1page.title=Developer Stories: The Opportunity of Android Tablets 2walkthru=0 3header.hide=0 4 5@jd:body 6 7 8<p>More and more, developers are investing in a full tablet experience 9for their apps and are seeing those investments pay off big. The increased 10screen area on tablets opens up a world of possibilities, allowing for more 11engagement with the user — which can mean an increase in usage as well as 12more monetization opportunities. And with the growing wave of Android tablets that 13continue to hit the market, it’s an important piece of any developer’s mobile 14offering. </p> 15 16<p>Here are some stories from developers who are seeing real results as they 17expand their offering to include Android tablets.</p> 18 19 20<div style="margin-bottom:2em;"><!-- START STORY --> 21 22<h3>Mint: More screen real estate = more engagement</h3> 23 24 <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px; 25 -moz-border-radius: 5px; 26 border-radius: 5px height:78px; 27 width: 78px; 28 float: left; 29 margin: 12px 20px 9px 20px;" src= 30 "https://lh5.ggpht.com/0xAIZJ1uE05b4RHNHgBBTIH6nRdPTY660T104xY7O2GbHXwab6YVmpU5yYg8yacfBg=w124"> 31 32 <div style="list-style: none;height:100%; 33 float: right; 34 border-top: 1px solid #9C0; 35 width: 220px; 36 margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;"> 37 38 39 <h5>About the app</h5> 40 41 42 <ul> 43 <li><a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mint">Mint.com Personal Finance</a> by Intuit Inc.</li> 44 <li>Financial management app targeting 7- to 10-inch tablets and phones</li> 45 </ul> 46 47 <h5>Tablet Results</h5> 48 49 <ul> 50 <li>Able to offer richer UI features</li> 51 <li>Much higher user engagement</li> 52 <li>Longer sessions — more Android tablet users have sessions longer than 5 minutes</li> 53 </ul> 54 55 <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;"> 56<a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mint"> 57 <img alt="Android app on Google Play" 58 src="//developer.android.com/images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" /> 59</a> 60 61 </div> 62 </div> 63 64 <div style="line-height:1.4em;"> 65 <p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12px;">When Intuit was thinking about 66expanding their Mint mobile offering to include a version optimized for Android 67tablets, they knew that taking the layout that worked for phones and simply 68showing an enlarged version wouldn’t take full advantage of the opportunities 69that tablets afford.</p> 70 71 <p>“We knew we had a lot more real estate, and we wanted to provide a more 72immersive experience for our users” said Ken Sun, Intuit Group Product Manager 73at Mint.</p> 74 75<p>Intuit’s Mint app, which has a 4-star rating on Google Play, brings a number 76of features to Android tablets that aren’t available for phones, including a 77more visual presentation of personal financial data.</p> 78 79<p>“Whereas our app for phones is used throughout the day for quick sessions, 80we’ve seen a larger percentage of our tablet usage happen in the evening, for 81much longer sessions,” said Sun. “People are doing a lot more than just checking 82their spending. They’re looking at historical trends, re-categorizing 83transactions, analyzing the data and setting financial goals for the future 84— digging much deeper and being more thoughtful. One example is how much 85users are interacting with their own budgets in the tablet app. Customer budget 86operations (view, edit, drill-down, etc.) are 7x higher on Android tablets than 87they are on phones.”</p> 88 89<p>Fifty percent more Android tablet users have Mint sessions of 5 minutes or 90longer than they do on phones. “We’ve found that phone usage is indicative of a 91customer’s regular financial check-in, while tablet usage points towards more 92analysis and interaction with that customer’s personal financial data. This is 93the sort of immersive engagement experience we were looking for; the tablet and 94phone apps serve as great complements to each other."</p> 95 </div> 96 97 <div style="clear:both;margin-top:40px;width:auto;"> 98 99 <a href=""><img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/mint.png"></a> 100 101 <div style="width:600px;margin-top:0px;padding:0 90px;"> 102 <p class="image-caption"><span style="font-weight:500;">Making the most of tablet screens</span>: Mint used the extra screen area on tablets to offer quick access to additional tools and information.</p> 103 </div> 104 105 </div> 106 107</div> <!-- END STORY --> 108 109 110<div style="margin:3em auto"><!-- START STORY --> 111 112 113<h3>TinyCo: Monetization opportunities abound on tablets</h3> 114 115 <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px; 116 -moz-border-radius: 5px; 117 border-radius: 5px height:78px; 118 width: 78px; 119 float: left; 120 margin: 12px 20px 30px 20px;" src= 121 "https://lh5.ggpht.com/mO1TPos65MWJF_n8ZrXMbNCqIqsvN4dQV_rwNOU3pF6N_Ii3lSiCPe_H_MP8C1MK5UKo=w124"> 122 123 124 <div style="list-style: none;height:100%; 125 float: right; 126 border-top: 1px solid #9C0; 127 width: 220px; 128 margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;"> 129 130 <h5>About the app</h5> 131 132 <ul> 133 <li><a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tinyco.village">Tiny Village</a> by TinyCo</li> 134 <li>Game targeting 7- to 10-inch tablets and phones</li> 135 </ul> 136 137 <h5>Tablet Results</h5> 138 139 <ul> 140 <li>35% higher average revenue per paying user (ARPPU)</li> 141 <li>Consistent increase in user retention</li> 142 <li>3x increase in downloads to Android tablets in the last 6 months</li> 143 </ul> 144 145 <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;"> 146<a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tinyco.village"> 147 <img alt="Android app on Google Play" 148 src="//developer.android.com/images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" /> 149</a> 150 151 </div> 152 </div> 153 154 <div style="line-height:1.4em;"> 155 <p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12px;"> 156 157<p>Over a year ago, app developer TinyCo, makers of a suite of games such as 158Tiny Monsters, decided to prioritize launching across multiple platforms 159effectively. They chose Android as one of their primary launch platforms because 160of its large installed base and global reach. They also knew that the growing 161base of Android tablet users represented a huge opportunity.</p> 162 163 <p>Tiny Village was their first title to take advantage of the strategy, and 164it proved to be a winning one — especially in terms of Android 165tablets.</p> 166 167 <p> “With continued optimization of the gameplay experience and a genuine 168commitment to our Android offering through our Griffin engine, all of our 169metrics started to rise,” said Rajeev Nagpal, Head of Product at TinyCo. In 170fact, they’ve seen Android tablet downloads more than triple in the last six 171months.</p> 172 173 <p>One of the first things they noticed about usage of Tiny Village on 174tablets was an increase in average revenue per paying user (ARPPU)—about 35% 175higher than on smaller-screen devices such as phones. Additionally, average 176revenue per user ARPU is now about 35% higher as well. “The game is just much 177more immersive on tablet.”</p> 178 179 <p>In addition to an increase in monetization metrics, they’ve also seen a 180consistent increase in retention over other platforms. “These are really 181important metrics for games — if you can get users to both stay around 182longer and spend more while they’re there, you have a recipe for success.”</p> 183 </div> 184 185 <div style="clear:both;margin-top:40px;width:auto;"> 186 187 <a href=""><img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/tinyvillage.png"></a> 188 189 <div style="width:600px;margin-top:0px;padding:0 90px;"> 190 <p class="image-caption"><span style="font-weight:500;">More monetization 191on tablets</span>: On Android tablets TinyCo has seen higher ARPPU and user 192retention than on phones.</p> 193 </div> 194 195 </div> 196 197</div> <!-- END STORY --> 198 199 200<div style="margin-bottom:2em;"><!-- START STORY --> 201 202<h3>Instapaper: Riding the growing wave of Android tablets</h3> 203 204 205 <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px; 206 -moz-border-radius: 5px; 207 border-radius: 5px height:78px; 208 width: 78px; 209 float: left; 210 margin: 12px 20px 9px 20px;" src= 211 "https://lh3.ggpht.com/30KKcrIFO8V_wRfhnHaI9l0CLH_orIVFE7Xywtr9TBxAf0hi2BaZkKyBOs63Yfavpg=w124"> 212 213 214 <div style="list-style: none;height:100%; 215 float: right; 216 border-top: 1px solid #9C0; 217 width: 220px; 218 margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;"> 219 220 221 222 223 <h5>About the app</h5> 224 <ul> 225 <li><a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instapaper.android">Instapaper</a> by Mobelux</li> 226 <li>Content-browsing utility that targets 7- to 10-inch tablets and phones</li> 227 </ul> 228 229 <h5>Tablet Results</h5> 230 231 <ul> 232 <li>Tablets are now 50% of the app's installed base.</li> 233 </ul> 234 235 <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;"> 236<a href="http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instapaper.android"> 237 <img alt="Android app on Google Play" 238 src="//developer.android.com/images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" /> 239</a> 240 241 </div> 242 </div> 243 244 <div style="line-height:1.4em;"> 245 <p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:12px;">Instapaper for Android is an app 246for saving web content to read later. Developer Mobelux decided that creating a 247great UI for Android tablet users would be an essential part of their initial launch 248plan.</p> 249 250 <p>The app launched at the beginning of the summer of 2012, just in time to 251take advantage of a new tide of Android tablets, including the <span 252style="white-space:nowrap;">Nexus 7</span> tablet. The app has since seen huge 253popularity among tablet users, in particular, on Nexus 7. On the day that 254pre-orders of Nexus 7 began arriving, Mobelux saw a 600% jump in downloads of 255its app on Google Play.</p> 256 257 <p>“We saw a promising new set of Android tablets about to hit the market 258and wanted to position ourselves to be ready for them” said Jeff Rock of 259Mobelux. “It was a market that others were hesitant to explore, but the decision 260to prioritize tablets has paid off very well for us.”</p> 261 262 <p>Since that initial 600% jump in downloads, Instapaper for Android has 263continued to see a successful run on Android tablets. In fact, Android tablets 264now represent about 50% of their installed base. “With more and more Android 265tablets coming online, we’re excited to see how our investment in Android 266tablets continues to pay off.”</p> 267 </div> 268 269 <div style="clear:both;margin-top:40px;width:auto;"> 270 271 <a href=""><img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/instapaper.png"></a> 272 273 <div style="width:600px;margin-top:0px;padding:0 90px;"> 274 <p class="image-caption"><span style="font-weight:500;">Popular with 275tablet users</span>: A great tablet UI and browsing convenience make Instapaper 276popular with Android tablet users.</p> 277 </div> 278 279 </div> 280 281</div> <!-- END STORY --> 282 283 284 285