It's not the Third Thursday of the month but there is a good reason: 2 major exciting launches today!

The team in Singapore at the Echelon2011. launching Dash

Other links referenced...

Echelon
Get Dash
4music

Another month, another time for ‘what really grinds my gears’: a light-hearted take on the things that get under your skin in the world of work and digital. This month: design by committee.

Design by committee happens within agencies and within clients’ organisations and sometimes even spans across both and it is one of the most frustrating things in the world for a designer. It’s not just because I don’t like being told what to do, in fact it’s the opposite of that. Obviously I don’t like “being told what to do” but as a designer I do like being given a very clear brief that everyone understands and isn’t going to get diluted a few weeks down the line.

The biggest problem with design by committee is that it ALWAYS results in the lowest common denominator. The trouble is, on the one hand, we’re all designers and on the other hand  none of us designers. What I mean by that is that we can all have an opinion on design, but we also know that we can’t actually design ourselves so we pay people like me to do it for us. So when it comes to a committee, what happens is that everyone feels they should have an opinion, but a lack of confidence means that if we’re not sure about something we tend to tone things down rather than innovate.   

Imagine you were an ice-cream maker and a customer came into your shop and said, “it’s my daughter’s birthday and I want you to make her a special ice-cream that will show her how much all her family think about her. I want her eyes to light up when she first sees it and I want her to be surprised and delighted when she firsts tastes it.”

So you work all night making what you believe to be the perfect ice-cream for a little girl’s birthday.  Mixing the ingredients, making the colour a riot of pinks and reds, adorned with crushed nuts and chocolate. You chop fondant fruit and mix it up with the cream to give added texture to the dish and you invite the customer and his family back to sample your creation.

Everyone stands back and smiles as you show them what you’ve done – they hadn’t imagined that ice-cream could look this way. But then the dad says that he feels that maybe the chocolate is a bit unnecessary, the mum is worried that one of her friends has a nut allergy so probably best to take those off too. The uncle’s view is that everything is perfect but red and pink don’t go together so maybe lose the pink, everyone nods in agreement. The cousin says he hates fruit, he doesn’t mind the flavour but hates the texture and he’s pretty sure the majority of people would share his view. The sister says she thinks that the taste is a bit too strong and points out that her sister never usually chooses anything but vanilla. Everyone congratulates her on that observation and leave you to ‘incorporate’ those suggestions into the final version…. which of course, in this case, would be a  plain vanilla ice-cream.

I know it’s hard to get consensus, especially where there are lots of stakeholders but if you think that a huge room of people shouting “left a bit, right a bit” is going to get you the best results then you are sorely mistaken. Better to give the task to a few people to work with the design team, to go through all the rationale and thinking together and to trust them to produce something that is right for the end-user rather than something that least offends a committee of onlookers.

Because as a designer, to produce great work, and I know this is a cliché, but you sometimes have to be brave and push the boundaries. Doing this with people who trust you to do that well on their behalf is great. Having your ideas go through a wash and spin cycle of a committee isn’t and it’s that, folks, that really grinds my gears.

I want to start this by saying that I won’t even pretend to understand the effect that the hoax blogger purporting to be a gay woman in Syria has had on people’s struggles in that country. So my intention isn’t really to comment on the specifics of what happened, but instead to consider more broadly what it illustrates about the validity of content online.

When it was revealed that a blogger claiming to be a gay woman in Syria called ‘Amina’ was, in fact, a 40 year old US man living in Scotland called Tom, people were shocked. 

The site that uncovered the hoax blogger is called LezGetReal.com but a few days after the revelation it was discovered that one of LezGetReal’s editors, “Paula Brooks” was not who she said she was either. In fact 'she' was 58 year old Bill Graber. He said he posed as a gay woman because nobody would take him seriously as a straight man. No shit, Sherlock! Somehow Amina's heady mixture of sex, politics and an old fashioned triumph over adversity seemed less engaging when you learn it was nothing but the fantasy of a middle aged man.

When I read this I was reminded of an episode of the Simpsons. Krusty the Clown decides to call a Sex Chat Line. When he gets through it turns out that he is in the company of Apu, the Mini-Mart store owner and two other guys. The conversation goes like this:

Krusty: Ooh! Sex Chat! (dials)

Female voice: You've reached the Party Line! In a moment, you'll be connected to a hot party, with some of the world's most beautiful women! Now, let's join the party!

Krusty: Hello?

Man 1: Hello?

Man 2: Hello?

Apu: Are there any women here?

Krusty: Hello!?

Apu: Are you a beautiful woman?

Krusty: Do I sound like a beautiful woman?

Apu: This is not as hot a party as I anticipated.

 (listen to it here )

Since then both hoaxers have been at pains to apologise and explain that their intentions were noble, but as one activist in Syria pointed out “I could have put myself in grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure.”

But, the subject of the hoax aside, it does pose quite an interesting point about the validity of content we read online. We assume that when a newspaper or TV show reports something they will have checked their facts as far as they can and will be clear about what is fact and what is fiction (and what is a reconstruction), but can we assume the same is true online?

Given the ability to be anonymous and without any need for editorial integrity, we have no idea whether what we are reading is accurate or indeed written by the people who we think are writing it. So often (and I’ve done it myself) we use Wikipedia as a source, believing that there are so many people out there scrutinising this stuff that it’s bound to be true, but you only have to look at the history of a Wikipedia page to see how many malicious changes get uploaded. You just have to hope that when you read it, it's a corrected version.

And is it ever OK to lie online and say you’re someone you aren’t? How many celebrities and politicians pay other people to write on their behalf? Is that mis-leading, or is it something we should just expect? From people uploading false information about themselves on a dating site to companies posing as unbiased members of the public defending or promoting their own products, this looks like a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Research by eBay recently revealed that mobile shopping could receive a £4.5bn boost in the UK by 2016, rising to as much as £19bn by 2021, if nurtured correctly. The rapid growth in smartphone penetration has clearly helped mobile commerce to gain increasing acceptance amongst both users and retailers.

Smartphones represent 24% of all mobiles sold worldwide between January and March – up from 15% a year before - and the 50% tipping point may only be a year or so away (via The Guardian). This is an exceptional opportunity for retailers to speed up their mobile efforts and drive more sales.

However although mobile commerce’s popularity is growing and the majority of retailers are convinced that it will eventually become as popular as e-commerce, just 16% have a strategy in place, and 28% have no plans to implement one (Vanson Bourne survey of 100 marketing and IT directors at UK retailers, and 1,000 consumers).

Smartphones are taking a central position in our daily routine, not just to make phone calls but to access the web, look for recipes, check our Twitter, Facebook, find a restaurant, read news... Now users are also showing an increasing appetite for carrying out transactions on these devices; however their expectations of mobile commerce are pretty high so when jumping onto the “m-commerce” bandwagon you need to make sure you do it well. There are 10 million UK consumers using mobile commerce but 83% say they have experienced problems. (Tealeaf survey)

Below are few of the important things to think about when developing your mobile commerce site that will help you mitigate against potential problems that some mobile users experience.

1. Mobile site or Native App. What is the best?
   

   First let’s define both terms: a native application is a piece of software designed and developed to run specifically on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. So for example a native application developed for the iPhone will need to run on its proprietary iOS platform. The mobile web refers to the browser-based Internet experience on mobile devices. Mobile websites have the ability to run across essentially any platform with a built-in web browser.

   There is no “best route” and you can’t just pick and choose which channels to support without a bit of research as it mostly depends on who your customers are, what devices they use, what they are trying to do and when. You need to be there when the customer is ready. 

   In a report revealed at the end of last year, comScore’s MobileLens indicates that nearly twice as many smartphone users accessed online retail via a website rather than a native app, BUT some other reports seems to show higher conversion rates for native iPhone apps versus typical mobile websites. 

   My recommendation would be to start with a mobile site, and then upgrade at a later stage to an application. This is actually a very good way to first test on mobile web what works or not, take learnings, customer’s feedback from their experience and then use that as a foundation to build applications for iPhone, Android or other mobile platforms.  

   So why should you start with a mobile site? Well, a mobile site has a greater appeal to customers across a variety of phones. Basically you don’t need to design multiple apps and anyone with a web connection can access your mobile site. It is therefore also a cheaper option! If you opt for an app you will restrict your mobile customer base to users of compatible handsets. In the case of Apple you will also need to wait for approval before release and before you can make tweaks to your app. 

   Having a mobile site means you are freer, in control and users always get the latest version as you can push updates whenever you wish! Another good thing about a mobile site for commerce is that users looking for a particular product can come across your mobile optimised site using any of the search engines and via links from other websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and those embedded in emails. Whereas with an app, users will have to actively search for it and then download it to their phone. That sounds like a lot to ask of your customers, especially if they are new ones.

   Additionally, there are several apps stores gathering tons of apps. Unless you are a large retailer (and even so), it usually takes a lot of effort to feature in the App Store charts and you will need a very well defined strategy to break into the top list for your category in order to not get lost in the crowd. (Find out more about app store optimization)

   One argument for apps over the mobile web is the additional functionality that apps can offer but the next generation of the web language HTML5, although the completion is expected in 2014 and its implementation on mobile devices is still both fragmented and incomplete, is able to offer many features that make it possible to create web based applications that behave like native apps (geolocation, access to the phone’s camera, offline storage, video/audio streaming...). HTML5’s advantages of cross-platform compatibility, channel freedom (not being dependent on the app stores), enhanced discoverability due to better search engines etc. provides the opportunity to develop both faster and cheaper, with a wider audience to sell to. The Financial Times just launched a HTML5 Web App that enables readers to access content across tablets and smartphones. 

   Please don’t think I am against apps, I’m really not! I love apps and they should be developed when there is a need to provide functionality that goes beyond what HTML5 can offer (richer experience, photo function, games, augmented reality...) but when it comes to retail I truly think mobile sites are great. This is even truer if you are a small business, as it will end up being more financially effective. However if you already know that a large percentage of your visitors are iPhone or Android users, then you might want to look into developing dedicated mobile apps. Finally if you really want to do a massive push in the mobile area, why not try developing both a mobile site and an app like Ebay has done? 

   In case you want to read more on the recurring subject:
   Will HTML5 Replace Native Apps Any Time Soon?
   HTML5 Is An Oncoming Train, But Native App Development Is An Oncoming Rocket Ship
   HTML5 vs. Mobile App. The Winner is…
   Mobile commerce: should you have a site or an app?
   Mobile commerce: ten reasons to choose the web over apps
   Native App vs. Web App: Which Is Better for Mobile Commerce?

2. Redirect mobile searchers to the mobile version of your site.
   

   This sounds obvious but detecting which type of device a user is browsing with and redirecting to the correct version of the site is essential. You made the effort to build a mobile site so promote it! This will provide a great user experience and it will likely make your users stay on the site. In addition, if you are going to develop a mobile site, it is important all pages deliver the same user experience – i.e. sending users to pages non-optimised for mobiles is a no-no. 

3. Keep your mobile site simple, but not too simple.
   

   Your mobile site should be a “lite” version of your desktop site, first of all because it needs to load very fast but also because of the size of the device. Any funky and flashy features should be left to the desktop experience. However, there should be no real disadvantage to using a retailer’s mobile version and users expect the same sort of browsing and buying experience as they would from their laptops and PCs. Consumers want to find the exact same products and the same product availability as on the main site. Therefore you need to provide full product specs, quality photos, videos and reviews.

   A few tips:

   • Provide obvious buttons and call to actions that stand out by using different sizes and colours
   • For users who know what they are looking for offer them a search function
   • Think of users who are likely to make mistakes whilst typing a search term from a smartphone and add an autosuggest to your search box
   • Consider slow connection speeds and ensure you are minimising the amount of data each of your page uses (ie: reduce the size of your images, limit the quantity of text)
   • Provide an effective filter option
   • In addition to all the various information about the product (price, photos, details...), display delivery details on your product page as the user will certainly not take the time to go up to the checkout to find that information. You will most likely lose a sale. 

   It seems paradoxal, but you will have to find the right balance between making your mobile site simple and very quick to load whilst still maintaining as much functionality as possible. The M&S mobile site is a great example, you can browse their entire product range, yet the navigation is very simple, you can sort items and search. Their mobile commerce site has generated over 1.2m unique users and taken single purchase orders exceeding £3,000 since its launch in May 2010. Pretty impressive! 

4. Don't make registration compulsory and offer mobile payment options.
   

   First of all, don’t force your users to register before you actually close a sale. That is something I explained a while ago on a blog article: how to build an effective sign up form. Let your customers purchase first and then let them deal with registration afterwards (if they want). This is even more important on a mobile with a smaller screen and keyboard as you want a very smooth and pain-free process. By making users register before the checkout you are adding at least three fields to fill in and most of this information will be asked during the payment process anyway!  

   When it comes to entering credit card details on a smartphone, it is likely many customers will abandon rather than try. So try and work around that barrier and really make the purchase experience very friendly.  The aim is to reduce as much as you can the number of clicks to make it really easy for existing customers to shop and keep shopping on your site. The Amazon model is one to follow. It is so easy to buy on their site that it’s no surprise to me they have such large mobile sales figures.

   If you are a recurrent Amazon user, they already have your payment details stored and in less than 6 clicks you are done with your purchase on the mobile. At checkout, they ask your email address and password to generate a page asking you to choose a delivery option. Then on the next page you will be asked to select your payment method, all the cards you have previously added on your Amazon account will appear with their expiry date. Consumers can then either enter a new shipping address or opt to send to one already linked with their account. Once these choices are made, the consumer clicks on the checkout button and the transaction is completed. Pretty easy and even easier with their 1-Click order option.

   By storing credit card details in the registered account profile of existing customers you are removing the laborious process of entering the credit card number, expiration date and delivery address on a small screen. You probably think saving customers payment details on your site is adding a bit more PCI compliance hassle, but it will turn out to be an excellent way to attract repeat business from mobile users and most third party payment platforms have this functionality freely available to be integrated with.

   Some users will prefer using other payment options such as PayPal or any other alternative payment (Google checkout) that they know as secure and legitimate. The payment process is reduced to entering a username and password. These options reassure customers that are concerned about entering their card details via mobile and they also eliminate the need to fill in lengthy forms.

   Another good idea is to offer phone support to sceptical users who need more reassurance to get involved. Make sure you always have a phone number available on the product details page and on the checkout page so customers can complete the transaction by phone. 

   Finally, you could look into offering “collection in store” rather than mobile checkout options. The famous “reserve and collect” from Argos is an excellent method of generating sales from offline shoppers, but to make it work, keep the time between reservation and collection to a minimum. 

5. Location, location, location.
   

   In mobile, location is context so it is important you know where your users are when accessing your mobile site. 

   Apps and now HTML5 employ some of the smartphone’s most advanced features and functions, such as the GPS system, to fetch the user’s location.  This is such a great thing to customise a mobile site experience to a consumer’s location.  It often grinds my gears to see that some global retailers are not able to direct me straight to the right local version of their site and ask me to choose my location... (I am particularly looking at you Ikea and there are so many others). I think it is important not to forget users are using a mobile which means small screens, smaller keyboards but are still in the need of information quickly without too much effort! Inflicting a bad experience on consumers who are nicely trying to connect with you on your mobile site might end up in you never seeing them again. 66% of consumers would be less likely to buy from a brand following a poor mobile experience (Tealeaf survey).

   In addition to locating where your users are and directing them to the most appropriate local site, it is also a good idea to offer a store locator.  Surveys show that it is amongst the most popular features of both mobile sites and apps. Sometimes consumers just go on your mobile site to look for an item or stock levels (Argos) but would rather buy it from the offline shop. Store locators are a great way to drive traffic in store and provide distance, store facilities, contact details, opening hours and directions. Argos and Tesco are 2 retailers that do this very well. 

   It would make sense to detect a user’s location by using smartphones’ GPS to present the nearest offline stores rather than having the users to type in their postcode (especially sometimes it might be tricky for them to know the postcode of the area). Only mobile sites developed in HTML5 and apps can offer that feature. Rightmove mobile site in HTML5 is a great example. 

   So as much as you can try to make the most of these location-based tools as they improve your consumers’ mobile experience and they also appeal to users who are shopping locally and looking for particular products and services. 

What are you waiting for?  Hopefully not for your competition to take the advantage! Get involved NOW.

Many retailers are waiting to launch their optimised mobile website until mobile commerce becomes more significant, but all the current stats show that the opportunity is now.  

The longer you wait to launch your mobile site, the more time you give your competitors to establish a successful mobile presence. Mobile commerce might be in its early stages but it is quickly gaining popularity as a way to shop.  I would use this as an opportunity to take the advantage, test what does and doesn’t work for you, create a "WOW" factor amongst your customers and give them something about you to share with others.  It can only raise your brand awareness and simply differentiate yourself from your competition.  

Do you need help? Codegent’s Mobile division might be able to give you a hand.

If you want to talk to us about your mobile commerce strategy, then please do get in touch.

Since the global economy tanked in 2008 things have been pretty gloomy for most of us. Inflation is soaring, unemployment is high, credit has all but vanished and the debt-laden government is cutting at a faster rate than happy hour in Sweeney Todd’s. Not great. However in an effort to try and look on the brighter side of life I thought I would examine how these economic conditions have actually helped progress the digital industry.

1. User Centric Design

I have worked in digital since 2001 and in that time one of the most frequently frustrating experiences has been persuading people to design for their users, not themselves.

Design solutions should be based on a thorough understanding of the core target audience and clear business objectives that you wish to convert on. However I have spent many hours in meeting rooms trying to persuade decision makers not to commit design hari-kari by letting personal preference dictate the path we took. I have tried everything from blunt refusal to regaling the fable of Homer’s Car but could never seem to surmount the issue.

However, when market conditions are tough and budgets need to work hard you cannot afford to risk losing valuable eyeballs and custom because you prefer pink to blue. Briefs have always pertained to place the user first but we have noticed clients like Channel 4, BBC, The British Library, Pearson Education and others I cannot directly mention put increasing emphasis and budget on analytical research, user focus groups and thorough usability testing during the design phase.

It is very illuminating that when budgets need to work harder you see increased investment in a particular area. You might think the trend would be to “best guess” and cut corners but when you have to get results, you can’t afford to muck around on design.

2. Wider adoption of new ideas and trends

Similarly I have also noticed corporate brands embracing and adopting fresh ideas and trends that I previously would have associated to forward thinking geeks and start-ups. Open source software is now pro-actively requested rather than suggested and a lot of the old wives tales about lack of accountability and support have been put to bed. Did anyone ever try calling Microsoft when their .Net site crashed anyway?

I no longer spend a significant portion of my week scanning signed NDAs as people have begun to appreciate that the best way to succeed online is to share and iterate your great idea rather than hide behind password protection for months whilst crafting the all-singing all-dancing solution. Instead I am pleased to see clients shipping the minimal viable product and holding budget for future iterations once real users have got their hands on it.

If the economy doesn’t sort itself out soon we might even see the Agile project process becoming a regular fixture but I think it will be a while before people can fully trust the cost effectiveness of that path.

3. Customer Service is fashionable again

About 10 years ago it was decided upon high that customer service units should be offshored to reduce costs and this would be a great deal for the consumer because of more competitive prices. I am not so sure the consumer agreed, or got a better deal, but it didn’t really matter, as they had no way of really being heard beyond mouthing off in the local pub to a few disinterested souls.

I guess the powers that be didn’t anticipate social media. When your margins are tight and undercutting on price is not viable customer service can be the differentiator. As consumers feeling the pinch we want to spend our pennies effectively and that means taking informed recommendations from others. It is near impossible for a brand to buy a good online reputation. Brands have to prove themselves if they want to build trust and loyalty. Simply put, they have to engage.

And many have! I have anecdotal evidence of BT sorting out a huge billing mess triggered by a frustrated tweet I sent out and I know of many others. It has spawned the Thank You Economy and has proved to be a champion bottom line strategy by guys like Tony Hsieh. It is a return to the principles of the local store where properly serving the community made all the difference between success and failure. Mass consumerism killed that off for a while but it is back now with a vengeance.

4. Death toll for IE6

Internet Explorer version 6 is over 10 years old and the time has come for it to take its place in the historical archives. In a tough environment you need to differentiate from the competition and maximise your budget reach. Neither of these is likely when you are catering to the low-tech needs of 2.9% of your user base (and it’s shrinking rapidly).

I was heartened to see that Google is dropping browser support on its products for anything beyond the previous two versions and the new Alpha Government Project spearheaded by Martha Lane Fox deviated from traditional Government website guidelines by ignoring IE6 and focussing on modern web standards to create delightful experiences for the vast majority. I highly recommend reading their design principles blog post.

5. Innovation in technology embraced

In much the same way we have noticed an embrace of new trends by previously conservative decision makers we have also seen dramatic shifts in how clients look at tech. Cloud platforms and virtualisation servers have been around for a while but have only been seen as acceptable solutions when the cost effectiveness of them became a determining factor on whether a project could happen or not.

Previously we were dreaming up physical dedicated server solutions housed in Central London using traditional (expensive) CDNs to distribute media. This often meant large up front costs to buy expensive licenses and kit. There used to be a sense that it was important to completely own and house your own web architecture, and there was a real distrust of using someone else’s platform, it felt that it even cheapened the offering.

Now we are not only seeing powerful and scalable cloud services becoming common for site hosting but within offices virtualised documents, file sharing, and other software as a service is being widely adopted. We are using a more diverse and tailored toolset to increase efficiency as team sizes shrink, budgets reduce and competition intensifies.

In conclusion...

I do think all of these trends were coming regardless of the economic situation we faced but the recession has certainly brought focus to what is important, killed off a few ridiculous old wives tales that were holding us back and opened our minds to new and improved ways of working.

Would you add any other items to the list? Let me know in the comments below.

Source: Tecmark

The time for waiting is over

Back in September 2009, when mobile was being heralded as the next big thing, the amount of web traffic that actually came from a mobile was still only a measly 0,02%. Most of us thought, let’s just wait and see.

• By September the following year … it was just above 3%. Still… wait and see?
• By January of 2011, it had grown to 8.09%. Erm... that’s getting significant.
• Predictions are that it will reach about 15% by June 2011.

So how do we feel about the experience that 15% of people who access your website currently have?

There are 3 key considerations when it comes to thinking about mobile traffic:

1. User experience. We determine how the user is accessing the site and render in a way that the user experience is a rewarding one based on their device. There shouldn’t be any horizontal scrolling or the need to be constantly growing and shrinking the page.
2. Consistent. Your mobile site should use the same database as your standard site. If content is updated, it should be updated everywhere at the same time.
3. Use case. This one is a bit trickier, but think about your own experience. When you are browsing a site from a mobile, chances are you are doing it on the move and you have a different set of requirements than if you are browsing from work or at home on a regular computer. This means that the type of content you surface might be different across different platforms.

Some examples:

Codegent
Well, maybe we need to put our money where our mouth is. We created a mobile version of our site over a year ago. And we applied the three considerations above. We believed that anyone accessing our site from a mobile was probably doing so because they wanted to get in touch with us. So we ensured that they could call us straight from the homepage and that a map was easy to find.

Illy Issimo
This is a very simple site. But there is no need for horizontal scrolling and the use case is that people will be online if they want to either find a store when they are out and about, or possibly even buy online there and then. The regular website focuses more on the products themselves and the store locator function is given less importance on the page.

About.com
With About.com, the use case didn’t change drastically between mobile and computer interfaces. The site gives people information that they need to do the things that may enrich their day-to-day lives. So, this information could be relevant at home or on the go. But their site does make best use of the space a mobile platform provides. There is no horizontal scrolling and all the same content is featured attractively, with the hierarchy laid out in the same order as the main site: whereas on the main site hierarchy is broadly arranged left to right, top to bottom and large to small, on the mobile version, the more important items are featured nearer the top of the page.

What about apps?
Obviously, with the rise of mobile browsing has come the rise of mobile apps. Apps can either be free or revenue-generating in themselves.

Whilst apps can pull in location-based information and data from online, some companies are using apps as a means of giving people their content in a simplified way without the need to always be online. This depends on how immediate the content needs to be of course: there isn’t much point in having a social network or news site sat on an app that doesn’t need internet access, however if your site contains information that doesn’t change that often but is useful for users for regular reference, then an app might be the route.

The issue with apps however, is that people will only ever want a finite amount sat on their phones. So, if your site is primarily sales information, unless it somehow supports the end-user regularly, then an app might not be the route to go.

Winston Churchill – Official Wit & Wisdom
We developed this app in association with The Times newspaper and the Winston Churchill Estate. An app which gives people access to the quotes and writings of Sir Winston Churchill was ideal content for an app.

Inside Ferrari
Meanwhile, photographer Jon Nicholson, recognised that the iPad was a great device to showcase his work. We started with a project he did behind the scenes of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team.

We’ve written more about the business of apps for those who want to explore this further:

App Store Optimization
App Payback - What Business Model Works Best?
Publishing on the iPad - Where's the Paper Boy gone?