Wishing you a very Happy New year-2016

On this auspicious occasion of New Year 2016, Aerizo is heartily thankful to all our clients and well-wishers for providing us the opportunity to serve you and we promise to make your experience a satisfying and enriching one in the coming days. 

Boost App Engagement with Mobile Marketing

Appetite for apps keeps on growing

As consumers we can't get enough of mobile apps. They're now our preferred way of consuming digital content – 85 per cent of us prefer using mobile apps over the corresponding website. And they are often free, or at least fairly inexpensive.

No surprises then, those apps are now big business; with brands of all sizes trying to replicate those must-have apps we download to each new device.  Some brands are starting to drive real value and engagement via their mobile apps and many are investing in a new marketing tool set – mobile CRM (m-CRM) – precisely to track their app data and manage engagement, acquisition or monetisation campaigns.

Realizing the value of mobile apps

The starting point for driving value is to define your objectives. It's not just about creating an app and getting people to install it. Brands need to be clear on what the app is designed to do. It needs to satisfy their users' needs – for easily accessible information, services and entertainment on the go – but also serve the brand's needs. It should enable better understanding by providing data to help build loyalty, drive sales, generate additional revenue or create engagement and brand touch points.

A mobile app can be an incredibly powerful way of serving both these objectives. But, many are yet to understand this and the added value their mobile apps can give them compared to a responsive or mobile website.

Tips for mobile app success

So how do you set yourself up for app success using m-CRM?

1. Know your user – First brands need to really understand how people are using their app. That means looking at their in-app behaviour, such as click through rates, responding to an offer or proceeding to purchase and how they react to push notifications. Together with duration and frequency stats, these measures can also give an indication of tolerance to different interactions and when too much communication can push individual app-users to disengaging.

2. Engage your user – Once you know them and have segmented them, then you can start targeting different user messages and track their engagement level. True customer engagement isn't about reaching a huge audience; it's about reaching the right audience on their terms and driving desired actions from them.

3. Retain and convert them – Specific KPIs are also needed around retention and conversion. Do you want to drive your audience to purchase? Get them to engage more deeply by participating in an activity or registering for further information? Apps are more successful when they deliver personalized touch points and communications with a brand. Using m-CRM to engage app users in real time with rich content, from offers and discounts to service updates, via push notifications is one way of doing this.

4. Acquire new users – Once the first three steps have been mastered, the next is obviously the tried and tested route of acquiring the more of the same. But here again, m-CRM tools can help you to track and manage the results and ROI of your investments. For instance, by telling you which of your apps should you invest in for optimized results and brand safety.

5. Monetize the audience – As your app reaches a certain volume of users, or has a level of users that have been qualified, it's possible with m-CRM to monetize the audience of your app and generate additional revenues by allowing a complementary brand to send a push notification to your users. As ever, setting some KPIs is essential. Going purely for revenue can risk losing an audience because of heavy advertising pressure. Think also about which format, what sort of content and frequency is ideal. What brand partnerships do you accept or refuse? Tempting though it may be to boost turnover, front of mind here must always be whether the monetizing strategy is enriching your brand positioning.

Following these steps will go a long way to setting you up for success, enabling you to properly realize the value of mobile apps using m-CRM. With mobile apps on the rise, the most advanced companies are already connecting their mobile CRM to their other databases or data management platform to generate more ever personalized and multi-channel communications.

Battle for Mobile Payments Guide to Digital Wallets

Mobile wallets are making headlines these days. Paytm and Mobikwik, both of which offer semi-closed wallets, are the leading players in the sector. Telecom operators also offer this facility. Internationally, too, Apple Inc. Has also introduced an iPhone wallet few months back, which has tie-ups with Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and American Express Co.

According to many experts, mobile wallets are going to be the next wave of change in the way people make payments.

Simply put, it is a virtual money wallet that can be used to make instant payments, same as with a physical wallet. It is an application stored in smart phones, which enables users to make payments for utility bills, book tickets, transfer money and other such transactions. It can also be used to make instant e-payments while shopping in physical stores or at e-stores.

Entities issuing closed prepaid payment systems do not require authorization from the RBI; they just need to inform the RBI.

Entities issuing semi-closed and open prepaid payment systems are required to take authorization from the RBI.

The Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 is the primary law governing payments systems in India, with the RBI as the body that supervises related matters. Section 18 of the Act empowers the RBI to make such regulations as may be required, from time to time, to regulate payments systems in India. In exercise of the same, the RBI has laid down guidelines for the issuing and operation of Pre-paid Payment Instruments. 

Tips for Planning a Mobile Marketing Strategy

As more and more brands and companies look towards mobile for their ad strategies, many commit the classic mistake of treating mobile like a simple extension of their desktop ad strategy.

When it comes to mobile, it's important to realize how completely separate and unique your ad strategy should be. Today, mobile users expect an experience that fits their mobile lifestyle and defies their expectations.

When creating a mobile ad strategy for your brand or company, here are 3 important things to consider:

In-App is the New Frontier

Despite reports that users spend over 80% of their mobile time within mobile apps, companies still use most of their mobile ad spends on the mobile web.

While advertisers shouldn't cut the mobile web out of their mobile strategy, apps are where the majority of users are. Apps also provide advertisers with a greater opportunity to target their ads to the best users and to take more chances with their mobile ad creative.

Users Don't Want to Pay Attention to You

User experience is by far the most important thing on mobile. When ads aren't properly optimized for mobile nor don't fit it seamlessly with the mobile ecosystem, the user experience gets interrupted and you end up with a frustrated audience instead of an engaged one.

Most of the battle for advertisers on mobile is showing users that you have a worthwhile message that will convince them to interact and engage with your ad instead of skipping it. You can do this through innovative ad creative that capture the user's attention by using the mobile experience to your advantage. Or, you can also convince users to pay attention by offering real value through your ads, such as exclusive coupons or access to in-app goods (if you have a relationship with the app publisher). This will give users an incentive and help convince them that interacting with your brand is worth their time.

Mobile is All about New Experiences

Technology and innovation on mobile is moving an incredible pace, and users expect advertisers to keep up. Relying only on desktop-era banner ads and static interstitial ads to deliver your message may work on a small scale but won't translate into a comprehensive mobile ad strategy in the long term.

Today, advertisers need to start embracing the mobile experience when it comes to their ad creative. Interactive video ads that tie into the mobile interface, 3-dimensional ads that take advantage of the phone's display capabilities, and 360-degree ads that tap into the phone's internal technology all bring traditional ad creative to the next level and offer a unique experience that will leave an impression on users.

When make a mobile ad strategy, don't be afraid to take some risks. Users expect more out of an ad experience on mobile than they did for desktop ads, and advertisers need to step up to the challenge.

Google: Now Tap Mobile Apps without downloading them

We all have experienced times while using our smart phones when we need to get a work done or check some information as small as horoscopes and we need to first download an app for doing so though we will be requiring that app for that particular moment and in doing so we waste some MBs of data, space on our smart phones and some precious time. But now the Mountain View Company Google is all set to change this, soon you will be able to use an app without downloading it.  

The tech giant Google, in an attempt to extend its search and advertising reach on smart phones, it has unveiled a new technology that will enable the users to search inside an app and even use the apps without having to download them.

Here's how it works: If you search for, say, a cheap hotel using Google's app on a smart phone powered by the company's Android software, it will show you search results from around the Web like normal. But there will also be information from apps like Hotel Tonight, the San Francisco-based app for booking last-minute rooms. If you tap a button, Google will open up the app so you can book a room, even if you don't have it installed on your phone.

This new tech might come as a great relief to people who hate installing an app for one particular task and then the app lies on the Smartphone without any specific usage. To get this thing done Google streams a video to your smart phone using the Internet and during this time the app runs many miles away in a computer.

Google is able to stream these apps thanks to technology it acquired last year from a start-up called Agawi. Technically, Google isn't really giving you access to apps. It feels like you're in the program, but the company is actually streaming you a high-resolution video that you can tap and scroll like a normal app.

Global mobile app companies head to Bengaluru seeking top talent

                                                               

Some of the global next-gen mobile companies are making Bengaluru their new home. Applift and Glispa of Berlin, Airpush of the US, and Alibaba-backed Quixey, through its Dexetra acquisition, have checked into the city, and are seeking to attract top developer talent. Bengaluru has one of the largest pools of engineering talent for mobile app development.

Ad platform Applift, part of the Berlin-based Hitfox Group, has set up an R&D centre in Bengaluru that is the largest outside its home base in Berlin. The company, which counts Practo and Myntra as customers, has 70 employees and is planning to hire another 60 by May next year. Applift helps companies like Zynga and Makemytrip acquire users for their apps; they help advertisers to re-engage with loyal and paying users for their mobile apps.

 

Quixey, dubbed as the search engine for the mobile app world, acquired Bengaluru-based startup Dexetra last year. It plans to hire another 50 people here. Quixey, which has raised $135 million in funding led by Alibaba and Softbank, recently rolled out a global product, and called Launch, from India. Launch is an Android app that pulls up everything you need on your phone from people, messages, etc, with one tap.

US-based mobile ad network Airpush has over 250 employees in Los Angeles and Bengaluru and is expanding its footprint here. More than 150,000 apps and advertisers rely on Airpush to deliver targeted mobile ads.

 

Berlin-based digital marketing and mobile ad startup Glispa has Flipkart as an important client in India. It also works with Baidu and OLX. Flipkart has used Glispa's native ad solution to get users to install its app, as also its solution to track how many of them became loyal users over time. Native ads blend into the content of the app and tend to be less irritating for users.

The action in the mobile ad space has picked up because such ad spends are expected to grow rapidly. Research firm eMarketer estimates that in India, this spend would grow from $23 million in 2013 to $943 million by 2018.

REQUIRED BAKERY PERSON IN TANZANIA (AFRICA)

Company Type: Bakery in DSM specializing in cakes and desserts

 

Qualification: Fluency in English – speaking, reading and writing
 
Trainings required: Qualification in baking / cake décor / desserts would be a bonus
 
Experience: Minimum 3-5 years of working experience in a reputable bakery
 
Duties & responsibilities:
·         Baking all types of cakes and desserts
·         Decoration of specialised cakes using butter cream, fondant, fresh cream
·         Keeping track of orders received and delivered
·         Cleaning of all equipment, utensils and work station after use
·         Maintaining high level of hygiene
 
Salary: 200 – 300$ (USD)
 
Accommodation: Shared accommodation provided with food.(P.G)
 
Send Your CV at: vacancy@aerizogroup.com
                                                    
For more info: http://www.aerizogroup.com/
 
Consultancy charges apply once candidate has been selected*

Job Opportunities in Africa

Required Accountant for Tanzania(Africa)

Experience: Min 2-3 Years

Qualification: Any Graduate can Apply.

Additional Qualification: - English Proficiency is Must

- Candidate should be ready to work in all Climate/Situation

Salary: USD 750$+Accomodation*

Send your CVs at: vacancy@aerizogroup.com

For more info: http://www.aerizogroup.com/

Consultancy charges apply once candidate has been selected*

Required 2 Branch Manager in Tanzania (Africa)

REQUIRED 2 BRANCH MANAGER IN TANZANIA (AFRICA)

Company Type: Wholesale Distribution network for FMCG & TOBACCO.

Qualification: Graduate with English, Computer literate and Good Communications skills

Experience: Minimum 2-5 years in the field of tobacco sales management.

Salary: USD 950$+Accommodation*

Send Your CV at: vacancy@aerizogroup.com

For more info: http://www.aerizogroup.com/

Consultancy charges apply once candidate has been selected*

Google Search gets smarter, can answer more complex queries

Google's mobile search app just got much better at handling the sort of detailed, nuanced questions you'd ask a real human. The Android and iOS software now does more to gauge the true intent of a question, including multi-layered questions that would previously have thrown it off -- ask for the population of a country in a specific year and you'll get the exact number you wanted.

The company says that Google app is now able to handle superlatives, ordered items, and dates, as well as some complex combinations. It can understand the "meaning" of what a user is asking, it says. Google does so by breaking down a query to understand the semantics of each part separately and piecing together different parts to figure out the overall intent. The advancements will also benefit Knowledge Graph to get more powerful and accurate.

The app also understands superlatives like "biggest" or "smallest," and it knows how to deal with ordered items. Google is quick to admit that its upgraded engine still makes mistakes, but it's good enough that you can expect useful results whether your requests are very specific or slightly fuzzy.

The idea is to further improve the understanding ability of Google app to a point where a user no longer has to think about feeding the appropriate keywords.

Required 5 Drivers for house In Saudi Arabia

Published: Mon, 16 Nov 2015

Salary: SAR 1500/- Around INR 26,000/-

Medical expense: INR 5000/-*

Accommodation* + Visa on Company

Passport Emigration Check Required – should not be written In Passport

Air ticket & Consultancy charges will be apply***

Send Your CV at vacancy@aerizogroup.com

http://www.aerizogroup.com

Simplify and Extend Enterprise Applications

Enterprise mobility is a tough problem requiring a big investment in the IT infrastructure, skills, and processes. it has become easy to create mobile applications, there's a trend in enterprises to create lots of small apps – one for each department and each business process seems to be the norm. 

Users don't want a folder of 10 different applications that they had to download one-by-one just to write a proposal, share it with their team and set up a meeting to review it. In this case, they should really only need a maximum of two applications: one to write their proposal and one to setup a meeting. Everything else should be a micro app – and here comes the key part – embedded within these two applications. Apple's integration between its core OS-level apps is a key example.

Enterprise companies need to think of micro apps as components to integrate and interweave in a single installable application to fulfil work stream-level needs for employees. The end goal should be to deliver full-scale competitive applications that enable a user to be more effective and more productive; incentivizing them to use these applications instead of other apps that are not guaranteed to follow security requirements. But they need to do this quickly in a cost-effective manner without starting each application from scratch.

Micro apps offer the perfect balance: enterprises can build dozens of niche solutions, from backend services all the way to a crafted front-end UI, and integrate them together to build full-scale solutions for their users as they would think of doing with micro services.

 

Apple may be building a peer-to-peer payment app

Apple is rumoured to be in discussions with banks to set up a new money transfer app that would put it in direct competition with PayPal. The application would reportedly allow iPhone users to transfer money via text, the Wall Street Journal said.

Apple this year released its Wallet feature, which combines payments with loyalty cards and tickets for events and air travel. The product is part of the company's strategy of adding services to encourage people to buy new iPhones every few years. The service would allow users to transfer funds from their checking accounts through Apple devices. The service would likely be linked to the company's Apple Pay system, which allows customers to make credit-card and debit-card payments with their mobile phones.

Peer to peer payment apps are seen as a convenient way to repay individuals digitally rather than in cash. Apple launched Apple Pay in the US last year and in the UK earlier this year. It allows users to make payments at certain stores via a tap of their iPhones. This latest step would allow users to transfer money, not just make payments.

A move into peer-to-peer payments could help Apple to find an audience more immediately. And if there's one thing we know about Apple, it's that the company isn't always first to innovate, but it tends to blow the competition away.

Get more User Engagement: Mobile App Gamification

Gamification is all about motivating customers to take certain actions to become engaged with your brand. Finding what motivates people to take these actions can be a challenge but the marketers who have cracked the engagement code have seen amazing results- increasing ROI and long-term engagement.

Gamification is more about human psychology than it is about technology or methodology. In fact, many feel gamification is best linked to the physiological, security or safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.

Before you set out to implement gamification techniques, make sure you've got the following addressed:

Set objectives. Just like when you market your app, set objectives and goals before you begin. Don't integrate gamification just because it's a tactic used by other apps and games. The successful ones have a well thought-out plan and a compelling reason to build it in.

Keep it simple. Gamification can be overwhelming for the developer with many parts to handle at the backend, but don't make it difficult for your users. After all, these are your most engaged users already; you don't want to put a fork in their experience going forward. 

Rather, you want to make it really simple for them to engage further with your gamification techniques. Provided that you are already maintaining some user score, you can gradually unlock features based on the score or level. This approach allows you to keep the first experience simple and gradually add more value later on.

Add value. With your gamification technique, people should feel like they've accomplished something special or difficult, they outdid themselves or others or they learned something really awesome.

Ingrained in the ecosystem. Rewards and leader boards don't work for all types of apps. With your objectives in mind, you must figure out what suits your app best. Build techniques that are well ingrained in the ecosystem of your app to keep a seamless experience. Depending on the type of app and current user behaviour, gamify those parts that allows for user acquisition, engagement, behaviour modification and management, commerce or loyalty.

Build sharing loops. Gamifying alone won't help much unless your users get to flaunt their achievements. And in turn, that flaunting will help in customer acquisition for your app as well. So by all means, build loops into your implementation that enables your users to share their achievements on their social-media networks.

Quick rewards. It's natural to assume that a big reward at the end of the complete experience will drive users to be engaged. However, the truth is that users are engaged far more if you break that one big reward into smaller bits that are doled out more frequently at certain milestones. This will give your users a sense of achievement, making them more likely to stay engaged.

Mobile User Experience Design a key to App Success

Digital technology is the answer to all of life's problems. That conclusion has resulted in more and more app ideas, which are uploaded to the web, and to stores, everyday.

But there are dozens of options for consumers, which makes it difficult for potential customers to find your product. What's worse, your potential customer probably already has an app that solves the problem you're tackling; many people never download apps, because they already have what they need—why keep trying solutions if they already have a solution?

If your marketing is strong, and your proposition is sound, they might give you a chance. But this opportunity could be briefer than you think, if the opening screens of your app or service present a problem, they'll abandon you. You won't get a second chance.

So it's imperative that you put your best foot forward, and focus on UX from the start. 

Stay focused

First-time users might require guidance, but not information overload. Start with your value proposition (keep it simple!) and move on to basic functionality from there. Help people remain focused throughout the process.

Show, don't tell

Instead of text, focus on immersing users in an interactive app experience right off the bat. Interactivity allows users to complete the gestures they need to learn and then flow seamlessly into the app experience, to seek deeper engagement.

Remove friction from logins and account creation

Optimizing the way users sign-up or create an account can make a huge difference in improving the activation and retention rates. The goal here is to collect users' information as quickly and seamlessly as possible, moving them on to the next step before they become frustrated, distracted, or disengaged.

Indicate advancement in the flow

Rather than throwing people blindly into a seemingly endless tour of your app, make it feel manageable by indicating progress within each step. Try showing users the number of screens or steps remaining, and how far they have advanced thus far.

Listen to your users

Above all, listen to your users. Gaining an understanding your app's users through quantitative methods (like testing and optimization) and qualitative research (like usability testing) will help you best understand what on boarding strategies are most effective for your unique app.

Many of our mistakes, when a potential user is trying out an app or service for the first time, boil down to placing obstacles in their way. Users almost always just want to take our app for a spin. This is often caused by our anxiety about business goals or improved metrics, when what we should be concerned with is the user's needs.

Why do you need your business app?

Website has become an essential part of any successful business. You wouldn't even consider launching a business today without a website. Now days customers are spending an incredible amount of time on their mobile phones today. Customers expect companies to have an online presence. By developing customized Business app can give you a regular contact with your customers.

There is a misconception in the modern business world that only large brands can support a mobile app. However, more and more small and mid-size companies are utilizing mobile development as a means to connect with customers and build a successful brand. 

Apps are thought to make our life easier, doing things such as streamlining our calendars and grocery lists, offering entertainment while we're stuck in line, and making it easy to collaborate with co-workers. Consumers associate apps with productivity. They bank, pay bills, shop, reserve hotels and make travel plans, while, of course, staying productive and connected with both home and the office.

Those who think they don't need a mobile app because their site is mobile friendly are missing the huge potential apps have over websites. A mobile app can also:

·         Allow you to send noti­fi­ca­tions to your customers - 10 times more effective than email.

·         Give your app users turn-by-turn GPS directions to your business.

·         'Know' when your users are in a par­tic­u­lar location to qual­ify for a promotion.

·         Enable users to email you a photo.

·         Automatically place your app icon on the phone screen, when the app's downloaded.

·         Integrate with the mobile device's built-in features far more seamlessly.

·         Help raise your business's profile with a presence in Apple's App Store or Google Play.

For businesses that are ready to start the mobile development process, it is important to have a team you trust. At Aerizo, our team understands the important role that apps play for all companies of all industries. With extensive development expertise, we will walk you through the process and build a sophisticated mobile product to meet the needs of both your clients and your business itself.

Google’s Who's Down App Hit the Play Store

Google has covered all the bases when it comes to apps — it's hard to think of a mobile software category the company doesn't have an offering in — but its engineers are still spinning out new ideas. The latest to see the light of day is called Who's Down, although for the time being you're going to need an invite before you can start using it. The App is accessible only by invite; the app aims to make meeting up with friends easier by quickly seeing who's available — and more importantly willing — to hang out. The app does this by giving users a switch they can flip whenever they're down to hang, setting a time period and waiting for friends to do the same. You can even chat with friends willing to meet up via a conversation window within the app. Google hasn't yet declared anything official about the app, so it may be an experiment. It's an interesting idea though and could give the tech giant a small foothold in the social networking space that it's been trying so hard to get into.

5 Ways for Bootstrapped Start-ups to Get Through the First Year

In the eyes of an investor, a bootstrapped start-up that has proven stable and successful within the first year is powerful. It not only raises confidence in the product and the leadership behind it, but also indicates that any invested money will likely not be thrown away.

Ultimately, when it comes to working with investors, it's important to prove that a start-up and the people behind it not only know how to spend money, but know how to bring in additional money.

To successfully bootstrap a company in its first year, it's important to consider a few things:

1. Cut the nonessentials and focus on immediate needs. There is nothing more important to start-up success than the talent that makes it all possible. Avoid any unnecessary expenses, such as office overhead or "frills," to free up money to invest in better talent.

Virtual offices will allow team members to work together from anywhere in the world and are extremely cost-effective. Ultimately, cutting costs wherever possible will more likely enable worthwhile investment in a larger team, which will be the catalyst to growth for the company.

2. Focus on two types of talent: engineering and marketing. An innovative and savvy engineer knows the ins and outs of mobile apps and understands what users truly want and need. An intelligent and driven marketing professional understands the market and how to reach the desired target audience.

With these two power talents working side by side, any product has a good chance to be successful.

3. Don't cut corners. Investors need to know the business and its leadership are stable and legit, so do everything by the book. Once they get involved, investors will want to see paperwork, as well as profits and losses and balance sheet reports right off the bat. This should be a priority from day one.

Find an accountant and purchase good accounting software to ensure that records are clear and corners are not cut. This will also allow for extra time to tend to other important matters within the start-up.

4. Cover the legalities before it's too late. It's critical to ensure the product or app is covered and that there are no loopholes that would allow someone to steal its name or intellectual property once it takes off.

During the planning phases, when speaking to potential investors, partners, or developers, it's also wise to use a confidentiality agreement to ensure everything stays within the four walls. Additionally, copyright any sketches, mock-ups or documentation of the product during development stages.

5. Utilize freelance consultants. Skilled freelance consultants offer additional niche talent only when it's needed. Build and keep a solid list of trusted and intelligent freelancers who can be utilized when the time is right. With the extra cash flow freelancers provide, start-ups have more ability to hire the best full-time staff needed for success.

It's no secret that the first year for a bootstrapped start-up will have many highs and lows. Despite the uncertainty and exhilaration that comes with those highs and lows, it's important to stay focused on what's needed to get to the next step.

Eventually, those steps will likely lead to talking with investors to get the start-up to the next level. Cutting no corners from the very first day, bringing on the best talent and preparing for failure and success will prove to an investor that the product and those behind it have what it takes to succeed.

Indian consumers increasingly comfortable using mobile apps for managing finances

Amdocs released the results of a new survey around mobile financial services (MFS), which revealed that Indian consumers are increasingly comfortable using mobile applications for managing their finances, and paying for utilities bills and household groceries. The survey also found that Indian consumers are increasingly using social networking channels to buy products and services advertised on social networks, pay utility bills, and transfer money to friends and family.

Conducted by analyst and consultancy firm Ovum on behalf of Amdocs, the survey focused on both users and non-users of mobile financial services in India.

"Although active MFS usage remains modest in India, what stands out from the survey is that the majority of the active base  have already embraced more advanced mobile financial services and associated m-commerce applications, including social commerce," said Eden Zoller, principal analyst with Ovum. "Service providers must ensure they have a well-drawn out product road map to carry users along the MFS adoption curve, from simple to more advance applications."

Key findings include:

§  Consumers are getting comfortable using mobile apps to manage their finances: 34% of respondents say that they are very comfortable using mobile apps to manage their finances, while 27% are somewhat comfortable. However, this number is less for unbanked respondents, of whom 27% are very comfortable with mobile financial services, and 19% are somewhat comfortable.

§  Social networking channels are popular for financial transactions: Buying products advertised on social networks is the most established type of social commerce payment service, and given the high growth of social networks in India, this is set to grow further. The respondents showed the highest usage for buying products/services advertised on social networks (33%), followed by usage for paying bills via social media (30%), and transferring money to friends and family (17%). In terms of future adoption of social commerce in the next 12 months, 18% of respondents say they are likely to buy products and services on social networks and transfer money, while 17% say they would use these channels to pay bills.

§  Encouraging trend for digital payment for utilities and household groceries:  In-person payments still dominate shopping in India and cash is by far the preferred payment instrument; however the use of digital and mobile channel for utilities bill payments and buying household groceries is growing. Twenty-seven percent of respondents pay their utilities bills online using their laptop or desktop, while 19% use mobile banking to pay for them. Twenty-one percent of respondents say that they buy household groceries online and 17% use a mobile app to pay for it.

"A sizable population in India is gradually moving towards the cashless economy, even though financial inclusion still remains a challenge for majority of the people," said Sharath Dorbala, head of sales, marketing and products for mobile financial services at Amdocs. "The market trends indicate that a mobile financial services solution that can integrate well with social network platforms can be a boon for Indian mobile financial services providers, as most of the online transactions will happen on mobile devices in the future."

Starting a Successful App Business-Choose Your First Platform Wisely

Competition in the app business today is so fierce, you have to develop no less than the possible best and most fluid app ever to stay in the game. Fact of the matter is every platform has its own unique set of required coding skills. There are only 3 stores to sell your app: Google Play, App Store or Windows Store. Decide in whose hands you want to put the fate of your app by answering these questions.

Want to Get Rich?

The revenue generated at the Apple App Store to Google Play is at a ratio of 8 to 1. Apple does pay more for top developers who build their apps to be sold, not downloaded for free. The Windows 8 Store is still small in terms of its revenue, but it allows apps to run simultaneously on a PC, tablet and Smartphone – more mediums, more downloads.

Paid or Free (with ads)?

The majority of Android apps from Google Play are free and reliant on monetizing through advertising. You may even make more money than you would from selling your app upfront. As for Windows, there aren't many ad networks which support Windows 8's funky ad formats. So you'll probably want to sell your app for a fixed price.

Want to Play or Get Real Quick?

The Apple App Store does have notoriety as a hard nut to crack, especially for new developers – more reluctant to promote the new guy. If you want to generate a decent amount of downloads in a faster time frame, go for Android.

Be Professional – Users love to use simple, professional apps. Have the best possible app in your niche.

Balance monetization and annoying your paymasters – Don't annoy your users with too many ads or in-app purchases when going for free apps with ads. Also changing your monetization scheme during an update will make you lose users.

Be transparent when using ads – Write about every monetization plan or in-app purchases you're using in your app's description page. Users will see from the permissions needed anyway.

Update often, but not without a reason – Constant improvements keep users. Also start working on an update when the number of users, or ratings, are dropping.

Support and Respond – Support as many devices and device screens. Respond to your users' feedback via e-mail or comments. 

Designing Cloud-Based Products: Does Hardware Even Matter Anymore?

Entrepreneurs are building cloud-based products for customers with an ever-growing list of ways to access those products. There's the web browser, tablets, smart phones, phablets, wearables, browser apps, plugins, bookmarklets, etc. Who knows what devices will deliver software products in five years.

The interesting part is that for any given piece of software, consumers are accessing it via different devices for different reasons. They'll use the mobile phone app for a certain task while using the desktop for something else. Or they'll use the tablet app for one thing, but the mobile phone app for another. These are the behaviours that must be understood to deliver a satisfying and delightful product experience. Entrepreneurs need to know which device customers are using to build appropriately.

Customer research and data analysis has showed that customers are doing specific accounting tasks on specific devices. Extracting trends from your app analytics will help you understand how your customers are accessing the product and what specific tasks the doing. When the product is in its infancy, without a significant dataset, ask your current and potential customers what they might use your tablet app for versus what they'd use your Smartphone app for. Have them tell you what they'd expect to get out of the desktop app. You'll likely be surprised by their responses and you'll have a better idea of how to build.

11 Useful Tools for Building a Mobile App

You cannot build a mobile app in isolation using just the native developer kit. Building an app requires that you have the right tools to deliver efficiently on every aspect of its life cycle.

Developing your first app can be a daunting experience, especially when you do not have enough knowledge of the tools available. Adopting these third-party tools will help you get to market quickly so that you can focus on getting the product/market fit for your app.

Prototyping your app gives you clarity on its every aspect, feature and the user flow. You need to have this bit sorted even before you approach a developer for building the application. The more clarity you have on your requirements, the more precise your timeline and pricing estimate for development.

1. Proto.io lets you create a full mobile-app experience without coding. What you get is a complete user flow and navigation of your app with interactive elements such as gestures and touch events to make it interactive.

2. InVision is another tool that allows you to create a fully interactive app prototype. The free tool also allows you to interact with your team members through a collaborative framework.

3. POP helps entrepreneurs, designers or even students to transform their pen and paper ideas into a prototype. If you started by sketching on a notepad, simply import it into this app by taking a picture.

A/B testing. The only way to know if something is working in your app is to test and measure it. You need to keep testing until you reach the desired result.

4. Amazon A/B Testing. Amazon has a free scalable tool for creating and running in-app experiments.

5. Heat maps highlights the hottest areas on your mobile app, letting you track gestures, device orientation, user flows (navigation) and engagement.

Mobile backend. If your app requires users to sign up to use or any data is stored externally, then you need to build a backend. This means additional costs as well as signing up with a hosting provider. Early-stage mobile-app start-ups now have the option of using a third-party mobile-backend-as-a-service (MBaaS) provider to minimize those costs and develop quickly.

6. Parse. One of the most popular apps using Parse is Instagram. It gives you a great deal of flexibility along with a very easy to use iOS and Android developer kit that automatically takes care of synchronizing your app's data with its cloud database.

7. Kinvey excels in the third-party integration provided through the platform. With Kinvey, you can pull rich video content from Bright cove's App Cloud.

8. Xamarin has an impressive set of clients such as Rdio and MarketWatch using its backend. It's helpful if you're building native iOS or Android apps in C#.

9. Flurry is a free tool that gives you insights into your users and app performance. You can track every menu tap, understand the user path, create funnels to optimize conversions and create user segmentations.

Marketing. Most often, the mistake that most entrepreneurs make is to think about marketing only after their product is live in the app store. You should start marketing the day you put your app into production.

10. Hello Bar is the simplest way to drive visitors to your highest-converting landing pages. It also helps you collect more emails and get more social shares.

11. Fame Bit connects you to YouTube influencers to create content that is shared a huge network.