#appsurfer

It has been roughly two weeks from the first user instance running on AppSurfer cloud until today and we have learnt a lot, received overwhelming acceptance from the users and beta testers alike. We are ready with our second version of Beta app and here is what all we have included.

For the first timers here, AppSurfer is a platform which is changing the way we are using mobile apps today by removing the need to download an app before using it. This is a very small change in the overall flow of using an app but it changes everything for the end user. Now, using AppSurfer, anyone can reach any page inside an app #Instantly without having to download the entire app.

It is similar to reaching a destination web page inside a website without having to download the whole website. Downloading the whole website? Seems outright ridiculous, right? And so is downloading an app to make a payment or to book a cab or to book a hotel or to eat out at a fancy restaurant. We simply don't do these things that often to have these apps permanently installed on our phones anyway. And thus, we have AppSurfer.

Head here to know more about the AppSurfer App

AppSurfer Beta 1: Achievements and Shortcomings

Since our release 2 weeks back we have clocked over 6074 total app server sessions (Apps used inside AppSurfer) with an average usage of 3 minutes. These figures are pretty overwhelming considering the fact that we were expecting a modest figure of a thousand users to register within this period which was easily overthrown by a 3938 registered user figure currently. And there are over 12,000 users signed up to become beta tester and waiting to get white-listed for using the app in the US and Europe alone.

We have a robust beta tester community including early adopters, influencers and mentors who have been regular and constructive in their feedback to get the app refinement in tune with user behavior and needs. Some of the crucial feedback we got include:

- The streaming quality being slower in some areas.

- Frame rates being lower than 30 FPS

- Responsiveness being slower than native app

AppSurfer Beta 2: The improvements

AppSurfer Beta 2 is set to remove all the shortcomings of the first Beta release with main improvements in streaming quality and responsiveness. The key upgrades are:

- We have brought the FPS to 30 with auto-bandwidth streaming.

- Improved event streaming with QUIC protocol.

- Improved resolution and DPI for a clearer, cleaner and native-like experience.

This is not all, we are introducing Intent Based App Search. Which means anyone can now search an app, not by its name, but, by its intent. This is something we noticed from the user behavior. People, more than often, search for 'booking a movie ticket' rather than 'Fandango'. This will improve the overall experience for the user with him reaching his desired app with relative ease and would also help in exploring new and exciting app for any given need.

Droidcon is not only an event but also a religion in itself with the App Universe uniting to know what best is happening in the app world. AppSurfer also attended Droidcon SF and had a lot of fun. Presented our offering of Instant Access to apps and met some really cool people in the process.

Thanks for visiting us at #DroidconSF @appsurfer! Here’s your awesome spin powered by @googlecloud pic.twitter.com/NGmtRS6dEB

— Google Cloud Spin (@googlecloudspin) March 17, 2016

Droidcon is a perfect stage to launch a tech-intensive product as AppSurfer, considering that Droidcon is invariably packed with some of the smartest brains in the business. The response at Droidcon was a little overwhelming and more a confirmation of our thought processes behind the app. People do need a solution which makes it easy for them to access all the Million plus apps in the world and they need an escape from having to download them to use it.

Almost everyone we met was keen on the things this app will stand to change. Consider the fact that you would save on storage space, time and processing power using this app. This is huge and people want it now. Here is an interview of AppSurfer team from Droidcon by Expedition STEM, which shows the positivity and enthusiasm we received at the event.

Also, this year the focus was on solving some of the key problems in the app world today. The keynote by Chet Haasey and Romain Guy from Google into the current world of Android was informative. Congratulations to all the speakers at the event including Will Bailey from Facebook, Ty Smith from Twitter and Dan Lew from Trello.

We are getting an overwhelming response from the initial users of AppSurfer Beta App and we are more than just happy.

One critical feedback which we got more than often was to enable ‘Search for Apps with Intent’. People are using AppSurfer for searching and accessing apps in the Android world for fulfilling their intent.

Today, we are releasing improved App Search on AppSurfer.This would enable the users to not only search an app with the name but also to search an app with the intent, like, booking a cab or booking a movie ticket or renting out a car or just recharging your mobile phone account.

The below video showcases the new updated inside the new AppSurfer App.

BetaCraft has been a part of  an amazing tech startup which changes the way everyone use apps. It's called AppSurfer and it was a proper roller coaster ride for all of us involved in it.

It was first called Raining Clouds and it brought apps to the clouds making it platform independent. This was in 2012 when a handful of entrepreneurs from India took up to change the way we all use apps. It was clearly ahead of time and rather than giving up on the idea these entrepreneurs kept their cool and kept on improving it.

Come present and the same technology is what seems to be the way forward with the ocean of apps which is there in the app-verse. Even though the no of apps used by an individual has grown, there is a pool of apps which could be used for the same purpose and could be explored. We need a way to have limitless and conditions access to all those apps in the world.

AppSurfer

AppSurfer removes the need for anybody to download or install an app in their device to be able to use it. This has huge implications to what it could mean to be using an app. It frees the user from constantly installing apps to use them. With AppSurfer one could now Instantly Access any app without the need to install them.

There is an ocean of mobile apps in the world. On average, a usual user has 40 apps on her phone and uses a very handful of 10 apps on a regular basis. These figures don't add up to a great exploration of million plus apps in the world. While there are a lot of reasons for not using an app, we just didn't want 'download' to be a reason for it. Downloading an app is a cumbersome process and exactly what we are trying to remove.

We have been working, for a long time, on building a system which would eliminate the need of downloads for using an app. We wanted the users to have the seamless experience of Instant Access for an app, any app, they wanted to use. We have finally achieved it with AppSurfer. AppSurfer removes downloads from the experience of using an app.

We launched AppSurfer App here in the US this week. It is a beta release and we need beta testers to test the app. Here is the play store link to the AppSurfer Beta App: http://bit.ly/1RSzLG1

AppSurfer is all about removing 'Installs'

The experience of using an app for the first time is a long process.You have to search the app in the store, download it, install it and then launch it.

It is a terrible user experience for anyone to be forced to download and install an app that they don't use on a regular basis. No one really needs or wants to download an app just for a payment or one-time story or an offer. This consumes a lot of time, bandwidth and patience from the user end. It also brings in an additional effort from the user to manage all those downloaded apps to optimize your storage.

We have put our efforts in making more and more apps compatible with AppSurfer. We have supported Google Maps V1, native code , accelerometer so that more and more apps in different categories become compatible with our platform. All this while we have added incremental performance updates over the last one year. Now we had reached stage where we needed a breakthrough performance improvement for the app widgets. 

So we set out to rethink entire graphics delivery stack with these goals -

Apps should run with minimum of 10 FPS performance, on 800kbps + connections.

Minimize the bandwidth consumed in by the widgets.

While doing this, we devised a few approaches to achieve these goals. 

We decreased streaming graphics update quality for fast changing screens.

  We sensed the screen stability, and once screen stabilizes we increased the graphics quality.

                 Intelligent graphics streaming would be needed to minimize bandwidth consumed. Hence, we built the system to stream only when there are updates available on screen. Also, when a screen changes we only stream the diffs, hence bandwidth remains low.

  Confused about a pair of shoes, or clothes, or fancy gadgets. What do you do? Ask your friends.

Similarly, confused about which twitter client to shout on, which games to play, which task apps to keep you on your toes all day. Ask your friends? Check out what app-lists your friends have to keep them happy, to keep them productive, make them laugh. And also create your own wish-lists, fun-lists, productivity-lists of apps on AppSurfer. Try apps with your friends, buy apps with your friends.

AppSurfer is getting more fun. Have you and your friends discovered the app of your day. Visit AppSurfer and start creating your app-lists today.

Android App Marketing TODO’s:

Android App Marketing from Amit Yadav

Yesterday I presented on android app marketing for Bangalore android users group. I would like to share the doc and short notes on it.

I have divided the talk in two parts Pre and  Post launch of an app.

Pre Launch

1.  Choose a Good name

Its seems so obvious , but it's not. When you decide for an app name, it needs to be unique and memorable, but it should also include the most important keywords that potential users will be searching for. 

For ex: If user is searching for Sudoku your app name also include the "Sudoku" keyword in your name.

and make sure that your choice of name doesn't infringe or any trademarks, coz as a new developer the last thing you want is to battle courts.

2.  Keywords and description

You app description is the first interaction your user experineces when he/she goes on your app page. So the description should be concise and should explain the exact functionality of your app.

3. Choose an amazing icon:

Make your icon amazing so visitors will more likely click on your app after seeing it in the search results. Your app icon should stand out in the grid on your users device. So that your user keeps coming back to your app.

4. Do market research of your competitor apps.

Once you are ready with keywords, try to find out the apps in the search results for the same keywords. What are their key features, reviews, comments, number of downloads on the   market. Filter out the top 5 competitor apps in your category. Then find out the what are the extra features they provide. Try to add the features with better functionality. Find out the other keywords these competitors apps use, their promotion strategies. Improvise on that.

5. Prepare a product page:

Your app’s detail page in the app store is a very limited, non-rich, non-customized experience. Your web page should be the opposite: rich, enjoyable, and engaging.

AppSurfer provides a embeddable widget of your app, it creates highly engaging product page. Instead of reading static description of your app let your users try your app and then make the download decision.

  6. Make a trailer video of an app:

Think as if your app launch is like a movie release, so make a professional video of your app. It creates an initial buzz for your launch. Once your user sees such a video, it is highly probable to get it downloaded.

7. Choose right time:

Depends upon your targeted user base, find out the right time to fire the bullet. Usually Friday mid day time and pre holiday seasons would be a great time to launch an app. Try to find out the right time according to your app audience.

Post Launch

1. Contact Tech and App Review sites:

As soon as you launch your app, let app review bloggers know about it for them to write about your app. This will give you an initial push required for quick downloads.

Do share an embeddable widget explained above to those bloggers. It brings virallity in to your app.

2.  Shout on social channels:

Once you launch an app,  spread it on all the social channels like FB, Twitter, LinkedIn groups. Communities, forums.

AppSurfer let users try an app inside the Facebook newsfeed itself. This gives users a chance to try  and share the apps to friends. This gives viral powers to your app. As sharing is the most obvious action on FB, its spreads to millions of people organically.

3. Listen to users:

Always Listen to users feedback after launch. Actually those are the early adopters of your app, so make sure you listen to them. They will give you an honest feedback about your app, and make sure you keep on improving the user experience in accordance with their suggestions.

4. Ask users to  share and rate:

This is  a crucial functionality, you need to make it easy for your current users to share your app as well as the content within your app. Try to find out the innovative ways to incorporate it.

For ex: If you app is cricket game, if  a playing user scores 100 runs. Congratulate him and ask him to  share it with his friends. This brings users friends to your app and in turn brings much needed social recommendations into the picture.

Path does an amazing job of this. While Path is a "Private social network" that is mobile only, users still have the ability to share pictures publicly.

Once users start using app, after some usage ask him to rate your app. This rating will help to get visibility on the Appstores search.

5. Organic and Paid app promotion:

At the end of day, we all need to reach the top charts on Google play. If you have some marketing budget, so do do cross app promotion on the channels mentioned on the slide. It will give you an initial boost in downloads required to climb up the steep ladder.

Wish you best of luck for your app release.