analyst Fei-Feng Seet says “Regardless of device type, successful apps in the Chinese market are those with a local look and feel and incorporate local content.”

That means not only does your App need to be written in Chinese but your graphics should be tailored to the market too. An example is the App “Fruit Ninja for China” that includes peaches as a new fruit and has a background image with the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.

Price Sensitivity

It’s important to note that the Chinese are more price sensitive when it comes to buying apps, when compared to their Western counterparts. Now that Apple accepts Chinese Yuan for Appstore downloads a barrier to purchase has been broken, but App developers need to be careful with their pricing strategy in China where over priced Apps are destined for failure.

Act local, think global

We’re not saying that Australian App developers should turn their attention just to China. If your App hasn’t ‘cracked’ it in the Western world then chances are that an attempt to crack China will also fail.

What we are saying is:

1. If you have a specific App concept for the Chinese market or deep strategic research that makes the need for a market specific App a good idea then China offers potentially massive growth and the time to act is now.
2. If you’re pitching an App concept to Angel Investors or VC’s then adding ‘phase 2, 3, 4 or 5′ plans for China to your presentation might not hurt. After all, Instagram has finally given Facebook a ‘backdoor’ in to China!

If you are interested in developing Apps for the Chinese market you can also read Apple vs Google vs Facebook in China, the iPhone and China Mobile and App localisation in China.

About Echo Communications

Echo Communications is a web development company based in Sydney, Australia. We custom develop websites, apps and mobile solutions for international brands, startups, not-for-profits and advertising agencies.

There’s a great article on Mumbrella today about Google Australia’s research in to the mobile web, smartphone usage and smartphone penetration in Australia. Here are some of the key excerpts:

Google’s data: 61% of mobile users surveyed said they were unlikely to return to a site that they had trouble accessing from their phone.

Jason Pellegrino, Google Australia’s head of mobile ads: “The year of mobile has already happened. If mobile strategy isn’t being considered by the CEO or at board level, you’re already behind the 8-ball.”

You can read the full story here, see one of our recent mobile website development projects here and you may be interested to read about the difference between Mobile Optimised Websites and Mobile Apps on our website.

The mobile site was developed using JQuery and the user is automatically re-directed to the mobile version of the website when visiting from a smartphone. If you have a smartphone simply visit www.generationone.org.au from your mobile browser to view it.

Do you need a mobile website?

If you’re unsure of your mobile strategy and are unsure of whether you need a mobile ready website, an App or both then here’s a few articles which may help you decide … of course you can always contact us if you’d like to discuss your mobile strategy.

• The Importance Of a Mobile Optimised Website
• Mobile Website vs Native App
• The State of the Global Mobile Industry 2012 – This is an excellent presentation!

The App was originally used at exhibitions around Australia, giving kids time to play (and interact with the brand) while mum received important information from the Nurofen activation team.

iPad App with marketing appeal

This wasn’t just a cool App to keep the kids busy. Once the kids completed a ‘finger painting’ on the iPad, they are prompted to enter mum’s email address so that their finger painting can be emailed to them.

When they got home an email was waiting for them prompting them to login at www.magicofdiscovery.com.au. Once logged in they could view their paintings, download them, print them and even share them on Facebook.

Admin & Analytics

We also developed an online admin system for Nurofen so that they can login to access data such as:

• The number of paintings that were started
• The number of completed paintings
• The number of email addresses submitted
• All email addresses that can be exported and used in Nurofen’s CRM system

The App was developed in conjunction with Red Bean Republic.

It’s called curv.me and is so easy to use that you can be up and running with a new website in just a few minutes. You don’t need any coding or design skills and you can start off free and then upgrade when you’re ready to unlock all the features.

Here are a few examples of websites that have been created using curv.me:

• http://curv.me/mountain-hi/
• http://curv.me/switcher/
• http://daydle.com/
• http://curv.me/paws-pet-shop/

If you’re a small to medium sized business and you’re active on social media then curv.me is perfect for you. It’s a cost effective way to create and host a professional website that easily links your customers to your increasingly important social media pages.

Take it for a test drive today!

An Echo Communications Initiative

Curv.me was built, and is owned by Echo Communications. It is built on a PHP platform called Symfony and includes the front end website, the website builder technology and a management system for easy running of this online business.

We’ve got some cool things planned for curv.me. You can follow all the news here or on Twitter – @CurvMe.

Entrants can win an iPad 2 for themselves and for 3 of their friends. Here’s how it works:

• Entrants access the competition via the microsite or Facebook
• Once they’ve entered they’re given a unique URL that they can share on Facebook, Twitter or by Email. Whenever 3 of their friends enter the competition using their unique link they form a ‘team of 4′ which gets entered in to the competition.
• For every 3 friends who enter you get another entry in to the draw.
• The winning team of 4 all get iPad 2′s.

If you live in Australia, why not enter for your chance to win an iPad for you and 3 friends? Enter at plus3.generationone.org.au or on Facebook.

M Websites is a Premium ‘we-do-it-for-you’ service. The Starter ($19pm) and Business ($39pm) packages are generated using our conversion software. We automatically generate a mobile version of the website and then customise it further. We then set up a sub-domain for the client (example: mobile.yoursite.com.au) and set up a re-direct so that the mobile website is displayed when browsing the site from a smartphone.

The Custom package operates the the same as our web development model. We design and build the mobile-ready website from the ground up. Pricing starts at $2,990 and can be confirmed following a consultation and confirmation of the brief. The custom option is suited to large corporate companies, websites with lots of content or large menu’s and eCommerce websites.

Who is it for

We’ve catered for every website in Australia. Small to medium sized companies, blogs and brochure style websites are catered for in the Starter and Business packages, while the Custom package caters for large scale websites, large companies and eCommerce websites.

Why a Premium ‘we-do-it-for-you’ service

We’ve been asked why we don’t just give people direct access to the conversion software and make this a SaaS product. Well, we found that most small businesses are willing to try out the automation software for themselves but they tend to stop when they’re required to create a sub-domain and set up the re-direct.

We also found that other automated options are difficult to use and require some css/html knowledge to get the best out of the software. So, we decided that we’d do it for the client while keeping the pricing affordable.

Why you need a mobile optimised website

If you’re not sure why you need a mobile version of your website please read last weeks post on The Importance of mobile optimised websites.

Get your website mobile ready

Visit M Websites to get your mobile website started, or if you would like to discuss the custom options you can get in touch with Echo Communications.

The debate however continues about mobile strategy and whether to develop a mobile optimised website or a Native App that will be available in the Apple Appstore and Android Market. Let’s first take a look at the difference between Mobile Ready Websites and Native Apps.

Mobile Ready Websites

This is a version of your website that users see when viewing your website from a mobile device. Your web developer applies a re-direct so that when someone visits your website, the correct version of the site is displayed. So, if you visit the website from your desktop you see the full version and if you visit the same website from a mobile device a mobile version of the website appears.

You’ll usually see a URL similar to mobile.yourwebsite.com or m.yourwebsite.com in the browser on your mobile device.

Users can only view your mobile website when connected to the internet. I know that sounds obvious but that is one of the differences between a mobile website and a Native App. Other differences are that a mobile optimised website is generally quicker to develop than a native App, it costs less to develop and has a better chance of being found via a Google Search.

Up until a few months ago, the one downside was that the user experience wasn’t as good in mobile sites. The onset of html5 is changing that and mobile sites are improving all the time.

Native Apps

Native Apps are the Apps that you access via the Apple Appstore or the Android Market. Apps cost more to develop and production time is longer too. Remember that you’ll need to develop the App for both Apple and Android and a tablet version doesn’t hurt either. That’s one clue as to why the costs are higher.

Native Apps look beautiful (if developed by the right team), they’re easy to use and they use the features of the phone (camera, geolocation, address book etc). They’re also really popular – Australians with smartphones have an average of 25 Apps on their device with 8 of these being paid-for Apps (source: ourmobileplanet.com)

The problem with an App is getting found. Users may need to find your website before knowing the App exists.

User are likely to use your App if they have regular digital interaction with your company. Think Skype App, Facebook App, Twitter App or even a Newspapers App. The user visits these on a regular basis, so downloading the App makes sense. It gives people quick access to a great user interface.

Native Apps also work when not connected to the internet. Unless it is a Hybrid Mobile App.

Hybrid Mobile App

This is an App that is available in the Appstore and/or Android Market but has certain features that will only display when connected to the internet. This is usually done if the App is required to link to a website’s database.

Think Facebook App – you need to be connected to the internet to use it. You can also view a Hybrid App that we developed for GenerationOne where the supporter numbers feed from the websites database, we use Google Maps that integrates with the website database as well as the Youtube API and Flickr API. The Sign Up form on the App also links to the database.

Ok, I’m getting technical but you can download the GenerationOne App for free from the Appstore or Android Market or view the iPad App to see what I mean.

Mobile Website vs Native App

Now you know the difference, the solution is a simple one. To cover all bases your mobile strategy should allow for both.

Ok, so that’s the easy (but expensive) solution. My advice would be that you HAVE to have a mobile ready website. Browsing a normal website from a mobile device is a waste of time and is a terrible user experience. Your conversion rates will drop and your bounce rates will increase without an optimised version of your site.

Make it easy for the user and they’ll spend more time on your website and will be happy to visit again and again (content dependant). If you can afford to also develop an App then we strongly recommend it. However, it really depends on your market and what the user case will be. Don’t just have an App for the sake of having it.

Can we help?

If your website isn’t mobile ready yet please get in touch. You’re missing a massive opportunity that is getting bigger by the day. We’ll help plan the user interface in conjunction with you, we design the mobile ready website, we develop it and then implement the re-direct.

We can also assist with App development and you can see a full list of our digital services here.

But what about websites?

Once a website is built that seems to be it. Every page on the website looks the same for every visitor, regardless of who they are and where they are. Ok, so bigger companies will often develop microsites or landing pages for specific campaigns, but these too are the same for every visitor. Plus they’re costly and take time to create.

Introducing Highlighta

Highlighta enables website owners to create, and highlight, targeted messages to their website visitors based on their geographic location, their browsing behaviour and the website they were referred from.

It’s a tool designed for marketers, not web developers, and enables you to create and deploy targeted messages on your existing website quickly, easily and professionally.

Examples – Highlighta in action

Here are some examples of how you’ll be able to use Highlighta to improve your conversion rates on your website:

1. Geographic Segmentation: Let’s say you sell T-shirts on your website, but it’s winter in the UK and your T-shirts are so summer. Show visitors from the UK a message about your new line of hoodies, without making changes to your website.
2. Referral Segmentation: Let’s say your website is socially connected and you’re seeing a spike in traffic coming from Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. Highlight a message to these visitors asking them to share your content on their social networks.
3. PR Segmentation: Your PR company has just sent out a press release and your URL is going to appear on news sites, industry websites and blogs. Create a specific message for each visitor based on the site they were referred from.
4. Behavioural Segmentation: Highlighta enables you to deliver more targeted messages to your website visitors based on their recent browsing behaviour. So, if your visitor likes Manga art we’ll display your latest Manga T-shirt design.
5. New Market Segmentation: Let’s say you’re experiencing a growth in website traffic from Japan. Create and display a message, in Japanese, to traffic from Japan offering them an early adopter discount.
6. Local Market Segmentation: Display messages to visitors from a specific state where your sales figures are particularly bad. Run A/B testing to find out what messaging works in this state and what will turn them in to clients and/or advocates.

Interested in what Highlighta will do for your website? We’re busy building it, but you can register your interest at highlighta.com

If it isn’t, then you’re in good company or should we say bad company. 4 out of 5 Australian websites are not optimised for browsing from smartphones, yet we’re second in the world for smartphone penetration.

A Google study done in September 2011 showed that 37% of Australians had smartphones, and considering the record sales of iPhones and Android devices over the Christmas period that figure is probably over 40% by now.

As a nation we love social networking from our mobile phones, but we’re also using our smartphones to do real estate searches, mobile banking and 25% of Australian smartphone users have made at least one purchase over the internet from their mobile device.

The research also showed that 36% of respondents said they believe their mobile internet usage would increase above their desktop internet usage in future. The way mobile is taking off in Australia and around the world these figures are likely to escalate very quickly.

Apps

The research also showed that we love Apps with Australians having an average of 25 Apps on their smartphones with 8 of these being purchased.

If you’re still not convinced that you need a mobile optimised website why not head over to Our Mobile Planet (a Google website) and look at insights into smartphone usage and mobile attitudes around the world.

Mobile Website & App development

You can view some of recent mobile website development & App development projects on our home page.

If you’d like to discuss your mobile strategy and how to get your website mobile ready we’d love to hear from you.