Mobile App Development TV (Video – 360p‪)‬ MobileCast Media, Inc.

By way of keeping you connected to the hot new companies that debut here in Silicon Valley, one in particular caught my eye and it's called ContactRoom.  As you can imagine, a company that does a lot of B2B contracts needs to have a streamlined process and until now we've had basic ERP functionality, but the Workday of B2B contracts hasn't existed until now.  Getting a contract signed is part of the sales function and both the selling performance and the legal terms are key.  Now companies can track both the sales reps and the terms to see which are performing, or not, and adjust accordingly.  
There are a number of wins here.  First, all contracts are kept in one place, so there's no keeping contracts on individual computers.  Second, one of the hardest parts is compliance and making sure the parties perform their duties. ContractRoom insures that duties are performed on-time, on-budget and to the required specifications, while providing full visibility to all parties throughout the process.   Please watch the video below.

 
I think the biggest win of all is with this process in place, companies can be more flexible on their contract terms.  The biggest roadblock has been compliance - if you do a bunch of one-off contracts in volume, how are you going to track compliance?  Therefore a lot of companies pass up business in favor of not changing their contract.  Now with ContractRoom, companies can be more flexible and therefore win more business.  I'm excited to see what ContractRoom is able to do in the next year. 

At the DEMO Fall 2014 conference what we do is watch other companies debut their products and then take feedback from a panel of judges.  I watched Brad Lawler of Draft present and the judges liked his financial services solution and they commented a lot on the excellent look-and-feel of his app.  
Sorry to say, but appearances make a huge difference in just about everything these days and mobile apps are no exception.  Incredible to me is that Brad designed the app himself.  He says he studied design for a few years on his own, and when it came time to design his app, he worked with a few different agencies, where he learned a lot but created the final design himself.  
Brad’s user interface looks wonderful and it’s a testament to his talent as a person who can do a lot of things well.  A lot of complaints I have about HTML5 interfaces is that they are slow and clunky, but his was fast due to optimization on the back end.  

 
Brad wants to create apps for iOS and Android so that he can have apps in the respective stores, but otherwise thought a company could achieve many of the same benefits through HTML5.  It’s yet to be seen whether this is the right approach.  The trend now is people like to use apps on their mobile devices, versus the mobile web.  Draft has made a high performance HTML5 app, but I think what some people might miss is the ability to launch it from an icon.  True, you can make a shortcut on your home screen but most people don’t know how to do this.  Also, in later versions, users might want features that require local processing or data caching, which is not robust on HTML5 versus native apps.  Either way, everybody was impressed with Brad’s app, and it isn’t lacking, he wants to do a native app soon, so more power to him.
As an FYI to people who want to develop an app.  If your app connects to external hardware, like a heart rate monitor, or uses native features of the phone like GPS, the accelerometer, or requires local processing - these usually require native development.

Ryan Huff is CEO of Cirruspath which provides a way of more seamlessly integrating with CRM systems. When asked what the trend is with enterprise apps, he said it was all about usability and you can’t expect to get it right in the first release. I speak with many enterprises who are interested in app development and many of them are just becoming aware of what it takes to develop a good mobile app. Keep in mind that a poor mobile app is likely not to be used and might not have much of an impact on an organization.  
Ryan says that organizations can’t expect to get it right on the first try or even the second try, but it takes a lot of investment and iteration to get it right. As far as developers he told me that it is still expensive to hire developers, especially the ones who can get the job done. Our research shows that the average cost for a mobile developer is about $130K per year and he says this is about right. His developers work out of southern California while QA is offshore.

 
He has about 10 developers and he is responsible for the product management. Normally, you might have a 4 or 6 to 1 ratio of developers to product managers, but it’s just him right now, so he has a big job. Stay tuned for more coverage of DEMO Fall 2014.

I was excited to cover DEMO Fall 2014, which ended yesterday. I have a lot of content and thoughts, some of it is already out and I'll be pushing the rest of it out as time permits. What I want to bring you is a sense of what you would learn if you were there and I've picked a good person to interview to give you that perspective (I encourage you to catch the next DEMO event). Erick Schonfeld is the executive producer of DEMO and he and his team reviewed scores of startups and selected the 40 who are attending. After reviewing so many startups in the space and considering he's been covering technology startups for a long time, he has quite a vista into what's going on regarding mobile trends.
Although he didn't want to talk about his other venture while running DEMO, Erick is also a mobile entrepreneur and his team has developed a video editing app for iPad. He has managed mobile projects and has a feel for what it takes to get an app built and distributed. This also contributes to an accurate perspective. Watch the interview below to get his thoughts on current mobile trends:

 
Current mobile trends include apps that do only one thing but do it very well such as Valet Anywhere, which at certain locations, allows you to get your car valeted and it is very unique in that the valet comes to you wherever you are. Skillpocket is a marketplace on your phone to find talent such as designers and developers. PathSense is an app that reduces the drain on your battery caused by GPS (which is a battery hog) - it tracks your motion and momentum to calibrate your position. Erick also discusses the evolution of tools for developing mobile apps and some of the constraints in hiring developers and designers.
There is strong demand for developers here in the US, but the rest of the world is coming up-to-speed on mobile technologies which provides a deeper bench for talent. Despite the availability of developers, a lot of tasks like user interface design and user experience are handled here in the states.
I remember talking to a development vendor in Estonia and asking him if his firm designs apps. He said yes, but he wasn't sure if we would like their design sense in Estonia because perceptions of good design can be quite different in different geographies. If the app was for a US audience, he recommended the design be done in the US. Conversely, I remember seeing the incredible work of a Polish designer. He had a great eye and wasn't even formally educated in design. Because of the demand for his talent, I could never book him. So it is possible to get good design overseas, but it may be more work to find individuals with your design sense.

I spoke with Marcus Weller, CEO of Skully today at DEMO Fall 2014. I asked him what advice he would give to entrepreneurs who are thinking about getting involved in wearables. He had some great advice and that is to focus on your core use case and get that right before you move on. I thought that was spot on, because you may have read other posts of mine where Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, says, “It’s easy to add; it’s hard to edit - it’s hard to focus."  Apple is successful because Apple has always focused.  That’s what entrepreneurs these days need to do and not only that, there are many executives at important companies who need the same advice.  An app isn't a catch-all, but is made to solve a specific need that is usually task-specific.  
Marcus says his helmet is "like a fighter pilot helmet for motorcyclists."  It has a heads up display that gives the rider full visibility around them.  This is especially important for motorcyclists because they typically don't see well in their blind spots.  
Another thing that non-riders might not think about is it's hard to get turn-by-turn directions on a motorcycle.  If you think about it, a motorcyclist doesn't have a hand that's free to pull out a mobile device.  Skully not only provides GPS navigation, but also readouts from the gauges on the motorcycle.  
Watch the video interview below:

 
Marcus adds, "...the key thing for developing a wearable is to be very focused on a specific problem and to go deep on that problem rather than trying to be all things to all people."  This is true not only for wearables but for any startup or new product or service.  With limited resources you have to focus, otherwise you won't do anything well and you'll run out of resources before you're done.
I also liked what Marcus said about doing away with the UI (user interface), because really, you wouldn’t need to interact with the device so much if it were more situationally aware. To make a more situationally aware device is going to take AI (artificial intelligence). Apple bought Suri for its AI capabilities. It might be an unfair test to throw Suri against the general population, but after seeing it perform, I’m underwhelmed and it shows us how far we have to go with AI. It isn’t easy or cheap, but the person or company that cracks the code will do well.

One of the things I love about conferences like DEMO Fall 2014 is they get you outside of your normal way of thinking, and that’s what is necessary to be truly innovative. Who ever thought of turning people into ATMs? It’s pretty crazy and it could either go wrong or it could go right. Just like the mobile carriers were disintermediated by WhatsApp, this payment solution by Ali Goss of HelloBit could push banks aside for at least one of their services - money transfer.
International money transfer processes are full of friction.  It's hard to pay vendors overseas, there are hefty fees involved, and it usually requires a special trip to the bank where you fill out a long form.  For some reason, my international vendors don't take PayPal.  One time I sent a check to my team in Poland and they were very sad because it can take up to 6 weeks to clear - I didn't know it would take so long.  Watch the video below:

 
Platforms like these provide a solution to those transferring money, and it makes it especially economical for sending small amounts of money.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates by following @johnmobilecast!