The invention of a Mobile replaced lots of daily gadgets we use. Clocks, Radio, Calendar, Alarms, Torch lights, Timers and Landline phones too. The mobile phone did not retain its top position even for a decade. Smartphones came into picture replacing mobile phones, camera, recorder and with the internet connection reduced the need of Computers and Laptops. There are cool gadgets on the market and makes human life easier by many means.
The price tag is what everyone worried about buying gadgets. Now the market has numerous collections from different brands. The Top 5 Gadgets on the market are Smartphones, Tablets and iPads, Laptops, Cameras and SmartTV and Watch mobiles.
Smartphones, Tablets and iPads
This handy Cool Stuff engages every person in the home with the features it possesses. Clocks to music system come in a smartPhone. A home with a single wifi connection can manage all the stuff. The Tablets and iPads are the best buddies to children. It lets adults stay in touch with their loved ones through social media. Even Banking is made easy through this gadgets. The online shopping brings the shop to home. GPS in the Smartphones replaces the maps and helps to show the way. They hold applications which are useful in daily lives. News across the globes reaches to sight within seconds.
Laptops are the modern replacements for the computer. The Laptops are more attractive to people because of mobility. Laptops can be carried along to different places. The Laptops are even made weightless. The Laptops exist in a various range of price based on the specifications. Various online stores are available which gives dealings on the occasions. The High specification laptop is available with EMI options. The Credit cards allow EMI without interests in case of buying a laptop. So it is not hard to own a Laptop which is an essential gadget to students and Office people.
Still Cameras and Handycams
The Social media allows to share our life events and travel moments to the friends. This fact drives everyone to own a still Camera or a Handycam. The ladies are fond of posting selfie pictures. They often look into notifications to check the number of likes received. The people who have kids in the home are fond of making videos about the activities of their little ones. There are Smart cameras which directly connects to the social networks and let you share what you click.
Smart TV
It is smart when a gadget performs more than its purpose. The TV with the regular programs helps to stay connected with friends. It let you snap between programs and youtube. Allows a video call through the Skype can be termed as Smart TV for sure. These are the next version of the TV that people started replacing with their old ones.
SmartWatch Mobile
The SmartWatch mobile was a hit last year. People started buying it as crazy as they bought Smartphones. The rates are starting from Rs.2000. Tie around the hand. The watch dial shows a clock when it slide open shows a keypad. It comes along with earphone and mike which help you maintain privacy.
These gadgets play a big hit in the market. They are affordable to all set of people with proper planning.
Joe Hindy recently wrote a great article over at AndroidAuthority listing all of the reasons why he believes mobile gaming isn’t being taken seriously when compared to other mobile gaming platforms. Like Hindy, I’m a big mobile apps guy and have played through and reviewed countless applications so I can totally understand his frustrations here. Right now, the mobile app space just isn’t the place to safely support developers looking to release serious video games.
Joe Hindy spoke a little bit about what he thought were the reasons for this and I thought I’d follow up by suggesting what could be done to fix each issue.
Money
Hindy’s argument here was that there just isn’t enough safe revenue potential for big time game developers when working in the mobile industry. Yes, mobile game revenue is very high but Hindy was right when he mentioned over 95% of revenue came from freemium games. In fact, 2014 saw 98% of all Google Play mobile game revenue come from freemium titles.
This is a big problem for the mobile game industry. How can gamers take mobile gaming seriously when they’re all filled with shoddy in-app purchases that are clearly designed to take cash from your pockets every step of the way?
The solution: There are probably a few ways to deal with this problem, but I’d like to suggest what I think could work quite well. If a developer were to make a decent, lengthy mobile game, they could provide a beginning portion of the game for free, and then charge extra for more chapters.
What’s great about this is that a developer could potentially only develop the first few chapters of a game and then work on more chapters as previous ones are purchased. If a developer reaches their revenue goals, they can continue their development process. If revenue slows down, development of the next chapter could be stopped until revenue goals are met or development could be cut out completely.
This exact example could only apply to certain types of games, such as RPGs or episodic storytelling games, but a similar model could be used for other titles. Racing games could have new tournaments. fighting games could have new arenas, fighters and skillsets.
Throw in some extra cosmetic items and set up some decent stretch goals to encourage players to help the developers reach their revenue goals and we have a payment model that could work well.
This payment model doesn’t feel as “freemium” as many mobile games do
Extra non-game defining IAPs could help increase revenue
Revenue can be earned as the game is developed
Piracy
Admittedly, piracy is a huge issue for mobile gaming. It’s caused publishers to move over to the freemium model and it’s made it very difficult for hard working mobile games developers to earn a living from what they do best.
Fighting piracy is of course an ongoing battle that even has it’s prevalences in other gaming platforms. There is no real quick fix for piracy because pirates will always find workarounds and those looking for free entertainment will do so also.
The Solution: As a solution right now, providing games for free would definitely be the better choice. Even if a developer were to provide two minutes of gameplay for free and then charge for all other content via IAPs, that developer is already cutting out any quick piracy that’s done by simply re-uploading .apks and app files to file hosting websites.
We’re already seeing other gaming platforms moving towards a supplemented payment model. How many big name video games have released without DLC this year? The amount is completely outnumbered by games that do have DLC, and it’s something that gamers are now being forced to accept.
A DLC based or chapter based payment model with a free price on top could work well for game developers on the mobile platform.
Lack of Promotion
This is of course an issue for smaller developers without a name for themselves. Getting yourself seen on the app store is a bit hit and miss. App store optimization can be used to increase your chances of being seen in search results but it’s a practice that many developers now use.
Besides ASO, there are not many opportunities within the app store to get your app shown off to the world. The biggest option is the top apps charts in the Google Play store and this if course completely over run by freemium titles.
The Solution: For small time developers, once again making a game to be taken seriously that could have good revenue potential would only work well if you choose to make a free game. At this point in time it seems clear that trying to make a paid game work just isn’t the option to take.
Instead developers should focus on what they can do to stay away from that freemium feeling whilst still providing valuable and desirable in-app purchases to their players.
Big time developers and publishers shouldn’t have as much issue with promotion – they have the purchasing power to put a good marketing campaign out there. The trouble is that nobody is brave enough to take chances in the video game industry. It’s too expensive to do something that you aren’t sure will work. This is why we see rehashed games released each year by the big publishers because they know it’s familiar territory and they know it’s a concept that will sell.
Publishers should consider opening up smaller experimental branches that are given the freedom to create whatever comes to their creative minds – this kind of studio would have a much smaller budget but it could open the potential to bring something brand new to the world. Think of an experimental branch like this as an indie game studio that has backing and financial support by a big name publisher.
Hardware
Joe Hindy brought up a very big point about touch screen based mobile gaming having a huge negative effect on the potential for decent video games on the platform. Most popular genres are very difficult to play on a touch screen and mobile gaming hardware just isn’t being adopted at a big enough pace.
The solution: Video game developers need to come up with creative ways to utilize the touch screen – mobile games don’t need to follow the same categories defined by previous gaming platforms and the touch screen is a good example why.
At the end of the day, a touch screen can be interacted with at any point – any single location on a mobile display can be used as an input. I’m not the genius to figure out the solution, but there must be a way to make touch screen gaming work better than it currently does.
Mobile gaming is new – the potential of the platform has not yet been fully untapped. The inconsistencies with it have scared away big name publishers, but their only way of entering the platform is via a more creative, open minded approach. It is definitely a risk but it could pay off well.
Over-saturation
It’s very true that the mobile app stores are over-saturated. When you choose to buy an Xbox game, your choice is limited between hundreds or maybe thousands of titles. With mobile gaming, you’ll be getting thousands of titles added to the app store every day.
The solution: I honestly don’t think this needs to change. It’s a new platform and utilizing it properly will take some initiative. With that being said however, there are already plenty of ways to step up above the crowd and when this happens the oversaturation is no longer so much of a problem.
The Culture
Filled with freemium apps, pay as you go gaming and all sorts of experiences aimed at more casual players, there’s no wonder why most gamers couldn’t think about taking mobile gaming seriously.
As a result, many developers wouldn’t touch mobile gaming with a barge pole. Working in the mobile game space is a fear of many big time names in the video games industry.
The solution: In theme with other suggestions in this article, I strongly believe that publishers should attempt to open and maintain lower budget experimental branches of their development teams to give their company a more open minded, creative approach on mobile gaming.
New thinking, creativity and initiative is the only thing that’s going to change how gamers view mobile gaming. Video game publishers like EA, Square Enix and Blizzard have the presence to get creative but it’s a risk that they may not ever be willing to take.
Microsoft has changed its strategies drastically with the release of Windows 10 and has shown the intent of developing products that are more customer centric and more convenient to operate. Windows 10, as announced by Microsoft is the last version of Windows that will receive frequent updates and is claimed by Microsoft to run efficiently on both desktop as well as mobile devices. What Microsoft has tried to do with this version of Windows is to pose a tough challenge for Android and iOS.
Moving another step in this direction is the latest version of Office. Office 2016 will be a cross platform application with versions for Mobile devices and computers. Microsoft Office is still one of the most preferred office suite in the world irrespective of the availability of other open source alternatives that are available for free.
What Microsoft seems to have got right this time is the fact that they have understood well is that though they are still the current market leaders, it will not be long before they may lose their leadership position to someone else. In the world of technology that is getting more inclined towards mobile devices and where users use multiple devices with different operating systems, Microsoft can no longer afford to keep its applications limited to function only on one particular platform or one particular device.
Microsoft therefore announced the launch of Office 2016 for Mac in the second week of July and the Android version will be available soon. After the release of these two versions, the company will release the mobile version of Microsoft Office 2016 for Windows devices. By the end of the year, the version for desktop will be launched.
Currently Office 2016 for Mac is available as an update to Office 365 users and the one time subscription option will be available from September. Though there have been previous versions of Office like Office for Mac 2011, by giving precedence to the Mac and Android versions by announcing their release before the version for Windows, Microsoft has displayed to have adopted a more flexible strategy this time.
Microsoft has termed this version of Office as a mobile first and Cloud first version as it is targeted primarily for mobile users. It seems to be going in the right direction with this version of Office with a more flexible approach that might turn the fortunes of the company that has just written off US$ 7.6 billion from its deal with Nokia and has decided to fire 7,800 of its staff.
In light of recent events with HTC and their struggling attempts to remain a profitable business, I’ve wanted to delve into what it’s really like for smartphone manufacturers and why any big game player like HTC or even Samsung and Apple have the chance to burn in flames at any point in time.
It’s not particularly easy to stay on the top of the smartphone game, and we’ve already seen big game mobile manufacturers fall to the pressures of the market in the past. Both Motorola and Nokia have struggled in recent years – this gives two great examples of how manufacturers that were once at the top of the game can still fall under the radar.
So what exactly makes the mobile industry such a harsh, competitive environment? There are multiple issues but I’d like to talk about the most obvious ones below.
Customer Loyalty is Easily Ripped Away From You
In the mobile industry, whether we’re talking about smartphone manufacturers, network providers or retail stores, it’s very hard for such companies to build a strong customer loyalty. When the time comes for a consumer to pick up a new smartphone, a lot of the decisions are based on price, features and what the best cellular deals are available at the time.
As a result, it’s constantly difficult to keep customers sticking to your own brand because other businesses in the mobile industry are often trying to outplay you by offering better deals and touting that what they’re offering will result in a better experience.
Because the mobile industry is so fast paced and constantly evolving there’s absolutely no way you can stay a successful business within the industry without constantly trying to outplay your competitors in any possible avenue. If you’re a smartphone manufacturer that fails to provide something new and exciting or a mobile network operator that can’t keep up with the latest trending deals then your current customers will leave you.
The Fine Line Between Innovation and Gimmickry
One thing that powers the growth of the mobile industry is it’s fast paced competitive nature. Smartphone manufacturers are now pressured to release new smartphones with better features and hardware every single year. In fact, it’s more common at this point to see big time manufacturers releasing two high end smartphones each year.
To really stand out from every other smartphone manufacturer that’s trying to get a piece of the mobile industry pie, you’d have to try and create your own innovative experiences, software or hardware elements. The trouble with this is it’s sometimes hard to create something that really catches on. Eventually after spending millions on researching and developing new smartphone experiences, you end up with a list of gimmicks that don’t really interest the general smartphone consumer to a great ordeal.
But at the same time, if you don’t try and find something new and exciting for your own smartphone lineup then you’re going to struggle to be a top worldwide smartphone manufacturer, unless you’re willing to throw billions on a strong marketing campaign.
Making Deals with the Devil
Sometimes to stand a chance in the mobile industry you’ll need to make deals with other hardware manufacturers or network operators. For example, if you can’t find a strong network operator to team up with in a region like North America that heavily relies on subsidized smartphone sales, you’re going to have a difficult time shipping enough smartphones.
If you end up making a deal with a company and then the other side doesn’t follow through with the arranged plans then you’re just as worse off. The difficulty here is that it’s important to make these kinds of partnerships in the mobile industry – they can be helpful to get your name out there, get your smartphones sold and provide the tools you need to further develop and innovate your own brand and experience.
As you can see, trying to be a top smartphone manufacturer is not an easy game, and it’s not surprising to see a manufacturer like HTC starting to struggle.
