With Amazon, Google and Apple as competitors, you can understand why Alvin Koay, co-founder and CEO of startup MobileApps.com, refers to his role as the "Robin Hood" for app developers....
We talked to the MobileApps.com CEO about how he hopes to grab a share of the apps marketplace by positioning his company as a multi-platform app wholesale marketplace, allowing developers to take home 95% of each app sold (and promising to improve the app discovery process.)
Incorporated in Singapore in Dec. 2010, Koay's head office is now based in Malaysia to lower operating costs.
MobileChannels.eu: What does your company do?
Koay: 3 things.
1) Global cross-platform app wholesale marketplace with 95% payout to developers.
2) Global app discovery solution for app developers.
3) App advertising widgets for website owners to recommend targeted apps to their site visitors and get paid to do so.
MobileChannels.eu: What problem does your platform solve?
Koay: First, apps are cluttered out in app stores and developers face a huge challenge getting their apps discovered. MobileApps.com helps developers get their apps discovered out of the app stores and to targeted end-consumers in rightful mobile platforms, countries and categories.
Our self-serving "Smart Widgets" makes it easy for developers to syndicate advertisements of their apps to targeted end-consumers across the internet.
App developers (advertisers) bid on ad slots in the smart widgets based on 1,000 impressions (CPM advertising). An algorithm (based on click-throughs, actions, downloads, etc) tracks the responsiveness of the smart widgets and will rank them accordingly. App developers will be able to choose where they want to place their ads in, based on the widget rankings and bid prices.
Second, with us, website owners now have widgets to recommend targeted apps to their visitors. Their web visitors are now able to search for targeted apps within our Smart Widgets on their website. Publishers make money multiple times per page impression, in proportion to the number of paid ads in the widget. Monetization is based on the CPM advertising model.
Third, there's an industry problem of high fees (30%) charged by the app stores, making high app prices for consumers and less profit for developers. MobileApps.com charges the developers only 5% (for credit card & admin fees) and payout is 95%. Now developers can sell at wholesale prices and still earn the same amount selling at other stores. App users can now buy at cheaper prices.
Fourth, the Android Marketplace has several inherent problems: for example, Google Checkout payment restrictions on many countries... there's no app discovery website for desktops...and many Android apps not available in many countries. MobileApps.com solves all these problems for the Android Marketplace by providing credit card payment facility for all countries and even carrier billing, online website accessible on desktops and mobile devices, and making all Android apps available in all countries. We even make it easy for Android developers to import their app info from the Android marketplace directly into our system, saving them time.
MobileChannels.eu: Who are your competitors?
Koay: For app marketplace: Android Marketplace, GetJar.com, iTunes, Amazon. For Smart Widgets: Amazon, iTunes. For app discovery solution: None.
MobileChannels.eu: What are your key features, especially those that differentiate you from your competitors?
Koay: The game changer will be the 95% payouts to app developers on all paid downloads. We also think we are the world's first app discovery solution that helps developers get their apps discovered out of the app stores. That's applicable to all developers irregardless of platforms. Apple app developers included.
MobileChannels.eu: What are your future plans?
Koay: Were planning an app recommendation engine to power our marketplace based on Artificial Intelligence and user profiling. We'd like to get even higher payouts to developers by negotiating with carriers (for carrier billing) and payment solution providers. And we're building localized app stores under MobileApps.com's brand in local language. (For example, we're opening our store in Arabic soon with a Jordanian partner.)
MobileChannels.eu: Anything else?
Koay: We are incorporated in Singapore and are a self-funded, boot-strapped startup. There are 5 founders, 4 are friends of more than 25 years. We are operating from the holiday island of Penang, Malaysia, just to save cost and grow our startup.
