iPhone Apps. Any success?
- Thread starter mGrunin
- Start date
Purchasing now.
Thanks bud!
Nice! I greatly appreciate the word of mouth promotion. I hope that soon more people can see the app in the same light.
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Good news. Free app was approved several hours ago, it should be visible in the app store shortly:
EDIT: In the app store as of this moment.
Dammit, I didn't realize that my free application's name will be too long for the iPhone. At the moment the app name on my iPhone is displayed as such: 'StealT...Basic".
In other words, it looks like shit. I noticed that several apps have a shorter name on the iPhone than on iTunes. I just asked my developer if he could shorten the name for the iPhone and he came back with a $125 cost for doing that. I said "lolwut", and told him I'll do it myself. I don't mind fucking spending money on my projects, but I straight up feel like I"m getting ripped off. I put up a thread in a iPhone dev forum to get some answers on this. If this is a fair quote or if I can possibly do this myself even with 0% dev experience.
In other words, it looks like shit. I noticed that several apps have a shorter name on the iPhone than on iTunes. I just asked my developer if he could shorten the name for the iPhone and he came back with a $125 cost for doing that. I said "lolwut", and told him I'll do it myself. I don't mind fucking spending money on my projects, but I straight up feel like I"m getting ripped off. I put up a thread in a iPhone dev forum to get some answers on this. If this is a fair quote or if I can possibly do this myself even with 0% dev experience.
That definitely seems a bit steep for a name shortening. At minimum, the dev is trying to get 2-3 hours of labor costs out of you.
Kudos on your journey dude. A friend and I have a couple of ideas we're throwing around right now and this thread is inspiring for taking the idea to completion.
I just completed my first mobile app over the weekend. Right now it is at the android store for .99 @ https://market.android.com/details?id=com.funlimericks.dirtylimericks. The application was built using SQLite and Corona SDK over two days as I learned Corona/Lua. It will be released on iOS after Apple changes my legal name from "Beer Nuts"... The limerick database was taken from an existing site of mine. Its a very basic app, and the first app written by me in a new programing language. Id give you guys free copies but there are no promo codes for Android. When it comes out on iOS ill post some.
I do have a serious/major app still being completed but that is a travel app written in Titanium Appcelerator. The coding for that was outsourced and later tweaked by myself. This is officially my "first" app since I did all of the work and its actually been released. Since it was made using the Corona SDK it will work on all devices. Ill update with any sales/stats if it gets any.
I do have a serious/major app still being completed but that is a travel app written in Titanium Appcelerator. The coding for that was outsourced and later tweaked by myself. This is officially my "first" app since I did all of the work and its actually been released. Since it was made using the Corona SDK it will work on all devices. Ill update with any sales/stats if it gets any.
Following up with my post 5 days ago, giving the developer the thought that I might be leaving him pushed him to do the name change free of charge. I consulted the iPhone dev forum and they mentioned that a $25 - $50 (max) charge should have been asked. So the price I received from my dev was unfair.
Moving on. Yesterday the app with the name change got approved, and all is good. The name is now shortened on your iPhone. Hooray.
Two days ago I also received my first IAP - In App Purchase on my free version. Nice to see that someone saw the value in the free app and decided to upgrade for all the features. The downside to the free app is that the download count is low; currently at about 20 per day. That is without any marketing though.
Tomorrow IOS 5 comes out, so I will be testing my app on it and based on prior tests, it didn't work. So I'll have to get my dev to make it compatible for that version and roll it out.
Moving on. Yesterday the app with the name change got approved, and all is good. The name is now shortened on your iPhone. Hooray.
Two days ago I also received my first IAP - In App Purchase on my free version. Nice to see that someone saw the value in the free app and decided to upgrade for all the features. The downside to the free app is that the download count is low; currently at about 20 per day. That is without any marketing though.
Tomorrow IOS 5 comes out, so I will be testing my app on it and based on prior tests, it didn't work. So I'll have to get my dev to make it compatible for that version and roll it out.
Most of the time you can put these offshore devs in their place by just telling them "yeah I'm not really satisfied with how this is turning out, I think I'm gonna hire someone else, so don't worry about finishing it." Drop a line like that and they'll reply minutes later with a 90% discount and a significant decrease in the timeline proposal. Nothing like a good old-fashioned threat to get shit done.
I basically send something very similar, and went on to say that I asked a group of devs a fair price point and they told me it's a fraction of what he proposed. Ended up saying to send X file over to me because I'm having one of them handle it. That sent him into enough worry to do it for free.
I really do think that I will be racking in serious downloads with the free version considering that people love to download mass amount of free apps that are Games, Entertainment related or Utilities. Since I have this IAP in the free app, it's fairly well monetized in case it does hit gold.
4 Essential Tips for Conquering the App Development Process
I thought you might want to read this.
P.S - Love the tags
I thought you might want to read this.
P.S - Love the tags
I know I know, I promised a video update this past weekend and I didn't come through. This post will serve as that update. I would have done a video update, but my throat has been sore for the past week; so 10 minutes of constant talking would be dreadful.
I'll keep the progress update short and simple; there is very little progress in terms of exposure and daily download count. I've been substituting the time on growing my app, to learning more about the industry. The general consensus on the app dev forum and from what I'm currently seeing; actual banner advertising yields minimal results. Purchasing ad placement on the top app review sites will get you downloads, but nothing worthwhile, or at least not enough to get you a good ranking that would snowball you up the list. Basically the sort of advertising that would take your app high up the charts to snowball is spending $xx,xxx a day; for several days. A budget that I am not setting aside for this project, or this specific app.
But let's talk about the solutions, since I'm sure what I wrote above isn't settling well for those of you that have taken the app development route. There is a tactic with iphone apps that works wonders, and could get me the level of exposure that I am looking for.
Let's say my paid application is receiving 50-75 paid downloads a day; decent number. Well, if I would change that paid app to being free, Apple will give it a high boost in ranking in the free section once the change is done. So, this app would start blowing up in the free section, moving up the charts strongly and getting much more exposure than it would if it had been listed free in the first place.
After a couple days or a week of the "free" section exposure, in which you should have been scoring x,xxx-xx,xxx free daily downloads; you would make the switch back to paid. Because of the attention you had being free, Apple will start your position in the paid section much higher than it was initially before making that change to the free section a week ago.
This tactic that I just typed up has been used over and over on the app dev forum, and it comes with success everytime. One member had an app at 100 paid downloads a day, switched to free, reached top 5 overall free (receiving xxx,xxx downloads over the course of the week), switched back to paid; and gained a Top 50 overall paid position, which has him gaining x,xxx paid downloads daily. This thread was done all real time, so everything was verified to be true. And this is just 1 example of this working, there are at least half a dozen more recently posted implementing this strategy.
What will I be doing with this? Bottom line is that I'm slacking in paid downloads, and can only go up. I plan to switch my paid app to be free. I then will hire a company that promises Top 25 free overall within 5 days, a company that has been used and has a rep for keeping their end of the deal. After a week of exposure, I switch back to paid. If all goes as planned, I'll see my app much higher up on the paid section, were I could finally get xxx daily paid downloads.
P.S I fucking murdered my midterms; A's across the board. Ballin in cash and grades, one day at a time.
P.S.S For the shits and giggles I ordered a custom case for my iPhone with my app logo on it. Pics below:
I'll keep the progress update short and simple; there is very little progress in terms of exposure and daily download count. I've been substituting the time on growing my app, to learning more about the industry. The general consensus on the app dev forum and from what I'm currently seeing; actual banner advertising yields minimal results. Purchasing ad placement on the top app review sites will get you downloads, but nothing worthwhile, or at least not enough to get you a good ranking that would snowball you up the list. Basically the sort of advertising that would take your app high up the charts to snowball is spending $xx,xxx a day; for several days. A budget that I am not setting aside for this project, or this specific app.
But let's talk about the solutions, since I'm sure what I wrote above isn't settling well for those of you that have taken the app development route. There is a tactic with iphone apps that works wonders, and could get me the level of exposure that I am looking for.
Let's say my paid application is receiving 50-75 paid downloads a day; decent number. Well, if I would change that paid app to being free, Apple will give it a high boost in ranking in the free section once the change is done. So, this app would start blowing up in the free section, moving up the charts strongly and getting much more exposure than it would if it had been listed free in the first place.
After a couple days or a week of the "free" section exposure, in which you should have been scoring x,xxx-xx,xxx free daily downloads; you would make the switch back to paid. Because of the attention you had being free, Apple will start your position in the paid section much higher than it was initially before making that change to the free section a week ago.
This tactic that I just typed up has been used over and over on the app dev forum, and it comes with success everytime. One member had an app at 100 paid downloads a day, switched to free, reached top 5 overall free (receiving xxx,xxx downloads over the course of the week), switched back to paid; and gained a Top 50 overall paid position, which has him gaining x,xxx paid downloads daily. This thread was done all real time, so everything was verified to be true. And this is just 1 example of this working, there are at least half a dozen more recently posted implementing this strategy.
What will I be doing with this? Bottom line is that I'm slacking in paid downloads, and can only go up. I plan to switch my paid app to be free. I then will hire a company that promises Top 25 free overall within 5 days, a company that has been used and has a rep for keeping their end of the deal. After a week of exposure, I switch back to paid. If all goes as planned, I'll see my app much higher up on the paid section, were I could finally get xxx daily paid downloads.
P.S I fucking murdered my midterms; A's across the board. Ballin in cash and grades, one day at a time.
P.S.S For the shits and giggles I ordered a custom case for my iPhone with my app logo on it. Pics below:
I own an iPhone related site and would be happy to suggest my team review your app if you can pass along a promo code. My Android sites have a lot more traffic... but every bit helps.
Let me know
Let me know