21 Tips For Developing Your Mobile Game Plan

Printing books used to be a painstaking, highly manual process that over time evolved into a much more automated way of publishing; it's still early days for digital publishing and much of it remains manual. That will change, and publishers will not need so many hands in their projects—but we're not there yet.

A Tip from …

Rachel Chou

Chief Marketing Officer, Open Road Integrated Media

10. Rather than developing just for the desktop, 
technology allows us to develop one for all.

Our video player works on the Web, on your iPhone, on your iPad and all connected devices.

Tips from …

John Morse

President, Publisher, Merriam-Webster Inc.

11. Recognize that the 
"Age of Also" concept
 is still valid.

We still have lots of things [lots of ways consumers can access content]; there is still no best way, only good ways.

12. We need to rethink what our product is.

Challenges are fundamentally different. Traditional products are at risk from apps that deliver granular content or specific benefits.

13. Be as bold with mobile apps today as we were with the Web 10 years ago.

The solution is the same. Err on the side of:

● Overinvesting in product.

● Proceeding without a clear business model. (Anathema, I know, but if we wait until we really know how much revenue we can expect, we will be very late to market.)

● Putting current revenue at risk. (We were willing to do this in the print-to-Web transition; we need to do it again in a Web-to-mobile transition.)

● Focusing on where the puck is going (i.e., not where the puck is now).

14. Realize that there is 
more than one way to 
go mobile.