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Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
October 2013
Corona SDK Profile
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
About research2guidance
research2guidance is a strategy advisor and market research company. We concentrate on
the mobile app eco-system. Our service offerings include:
App Strategy: We help our clients in and outside of the mobile industry to develop their app
market strategy. Our consulting advisory projects are based on a set of predefined project
approaches including: App strategy development, App Evaluation, App Market Segment
Sizing, App Governance and App Marketing Spend Effectiveness.
App Market Reports: Our app market reports explore the major trends and developments
affecting the app markets. Separate research papers provide both general and specific
coverage of the market. The reports contain key insights for companies looking to enter or
deepen their engagement with the mobile applications market, providing data and analysis
on all relevant aspects of the market to ease investment decision-making.
App Market Surveys: We leverage our 70.000 app eco-system database to conduct surveys
and reports for our clients.
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www.research2guidance.com
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Related products and services:
Click on the covers to get more information
Need help with finding the right Cross-Platform Tool ? Use our standardized CP Tool
selection process to find the right tool for your app projects.
Contact the analyst Joachim Thiele-Schlesier: +49 (0) 30 609 89 33 60,
Cross-Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013: “The hidden champions of the app economy”
Detailed Cross-Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013: “A comparison of 10 leading tools for multi-platform app development”
Marmalade Profile: “Service offering and user rating”
Unity 3D Profile: “Service offering and user rating”
Xamarin Profile: “Service offering and user rating”
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Corona SDK (by Corona Labs) in a nutshell .................................................................................................... 5
2. About this profile ............................................................................................................................................ 6
3. Scope of Corona´s service offering ................................................................................................................. 7
3.1. Device class and platform support and feature availability ........................................................................7
3.2. Target user groups and industries ............................................................................................................11
3.3. Estimated familiarization and development time ....................................................................................12
3.4. Corona offered support services...............................................................................................................13
4. User rating of Corona service offering ......................................................................................................... 14
4.1. User profiles and usage frequency ...........................................................................................................14
4.2. Targeted industries and preferred app categories by Corona SDK users .................................................15
4.3. Corona SDK complexity evaluation ...........................................................................................................17
4.4. Achieved time savings ...............................................................................................................................18
4.5. User satisfaction with platform, API and HW support ..............................................................................19
4.6. User satisfaction with Corona’s support service .......................................................................................22
4.7. User satisfaction with App quality ............................................................................................................23
4.8. Cost-performance rating of Corona SDK ...................................................................................................24
5. Strengths and challenges ............................................................................................................................. 26
6. Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
6.1. Benchmarking methodology .....................................................................................................................27
6.2. About the authors .....................................................................................................................................30
6.3. List of figures and tables ...........................................................................................................................31
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
1. CORONA SDK (BY CORONA LABS) IN A NUTSHELL
Corona SDK is a Cross Platform IDE Tool1 (CP IDE) by Corona Labs, a US based company.
Apart from Corona SDK, the company also launched an enterprise version called Corona
Enterprise.
Claim: “The ultimate 2D development platform for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook. Corona
dramatically boosts your productivity. Thanks to our elegant APIs, tasks like animating
objects, creating UI widgets or enabling physics take only a few lines of code. And in Corona
you develop using Lua, a scripting language that is very easy to learn.
Changes are instantly viewable in the Corona Simulator and building to your own mobile
device is a breeze.”
USP: “With Corona SDK, developers can build high quality apps and games 10 times faster
than with other platforms.”
Reported number of developers: 250,000
Reported number of apps: 27,000
Reference apps:
Pricing: License per seat using the solution
Starter: Free
Pro: US$ 50 / month
Enterprise: US$ 80-200 / month
Address: Corona Labs Inc., 1900 Embarcadero Rd., Suite 207, Palo Alto, CA 94303
1 CP IDE: Tools that allow multi-app/multi-platform app development. Most tools concentrate their output on native apps,
but some also create web apps. These tools use their own SDK to develop a single code faster and compile it to meet native requirements.
ThroneWars Little Generals Fun Run
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
2. ABOUT THIS PROFILE
This benchmarking report provides a “360-degree view” on Corona SDK. It matches the
perspective of the vendor with the experience of Corona SDK users.
The benchmarking results are based on two research projects conducted between May and
August 2013.
The first project examined the features of the tools and the additional service offerings of
the vendors. Research2guidance invited 90 cross-platform tool vendors, including Corona
SDK, to provide company and tool information with the help of an online survey.
At the same time, users have been invited to share their experience with these tools. The
analysis asked for feedback on 16 dimensions including tool awareness, quality and
performance. The global online survey received over 1,000 responses from app developers
and publishers.
Corona SDK has been one of the most rated tools. This report aggregates all information
about Corona SDK into a comprehensive profile.
To allow the comparison of Corona SDK with similar CP Tools, the report also contrasts the
user ratings for Corona SDK with the industry benchmark.
The report aims at giving a comprehensive decision support for the selection process of a CP
Tool that includes Corona SDK.
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
3. SCOPE OF CORONA´S SERVICE OFFERING
Corona SDK is a Cross Platform IDE Tool that allows app publishing on a large range of native
mobile app platforms.
The description of the service offering is structured into 4 areas:
Device class and platform support and feature availability
The number of supported device classes and platforms is an indicator for the multi-
platform capability of a CP Tool. The variety of offered features determines the scope
of options when creating an app and it critically affects the app user experience.
Target user groups and industries
Some CP Tools have a focus on specific industries. Beyond an industrial focus, CP
Tools can target different user types according to company size or profession.
Estimated familiarization and development time
One of the major claims of CP Tools is that they accelerate the app creation process.
The lower the complexity of a CP Tool, the faster a new user will be able to handle
the tool and start his app project.
Offered support services
A good documentation and support can be a clear benefit of a CP Tool. CP Tools offer
different support channels. The quality of the service provided, is key differentiation
factor.
The description of the service offerings is based on information submitted by Corona.
3.1. DEVICE CLASS AND PLATFORM SUPPORT AND FEATURE AVAILABILITY
Corona SDK is currently optimized for targeting smartphones as well as tablets. Optimization
for desktops (PC and Mac) is currently in progress at Corona Labs and is announced to be
part of the SDK in 2014. An integration of smart TVs, in-car devices or game consoles is not
scheduled yet.
Benchmark: Corona´s device coverage is more focused than average among CP Tools in the
IDE2 class.
2 IDE: Integrated Development Environment, see Cross Platform App Development Benchmarking Report for a detailed
description of CP Tool categories
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Table 1: Device-class optimization of Corona SDK
CP Tools aim to support various platforms. This applies not only for device classes, but also
for operating systems, mobile as well as stationary.
Currently, Corona SDK supports only iOS and Android, Kindle and Nook. For the next 12
months the additional support of Windows Phone, Blackberry 10 and Tizen, Desktop
(Windows and Mac) as well as HTML5 (targeting mobile) have been announced.
Benchmark: Current platform support by Corona is below average.
Table 2: Corona SDK - platform support
If a CP Tool supports a particular platform, the accessibility of specific device hardware
features and pre-installed applications is of interest. It is an indicator for the quality of the
platform support.
In the case of Corona, for iOS as well as for Android, numerous device hardware features are
accessible: accelerometer, GPS, vibration, camera, multi-touch, landscape orientation,
microphone, camera, speaker, etc. In the list of accessible hardware features, as displayed
below, the only feature missing is Near Field Communication.
Accessibility of pre-installed apps with Corona SDK is broad. Out of the total feature list
below, almost every OEM pre-installed app can be accessed. Only speech recognition is not
accessible with Corona.
Benchmark: Breadth of access to hardware features with Corona is above average within CP
Tool class.
Device Class Optimization
Smartphones X
Tablets X
Desktop / PC
Smart TVs
In-car Devices
Feature Phones
Game Consoles
Smar
t TV
s
X X P P P P P P P
SupportedPlanned support
mobile OSdesktop
OSother
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Table 3: Accessible device hardware features and pre-installed applications
Ready-made APIs allow the integration of functionalities, such as in-app advertising, in-app
purchase or social networks access, into mobile apps. The availability of ready-made APIs is a
quality indicator for platform support.
Corona SDK offers integration of the most common APIs, like analytics, advertising, mobile
payment and advertisement. Corona SDK has APIs integrated to access the most common
enterprise software. APIs for monitoring are not included in Corona SDK.
Benchmark: Corona’s API coverage is average within CP Tool class.
Accessible device hardware features
Accelerometer X X
GPS X X
Vibration X X
Camera X X
Multi touch/ Gesture X X
Landscape orientation X X
Compass X X
Speaker X X
Microfone X X
NFC
Accessible pre-installed applications
Contacts X X
Fi lesystem IO X X
Calendar X X
Image l ibrary X X
In-app emai l X X
Phone X X
SMS X X
MMS X X
Speech recognition
Maps X X
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Table 4: Integration of APIs
Integration
VOIP
SMS
MMS X
Social network access (e.g. Facebook) X
Advertising in apps (e.g. Inmobi) X
Billing (e.g. credit card or operator billing)
Mobile payment (e.g. Paypal)/ In-app
payment/ In-app purchase X
Access to enterprise software (SAP, Oracle,
etc.) X
Access to commerce platforms (e.g.
Magento)
X
X
mHealth monitoring
Remote monitoring: home energy
Remote monitoring: entertainment
Remote monitoring: home security
Monitoring
API
Communication
Commerce
Location based services (maps, routes, traffic)
App analytics (e.g. Distimo)
Text-to-speech transformation
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
3.2. TARGET USER GROUPS AND INDUSTRIES
By intention of Corona Labs, the tool focuses on Games, Utilities as well as News/ Info/
Media.
Table 5: Target industries of Corona SDK
Corona SDK targets developers (seasoned as well as beginners) and graphic designers of any
company size. The tool requires Lua, which is easier to learn than for instance C++. It does
not target non-programmers. Due to Corona’s platform support (iOS, Android, Kindle, Nook)
the solution is also not the tool of choice for web-developers and publishers. This might
change once Corona Labs has included the support of HTML5 (planned).
Benchmark: Corona is one of the few CP IDEs which target novice developers as well as
consumers.
Industry Focus
General
Utilities X
Games X
Retail
Hotels/ gastronomy
News/ Media X
Sports
Medical/ health
IT
Financial
Education
Automotives
Heavy Industries
Aerospace/ defense
Government
Enterprise apps
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Table 6: Corona SDK targeted company sizes and user types
3.3. ESTIMATED FAMILIARIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT TIME
The necessary time to learn to handle a CP Tool is an indicator for its complexity. The
average app development time mainly is an indicator for the complexity of app projects that
are realized with a CP Tool.
Corona Labs claims that it takes just days to learn their SDK and to create an average-sized
app. To work with Corona SDK it is necessary to have a background in Lua. Even though Lua
has the reputation of being relatively easy to learn, in reality developers need more time to
get used to working with Corona than claimed by the vendors themselves. Corona users also
state that they need significantly more time than a couple of days to develop their apps,
which might be due to the complexity of the apps (see 4.3).
Table 7: Complexity of Corona SDK in terms of time-to-learn and average app development
time (vendor´s view)
Target Group Availablitiy
Consumers X
Small X
Medium X
Enterprise X
Professional Developer X
Novice Developers X
IT/ Telco Administrator
Business Administartor / CXO /
Management
Graphic Designers X
Web Developers /
Web Publishers
Non-Developers / Anyone
Targeted Company Size
Targeted Profession
Complexity Indicator
Days X
Weeks
Months
Days X
Weeks
Required Programming Skills Lua
Parameter Value
Time-to-learn
Average App Development Time
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
3.4. CORONA OFFERED SUPPORT SERVICES
Corona support service channels are on-site training, online support and online community.
Personnel support services are additionally charged (from US$ 750 / 5 hours to US$ 1,125 / 5
hours). Support is available in English only.
Table 8: Corona SDK - available support channels
Benchmark: Corona support is in line with support service offerings of CP IDEs.
Supportchannel AvailibilityOn-site project support
On-site training/ tutorials XPersonal phone contact
Real time online support X
Time-delayed online support XOnline community XSupport available in languages:
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
4. USER RATING OF CORONA SERVICE OFFERING
The user rating is based on the results of the global online survey, with more than 1,000
participants evaluating more than 90 CP Tools. Out of the total ratings, 23 developers and
publishers have shared their experience with Corona SDK.
4.1. USER PROFILES AND USAGE FREQUENCY
The user profile is an indicator for which user types a CP Tool is appropriate.
Corona SDK is mostly used by small businesses (65%) and single developers (15%).
Benchmark: Corona is used above average by small businesses (29% of CP IDE users are
small businesses) and below average in the target group of single developers (55% of CP IDE
users are single developers).
Figure 1: Corona users by company size and position
The usage intensity of a CP Tool shows how often a developer uses a CP Tool to deliver an
app project. It is a good indicator for how the requirements of the applications can be
realized with a specific CP Tool. This applies the more with increasing number and diversity
of projects a user conducts.
On average, Corona users developed 10 apps in the last twelve months.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
65% of Corona SDK users are small businessesCorona SDK:User by company size
Just Me15%
Small business
65%
Medium business
15%
Enterprise5%
User by position in the company
Professional developer
65%
Business administrator/ Management/
CXO35%
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Benchmark: Output quantity of apps of Corona is below average for CP IDEs (across all CP
IDEs average is 13-14 apps).
Overall, Corona users developed 49% of their app projects with Corona SDK. 44% of Corona
users are occasional users, 56% are specialists.
Benchmark: Tool usage of Corona is in line with how often users from other CP IDEs make
use of the CP Tool to develop an app.
Figure 2: Corona users - total number of published apps and share of Corona apps
4.2. TARGETED INDUSTRIES AND PREFERRED APP CATEGORIES BY CORONA SDK USERS
Selecting the right CP Tool also depends on the industry and app category the app publisher
wants to target. CP Tools sometimes offer industry or app category-specific features like
design templates or interfaces to standard software packages that are commonly used
within an industry.
The comparison for which industries app developer make use of a CP Tool is a good indicator
for the quality of the industry-specific features of a CP Tool.
Corona users primarily develop games (56%), but also Utilities (17%) and News/ Info/ Media
(11%). This is in line with Corona’s industry focus.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
49% of Corona users are occasional usersCorona SDK users:Total no. of published apps in the last 12 months
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Share of apps developed with Phone Gap in the last 12 months in %
Intensity of usage
56% Specialists
44% Occsional users
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
1-3 4-10 11-20 21-100 101+
# of apps developed in the last 12 months
ᴓ = 10 apps ᴓ = 49%
no tutorial on business apps
It's difficult to create business app...very
difficult
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Figure 3: Corona SDK users - industry focus when using Corona
In terms of app categories, Corona users focus primarily on games, education and
entertainment apps.
Figure 4: Corona SDK users´ app category focus when using Corona
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Corona SDK is primarily used to develop games, but is also used to develop apps with a focus on utilities or without industry focus
Industry focus when using Corona SDK
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Games Noindustrial
focus
Utilities Retail News / Info/ Media
publishers
Food /Beverage
Healthcare/ Pharma
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Games, Education and Entertainment are the mainly targeted app categories when developing with Corona SDK
App category focus when using Corona SDK
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
APP CATEGORY FOCUS
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Hence, Corona SDK can be described as a CP IDE with a focus on games.
Benchmark: Corana SDK is more focused on games than the majority of CP Tools, but it is
also not as specialized in games as tools like Unity 3D or Marmalade.
4.3. CORONA SDK COMPLEXITY EVALUATION
Only 14% of Corona users have been able to master the tool within days, which is the
average time-to-learn according to Corona (see previous chapter).
For 24% of respondents it took them at least months to learn to handle the tool.
Benchmark: Corona familiarization time is slightly longer than average across all CP IDEs.
The average app project time estimated by the users is much longer than what Corona
claims. More than 30% of the app projects take months rather than weeks or days. Corona is
not an exception. All vendors communicate shorter learning and app development times.
Nevertheless, the overall complexity of Corona SDK was rated average or low by 90% of
respondents.
Figure 5: Complexity of Corona SDK in terms of time-to-learn and average app
development time (users view); complexity rating
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
90% of Corona users rate the complexity of the tool low or average
Corona SDK: Complexity in terms of „Familiarization time“ and „Average app development time“User rating: Complexity
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Average app development time
Familiarization time
Days Weeks Months Years
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Complexity rating
Very low / none Low Average High Very high
COMPLEXITY
Windows Phone needs to be in the works.
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Benchmark: The complexity of Corona SDK, as perceived by users, is lower than average for
CP IDEs.
4.4. ACHIEVED TIME SAVINGS
CP Tools are designed to reduce app development time for multi- platform publishing.
Against the background of the normal project length is the time saving, made possible by the
use of the CP Tool, an important indicator of the quality of the tools.
Corona Labs claims that with their SDK, users will save 90% of development time. That is a
bold statement but it is supported by the results of the benchmarking study. Corona’s users
do realize significant time savings.
86% of users are able to save 30%+ of development time, 57% of participants even save
50%+ time.
This indicates that once users have learned to master the Corona SDK, it enables them to
develop apps in a much shorter period of time.
Figure 6: Realized time-savings in app development with Corona SDK
Benchmark: Time savings with Corona are above average. They are similar to those that
have been achieved with Xamarin and Unity 3D.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Although Corona takes quite long to learn to handle, it enables users to accelerate development process
Corona SDK: Realized time savings in app development
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
50%+faster
50%faster
40%faster
30%faster
20%faster
10%faster
0%faster
10%slower
20%slower
30%slower
40%slower
50%slower
50%+slower
TIME SAVINGS
SlowerFaster
High: 86% Moderate: 0% No time savings: 14%
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
4.5. USER SATISFACTION WITH PLATFORM, API AND HW SUPPORT
Besides iOS and Android, Corona SDK currently only supports Nook and Kindle. With four
platforms (and only two of the major OS), Corona offers a limited platform support. CP IDEs
support 7 platforms on average and 3.6 platforms out of the major OS (iOS, Android,
Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Blackberry 7.x and 10).
81% of Corona users are satisfied with their platform support.
A Corona SDK user says: “Windows Phone needs to be in the works.”
Corona Labs seem to be aware of this deficit of their SDK. Until mid 2014 a comprehensive
expansion of platform support, including Windows Phone, Blackberry 10 and Tizen, is
planned.
Benchmark: The satisfaction level of Corona’s platform coverage is below average in the
benchmarking. The highest satisfaction levels have been reached by Marmalade (95%) and
Unity 3D (94% of satisfied users).
Figure 7: Targeted platforms by Corona users; satisfaction with platform support
Availability of cloud API services (e.g. operator billing, in-app advertisement, app analytics or
shop systems), accessibility of device hardware features (e.g. microphone, camera, speaker)
and pre-installed applications (e.g. calendar, address book) help to manage the app lifecycle,
ease the development process and/or allow the creation of sophisticated apps in terms of
functionalities as well as look-and-feel.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
User satisfaction with platform support is below average
Corona SDK: Targeted OS, platform support satisfaction
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Android iOs
TARGETED OS
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Satisfaction with platform support
Satisfied Unsatisfied
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Access to API services is critical for 50% of Corona users. Only 15% see access to e.g. SMS or
billing solutions as not relevant for the app projects.
Benchmark: Corona user rating of API access importance is above average across users of CP
Tools.
The majority of Corona developers at least sometimes implement API features into their
apps. 32% intensely or often make use of them.
Benchmark: Corona usage intensity of API access is above average across users of CP Tools.
Almost 40% of Corona’s developers are satisfied with the API support Corona SDK offers.
Benchmark: The overall user satisfaction for API access is slightly below average across users
of CP Tools.
Corona Labs used to offer additional cloud services in a service business model (BaaS). The
product was named Corona Cloud. Corona stopped this service recently, in August 2013, due
to execution problems.
“Corona Cloud in its current form has been a disappointment. While there were islands of
potential, the ultimate execution of the product did not meet our standards.” (Corona Labs,
June 2013).
Figure 7: Importance, usage and satisfaction with Corona cloud API services
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Corona users rate importance of clous API service high, but are below average satisfied with the service quality
Corona SDK cloud API services: Importance, usage intensity and service satisfaction
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Usage Intensity
Intensely Often Sometimes Rarely Never
CLOUD API SERVICES
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Service satisfaction
Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied Very unsatisfied
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Importance
Critical Nice to have Not relevant
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Accessible device hardware features are close to the developers´ hearts: about two out of
three users regard this feature as “critical”. In contrast, no user rates accessibility of device
hardware features as “not relevant”.
Almost 60% of users are satisfied with the service and use it often or frequently.
Benchmark: Across all CP IDE, the access to device hardware features is regarded by 60% of
respondents as “critical” and by 7% as “not relevant”.
Benchmark: Corona’s user satisfaction with the quality of this service is average compared
to the other observed CP Tools. Marmalade has the highest satisfaction with accessible
device hardware features among users (33% of users are “very satisfied” and 50% are
“satisfied”).
Figure 1: Importance, usage and satisfaction with Corona accessible device hardware
features
Access to pre-installed applications like calendar or contacts across mobile platforms is a
feature that 47% of Corona users rate as “critical”.
Benchmark: Importance rating of access to pre-installed apps is in line with the average.
Titanium users rate accessibility of pre-installed applications of highest importance (77% find
the service of “critical” importance).
On the other hand, only a fraction (5%) integrates those apps into their applications
frequently. It is one of the features that has to be there even though it is not used often.
Benchmark: The usage intensity of this service amongst Corona users is below average.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Corona SDK users rate access to device hardware features above avarage as important
Corona SDK accessible device hardware features: Importance, usage intensity and service satisfaction
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Usage intensity
Intensely Often Sometimes Rarely Never
DEVICE HW FEATURES
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Service satisfaction
Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Importance
Critical Nice to have
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Overall, more than 40% of Corona developers are happy with the capabilities the tool offers.
Benchmark: The satisfaction with this service is in line with the average of other CP IDE
Tools.
Figure 10: Importance, usage and satisfaction with Corona accessible pre-installed
applications
4.6. USER SATISFACTION WITH CORONA’S SUPPORT SERVICE
Support services help to solve problems that occur during app projects. For all CP Tools, and
in particular for those of high complexity, a helping support service increases their
attractiveness. The variety of offered support channels and even more the satisfaction level
with the support services are indicators for the quality of the customer service of a CP Tool.
Online community support is the most frequently used support channel by Corona
developers. 78% of users consult this channel to get help. 28% use on-site training and email
support (22%). Real-time online support is used by only a minority (6%).
The overall quality of the support services Corona offers is rated “good” or “very good” by
more than 50% of the developers.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Usage intensity of accessible pre-installed apps when developing with Corona is below average
Corona accessible pre-installed applications: Importance, usage intensity and service satisfaction
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Usage intensity
Often Sometimes Rarely Never
PRE-INSTALLED APPS
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Service satisfaction
Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Importance
Critical Nice to have Not relevant
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Benchmark: Satisfaction with the service quality is slightly below average compared to other
examined CP Tools.
Figure 11: Usage of Corona support channels and support service satisfaction
4.7. USER SATISFACTION WITH APP QUALITY
An important indicator for the performance of the different CP Tools is the quality of the
apps that have been developed with the help of a CP Tool. The quality of an app depends on
the graphical standard, the usability, the performance, the revenue potential and how
secure the app is against threats from viruses, data theft etc.
Most Corona developers rate app quality the same or even better than native apps. App
quality is measured in: app revenue potential, security, performance, usability and design.
App revenue potential is rated the same or higher compared to natively developed apps by
more than 80% of the users.
The performance of Corona apps has been rated by 50% of users as native-like.
75% of Corona users rate the usability of their apps as native-like.
67% of Corona users rate the security as native-like or even better.
65% of Corona users rate design quality of their apps the same or better than native apps.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
User satisfaction with Corona support services is slightly below average compared to other observed CP Tools
Corona SDK support: Usage and service satisfaction
SUPPORT
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Online community On-site training /tutorials
Time-delayed onlinesupport
Real-time online support
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Service satisfaction
Very good Good Average Bad
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Being able to generate more money by using Corona for app publishing is the major quality
factor for Corona developers. Corona (but also other CP Tools) supports revenue generation
mainly by allowing higher download numbers through multi-platform publishing or other
features like easy access to in-app purchase or in-app advertisement APIs.
Benchmark: The quality of Corona apps is rated average compared with other CP IDEs.
Figure 12: Corona app quality rating
4.8. COST-PERFORMANCE RATING OF CORONA SDK
Cost-performance ratio is an overall indicator of how efficient app developers rate the CP
Tool-supported development and publishing process of an app.
To use Corona SDK, a developer has to purchase a license per seat. Additional support
services are charged. Corona Labs offer three tiers of pricing for their SDK (see above). The
lowest tier allows free development and publishing.
A Corona Labs representative explains: “Corona SDK Starter is completely free to publish any
number of apps on all platforms.”
These pricing tiers meet the demands of Corona customers. 84% of Corona users rate the
cost-performance ratio of Corona SDK as “Okay” or even “Good Value”.
Benchmark: The rating of Corona SDK cost-performance ratio averages the rating results of
all CP IDEs in the benchmarking, which in general is very positive.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Beside performance, scope of graphic design is the major weakness of Corona apps
Corona SDK app quality rating vs. native apps
-60% -40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Design
Usability
Performance
Security
Generated app revenues
Same or higher Lower Much lower
APP QUALITY
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Figure 12: Corona SDK - cost-performance ratio (user rating)
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Overall Corona SDK users are satisfied with the cost-performance ration of the tool
Corona SDK: User rating of cost-performance ratio
Good value47%Okay
37%
Average11%
Costly5%
COST-PERFORMANCE RATIO
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
5. STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
User rating unveils strengths and challenges of Corona SDK:
Strengths:
Low complexity
Above average feature richness for the supported platforms
Very high time savings
Targets also novice developers and consumers
Free Starter license
Extension of platform support is announced
Challenges:
Currently supports only iOS and Android
Quality of cloud API services below average
Below average satisfaction with quality of support services
Corona SDK is a tool for game developers that also want to develop for other app categories.
The tools support concentrates today on iOS and Android. It allows far above average rapid
app development, only beaten by Unity 3D. The tool is not complex and targets also
developers with little app development experience.
It is a good choice for no “high end” apps and allows an easy start with low capability
experience and a free Starter license.
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
6. APPENDIX
6.1. BENCHMARKING METHODOLOGY
The Corona profile is an excerpt from the Global Cross Platform App Development Tool
Benchmarking.
This benchmarking of cross-platform development tools is based on two research projects
conducted between May and August 2013.
The vendor analysis examines the tool features, USPs3 of the solutions, penetration and the
service offering of the vendors. Research2guidance invited 90 cross-platform tool vendors to
provide company and tool information with the help of an online survey. More than 50% of
invited vendors participated, making it the largest cross-platform tool survey to date. Survey
results have been enriched with expert interviews and secondary research.
Figure 13: Benchmarking methodology
User awareness and performance rating is based on a global app developer and publisher
online survey. The online survey received over 1,000 responses.
3 USP: Unique Selling Proposition
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
The benchmarking matches the tool vendors viewwith the reality of the users
Vendor survey
User survey
Benchmarking
• 45 tools vendors have participated
• Vendors filled out questionaires about their solution
• 1,021 app developers have participated
• Developers answered surveyabout their experience withcross platform tools
• Matching vendor and tool user perspectives
• Tool comparison
1
2
3
Benchmarking process
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Tool vendor offerings and user ratings are compared in the benchmarking, indicating gaps
between vendors and user perception of today’s leading cross-platform app development
tools.
Cross-platform tool users are located all over the globe. Participants come mainly from the
US (15%), Canada (11%), India (11%), Germany (10%) and UK (6%).
Figure 14: Geographical overview of cross-platform tool users
Tool user survey participants range from individual app developers to IT managers of multi-
national corporations.
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
Geographical distribution of participating developers
Tool users are spread around the globe
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
Figure 15: Background of cross-platform tool users
Source: Global Cross Platform Tool Benchmarking 2013© research2guidance | 2013
The cross-platform rating audience ranges from individual developers to IT managers of multi-national corporations
User survey participants by company size
Just me33%
Small business
41%
Medium business
13%
Enterprise13%
n=888
User survey participants by position in thecompany
Professional developer
58%
Business administrator
/ CXO / Management
21%
IT / telecom administrator
5%
Graphic designer
2%
Student / Learning
developer2%
Other12%
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
6.2. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The authors of this report have been following the app market and CP Tools for many years. The first report on
multi-platform app publishing tools was published in 2010. Since then, two other reports which cover the
market for CP Tools have been published.
OUR ANALYST TEAM
Ralf-Gordon Jahns
Ralf is the research director of
research2guidance. He has worked for more
than 19 years in the telecom and media
industry. Prior to research2guidance he worked
as a partner for Capgemini Telecom Media &
Networks. Ralf is a frequent keynote speaker on
mobile industry events, publisher of a multitude
of mobile market reports and executive
consultant of more than 30 clients in the
telecom and media industry.
Joachim Thiele-Schlesier
Joachim is a research analyst at
research2guidance. He is monitoring the CP Tool
market since 2011 and has been responsible for
publishing 3 reports on this topic. Joachim also
engages with projects on converging
telecommunication networks and regulatory
issues. He holds a degree in economics and
specializes on infrastructure and network
economics. Prior to research2guidance he worked
for Markedskraft ASA as an analyst and for the
Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication
Systems and Center for Network Industries.
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CP-Tool Profile: Corona SDK (by Corona Labs)
6.3. LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 1: Device-class optimization of Corona SDK .................................................................................................. 8
Table 2: Corona SDK - platform support ................................................................................................................. 8
Table 3: Accessible device hardware features and pre-installed applications ........................................................ 9
Table 4: Integration of APIs ................................................................................................................................... 10
Table 5: Target industries of Corona SDK .............................................................................................................. 11
Table 6: Corona SDK targeted company sizes and user types .............................................................................. 12
Table 7: Complexity of Corona SDK in terms of time-to-learn and average app development time (vendor´s
view) ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Table 8: Corona SDK - available support channels ................................................................................................ 13
Figure 1: Corona users by company size and position .......................................................................................... 14
Figure 2: Corona users - total number of published apps and share of Corona apps ........................................... 15
Figure 3: Corona SDK users - industry focus when using Corona.......................................................................... 16
Figure 4: Corona SDK users´ app category focus when using Corona ................................................................... 16
Figure 5: Complexity of Corona SDK in terms of time-to-learn and average app development time (users view);
Complexity rating .................................................................................................................................................. 17
Figure 6: Realized time-savings in app development with Corona SDK ................................................................ 18
Figure 7: Targeted platforms by Corona users; satisfaction with platform support ............................................. 19
Figure 8: Importance, usage and satisfaction with Corona cloud API services ..................................................... 20
Figure 9: Importance, usage and satisfaction with Corona accessible pre-installed applications ........................ 22
Figure 10: Usage of Corona support channels and support service satisfaction .................................................. 23
Figure 11: Corona app quality rating ..................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 12: Corona SDK - cost-performance ratio (user rating) .............................................................................. 25
Figure 13: Benchmarking methodology ................................................................................................................ 27
Figure 14: Geographical overview of cross-platform tool users ........................................................................... 28
Figure 15: Background of cross-platform tool users ............................................................................................. 29