Ideas & Opportunities

In just a few years, we’ve changed from desk-bound to palm-fixed as we turn to devices with the form of mobile phones but with the smarts of full-blown computers. The popularity of smartphones has also given way to the creation of applications, or simply apps, a new yet ubiquitous word in the global lexicon.

Right now, the smartphone and app markets are ruled by a handful of players. Samsung, Apple and Nokia reign supreme in the smartphone-manufacturing arena, according to the February 2012 stat updates of mobiThinking. For mobile operating systems, Google Android had 237.7 million smartphone shipments for 2011 and racked up a 48.8 percent market share, while Apple iOS grabbed barely half of Android’s share, at 19.1 percent.

In the Philippines, trends are quite different. Statcounter’s Global Stats show that Nokia and Symbian OS still hold court among the country’s mobile users (despite their public breakup early last year), followed by heavyweights iOS and Android. The Philippines was also noted by Flurry as having an amazing 546-percent app session growth from first quarter of 2011 to same period this year. App session refers to “the launch and use of an application.”

All the numbers above help drive home a very important point: Filipino IT companies and entrepreneurs should consider getting into mobile app development. Although they can start out with free versions listed in app markets, companies must also consider app development as a core business to cater to local and global clients willing to pay for custom apps.

“Having apps on retail on the Apple App Store gives you passive income monthly, but it is in doing client enterprise apps that a development company can really make a decent profit to grow its operations,” says Yvez Gonzalez of Giro AppSolutions.

A self-taught programmer, Gonzalez collaborates with his wife and business partner Laura Noel for design and user interface, and tech investor and mentor Greg Reichow in coming up with apps, most notable of which is the MMDA iOS app.

Another Filipino IT company, Numlock Solutions, has unlocked the opportunities in app development. At first, Ramon Pastor, engaged in mobile development as a supporting service to differentiate his company from the competition. He was also self-taught and specifically learned about the Apple platform. In 2009, with the help of his wife Glenda and business partner Mai Ladanga, Pastor’s Numlock Solutions came out with its first iPhone app, WalletWhiz. Note-taking application MindMash and traffic app StreetSmart soon followed, and web development was promptly shown the door.

Experience taught both companies that making custom apps is indeed a more lucrative endeavor. Gonzalez points out that corporate clients will pay for high-value apps made for specific purposes, while “a big percentage of the population do not have credit cards, which you need to buy paid apps from the App Store.”

Custom apps also allow developers to fully concentrate on what the client wants instead of spending a huge chunk of their time writing code that typically end up getting cracked by pirates, a downside to consumer apps.

Lastly, apps made according to client specifications also eliminates concerns such as marketing those to the public, thus reducing the risks developers will have to take on.

A solid app portfolio is a great start to building a client base. Pastor says that the apps themselves “serve as good marketing tools for the services we provide, and we meet more prospects due to word-of-mouth and social media.” Gonzalez added: “It’s not years of experience that matters to potential clients, but what apps you’ve made.”