HOW TO BUILD AN APP EMPIRE Always dreamt of cashing in on a million-dollar app’ Here’s your cheat sheet to make your idea work in the virtual world — and earn you real dollars in the process. ‘ost of us, at some point over the last few years, have been guilty of exclaiming 10 a table fall of friends with unbridled enthusiasm: “Hey, that’s @ great idea for an app!” Afterall, « game in which you slingshot grampy cartoon birds to topple unsuspecting cartoon pigs on scaffolds thas been downloaded a staggering one billion times and counting — and netted gaming company Rovio more than US$106 million (8102.5 million) in 201 alone. But, as you would have realised, developing an app ig about much more chan a good idea. 1's a tech-heavy jungle of coding, wire frames, [prototypes and more mind-numbing coding, Just askLuke Muscat, chief creativeofficeratBrisbane- based development company Halforick, and one of the minds behind runaway hit, Fruit Ninja If yyou are not one of the some 300 million people ‘who have downloaded the app-based game, just think of it as Australia’s version of Angry Birds. Incredibly, the homegrown app sold its first million copies in just 74 days — at a tidy $119 2 pop back then — and took just @ further 78 days to sell its sccond million. Nov that the tally has passed the 300 million mark, Muscat has stopped counting. “When we first launched Fruit Ninja I was updating the sales numbers every 20 minutes — just obsessively checking," he says. “But it’s strange now because 300 million isn’t really a number that makes sense. virginavertia “We just see these numbers coming through on aspreadsheet, so in lot of ways we're acouple ‘of steps removed [from the people buying It Muscat may be left scratching his head at Fruit Ninja's sales 'gures, but it’s an example of the success set to become increasingly familiar {0 app developers. & revent International Data Corporation study forecasts that annual mobile app downloads will grow from 382 billion in 2011, to 1827 billion by 2018. But, before you dust off your old sketches and skip work to go yacht shopping, you'll need to drink a big glass of ealm the heck down, “You've got as much chaneo of making 4 million-dollar app as you have of picking up a guitar and writing a hit single.” says Danny Gorog, director of Melbourne-based software development company, Outware Mobile. “And my guess is that I's a Jot more expensive to develop fan app than it sto record a single.” ‘While both Muscat and Gorog are cagey about revealing specific development costs (Gorog puts it somewhere in the “tens of thousands”), you're going co require not only hefty chunk of chang Dut a strong commitment to the technical side of app building. “We get alotof people wanting totalk tousabout ideas for apps, butto be honest, the idea is pretty easy to come by. It's all about the details and the implementation ~ that's the hard stuf.” Hard? Sure. Impossible? Not with this handy blueprint to app-development success. » fentrepreneurs} NAVIGATEDEVELOPMENT eee eeee eee ere teed eee eau re ae er’ ee eran enters ‘designer who provides quiance, says Muscat. eee ete ee teas ee VT VS TESTING: PHASE 2 Sine eee tems Some system testing done. Recruit as many users Ro ees bback on any bugs or responsiveness issues. "Building Eee eater tte Pronto ceed Beene ase eres aes tt (osu nee eam leeecAl os Sera 00007111 00001171 ¥ NSans ® ne Frrovect race: | eid foe Serene! peter See roan tga teviewers and bloggers, ents ages and think about ert eas eee eae aero eas etl een ee Cd corer Ceres PROJECT STAGE: EVENS Cee eet! ene ee ee eee aren Cuneta nave missee and make sure the app has good vse interlace and design, tat wehave that Saree ee eer cen ere teeters Penne eer)