Quick Links WURFL / WALL

Home : Community : Ask An Expert : Archive : April 2004   April 2004     Sell Your Applications April Issue Roxanne "The Expert" Singleton Keeping up with the travel required by Openwave during tradeshow season can be a challenge! Yet I gracefully made the transition from the French Riviera (for 3GSM) to the slick streets of Atlanta (for CTIA). While I enjoyed the complexity of French cuisine, I have to say eating in the Heart of Dixie was a delight. There's nothing better than the barbeque I had at Anderson's Old-Fashion Bar-B-Q on MLK Blvd. I love Anderson's and like it when I get the opportunity to promote it and send them business whenever I hear someone is heading to Atlanta. And speaking of getting noticed, it's time to get down to business. This issue of our newsletter talks a lot about applications and getting them noticed. So this month's question from a reader seems particularly relevant: I have developed an application, now how do I get it noticed? I have talked with many of you and I have been around this business long enough to know that selling your application can be hard. Not only do you have to anticipate what your customer wants, but you also have to make it work with device and technology challenges. I admire what you folks do and the can-do attitude our developers bring to the business. Since many folks on the Openwave team are really developers at heart, we have worked hard to put together resources you can use to make sure your application is as saleable as possible. The resources fall into two categories: Developer Tools that ensure the robustness of your application From industry fragmentation to incompatibility issues, new handsets to legacy handsets, technology changes to network constraints, just the mechanics of creating meaningful applications is difficult. But Openwave makes it easier. I know it sounds like "the party line" but the fact is we have good tools. The Openwave Phone Simulator accurately represents the browser that's shipping on some 600 discrete models of phones around the world, and our WAP Push library and MMS library are built to the industry standards so that you can deliver messages to any standards compliant PushProxyGateway or MMSC without having to dig through the specs published by the standards bodies. The Mobile Applications Directory where you can get noticed You spent a lot of time developing it; now what are you going to do with it? We understand you want to sell it. Make money with it. That's why you need to list it in the Mobile Applications Directory. It gives you business and marketing access to the operator community that will help you get it noticed, marketed and sold. Our sales team is promoting this database with all our customers resulting in your apps getting noticed — giving you an advantage, helping you stand out above the fray. Those of you with a little marketing savvy can use what's there to help you differentiate your offering to make sure it's distinct and unique and will get noticed. Be sure to include screen shots or a demo — it will help your application sell. The best applications that get submitted to the directory are highlighted each month in our Application Showcase. I realize this is just the beginning of getting your app noticed. Check out the story about Richard Milewski's WAP2 application for Wireless Weather. He talks about some guerilla marketing ideas he has used to get noticed. Finally, I want to hear your ideas. Let me know what you are doing to sell your apps. I would love to hear some success stories — including any involving the Directory. Tell me a good tale and maybe we will feature your story in an upcoming issue of the newsletter. Roxy Roxanne has been working as an application developer for over 10 years. Her goal is to successfully write this column without having to join the marketing team or sit on the top floor with the execs. Roxy recently sold her vintage Motorola brick phone on eBay for $15. If you have a general question you'd like answered or just want us to know what's on your mind, let her know. Or, for more detailed or specific technical support questions, please visit ODN Developer Support.