CB&F is currently developing iOS apps for commercial distribution, and has just published Easy Rider, the first and only crowdsourced transit information app, currently for Vancouver’s Translink Skytrain system.

In the past, CB&F staff have been involved in several significant software development projects with clients including Fortune 500 companies as well as public and private companies in the USA and Canada.

Do you have an idea for an app? Contact CB&F today, and we’ll give you an honest appraisal of your idea’s chances for success in the Apple iTunes App Store, the Android Marketplace, and/or the Windows Mobile Marketplace.

Here are some strategies I’ve used successfully:

1. Do great work; in almost 20 years of freelancing, most of my clients have come to me by “word of mouse”. Repeat clients are always more efficient than landing new ones.
2. Try pro bono work. Track your hours and submit an invoice showing the value of your donated services. Even if you can’t write it off, you’ll spread the word, and get a good feeling. I donate hosting to community groups, and they often hire me for some strategy or training or simple site setup.
3. Blog; John Chow, the Vancouver blogger, makes $40k/month just from his blog, and is in demand as a speaker, writer and consultant.
4. Learn to use LinkedIn to it’s fullest. There’s lots of hidden value lurking there. Seek out the most influential connections.
5. In Victoria, track the government contracts. (It’s a government town, after all.) It’s hard to get in, but once you’re in the loop, I’m told it’s easier to stay there.
6. Partner with established agencies; you don’t make the same rates, since they take their cut, but they can get you in where other methods fail.
7. Concentrate on your niche. It’s counterintuitive for most small operators, but essential.
8. Be patient. Closing times for new sales are about 1 month per $1k in my experience, and longer the smaller the market.
9. Ask for testimonials, recommendations, referrals, leads… and more importantly try to provide value to your contacts by providing tips, leads, testimonials, and networking introductions.

Note that none of these cost anything but time and effort, and are applicable to businesses of all sizes. Do you have tips or strategies of your own? Share them in the comments below!

“The world’s greatest treasure hunt is a real million dollar treasure hunt. One hundred percent of the net proceeds go to breast cancer research…“The treasure hunt was started in memory of Gabi Helms who, when stricken with breast cancer, had to make the difficult choice between saving her own life or that of her unborn child. She chose her baby, and passed away 2 days after giving birth.

“This real million dollar treasure hunt where families, teams or individuals can treasure hunt with a purpose. It is sort of like the Amazing Race but for everyone. Buy the book, find the $1,000,000 treasure and help us raise money for breast cancer research.”

CB&F is thrilled to participate in supporting this major contest, as well as raising funds for breast cancer research. Watch this site for more announcements and links to these new products.

• The average paid iPhone app has sold 101,024 copies over a lifetime of 261 days
• US iPhone users download 60 apps a year
• 51% of iPhone owners have five or more games installed on their devices says Compete
• 37% of iPhone owners play games at least every day – puzzle games are most popular

It’s particularly interesting to multiply downloads times price less Apple’s 30 percent commission to estimate total gross revenue for individual apps. Other interesting data points:

• downloads per country
• downloads per platform (where apps are distributed on different platforms)
• total and average ratings
• number of apps per publisher (giving insight into the power of app networks as a promotional tool)
• growth over the last month reporting (giving a sense of the life of an app)

Note that Xyologic is tracking a subset of all apps for now, but has been expanding.

That number has increased drastically from July of 2010, when only 28 percent of App Store revenues came from in-app purchases. What’s even more surprising is that only four percent of all apps are currently using the in-app purchase model.

This all points to a trend of freemium apps dominating the App Store. These, of course, are apps that are free to download and try out, but require an in-app purchase to supply full functionality. Freemium apps made up the majority of the revenue — 48 percent, or nearly half of all App Store earnings. Many of these apps are games, but comic apps are also starting to create an impact.

Distmo via TUAW

Android is expected to consolidate the dominance they set in the market at the end of 2010, growing their current 23% market share to an authoritative 49% in 2015. “As vendors delivering Android-based devices continue to fight for market share, price will decrease to further benefit consumers” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.  “Android’s position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity in the longer term will be in the mid- to low-cost smartphones, above all in emerging markets.

Meanwhile iOS are expected to remain the second biggest platform worldwide through 2014. (Gartner)

via PC Magazine

Business Insider says global app downloads for year-end 2011 are expected to balloon to 29 billion, compared to only nine billion in 2010. Such stellar increases are largely due to the proliferation of smartphones around the world. The total smartphone install base is expected to grow 46% in 2011.

Apple between the June and September quarter grew its share by 1.3 percentage points. The achievement is that much more notable because it excludes strong iPhone 4S sales as that handset launched mid-October. In fact, everybody but Apple lost market share, with the exception of Samsung which held on to its 25.3 percent share of U.S. mobile subscribers.

… When you consider smartphones only, Apple and Google put together controlled three-quarters of the nation’s mobile platform market share. Talk about the iOS-Android duopoly.

via 9to5mac.com