During a session titled “The Secret Sauce for Application Storefronts” at the CTIA 2011 Wireless conference, Appcelerator’s Scott Schwarzhoff, GetJar’s Patrick Mork and Verizon Wireless’s Todd Murphy discussed several issues facing mobile developers. First, the group discussed the shift from paid apps to other models such as freemium apps, ad-supported apps and those offering in-app purchases, subscriptions or virtual goods. Mork noted that at least one developer had seen income increase by four to five times after implementing virtual goods.
The group also discussed fragmentation, agreeing that it’s something developers will have to learn to live with. However, the group found less agreement on the HTML5 vs. native apps question, with some claiming that Web apps will become more important, while others see native apps as the way to go.
