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How to unpack a mobile application?

How can I monetize a mobile application if I want to limit advertising and don't want to charge users?

  • I have created a mobile application that involves 2 types of users (A and B). Users A and B interact on a daily basis in person. Let's say I have solved a critical problem for user A by connecting them more easily to user B (online interaction). The benefit is primarily to user A, but I don't want to charge them (social enterprise). When A benefits, B indirectly benefits (their benefits are correlated). Monetization options: -charge user B -in-app ads -corporate sponsorships (associating corporate brands with my application could be considered a form of CSR for them)

  • Answer:

    What you have just described is the dating website model. Look at Ok Cupid, which allows users to communicate for free and connects two people if they mutually like each other, but also has paid options for things like seeing if a message has been read, browsing anonymously, being able to send messages to someone whose inbox is full, being able to store more messages yourself, and being able to make your messages show up at the top of someone's list (I don't think this is an OK Cupid feature, but many other sites have something similar). If you leave your app mostly open, but impose a few artificial restrictions, then when you hit scale you will be able to charge to override them.

Sam E. Lawrence at Quora Visit the source

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Will A want to contact multiple B's, or are the transactions one off's? You also don't mention if the interaction is business related or personal in nature? Assuming the interactions are multiple and on-going you could try selling it to regional telco's as a service to their customers. My first though is that if it provides a valuable service to A then A will be willing to pay for it. If not, then its a fluff app and you should turn your attention to something commercially viable. Brian Duvall has a relevant point, even if it isn't commercially viable, you can leverage its popularity to market something that is.

Brian Wood

Another solution is in-app purchases. People will pay for virtual goods -- more dramatic icons, the right to have extra icons, virtual sheep for their virtual farm, hugs and winks and teddy bears to send to other users, etc. You can also charge real money for real, but cognitively invisible, assets: one auction site I know of charges for "bid tokens". Every time you bid, you spend a bid token. You can't bid without tokens so after a while you need to restock, which costs money...but by cutting the direct connection between action and cost, the cost has been rendered cognitively invisible. That site is very clever and just slightly evil.

David K. Storrs

Since most people stop using apps quickly after they download them, making money from your app isn't likely unless you charge upfront which reduces the number of downloads. A better notion is "You make money BECAUSE of you app, not FROM your app." It's a bit like publishing a business related book. You don't make money from the sale of books. It's a credibility builder, a calling card, a business brochure that showcases your expertise and attracts prospects. You make money from the deals that result because of your book. You app would serve the same function. You make your money from clients who hire you to build or design solutions for them... having demonstrated your ability to do so with your own successful app with lots of downloads.

Brian G. Duvall

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