Addressing a session on emerging business models in mobile apps at Ad:Tech Bangalore, Sandeep Amar, Head of Marketing and Audience, at Indiatimes* stated that while the business models for mobile apps has stayed relatively same over the years, the approach towards app monetization is different for different people, which makes some apps stand out from others. He said that the approach towards app monetization has to be according to the ecosystem of the mobile platform, on which the developer is currently distributing or planning to distribute their apps. iOS still leader but Android catching up: Amar said that iOS platform is still the leader in revenues but the Android platform is currently winning in numbers and it is coming quite close to the iOS platform in terms of monetization. He claimed that 0.53 million Android phones were sold in India in May 2012, a 19.2% growth from 0.44 million in April 2012, although there was no word on the data source used for this information. He also added that Samsung accounted for 71% of the Android phones sold in May 2012. Amar said that casual users prefer freemium apps, since they usually use apps for entertainment in short stints, which makes in-app purchases and mobile advertising models quite important for app developers. He also added that developers should formulate monetization strategies right from the beginning of app development and this strategy should be the driver for the app's future development and design process. TOI and ET Mobile Apps: Talking about the development…
