Karol Severin | MIDiA Research

The Uber Button: The Greatest App Growth Opportunities Are Outside Apps

Blog post by Karol Severin

4 Dec 2015

Uber announced an option for developers to easily integrate a button for requesting rides. Examples include getting an Uber to a show or to a restaurant. Uber released an API in the past, partnering with...

Google Search Lets Users Stream In-App Content: Impacts And Threats

Blog post by Karol Severin

27 Nov 2015

app strategy

google indexing

google search

Google Search made two significant steps last week. Firstly, it can now search app-only content. Secondly, Google started to test streaming in-app content from the cloud, without the apps having to be...

Push Notifications
Vendor Landscape And Best Practices

Report by Karol Severin and Martyn Davies

25 Nov 2015

push notifications

notifications

in-app messaging

The 20,000 Foot View In the increasingly competitive app economy, push notifications and in-app messages are becoming crucial means of driving retention rates and other KPIs. The question is no longer...

Google Play Slashes Minimum App Prices In Emerging Markets

Blog post by Karol Severin

20 Nov 2015

android

Apple

apps

Google Play announced new minimum app prices equating to approximately 26 cents, just over a quarter of the US and European minimums. The decision includes 17 emerging markets. ( See the complete list...

Quick Take: Facebook’s Notify Builds An Ecosystem In Your Notification Feed

Blog post by Karol Severin

13 Nov 2015

facebook

instagram

messenger

Facebook has launched app notification aggregator Notify. It allows users to follow a range of categories or ‘stations’ and receive notifications with relevant content from a large array of content...

App Bubble Update: Hit Mobile Game Publishers Are Running Out Of Steam

Blog post by Karol Severin

12 Nov 2015

Activision

app bubble

app bubble burst

We pointed out the risks associated with the app economy being too dependent on a few hit apps back in 2014. The big question always was whether new titles of hit mobile game publishers could replicate...

Quick Take: Facebook Music Stories

Blog post by Karol Severin

6 Nov 2015

Amazon

Apple

digital content

Facebook launched‘Music Stories’ for iPhone users who use Spotify or Apple Music with more hardware and listening options to follow. Music Stories let’s you share 30 second music snippets from Spotify...

Activision Acquires King For $5.9 Billion

Blog post by Karol Severin

3 Nov 2015

One of the top publishers has been acquired by a gaming behemoth looking to mark their territory in the growing mobile gaming market. The time is just as good for Activision to buy as it is for King to...

The Rise Of Mobile Super-Short Form

Blog post by Karol Severin

30 Oct 2015

Boomerang

Facebook gif

GIF

GIFs have been around since 1987, Vine popularised the feature case for super-short form content in 2013, but in the last few months it’s been raining super-short form innovation. Recent announcements...

Mobile Messaging Platforms
How Facebook’s Hedge Strategy Is Changing The Face Of Messaging

Cover image for Mobile Messaging Platforms

Report by Karol Severin and Mark Mulligan

30 Oct 2015

Mobile messaging

mobile messengers

mobile messenger apps

The 20,000 Foot View In just a few short years mobile messaging apps have become home to the largest group of digital audiences on the planet, with 4.8 billion cumulative monthly active users. Following...

Publishers Are Leading Fragmented Battles In The Ad Blocking War Against United Consumers

Blog post by Karol Severin

22 Oct 2015

Adblock

adblocker

adblocking

There is one key difference between consumers and publishers in the ad blocking war: Ad blocking users are united by their actions (using adblockers) and fragmented by the ideology behind them (cost, time,...

Snapchat’s ‘Sponsored Lenses’ And The Power Of User Generated Product Placement

Blog post by Karol Severin

20 Oct 2015

Mobile content

mobile content monetization

mobile content strategy

Snapchat will launch a new advertising format which allows users to include popular branded content as a part of their message or selfie. Snapchat will help design stickers for brands and make them available...

Quick Take: New LinkedIn App Improves Its Business Via Extending User Experience

Blog post by Karol Severin

15 Oct 2015

advertising

Mobile content

LinkedIn previewed a new version of its mobile app , which will be deployed in the upcoming weeks. It took place at the company’s TalentConnect, an event focused on recruiters. Although the preview was...

How Telcos Could Become Gatekeepers Of Mobile Advertising

Blog post by Karol Severin

12 Oct 2015

ad blockers

Ad Blocking

mobile

Digicel in Jamaica is the first mobile network operator to roll out ad blocking of web and in-and app advertisement across it’s entire network as a default purchase option. If this scales across global...

Quick Take: Been Choice, Apple Happy To Eat Its Own Lunch With Native App Adblocker

Blog post by Karol Severin

7 Oct 2015

Ad Blocking

Apple

Been Choice

Up until now, the on going ad blocker discussion was confined to the web rather than apps. But now an upcoming VPN based adblocker Been Choice promises to block ads in native apps like Facebook or Apple...

How Game Apps Will Benefit From Amazon's Entry Into The Merch Market

Blog post by Karol Severin

2 Oct 2015

Amazon

app publishers

Content Creators

After the launch of Amazon Underground, Amazon continues its strategy to actively support the long tail of more budget-constrained developers and content creators. Merch by Amazon, launched yesterday,...

Why App Publishers Could Be The Winners Of The Adblocking Boom

Blog post by Karol Severin

24 Sep 2015

ad blockers

Ad Blocking

Adblock

Less than 48 hours after the launch of iOS 9 multiple ad blocking apps already dominated the iOS paid app charts across key markets. The ad blocking boom has sent first shivers down the spines of the whole...

App Whales And Minnows
Segmenting Mobile App Buyers

Report by Karol Severin

23 Sep 2015

app buyers

app whales

app minnows

The 20,000 Foot View Despite being small in number, app buyers are the bread and butter of the current mobile app economy accounting for the majority of global app revenue. But their behaviour is too often...

Is Smartphone Dominance Slowing Down Innovation?

Blog post by Karol Severin

15 Sep 2015

app developers

appdevs

Innovation

In 2009, young prodigy Pranav Mistry introduced his SixthSense Technology Device at a Ted event. The possibilities seemed endless. If you don’t know SixthSense, please watch this video to understand...

Uber's Smart Routes and Recent Jeep Hack Hires: Two Milestones On A Journey To Becoming A Tech Giant Superpower

Blog post by Karol Severin

15 Sep 2015

delivery network

driverless cars

Innovation

Uber confirmed they are testing a new addition to their Uber Pool proposition. Smart Routes allow consumers to save even more money if they are willing to be picked up on one of Uber’s ‘hot routes’....