December 20, 2012 at 16:27Appnique debuts with new service to help developers with ASO
- Transfer
Seattle's Appnique is a new startup from mobile industry veteran Jai Jaisimha, aimed at helping application developers reach higher levels by making them more visible in iOS and Android app stores. This is the newest project aimed specifically at the ASO space (App Store Optimization, optimizations for the application store), a new generation of search engine optimization that explores keywords, headings and descriptions to raise the application higher in search and, accordingly, help the application climb to the top charts.
ASO is actually the new SEO. A recent surge of interest in optimization has arisen due to changes made by Apple to the new App Store, which was updated this fall in iOS 6. Due to the fact that the new Apple app search engine offers search results in the style of icons, rather than lists, as it was before , for developers from the "long tail" of applications, it has become even more difficult to ensure that their applications can be detected by potential buyers. Especially for developers in a crowded space like games. The only right solution would be to focus on which combinations of keywords will help to raise the application higher in a highly specialized search in the application store.
However, it’s easier said than really understood what these keywords are. That is why services such as SearchMan ( our news on Habré ) and MobileDevHQ from AppStoreHQ are gaining more and more popularity among developers and publishers of applications. Together with analytics and other measurement and research tools offered, for example, by companies such as Distimo or App Annie, developers and marketers will be able to figure out what really works, what impact the changes will have and what other developers in their field are doing.
Appnique is going to do the same. The service offers developers an online dashboard with which they can determine the right keywords for their applications, compare them with keywords of other developers and track changes in their specific niche.
According to Jaisimh, founder and CEO of Appnique, the point is not only to offer a new ASO system, but also in a method that will be different from competitors. Jaisimha says that he "works on mobile applications as much as they exist" and uses his vast experience for the new company. Prior to that, he worked for RealNetworks, as well as for a mobile search company, Medio, and most recently, he left AOL, where he was vice president of mobile technology and products, before founding Open Mobile Solutions.
“An important lesson for us is the fact that much more people know how to create applications than they want to serve them with systems like OMS,” he says about his early projects. "And everyone who develops applications has problems finding them."
Why do I need a tool like Appnique?
With Appnique, the company identifies algorithmically who the competitors of the developer are, what keywords they use, what they do and what impact this has on their ratings and chances of being discovered.
“Other SEO products give you keywords and essentially duplicate the App Annie,” says Jaisimha. "But no one tells you that one of your competitors just changed the description and it raised the rating, or that your rating fell after you posted a new version, or that someone posted a new version and that’s what it was in , or that you received a surge in views, or your average rating has changed, "he notes, laying out one after the other examples of the use of these tools.
This information is not only displayed on the online charts on the Appnique website, but is also regularly sent by e-mail, informing the developers of the measures that they should take.
Due to the fact that Appnique conducts a broad structural analysis of two application stores, this tool also identifies general trends in the application market as a whole. For example, out of the 1 million applications that he now monitors in US app stores, he has already found 580,000 version updates, 503,892 updated descriptions, and 350,000 updated names (from September to mid-December). This means that developers are struggling to break into the market with their applications. “The scale has hit us tremendously,” says Jaisimha.
Appnique can be used for free for one application, and the cost of paid versions ($ 50, $ 200 or $ 1000 per month depending on size and tasks) varies for larger development centers.
The company is currently in the process of attracting funding, having already received $ 400,000 from investors such as Mike Rowell (Chomp, engineer at AdMob), Rudy Gadre (former Facebook general consultant and former Amazon.com vice president) and others. It is expected that the total funding amount will be from $ 750,000 to one million dollars.
The company has only recently completed a private beta with several dozen developers. Now any developer can register here to join the public beta testing.
ASO is actually the new SEO. A recent surge of interest in optimization has arisen due to changes made by Apple to the new App Store, which was updated this fall in iOS 6. Due to the fact that the new Apple app search engine offers search results in the style of icons, rather than lists, as it was before , for developers from the "long tail" of applications, it has become even more difficult to ensure that their applications can be detected by potential buyers. Especially for developers in a crowded space like games. The only right solution would be to focus on which combinations of keywords will help to raise the application higher in a highly specialized search in the application store.
However, it’s easier said than really understood what these keywords are. That is why services such as SearchMan ( our news on Habré ) and MobileDevHQ from AppStoreHQ are gaining more and more popularity among developers and publishers of applications. Together with analytics and other measurement and research tools offered, for example, by companies such as Distimo or App Annie, developers and marketers will be able to figure out what really works, what impact the changes will have and what other developers in their field are doing.
Appnique is going to do the same. The service offers developers an online dashboard with which they can determine the right keywords for their applications, compare them with keywords of other developers and track changes in their specific niche.
According to Jaisimh, founder and CEO of Appnique, the point is not only to offer a new ASO system, but also in a method that will be different from competitors. Jaisimha says that he "works on mobile applications as much as they exist" and uses his vast experience for the new company. Prior to that, he worked for RealNetworks, as well as for a mobile search company, Medio, and most recently, he left AOL, where he was vice president of mobile technology and products, before founding Open Mobile Solutions.
“An important lesson for us is the fact that much more people know how to create applications than they want to serve them with systems like OMS,” he says about his early projects. "And everyone who develops applications has problems finding them."
Why do I need a tool like Appnique?
With Appnique, the company identifies algorithmically who the competitors of the developer are, what keywords they use, what they do and what impact this has on their ratings and chances of being discovered.
“Other SEO products give you keywords and essentially duplicate the App Annie,” says Jaisimha. "But no one tells you that one of your competitors just changed the description and it raised the rating, or that your rating fell after you posted a new version, or that someone posted a new version and that’s what it was in , or that you received a surge in views, or your average rating has changed, "he notes, laying out one after the other examples of the use of these tools.
This information is not only displayed on the online charts on the Appnique website, but is also regularly sent by e-mail, informing the developers of the measures that they should take.
Due to the fact that Appnique conducts a broad structural analysis of two application stores, this tool also identifies general trends in the application market as a whole. For example, out of the 1 million applications that he now monitors in US app stores, he has already found 580,000 version updates, 503,892 updated descriptions, and 350,000 updated names (from September to mid-December). This means that developers are struggling to break into the market with their applications. “The scale has hit us tremendously,” says Jaisimha.
Appnique can be used for free for one application, and the cost of paid versions ($ 50, $ 200 or $ 1000 per month depending on size and tasks) varies for larger development centers.
The company is currently in the process of attracting funding, having already received $ 400,000 from investors such as Mike Rowell (Chomp, engineer at AdMob), Rudy Gadre (former Facebook general consultant and former Amazon.com vice president) and others. It is expected that the total funding amount will be from $ 750,000 to one million dollars.
The company has only recently completed a private beta with several dozen developers. Now any developer can register here to join the public beta testing.