Developing for Android? You need to look to the bigger picture … actually this applies to anyone developing apps for mobile phones. If you want your app to be used by people that don’t speak English you need to translate it and provide some support.

There are going to be many opportunities for startups and anyone with a business model to go ‘international’ or expand abroad should check these points are covered in the marketing and product development plans.

1. Copy and clone – build the local version that’s more popular than its bigger brother (defensive/beachhead)

This has worked well for some social networks and there are countries where the local version is more successful than its international version. A business model based on a copycat strategy needs to launch, grow and keep its users interested. One quick way is to make sure the website / app is still usable for people living abroad like the Americans in London or English living in Spain.

2. Copy the idea – but make it your own

There are lots of good apps out there dying to be copied – using local data information. If you business model involves global domination you need local datasources.

A wine guide app using content from an American website may have some relevance in the English speaking world, but it won’t help when choosing a wine … a simple example: Does a $20 wine equal a £10 wine?

3. Translation is just the first step think customer support

Translating your app or website is usually the first way to go international – but make sure the plan includes how to support your local users.

For example FAQ’s is simplified as SSS in Turkish

4. Remember to localise the user experience

It’s really upsetting to find out the user experience looks really crap when you change from English to Spanish, Italian or any other language.

5. Don’t expand abroad

The problem with the Internet, App Stores and mobile phones is that their users don’t respect territories for licences and agreements. So don’t go international if you are not prepared. You may also find your app is reliant on a social community that doesn’t exist. Check that you understand the take up of broadband, internet, 3G and mobile data services.

I’ll finish with this point … What’s the fun of finding out you can be the Mayor of all the places in a town if you’re the only one using location based apps? or more relevant – don’t go international and find out you don’t have a dataset.

Damien Saunders

Sounds like good news in the UK market ‘opening’ up to more distribution channels for the iPhone. Tesco’s annouced it plans to start selling the iPhone by the end of the year and promised to add value to the market, where prices are stagnating between O2 and Orange.

What this means is that Tesco will be just another distributor like the Carphone Warehouse — and so at first, it didn’t seem clear if customers will have a choice of O2 or Orange. Now we know that Tesco will be a distributor for O2.

It would be more exciting in the UK if Tesco had made their own deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone and allow customers to connect to the Tesco Mobile ‘the MVNO’. What happens now with Tesco and pricing will depend if they can adjust the pricing. What could be worse for Tesco is if they have a supply problem which some staff at Carphone Warehouse say is continuing.

Damien Saunders

With the boom in the number of apps in the App Store (over 100,000) and total downloads in excess of 2bn … someone has got to be making money … right?

In part, the iPhone does offer a better platform for apps – it’s about to overtake RIM as the leading consumer smartphone, sold more than 34 million units and got some of the highest mobile internet usage rates we’ve seen so far.

It’s not fair to say that Developers, Ad agencies or Brands are making money out of the app store.

The problem is discovery – you have to do a lot to get your app to the Featured or Popular lists and that has got to start with spending money on good PR and a Viral / Word of Mouth campaign. For small time developers and startups, who might not account for these costs – they do expect GOOD PR and WoM to equal GREAT results.

Whatever you spend on building the app and promoting the app is not going to be made back in app revenue, consider that the majority of apps are given away for ‘free’. How does anyone make money?

I attended the NMAlive workshop in London last week which looked at Why You Need an App … I agree with all the presenters, which is you have to do something mobile … but expecting it to be a new revenue stream from Day 0 is misleading.

Damien Saunders

Following on yesterday’s news that Orange Uk will start selling iPhone … ending O2 / Telefonica’s virtual monopoly in the UK. Today, Vodafone in UK and Ireland  announced their plans to sell Apple iPhones.

Good news for the operators? well ending the monopoly of iPhone was a good move. An operator with a data usage strategy will want to be selling iPhones along side other data hungry phones like RIM, Android, Symbian devices.

Many first mover customers coming out of their 24 month agreements on the iPhone 2G will be happy to wait a few months, but 3G and 3GS users probably will be waiting another 12 – 24 months.

For Christmas does this mean an Apple under the tree??? I don’t think so.

Damien Saunders