In-App Purchase

Today we’re rolling out some product changes in response to how our publishing customers have been leveraging Newsstand with our Subscriptions and In-App Purchase products.

The Guardian and Future Publishing are among the ingenious Urban Airship early adopters who released an app mash-up of Newsstand plus our Push Notifications, Rich Push®, Subscriptions, and In-App Purchase as a unified digital publishing solution on the iOS platform. The result has been stable and successful, and we’ve decided to mirror their efforts.

The result is Newsstand Publisher, a new, bundled Urban Airship solution that’s available now to Premium Plan customers. For more information, download the product sheet.

The Pew Research Center recently released a study that shows mobile news consumers, especially app users, are more engaged than their PC counterparts. They spend more time per session with news on mobile devices than they do on computers and read more articles per month. And in mobile, there is a move away from search as the universal content gateway, giving publishers an opportunity to grow direct relationships with consumers and capture more digital revenue.

Future PLC, which publishes more than 180 special-interest publications in the UK, US, and Australia, knows the power of a strong mobile channel. When Apple released its Newsstand feature, they approached Urban Airship to quickly implement subscriptions and push notifications into its app.

Leveraging Apple Newsstand’s interface, Future PLC automatically delivers the right content to each of its subscribers based on their individual subscription terms. Subscribers receive alerts when new content is available through push notifications, which result in an immediate engagement lift—much faster than email, search, SMS or banner ads.

Future PLC was one of the first to market on Newsstand and saw immediate results, including reaching its goals for single issue purchases eight months ahead of schedule.

Get the full story by downloading the case study.

Today we’re excited to announce our collaboration with the Intel AppUp^SM program to offer in-app purchase technology to Intel AppUp developers, increasing monetization of apps developed for Windows-based PCs and Ultrabook™ devices. Best of all, Intel will cover the in-app purchase costs through March 31, 2015 for developers enrolled in the Intel AppUp^SM developer program.

With virtual goods spending in the U.S. hitting $2 billion in 2011, both mobile and PC app developers have a growing opportunity to build features and content into applications that sustain engagement and drive incremental revenue. Urban Airship offers open source libraries and simple RESTful APIs that make it easy for developers to integrate in-app purchase functionality, enabling consumers to purchase upgrades, new content and complementary features directly within apps.  Urban Airship also manages receipt verification and content delivery of mobile purchases, replacing the need for developers to build their own IAP content server.

To date, we’ve powered more than 18.5 million in-app purchases for iOS and Android developers, and the relationship with Intel AppUp center will expand our services to a broader group of developers and apps across platforms. We’ve seen many customers achieve tremendous success with in-app purchase, including Future Publishing, which grossed over $1 million in incremental revenue in just 45 days after launching in-app purchase functionality for many of its 180 special-interest publications.

Who loves their customers? We do! That’s why we’re excited to introduce two new professional grade pricing plans that will allow you to take advantage of the same benefits previously only available to enterprise customers. We have also simplified In-App Purchase and lowered the pricing for Subscriptions. We hope these changes will help make engaging with your customers more convenient and effective.

We developed our new pricing plans based on the success of our Premium plan, which we introduced in June. For the first time we packaged together unlimited Push Notifications and Rich Push along with our premium tools, Push Composer and Reports. The Premium plan has worked well for high-volume customers and now we want to extend these features to everyone.

Now companies with less-intensive audience demands can take advantage of unlimited messaging to their users and access our powerful composition and reporting tools. Additionally, to help promote in-app revenue opportunities we’ve simplified our In-App Purchase model so that customers now pay the same low price for all downloads regardless of file size, up to a 1 GB limit. This new approach should allow for easier planning and budgeting while encouraging more In-App Purchases compared to our previous, file-size based pricing. Our new professional grade plans are called “Pro” and the “Pro In-App Purchase”. Both plans are configured to serve up to 10,000 users per month with unlimited Push Notifications and Rich Push. Both also include the Push Composer and Reports tools. Current customers can upgrade to the new plans directly from your account billing page. Visit our pricing page for details or to create a new account.

• Pro is for customers looking to drive more app engagement with a core messaging strategy. In addition to unlimited Push, Rich Push and access to our Pro tools, it offers In-App Purchases at six cents per download.
• Pro In-App Purchase is for customers whose mobile strategies rely heavily on generating in-app revenue. This plan includes everything that the Pro plan offers plus 10,000 In-App Purchases per month with additional purchases at four cents each. It offers subscriptions according to a similar model (10,000 users per month, five cents per additional user) and includes support for Apple’s Newsstand, an exciting new feature in iOS 5.

Accounts using our Basic plan never fear. We are still offering the first million push messages per month for free and the new service prices will not affect existing customers – everyone stays on the plan they signed up under until they choose one of these new offerings.  We think you will like our new In-App Purchase and subscription offerings.  We’ve removed the In-App Purchase file size tiers and offer a flat rate of 10 cents per download, and subscription prices for Basic have dropped to 10 cents per user per month.

Visit our pricing page to see more details on our pricing and plans. Sign up today and start a free trial of Push Composer and Reports.

Version 1.0.6 of our iOS client library is now available.

This includes our first round of iOS5 support; like everyone else, we’ve been testing the iOS 5 betas and have found a few things that need fixing along the way. We will release another library update with additional features and fixes once iOS 5 is released.

The release out today contains full support for Newsstand and Auto-Renewables.  Check out the new library now.

Newsstand

Newsstand applications are new to iOS 5. They are normal apps that live inside the Newsstand folder and have a dedicated iTunes Store. Additionally, Newsstand apps can download new content in the background even when the app is not running. This ensures that users have their latest news and periodicals waiting for them each morning in an easy-to-find location – the Newsstand!

Urban Airship has support for Newsstand built directly into our Subscriptions product. When you create new content, you can choose to send a Newsstand Push Notification that corresponds with the content’s publish date. This special Push Notification will trigger the background download of that content within your app. All you need to do is follow Apple’s instructions for turning your app into a Newsstand app, and integrate our library with Subscriptions. Then the next time you publish content, check the Newsstand box and it will be waiting for your users when they wake up.

FAQ:

Q: How can I get access to Newsstand?
A: You need a Premium account.

Q: Do I have to use Subscriptions in order to use this feature?
A: Yes, if you want our system to send the once-a-day Newsstand Push automatically with your content. You can generate this Newsstand push yourself using our regular Push API as well.

Q: When will this be available?
A: It is available today, however it only works in the Apple Sandbox currently, until iOS 5′s official release. It requires a premium account to access.

Q: Do I need to upgrade the Urban Airship Library to use this feature?
A: Yes, you will need to upgrade to 1.0.6 in order to take full advantage of this feature with Subscriptions

Q: What exactly does the new library provide?
A: We give you helper classes and example code for receiving the Newsstand Push Notification and processing the content_id contained with it into a background download. You still have to implement all the library, issue, and bundle specific changes as well as delegate callbacks that are required by the NewsstandKit Framework.

For further information please reference Apple’s developer documentation on NewsstandKit and what’s new in iOS 5.

Auto-Renewables

Our Subscriptions product now has full support for iOS Auto-Renewables. This includes every standard period and feature from the iTunes Setup for Auto-Renewables, as well as continued support for non-renewing subscriptions. Auto-Renewables gives your users the power of seamless iTunes Account support for subscriptions, including restore and account management through standard iOS integrations. You will no longer need an email based restore workflow (but it’s still there if you do).

If your app is currently using non-renewing subscriptions you can use our latest iOS library to transition to Auto-Renewables – we support both systems in use at the same time. All you need to do is add your iTunes Shared Secret to the Urban Airship setup for Subscriptions, and then create the Auto-Renewable products in iTunes and your Urban Airship app setup. Content publishing works just as it did before. Auto-Renewables is available today to all current and future Subscription users!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Does Auto-Renewables require a library update?
A: Yes. You will need to upgrade your application to our 1.0.6 iOS library.

Q: Is Auto-Renewables tied to iOS5?
A: No. Auto-Renewables is available now and does not require iOS5 to function.

Q: How does Apple’s “opt-in marketing incentive” work with your solution?
A: If you configure an opt-in incentive amount of subscription time for users who volunteer their address info, that time will automatically be added to the subscription they purchase. You don’t need to setup anything on Urban Airship’s side for this to work. Simply configure it in iTunes Connect and the opt-in information will appear in the iTunes Sales reports over time.

Q: Can I use both non-renewing subscriptions and auto-renewable subscriptions at the same time?
A: Yes, but we recommend you use one or the other. Apple is moving towards auto-renewables over the long term. Additionally if you offer both, you will need to support both the email restore feature, as well as the regular In-App Purchase restore process that works for Auto-Renewables.

Details on this release

This release has been tested with Xcode 4.1 and 4.2, though it is easiest to pair 4.0.2/4.1 with iOS 4 and earlier releases, and keep iOS 5 betas separate for now. There are a few key changes to be aware of if you’re using our default user interfaces for StoreFront, Subscription, or Rich Push inbox.

• StoreFront, Subscriptions and Inbox affected by changes to the modal display API.
• Rich Push inbox UI is affected by changes to the Tab Bar Item view hierarchy.

In each of the above cases you can upgrade your application to use the UI files in the “Airship/UI/” folder that corresponds to the Urban Airship product you’re using.

iOS 5 Notification Center will work automatically with Urban Airship Push and you don’t need to do anything to take advantage of that new feature. We do recommend upgrading to 1.0.6 in order to be prepared for the next step on iOS.  Get it now.

Please send any feedback or bugs to support@urbanairship.com.

It’s been a very busy week at the Airship. In addition to spending the week immersed in push notifications at WWDC and chatting about mobile at numerous events over in London, we’re now live with a bunch of new products and tools to help you optimize your mobile apps. We are excited for you to get your hands on these products – Push Composer and Reports, our new Embedded Push and In-App Purchase for Android.

Try Push Composer & Reports for Free

We’ve gotten nice response from Beta testers and have  incorporated their feedback. In appreciation of all our customers, we’re giving away Push Composer & Reports for free for 45 days.

Urban Airship Push Composer offers a clean, simple, web-based dashboard where you can craft, configure and activate your mobile messaging campaigns. Deliver messages to specific groups of users with our tag system. You can also schedule messages to go out at a time and date in the future or in real-time.

Urban Airship Reports provides quantitative data on user engagement with your apps. With the metrics now available, you can figure out how many times your users open your app, how push notification campaigns trigger app usage and how much time users are spending within the app. Presented in easy-to-interpret graphics, you can quickly and effectively monitor engagement metrics.

Sign Up Now to pump up your push.

Android Client Library, including Embedded Push and In-App Purchase now available to all. We also offer C2DM push and other cool stuff for Android.

We want to say thanks to the hundreds of developers who’ve worked with us to test and refine the latest in our Android lineup. With your feedback, we’ve streamlined integration, put together sample apps, and refined our documentation for developers. We’ve taking off the wraps and invite everyone to give the new library a try. Both C2DM + Helium Push and In-App Purchase are included in the client lib, giving you a platform for push, purchase, and engagement in just a few minutes. Our sample apps and docs should get you started; help is a click away if you need to get in touch.

More about our Android offerings:

• Embedded Push / Helium. Urban Airship’s Embedded Push operates entirely outside the Google stack, allowing mobile developers to offer richer features and reach more devices.  Now that this release is out, we’re continuing to work on new features including “quiet time” customization, an inbox of past notifications, guaranteed Quality of Service and return receipt. Additionally, Urban Airship’s Helium solution gives each app its own secure connection that is optimized to minimize battery impact. The direct end-to-end connection between each app and devices allows near-instant message delivery.
• C2DM Push Notification Support. We’ve also created an option for developers who send limited numbers of push messages to use Google’s C2DM service. Developers who choose to use this tool will need an account with Google. Please refer to the plans and pricing page for plan options.
• Urban Airship Push Composer & Reports is now available on Android as well.

As we continue to help thousands of developers send notifications and fulfill app purchases, some best practices begin to emerge. So this week, we did a guest post over at Mashable to cover some best practices for Android In-App Billing. Some highlights include:

• Make sure if you’re selling additional features and content in your app, that you’re still providing value as-is without the add-ons. People are much more likely to buy you from you if you prove your value within a free app already.
• Don’t overlook the opportunities to re-use archived or previously unavailable content. Musicians can take advantage of live recordings or outtakes to turn old material into new revenue.
• Take advantage of In-App Billing as a way to keep your app underneath the app size restrictions. Even if the in-app purchase is free, it allows you to allow the user to download content in stages, choosing what information he/she wants on the phone.

Read the whole article to get lots more information and best practices on Android In-App Billing.

Google announced today it will release in-app purchase (or In-App Billing as Google calls it) for the Android mobile platform next week. This long-awaited feature will allow Android developers richer opportunities to monetize their apps – we predict it will be the primary way Android apps will make money in the future.

As Tricia Duryee of AllThingsDigital points out, “the launch of in-app payments will literally open the door to thousands of applications currently available on the iOS platform, which have been waiting for a way to effectively monetize their applications.”

Game developers monetize apps via in-app purchase by selling additional game levels, maps and virtual goods, often via the “freemium” model, in which the app itself is free and users purchase additional content as they get more engaged in the app. In-app purchase is also key to content providers such as media companies, that sell additional news stories, chapters, or interviews from inside the application. In-app purchase is also critical for publishers to be able to offer subscriptions for their tablet apps.

All in all, this is very exciting news. As Scott Kveton, Urban Airship CEO, points out in the article, our team has been working with Google to make the integration process even easier for developers to build in-app purchase into their applications.

Our beta program is open; if you would like to be part of it, please fill out the form below. Developers will be able to get going quickly with our sample application and create In-App Purchase items for testing within their app right away.

*Beta Signups Closed*

Today we announced the availability of Embedded Push for Android. As more platforms crop up and as more devices running different versions of Android come to market, developers are challenged to build and maintain the significant infrastructure needed to support mobile features across multiple platforms. We are excited to offer Embedded Push, an alternate push notification solution to C2DM that will help Android developers and users. Our Embedded Push product is more robust than C2DM and works on versions of Android from 1.6 and newer; C2DM works only on devices running Android 2.2 (also known as Froyo) and newer and requires the installation of the Android Market and a Google account on the device. Future versions will automatically give you the option of using either C2DM our our push solution.

As part of this announcement we’re excited to be powering the ESPN ScoreCenter app, the shopkick app and Tapulous’ Tap Tap Revenge apps with this initial release.

Our Embedded Push solution operates entirely outside the Google stack, which allows developers using Embedded Push to offer richer features and the ability to do more with notification delivery and also making it so you don’t need a signed-in Google account on the device.  Examples of such features in development include “quiet time” customization, allowing end users to define times not to be interrupted, an inbox of past notifications, guaranteed Quality of Service, and return receipt. Additionally, this solution gives each app its own open connection that is synchronized to save battery life. The direct end-to-end connection between each app and end user devices allows near-instant message delivery. The platform will also support in-app purchase on the Android platform, so developers can offer additional content to users within Android apps by offering simple, one-click billing. Urban Airship will provide a single library for Android that includes support for all our product offerings, as well as direct support for C2DM in addition to Embedded Push.

If you are interested in signing up for the Android Embedded Push Beta please sign-up below:

*Beta Signups Closed*

To learn more about the detailed features and behaviors of our push messaging platform across the mobile operating systems we support, reference the table below.

Today we announced several milestones across the use of our mobile services platform as well as several new customers like Slate, Magento, Zumobi, Yobongo and many others. To date, we’ve delivered more than 2.3 billion push notification messages to more than 100 million unique devices registered on our platform. Give it a read – there’s a lot of good data pointing to explosive growth in this market.

We’ll be at SXSW Interactive this weekend meeting with folks to talk about what’s happening in mobile, trends and stats we’re seeing and of course enjoying all the fun that Austin has to offer. If you’re around, look us up.