Before a single pixel is created, a line of code is written, or a marketing plan is conceived, a prospective app should be looked at strategically. Questions like, “What devices should be targeted?,” “Which category provides the best opportunity for success?,” or "How much will this app cost?," can have direct impacts on the actual development process. This panel will explore the often overlooked, assumed, or ignored product strategy aspects of application development, describing them conceptually while showing them in practice for successful apps on the App Store.
Christopher Brown is a Senior Engineer at Millennial Media, the nation's largest independent mobile advertising company. At Millennial, he develops for several mobile platforms including iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7, and helps create tools to support publishers and developers. He co-founded TapMetrics, a mobile analytics company, that was acquired in 2010. Chris holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and lives with his wife in Washington, DC.
David Barnard is the owner of App Cubby, an iPhone app company. Prior to founding App Cubby, David spent most of his time as a freelance recording engineer in the Austin, Texas area.
Ken Yarmosh is the proprietor of a boutique agency focused on building exceptional mobile applications and the author of "App Savvy" (O'Reilly). Before he got involved with mobile apps, he orchestrated the development of desktop and web applications for everything from financial accounting systems to automated search marketing platforms. Ken has successfully launched national brands in the App Store while also creating his own bestselling apps. Striving to make cutting edge technology accessible to the masses, Ken maintains a blog at http://kenyarmosh.com, where he chronicles his interests and experiences.
Natalia is a software engineer and composer who co-founded Imangi Studios with her husband Keith Shepherd in June of 2008. They had a game in the iPhone App Store on the first day of its launch and have been creating original games and apps ever since. They now have 8 apps on the app store and have gotten over 3 million downloads. Their best-known game is Harbor Master, which was a #1 app on iPad and #3 on iPhone.
Phill has been starting things his whole life, beginning in high school with the Mac interface customization site MacThemes, which quickly became a popular hangout spot for graphic designers and fans in the community. Since then he has pioneered new ways to market and distribute indie software with software bundling site MacHeist, which has to date rang up over $8 million in bundle sales, and popularized the touch-responsive digital page flip with the proof-of-concept eReader app, Classics for iPhone. He currently develops projects for leading iPhone app studio tap tap tap.
