Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Small Business Guide to Apps: How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain more customers
    The Small Business Guide to Apps: How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain more customers
    The Small Business Guide to Apps: How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain more customers
    Ebook155 pages3 hours

    The Small Business Guide to Apps: How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain more customers

    By David Howell

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    If you thought that the app market was just about games and big brands, think again. Businesses of every size in every sector have built their own apps and are reaping real commercial rewards.
    Because of the relatively low cost of entering the app market, smaller enterprises can level the playing field, often outstripping their larger competitors simply because they have developed and marketed an app that delivers a service that their consumers are looking for.
    This book isn't about how apps can help you run your business more efficiently, or an in-depth tutorial about how to create an app for your enterprise. Instead, it provides a unique introduction and overview of the possibilities for any small or growing business. It's a focused guide about the business of apps for those whose time is money.
    Connecting with customers over their mobile phones and tablets allows a more intimate and ultimately more lucrative link between businesses and consumers to be established. With this latest book in the popular Business Bites series, you can help your business take the first steps into an exciting and growing marketplace.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarriman House
    Release dateDec 5, 2011
    ISBN9781908003102
    The Small Business Guide to Apps: How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain more customers
    Author

    David Howell

    David Howell has been at the centre of government and the political debate for more than half a century. He is the only person to have served in the three administrations of Heath, Thatcher and Cameron. He is also the only minister to have ‘come back’ after a 27-year break. Between spells in government, he has filled numerous other roles in journalism, banking and industry. He is currently President of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Chairman of the Windsor Energy Group and most recently, Chairman of the House of Lords Committee for International Relations. Lord Howell has a track record in forecasting developments long in advance and pioneering thinking on the major issues of our times. His qualifications are completely unique, enabling him to weaving together the ideas, hopes, lessons and consequences of the past fifty years and explaining where they are now leading the British nation.

    Read more from David Howell

    Related to The Small Business Guide to Apps

    Related ebooks

    Business For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Local Citations

      Jan 7, 2020

      Local Citations
      4 min read

    • Article

      Building a Better Website

      Nov 1, 2017

      Your site is your front door for many of your customers. If old-school web design is holding yours back, follow these tips to make it inviting again

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tips On How To Choose A Credit Card For Your Business

      Oct 18, 2019

      The right business credit card is a valuable and versatile funding option for your small business. You can use one to manage gaps in your cash flow, earn points and rewards, and handle unexpected emergencies. Also, a business credit card will help yo

      1 min read

    • Article

      MAKE MONEY At Home!

      Jun 20, 2021

      MAKE MONEY At Home!
      1 min read

    • Article

      How To Make A Website

      Nov 11, 2019

      wikiHow embodies an alternative history of the internet, and an interesting possibility for its future.

      14 min read

    • Article

      Free Tool Boosts Digital Knowhow

      Apr 22, 2020

      Free Tool Boosts Digital Knowhow
      1 min read

    • Article

      04 Snapchat vs. Facebook

      Jun 20, 2016

      04 Snapchat vs. Facebook
      3 min read

    • Article

      HotPicks

      Jun 30, 2020

      HotPicks
      13 min read

    • Article

      HotPicks

      Dec 17, 2019

      HotPicks
      12 min read

    • Article

      Apple’s Original Sin

      May 29, 2019

      Apple’s Original Sin
      5 min read

    • Article

      Neighbourhood Connect

      Apr 14, 2023

      Neighbourhood Connect
      1 min read

    • Article

      Super Multi-tasker

      Feb 7, 2022

      Super Multi-tasker
      8 min read

    • Article

      Expansion Doesn’t Come Cheap

      Apr 20, 2023

      A Chinese budget shopping app aired its first ever U.S. ad on February 12 during the Super Bowl, the U.S. National Football League’s annual championship game. Its name is Temu, which is owned by Pinduoduo, an app targeting lower-income consumers by o

      4 min read

    • Article

      Power Of Privacy

      May 16, 2021

      Power Of Privacy
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Small Business Guide to Apps

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Small Business Guide to Apps - David Howell

      Publishing details

      A Brightword book

      www.brightwordpublishing.com

      HARRIMAN HOUSE LTD

      3A Penns Road

      Petersfield

      Hampshire

      GU32 2EW

      GREAT BRITAIN

      Tel: +44 (0)1730 233870

      Fax: +44 (0)1730 233880

      Email: enquiries@harriman-house.com

      Website: www.harriman-house.com

      First published in Great Britain in 2012

      Copyright © Harriman House Ltd

      Images copyright © their respective owners and sources

      The right of Dave Howell to be identified as the Authors has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

      ISBN: 978-1-90800-310-2

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.

      All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior written consent of the Publisher.

      No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading material in this book can be accepted by the Publisher, by the Author, or by the employer(s) of the Author.

      About the Author

      Dave Howell is Nexus Publishing (www.nexuspublishing.co.uk). He has been working as a freelance writer, journalist and publisher for the last 20 years, specialising in technology and business subjects. His work has appeared in the national press and many of the leading technology and business magazines.

      Nexus Publishing provides writing and publishing services that specialise in business and technology sectors. From consumer magazines to highly specialist trade journals, David’s writing has appeared in a wide range of publications. As a business writing service, Nexus Publishing is also a micro publisher of print magazines and e-publications.

      Introduction

      In July 2011 Apple announced that over 15 billion apps had been downloaded from their App Store. In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen, said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing.

      Equally of note is that it was more than 200 million iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users who downloaded these apps. This massive installed user base for apps (even larger when you take into account Android, Windows Phone and other handsets) is clearly a market that all business owners should be looking closely at.

      Since the iPhone was launched in 2007, the smartphone market has exploded. More consumers now access the internet with their phones or other internet-connected devices than with traditional computers. Customer bases have gone mobile. M-commerce looks set to outstrip e-commerce as the main retail channel for internet-connected consumers over the next few years. Indeed, eMarketer forecast that the worldwide market for mobile marketing could reach $19 billion by 2012. Forrester report that they expect US mobile commerce to reach $31 billion by 2016. [¹]

      Research carried out by eBay UK shows that mobile business is rapidly gaining pace particularly in Great Britain, with Britons outpacing other Europeans in their enthusiasm for mobile purchasing. According to Verdict Research, British consumers will spend over £275 million in this way over the next three years.

      It’s no wonder: the latest research from Ofcom reveals the love affair that Britain has with the smartphone. Over a quarter of adults now own a smartphone, with this figure rising to almost half when teenagers are included. With almost 60% acquiring their smartphone over the last year (2010–11), the market is certainly burgeoning. There are already countless handsets out there ready and waiting for your business’s apps, with this figure rising every month.

      There’s a very real danger of getting left out. As Malcolm Pinkerton, senior analyst at Verdict Research, says:

      M-commerce revenues are growing at a rapid rate. Shoppers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, already using their mobiles to research products and compare prices when out shopping. There are only a handful of retailers that have properly caught on and are catering for m-commerce shoppers. As consumer affiliation with m-commerce increases, retailers will need to decide if they’re going to be pioneers in the market and meet consumer expectations, or wait and risk being behind the curve as many were with e-commerce.

      The advantages to adapting to this new and growing marketplace as early as possible are significant. eBay is a standout example, providing multiple apps for its range of users (eBay, PayPal, eBay Fashion), and acquiring and implementing new technology that simplifies tasks for users and extends app functionality – as, for example, with RedLaser and its scanning tech, which now lets eBay buyers scan barcodes to compare prices, and sellers to quickly populate their online lists. 25% of all iPads sold in the first month of sale had installed the eBay app.

      As Pinkerton adds:

      If correctly implemented, m-commerce will not only ensure the needs of tomorrow’s shoppers are met today, but also that growth is maximised across all channels … The approach taken by eBay should be a lesson to other retailers as to the potential of m-commerce.

      If you thought that the app market was just about games and big brands, think again. Businesses of every size in every sector that have built their own apps are reaping real commercial rewards.

      An excellent recent example explored later in this book is Addison Lee, London’s largest minicab company. In one month after releasing their own app – which allows customers to book minicabs from their iPhones – the company took 75,000 app-based bookings. This equated to in excess of £1.4 million. The company should gross over £20 million through its iPhone app in 2011.

      Addison Lee subsequently released Android and BlackBerry versions that contained all the functionality of the iPhone version. A Nokia Ovi Store app was planned for launch in the third quarter of 2011. For small businesses, as we’ll see, developing your apps for all of Apple’s devices as well as the other operating systems that are available should be a detailed part of your company’s development roadmap.

      Because of the relatively low cost of entering the app market, smaller enterprises can level the playing field, often outstripping their larger competitors simply because they have developed and marketed an app that delivers a service that their consumers are looking for.

      What this book covers

      This book isn’t about how apps can help you run your business more efficiently, or an in-depth tutorial about how to create an app for your enterprise. There are plenty of other books on these subjects. This book is a brief and unfussy guide about the business of apps for those whose time is money.

      You will see how apps fit into the commercial ecosystem of business today. Often ridiculed as nothing more than cheap timewasters, or

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1