Ideas & Opportunities

The list of tools and resources that entrepreneurs must use for promotion and sales seems to grow bigger each year. Having a company website isn't enough anymore — those who want to capitalize on today's trends need to use RSS feeds; social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and even Tumblr; opt-in mailing lists and SMS notifications; daily deal sites; and online advertising to snag more customers. (Click here and here to know more about using Facebook for your business, and here to know more about e-mail marketing.) While these tools are sufficient for most SMEs, there are others that want something to help them reach more audiences, as well as give them more control over design and functionality.

Creating your own app will widen your customer base and help with name recall and service value. Some of the most notable Filipino-made mobile apps are the MMDA's Metro Manila Traffic Navigator (iOS version by Giro AppSolutions; Android version developed by the UP ITTC); Codeflux's KKB; Smart Communications' SmartNet; ClickTheCity's Lifestyle App; and Enjoy Philippines for iOS, Android and BlackBerry.

The prevailing opinion is that those who want a mobile app of their own need to be proficient in programming and interface design, or hire an individual or firm that has this proficiency. These may have been true back then, but not anymore! We found five online services that give entrepreneurs and businesses with limited funding and/or lack of technical coding a helping hand. To make comparisons easier, we've trimmed the information down to bullet points.

After making it, now what?

 So your custom mobile app's gone through the planning, design, building and testing stages, and may have undergone several revisions before getting high grades. The next step is to make it available for purchase and download. If you have your own website, you can create a new page or section that consumers can go to for downloads. However, you also need to make your new app available on official app stores, depending on your chosen mobile platform. Some of the services listed above could help you out with app submission, but you'll still need to know and abide by each app store's rules. To read the rest of the article, click page 2 below.

Click on the gallery below for our list of easy online mobile app-making services.

For those who lean more towards the Android camp, take a look at the Android Developer Guide, especially the section dealing with publishing on the Android Market. The registration fee for Android developers is lower (US$25 compared to Apple's US$99), and developers who want to sell their apps also need to be registered as a Google Checkout merchant.

BlackBerry and Windows Phone developers aren't exempted from registration and guidelines, either. People who want to make apps for the Windows Phone platform should go to the App Hub, while BlackBerry developers will get all the resources they need from the Developer Zone.

Besides the official app stores for different mobile platforms, there are others that provide free apps, many of which aren't available on the official stores. GetJar — which boasts of more than 2 million downloads, and 2,567 supported devices as of February 2012 — is probably the most famous and independent alternative. Click here to sign up for an account and publish your app on GetJar.