The brought to mind other disparities between iOS and other systems, especially those that affect developers directly. The main distinction involves profitability. Although sales of non-iOS phones have skyrocketed, apps for those phones are not nearly as profitable for their creators as iOS apps. For every dollar you make selling your app on iTunes, you’ll only make about 24 cents selling the Android version. Last year, twice as many iPhone users as Android phone users paid for apps, and they paid more for the apps they bought. The reason? No one really knows, but Android users are notoriously resistant to paying for apps.

The post Mobile Food Apps: Why Apple Has The Best Apps appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

Michelle’s app cost about $30,000 to produce–a fantastic price that she was able to get because the developer was hot to enter the food space. $30,000 is at the low end of custom development for recipe apps.

Below you’ll find the price tags of several other apps. Green Kitchen cost $39,000, and the authors uploaded much of the content which helped limit their cost. You’ll notice that Master Chef Academy’s cost is expressed as a range ($30,000 to $80,000). The developer said that he couldn’t reveal the actual price, but that most of his projects (including MCA) fell within that range. Culinate’s How to Cook Everything app (Mark Bittman) cost $150,000. Interestingly, when asked what it would take to produce an app comparable to Trufflehead (which cost $75,000), Culinate quoted a price of $150,000.

For app authors, the question is whether custom development makes financial sense. For Michelle Tam, it did. She had the resources and she had a huge blog following. The latter gave her a built-in market for her app. She’s recouped her cost and made a nice profit. But, for most people, the initial investment is beyond reach and, even if they can afford it, the chances of recovering their costs are slim. That’s where platform apps come in.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: App Development Costs appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

1. Beauty Shots Required

Apps are visual! While cookbooks may include photos of selected recipes or none at all, apps need images for all recipes. Many food bloggers shoot recipes “in progress”, and step-by-step photos can be useful as well. (Mobile Skillet’s apps can display up to 6 photos per recipe.) But, at the very least, each recipe MUST be accompanied by a beauty shot.

2. Limit Text

Brief recipe descriptions add value to recipe apps. They may include cook’s notes, special tips, serving suggestions, or other relevant information. But–even if they’re stylishly written (and we think our Trufflehead app qualilifies)–enough is enough. The more literary or narrative a cookbook, the less its content suits the app format, which is all about convenience. Case in point: CookFight, by Julila Moskin and Kim Severson, is a totally delightful, beautifully written cookbook that, alas, wouldn’t work well as an app. It’s too much of a good read.

3. Limit Complexity

For all sorts of reasons, the recipes that work best on apps fall into the “quick and easy” category. Too many ingredients or too many steps often create a poor user experience. So, if your recipes are long and complex, they probably won’t translate well unless you have nice video demonstrations to accompany them.

So, if your cookbook contains tons of terrific photos, concise recipe headers, and accessible recipes, it will make a fine app. Just make sure you own the digital rights to your content before you take the plunge.

The post Mobile Recipe Apps: Does Good Cookbook Content Make Good App Content? appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

These consumers will be looking for new and delicious ways to use their fresh food purchases. And they can conveniently access recipes via apps that they carry with them to the supermarket.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: Fresh Foods on the Rise appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

Custom development costs a fortune, takes forever, and is fraught with all sorts of difficulties. Here at Mobile Skillet, we’ve developed a state-of-the-art platform that can provide almost “instant” recipe apps to cookbook authors and food bloggers at reasonable cost ($5,000 to $14,000). Unlike platforms that produce “cookie-cutter” apps, our clients can choose from a range of customization options, including palettes, fonts, layouts, navigation, content, and functionality. Our user-friendly CMS allows authors to manage their content at will with minimal effort. We believe the mobile marketplace’s barriers to entry are too high, and we’re doing what we can to bring them down.

The post Mobile Recipe Apps: What Does It Cost to Build An App? appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

In addition, Fiksu reports that iOS app downloads in November 2012 represented an 83% increase over November 2011. According to OPA, more than twice as many iPhone users bought apps last year as Android users, and they paid more for the apps they bought. Not surprisingly, Apple’s App Store makes more money: Distimo reports that Apple’s App Store revenues are more than 4 times those of Google Play ($15 million per day versus $3.5 million per day).

What does this mean for app creators? If revenue is your goal, Apple is way to go.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: iPad Rules! appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

Among the most interesting recommendations were:
1) DON’T attempt vegan versions of animal-based favorites right away. (They’re doomed to fail.) Instead, try vegan makeovers of dishes that are almost vegan already.
2) DO make homemade substitutes for cheese, using cashews, tofu, miso, and nutritional yeast. (Fake cheese doesn’t cut it.)
3) DO explore the creamy effects offered by bean purées.
4) DO experiment with small amounts of nutritional yeast. (It’s an acquired taste.)
5) DO substitute vinegar and baking soda, cornstarch, or baking powder for eggs in baked goods.

Of course, our Vegan Delish app can also help by turning you on to over 70 delicious, quick, easy vegan recipes.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: How to Go Vegan appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

Mobile Skillet is thrilled to announce that it has begun production of a future blockbuster recipe app by high-profile nutritionists Janice Bissex and Liz Weiss. The working title is Meal Makeovers: Family Favorites Made Healthy. (The home screen image above is just a place-holder.) Launch is expected some time in 2013.

Stay tuned for production updates.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: Future Blockbuster Recipe App for Busy Moms appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

The passionate interest in foods being led by the Millenials will continue; led by their desire to understand food heritage, where foods come from, food preparation and how food is served; but with a twist. Millenials are deal seekers: over 86% seek the lowest everyday prices for foods. Almost one-third of Millenials (50+ million people born between 1978 and 1994) have difficulty affording their weekly groceries as compared to 22% of the general population. Millenials are the most ethnically diverse generation in our nation’s history – approximately 19% are Latino, 13% are black, four percent are Asian, one in five have an immigrant parent and one in 10 have a parent who is not a U.S. citizen. Clearly they are the foundation for the rise and desire for ethnic and more flavorful foods. This generation will be the most educated with 63% predicted to have or expect to graduate college by the year 2016. However, many report low paying or no jobs and a quarter of them have moved back home with their parents.

Because home cooking is more affordable than eating out, we think more Millenials will be cooking their own food. Since they’re ethnically diverse, they’ll buy cooking apps that offer multicultural/international cheap eats. They’ll also be looking for information on sourcing and sustainability.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: Top Food Trends 2013 appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.

Mobile Skillet’s new “hot button” feature for iPhone apps is here! For the first time, clients who choose this optional upgrade will be able to customize the 4th button on their app home screen any time they like. Today it says “Happy New Year!”, but it could just as easily say 2013, January, Valentine’s Day,or anything else that fits on the screen. The button can be linked to any recipe, category (group of recipes), or non-recipe content in the About, Reference, or General Content sections.

For further information, use our contact form or email Deborah Chud at deborah@mobileskillet.com.

The post Mobile Cooking Apps: Mobile Skillet Introduces “HOT BUTTON” appeared first on Mobile Skillet - Mobile Skillet - Cooking App Development for iOS.