Google Analytics has drawn closer to mobile app tracking from a position that custom-made for established websites, said Google product manager JiaJing Wang.

According to Wang, the company’s analytics service will offer Android and iOS apps results with better, wider, and more specific metrics.

Wang said, “Application developers and marketers need to have a profound understanding of their mobile applications’ usage.”

Google Analytics will have several reports, of which one set will revolve around gauging new and active users of a particular app, the various versions and the devices installed on, including how consumers find the app at the Google Play Store.

A different set will target data on user engagement: usage frequency for a particular app, time spent running the app, in-app patterns, and trends in bugs and crashes.

“You have to know what users are doing before you can make meaningful improvements to your mobile applications,” Wang said.

The third set of reports will monitor the arrival of particular results, which include ad clicks, in-app purchases, and pre-configured session duration goals.

Google Analytics. (Image: Search Engine People Blog, via Flickr/CC)

With Google offering these reports free, competitors will likely drop prices of more advanced analytics products. This will do well to developers, said Forrester Research analyst Michael Facemire.

Moreover, developers will have an easier time to link apps with Google Analytics’ engine with help from the native SDK (software development kit) for both iOS and Android.

Facemire said, “This low barrier of entry for developers from a cost perspective and a technology-effort perspective will make this an appealing offering.”

As the search giant, online advertising leader, and Android maker expands its mobile app analytics capabilities, it should allot more time on providing deeper integration between Google Analytics and Google Play. Facemire advised that this would increase the details and data for developers who use Google Play Store to sell apps.

“The level of integration into Google Play will be key, because that’s an integration point that’s unique for Google Analytics,” he suggested.

The new reports from Google Analytics are likely to be on hand to all the service’s users by summer’s end, which is part of Analytics mobile SDK (software development kit) 2.0.

Developers and users who want to try out the new reports can be beta testers after sending a request to Google.

Google announced that it will release an Analytics app for Android devices as well. Analytics users can then conveniently check their accounts and reports from their Android smartphones/tablets.

“Mobile development is an around-the-clock job. Having this analytics information with you at all times is key,” Facemire ended.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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