I have been having mixed feelings about Flash development for a long time.
Fact is, Flash is here to stay – at least for the next 2-3 years, I assume, until maybe HTML5, Unity and/or others have gained more traction.
A question raised by a friend in a recent discussion was: What features, advantages etc. can Flash list on the “plus” side, besides an enormous installed user base? My reply was: “You already answered your question.”
The thing is, it does not actually matter how “bad”, performance-hogging, 3D-features lacking Flash actually is, if you want to reach a very broad audience, there still is no alternative to it.
Perhaps (un)surprisingly, little has changed since early 2008 when we decided to develop AT.LANT.IS in Flash.
Daniel James of Three Rings confirmed that with the Java version of Puzzle Pirates they majority of users did not even see the start screen of the game, because they needed to confirm to “Trust” the Java applet before – something they were not used to doing, raising their suspicion and in result leaving the game before it had even started. When they changed to Flash with Whirled, that problem was gone. (He was giving some exact numbers, as he likes to do, but I can’t remember exactly).
So, still a good opportunity for all you Flash coders charging a fortune for some AS3 lines…
I stumbled across this interesting Greystripe study, focusing on the “iPhone moms” in the US as a new demographic made up of female iPhone users with children.
“Children and family focused iPhone applications are gaining in popularity and have become big business” said Jason Petralia, CEO of People Operating Technology, a New York-based iPhone application publisher. “We’re happy that Greystripe is pioneering research into this market.”
Highlights include:
Over 59% of iPhone moms let their children use their iPhone with 41% downloading entertainment applications 20% downloading educational apps specifically for their kids.
89.25% use their phone for entertainment, whether this is listening to music, browsing the Internet or using various entertainment apps.
96% are involved in their household purchasing decisions, with 40% being the sole decision maker.
As a more positive and proactive followup on my previous post about the Top 10 of retail mentality, I cannot overemphasize the importance of the “Lean Startup” philosophy and concepts, started by Eric Ries and Steve Blank.
If you have not already done so, please have a quick look at the slides:
