What is a connected home

The term ‘connected home’ has been around for quite some time but what does it actually mean? It draws roots from the more familiar home automation idea. The connected home knows where you are, what you are doing and is able to predict what you need. Imagine interactive lighting control with lights following you and switching off behind you.

Imagine intelligent thermostat control with an energy-saving aspect, maintaining just the temperature you want in every room, and cooling the entire house when empty. Imagine your bathroom sending vital information about your health to your GP. Imagine your fridge adding milk to your electronic shopping list. Imagine your favourite music and entertainment programs playing at preferred times in preferred rooms.

How technology enables change

The recent emergence of a technical foundation enabling the delivering of consumer-friendly connected-home services is fast driving developments in this area. The availability of solutions which for example allow network service providers to offer connected-home services can quickly bring these offerings into the mainstream, predict analysts at Parks Associates, a market research and consulting firm focused on residential product and service segments. These developments change the rules in a game that was previously reserved for consumers able to afford purchasing expensive equipment and contracting narrow specialists to set up security and other niche solutions.

The connected-home ecosystem

According to a study by Frost and Sullivan the connected home ecosystem can be said to comprise of four major components – telemetry, networks, communication services and home entertainment. Let’s look at each one in a bit more detail.

Networks

In July this year both Comcast and Verizon announced the launching of video-rich cloud-based services that are designed to be easy to use, flexible to configure and readily extendable. These services are enabled by the fact that more and more devices are manufactured to comply with connected-home wireless telemetry standards, finally allowing network service providers to take advantage of this much-discussed opportunity. Networks are entering the arena and offering services such as home security at a better deal than similarly priced security-only solutions. According to the Parks Associates research the trend shows big networks deploying 50 percent of all connected-home services by 2012.

Telemetry

Telemetry is the technology allowing remote measurement and conveyance of information. Apart from wireless data transfer mechanisms such as radio or infrared, it also includes data transferred over media such as a telephone or computer network, optical or other wired communications. Using broadband connectivity instead of phone lines to run connected-home security enables a multitude of new possibilities such as video camera surveillance and entry points sensor-based monitoring.

Communication services – The obvious connection with regards to communication services is wireless. Consumers are getting more and more likely to access their world through mobile devices. Such mobile options and flexibility will allow access to the connected home from any place the person happens to be. This will allow easy interaction with the home environment and access to connected home services independent of location.

Home entertainment – Entertainment in the connected home of the future takes the viewer experience to a whole new level, offering instant access to music, videos and photos regardless of where they are stored. Favorite content follows the connected consumer throughout the home, providing uninterrupted experience and multitudes of personalization options. Stay with us for the second part of this article where we elaborate from the point of view of Bianor’s iMediaShare, a fantastic new addition to the modern home, transforming any smartphone into a media box to bring online content and subscriptions to a nearby TV screen, with no hardware or cables required.

An interesting future

Great players such as IBM are preparing to join in, expecting revenues that flow from dispensing connected homes data, shares Scott Burnett, global consumer electronics leader for IBM. According to him many verticals in the industry will welcome access to data from connected devices. The competition is expected to be fierce. Every type of service provider of today will be attempting to enter our homes bringing the promise of improving our wellbeing, keeping us safe and ensuring we’re entertained. The applications of these new technologies is said to extend greatly beyond the services currently offered. Existing services will be expanded with advanced capabilities. By addressing energy management with an interactive home control platform, the service providers will be able to offer ‘green home’ value-added features.

The result for us consumers is going to be a lot more choices. Please share your opinion on the future of connected home by leaving a comment below.

OBJECTIVE
For Philips Smart Device Application Bianor had to come up with a concept design of a Virtual Remote Control.

SOLUTION
Key features of the application are pairing with multiple TV’s, proper remote control layout pages, multitap text entry, slideshow and picture push, graphics overlaid on live TV. The app supports all recently manufactured Philips TVs.

RESULT
Through its custom crafted user interface, natural gesture control and navigation the concept app ensures a smooth user experience, successfully outperforming the regular TV remote.

Have you ever wondered about the secret life of mobile apps? Which ones are downloaded most? How many of each platform ever enter the top download charts? Is there a clear winner?

In this brief article we share some statistics and opinions in an attempt to highlight a few important points. A recent study by mobile app research company Distimo provides yet another look at the relationship between Android and Apple, and the potential each one offers to businesses.

Most Android apps are never downloaded

The study confirms once again that it is relatively hard to make money from Android applications if you rely on a one-off installation fee. Very few apps from the Android Market are ever downloaded, with 20% of free and 80% of paid apps never getting the chance to grace anyone’s device.

As many as 52% of all free Android apps are downloaded less than 1,000 times.

The report shows only 5,6% of all free Android applications being downloaded between 50,000 and 500,000 times, with a meager 1% of those reaching over 500,000 downloads.

The situation does not look much brighter for paid Android apps. Only 0,1% of paid applications in the store have seen more than 50,000 downloads, and only about 5% were downloaded between 1,000 and 50,000 times.

Apple apps make more money

Let’s have a look at some Apple numbers. The Distimo study reveals that 6 paid iPhone apps enjoyed 500,000 downloads just in the US store during the months of March and April only. Compare this with only 2 paid Android apps ever reaching 500,000 total downloads, worldwide, for the entire existence of the Android Market.

If we take a closer look at game apps for example, we find that 10 iOS games were downloaded over 250,000 times from the US store in the same two-month study period, while only 5 Android games ever saw 250,000 downloads, in total, worldwide, for the lifetime of the Android Market.

Factors improving the odds for Android

The good news is that Google constantly strives to level the playing ground by adding ways to increase the profitability of its platform, apps and Android app developers. A serious achievement in this direction has been the in-app and direct carrier billing added recently.

Another positive factor is the vast range of Android device models and prices which represent an impressively sized market. It is good to keep in mind the fact that these buyers are less likely to pay for an app and more likely to opt for a freebie.

Why Apple is a good choice

iPhone users tend to be older and yield higher earning power than the standard Android user, a market observation confirmed once again in a research we performed recently. Statistics show that iPhone users keep more downloaded apps on their device, and applications downloaded on the iOS platform are used more regularly in comparison to Android, where many apps are never launched a second time.

Some words of advise

So how should you read all these figures? Your target market and the type of your application are interdependend and you must be certain the two are a match. Whether you are releasing an app for productivity, entertainment, managing money, or communication ensure the buyers you target are using the device and platform you plan to develop for.

If you start with Android app development consider another way of monetizing on your app, for example by including advertisments. Think of releasing two versions, a free version with ads and a paid one without. When developing an iPhone application consider the fact that if your app becomes popular some ROI is possible with the one-off download fee. Both productivity and entertainment apps enjoy interest from iOS users, and the market is deemed affluent. So do your research, contact a reputable mobile application development company and get going.

Share with us your experience with mobile applications. How many have you downloaded, which of those are still on your phone and which few do you use regularly?

The subject has been heavily analyzed with mostly location and other demographics based characteristics such as age and gender as criteria, but few researchers have delved deeper. So we rolled our sleeves and embarked on a mission to compare some more user profile attributes.

Research Methodology

We took a popular mobile app available for both platforms and extended it slightly to start collecting user profile data. Within a month we collected data for 20,972 US-based users (roughly equally split between the two platforms) which we deem enough to claim some statistical significance of the results.

Note: The research is based on one app only. Although it provides exactly the same functionality for both platforms, it targets similar types of users and is equally popular, some results could be skewed due to app-specific reasons.

Part of the research was dedicated to comparing our findings with the US census database to see how much our mobile user differs from the average citizen, but we’ll skip that part for now. Our focus will be the differences in the profile of the average iOS user compared to the average Android user.

And here come the results…

Household Income

So far so good… One stereotype validated: iOS users are generally more affluent.

Example demonstrating how to read the chart: 12.18% of our Android users are in the $100-200K group, while this number for our iOS users is 13.24%. Hence the difference of 8.70% depicted on the chart above.

Primary Language

Race

Residence

iOS is significantly less popular outside of urban areas.

Time of Activity

Compared to Android users, iOS users are generally more active during the week and work hours.

Conclusion

If you target affluent urban people who use their mobile devices during work hours, go with iPhone app development first. Consider a multilingual version of your app as 20% of your users are likely to speak Spanish or other Indo-European language.

If you are after a larger percentage of the market (up to $80K annual household income) and you are planning an app to be used during leisure time, consider professional Android application development.

Having said that, the differences in the demographics of the major groups are generally not that significant and your mobile application development research should probably give more weight to other factors such as platform popularity, technical capabilities, app distribution options and revenue-generation prospects.

You’ve decided your business needs a mobile application. Whether planning to provide service for customers or an enterprise solution to boost employees’ productivity, the first question of development is: Which platform?

We will review the big players on the market – RIM’s BlackBerry OS, Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and attempt to point out factors to consider when making that decision.

Audience

When planning a consumer application, the most obvious consideration is how to reach the biggest number of users. Therefore, your choice must be guided mostly by what type of audience you are expecting to reach.

Google’s Android has been around for about two and a half years now and its versatility has resulted in plentiful professional android application development which in turn made it successful. Unlike iOS or Blackbery OS, it is available on multiple devices, espoused by manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and HTC, which is probably why it’s the current leader and fastest growing smartphone OS by market share. This however means that not every phone will be able to run your app the same way. There is segmentation within the Android space itself, with some models, like the Motorla Droid for example targeting business users in particular.

The iPhone, as well as most other Apple products, has stereotypically been seen as a hipster trademark and a favorite of the cool creative professional. Although there is more than a grain of truth to that, last year AT&T reported that 40% of its iPhone sales were to business customers, which suggests they are taking away share from Research In Motion. The iPhone of course is wildly popular with mobile app developers, holding about a quarter of the US smartphone market as of February, which still makes it a great way to reach a big number of users.

As the perennial enterprise solution leader, the Blackberry OS is a logical choice if your app targets the business/corporate crowd. Companies have given out millions of Berries to their employees but keep in mind that they disable many features such as the camera or bbm messenger in order to keep their bees productive. Be weary of what services your app will utilize and whether your customers will have ready access to it.

Technical Capabilities

Android once again offers the advantage of having access to a myriad of devices, albeit with much variety in performance characteristics. However, you can count on Android phones running Flash (a no-no with BlackBerry and iOS), which can be a big plus. Additionally, since new Android devices come out all the time, android application developers know they can reliably run any power-hungry app and the market will catch up quickly.

The iPhone 4 has the Apple A4 processor which debuted with the iPad 1, and leaves us expecting to see what the iPhone 5 will have in store. The iPhone’s groundbreaking multi-touch interface, two cameras, gyroscope, compass and accelerometer make it a very powerful platform. As with all Apple products, the operating system has been optimized to work with exactly that hardware configuration, so you don’t have to worry about performance.

RIM has been heavily criticized recently about falling behind the curve in developing media-intensive devices and newer interfaces (remember the Storm?). Recently they’ve shown reluctance to get into the hyperphone market and put out a device with a dual-core processor anytime soon. This means that if you want to develop something that really pushes today’s fastest smartphones to the edge, BlackBerry OS is probably not the best choice.

Profitability and Future Prospects

If you are considering making a profit from the sales of your app, you must take a look at the pricing models of the different platform app stores. RIM’s Blackberry App World takes a fixed $200 fee that allows you to develop up to 10 apps, and they take a 30% cut from every sale. Apple charges $99 per year to allow you to develop for the App Store and also takes 30% of every sale. Android has a one-time $25 registration fee, and as well commissions 30% from every app sale.

A recent study confirms that there are some differences in the method of monetizing on mobile application investment. The study states that 20% of all free apps and 80% of all paid apps in the Android Market have been downloaded fewer than 100 times to date worldwide. At the same time some paid iOS applications have generated over 500,000 downloads in March and April just from the US store, with certain game apps being dowloaded about 250,000 times. The above suggests that iPhone applications could be able to bring revenue on their own, while if developing for Android it might be a good idea to consider in-app advertising.

A tricky question, but one to consider if you hope your app will last on the market. Judging by the BlackBerry PlayBook, debuting the BlackBerry OS 7, Research In Motion is moving hard into more media-friendly territory, developing flash and good multitasking support. Apple is likely to continue churning out stylish and powerful smartphones. Some questions remain about flash support and multitasking. Android will probably keep on being the leader, but device segmentation and large amounts of spam apps could pause a challenge.

Conclusion

We’ve only intended to provide an initial overview of the advantages and disadvantages of the three leading smartphone operating systems on the market today. Additional thought can be given to the swiftly becoming popular tablet devices , Apple’s iPad, RIM’s PlayBook etc. Please share your experience on working with mobile application development companies and choosing what platform to start development with?

OBJECTIVE
Henry Schein Medical Systems needed to allow their clients convenient access to product information and secure ordering. The system would also serve Henry Schein sales force, increasing operational efficiency and ensuring client orders were processed expediently and with no delays.

SOLUTION
A mobile solution was designed to allow instant remote access to information through actions such as browsing catalogues, viewing order history, managing shopping lists and placing service orders via a mobile device; and integrated with UPS for shipping quotations.

RESULT
The ability to receive real-time information and submit an order at any chosen time irrespective of location is vital to the buyer in these dynamic times. Henri Schein’s existing online ordering system was complemented effectively with the mobile solution crafted by Bianor.

OBJECTIVE
M-Tel, Member of Telekom Austria Group, was after a Value Added Service which would appeal to families.

SOLUTION
A comprehensive child monitoring and tracking system with location information derived using network-based cellular triangulation, web access, panic functionality and other features was developed by Bianor and added to the major provider’s service offering.

RESULT
MTel’s competitive and distinctive new VAS goes a long way in ensuring subscriber loyalty – an advantage in a saturated Telco market.

Mobile application development like all technological implementations is subject to intellectual property (IP) issues. In these competitive times IP is a concern for anyone starting a mobile business. Here are some points to assist you.

Don’t Forget the NDA
Ask your attorney to draft a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Exchange a signed NDA with every party whom you decide to reveal your idea to.

Explain Your Idea Creatively
Try to explain your idea while protecting the ’secret recipe’, the money-making core of your business. Your app developer is an exception. Imagine going to the doctor and hiding some symptoms of your problem.

Select Protective Measures
Consult your attorney whether you need protective measures such as a trademark (protects a banner, logo, look and feel, name) or a patent. Copyright law only protects the ‘originality of expression’ and not the ‘function’ or ‘underlying idea’ or a product. Hence copyright alone is inadequate to protect the commercial value of your app concept and you might need to apply for a patent.

Consider Patent Application
It is generally advised that patent applications be limited to significant inventions and concepts with commercial value. Issue of a software patent may take two to three years after application. As far as mobile application software is concerned a patent would protect the concept of the mobile device being used to achieve a certain result by applying a particular method rather than the source code per se.

Hire a Reputable Development Company
Find a good, well established and responsible mobile software development company. Review their website, previous projects, client feedback. Talk to their clients. Reputable professional services companies build their business on integrity simply because there’s no other sustainable way. They are not out to cheat you, but others might be.

Ensure Ownership of the Product
Go over the mobile application development’s company’s contract and ensure IP rights are granted to you as the sole owner of the final product. Ask the developer about any third-party products and/or software libraries incorporated into the product, and make sure to check their licensing agreements.

Control the Distribution
Make sure you upload your app to the various app stores from your own account, rather than let the development company do it from theirs. Register for an account in your name, give them temporary access and change access rights later.

Leave Some Functionality Out
If your app is good expect knock-offs. Leave some unique functionality out of the first version and launch new features distinguishing your app from the clones. Users download two or three similar apps and test to determine which are worth keeping. If you roll out new features and functionalities relatively often your chances of staying ahead of the competition increase.

Get the App Out!
Your focus is launching your mobile application! Protecting your precious idea is important, but more important is getting the app out. Your app might be the next big hit but you’ll never know unless you go for it.

Remember – ideas are cheap, execution is hard. Your hard work is impossible to steal and this is what will make your product successful. After all Yahoo! was around before Google launched!

Do you have good or bad experiences with disclosing an app idea? Any points of advice you might add? Share them with us.

OBJECTIVE
There is no room for error in health services. This is why Apex Labs selected Bianor to partner with for the creation of a system providing physicians with mobile access and management of medical laboratory results.

SOLUTION
Bianor’s solution allows remote access to certain actions such as lab test scheduling, notification alerts on abnormal or critical results, forwards of results to patient or physician.

RESULT
The mobile system increases patient safety and treating physician efficiency by ensuring real-time access to laboratory test results via mobile devices. Free of physical place and time constraints physicians are alerted are alerted to critical situations swiftly and competently, and can respond armed with correct and timely received information.

OBJECTIVE
How do you excite dentists about dental supplies shopping? Integrated Media Solutions required a clever mobile solution for presenting monthly promotional offers to dental practitioners.

SOLUTION
The system we created integrates with Dental Product Shopper’s existing content management system, allows search and bookmarking of promotional coupons, sharing of coupons by email or SMS, etc. The administrative back-end offers functionality such as coupon generation, management, validity & tracking and many other features.

RESULT
The mobile solution crafted by Bianor complements the existing marketing and promotional campaigns in retaining clients, attracting new ones and building long lasting client loyalty.