In June, Google introduced Mobile App Analytics in closed beta. At the time, the company said it would be opening up the beta in waves. I guess the final tidal wave is upon us, as Google announced today that it is now open to everyone in public beta.
“With ever-expanding mobile application marketplaces (more than 600,000 apps on Google Play at the time of writing) and a shift in focus to mobile (more than 80 percent of marketers are planning to increase emphasis in mobile initiatives in 2013, according to recent research we conducted with ClickZ) measuring mobile is more important now than ever,” JiaJing Wang from the Google Analytics Team says in a blog post.
Google has also added some new features to the offering. For one, there is a new sign-up flow for all Google Analytics users. Users will see it whenever they set up a new entity on Google Analytics.
“In just 3 clicks, you’ll be able to set up your app analytics account, download the SDK, and be well on the way to tracking key metrics and finding valuable insights using our features,” says Wang.
There are new Android and IOS SDKs, which Google says are more powerful, yet “really easy to implement”.
There is a new App Versions report, which lets you know how quickly users are migrating to the latest version of your app, what the cannibalization effect is among your different versions, and how many users would be affected if you deprecated an early version.
There is also a new version of “Custom Variables” called “Custom Dimensions,” which let you create your own dimensions by which to segment hits in each standard or custom Google Analytics report, and leverage your business/customer data as custom dimension values. This feature will actually be rolled out over the next few weeks.
“Other improvements include: more accurate & up-to-date mobile device library, armv7s ( iOS6) support, support for social interaction tracking, a more accurate Google Play conversion report and more,” says Wang.
From the sound of it, Google has plenty more features up its sleeve for launch in the near future.