Hi all,
I'm planning on developing my first iPhone/iPad app, and was looking to pick your brains with some questions. I'm going through some books on Cocoa Touch, but the app will initially be very simple, and I have a list of features I will eventually add in to it.
Question 1
The app in question will target a very specific niche which I am familiar with, and will definitely be able to get quite a bit of attention within that niche as it fills a need that has not been met anywhere. I'm trying to figure out how best to monetize it.
The three options available to me seem to be:
* Charge a small price and go for volume
* Release the app, then release a Pro version with the more advanced features when I complete them with a higher price
* Support it with advertisements
* Support it with advertisements, and sell an ad-free version
However, there are two points worth considering:
* A free app can potentially expand the niche's community by bringing in outside people who download the app out of curiousity
* Said niche also tends to be somewhat younger with less money (think college students and some kids). This means they are more likely to not download something due to cost, or pirate the Pro version as those who'd want those features will be more technically advanced anyway.
So, from my perspective, ad-supported seems to be the best. Whether or not I should sell an ad-free version is a question, because that might simply become the preferred pirate version. The app should provide enough content to get people launching it at least 2-3 times a week.
But, just how viable is the ad-supported model? What kind of monetization should be expected? tl;dr question: Can I expect an app that a user checks 2-3 times a week to make as much money in a year as an app that I sell for $1.99? How about one that is checked once a week?
Question 2
What can we do with the camera connection kit? Can we do anything? Specifically, can we write files to the SD card? One of the features I'd like to add in at some point would involve being able to download a zip file and unpackage it in a special file structure on the SD card (the app would handle that transparent to the user, they'd just click on a button, no file system seen).
Any thoughts?
I'm planning on developing my first iPhone/iPad app, and was looking to pick your brains with some questions. I'm going through some books on Cocoa Touch, but the app will initially be very simple, and I have a list of features I will eventually add in to it.
Question 1
The app in question will target a very specific niche which I am familiar with, and will definitely be able to get quite a bit of attention within that niche as it fills a need that has not been met anywhere. I'm trying to figure out how best to monetize it.
The three options available to me seem to be:
* Charge a small price and go for volume
* Release the app, then release a Pro version with the more advanced features when I complete them with a higher price
* Support it with advertisements
* Support it with advertisements, and sell an ad-free version
However, there are two points worth considering:
* A free app can potentially expand the niche's community by bringing in outside people who download the app out of curiousity
* Said niche also tends to be somewhat younger with less money (think college students and some kids). This means they are more likely to not download something due to cost, or pirate the Pro version as those who'd want those features will be more technically advanced anyway.
So, from my perspective, ad-supported seems to be the best. Whether or not I should sell an ad-free version is a question, because that might simply become the preferred pirate version. The app should provide enough content to get people launching it at least 2-3 times a week.
But, just how viable is the ad-supported model? What kind of monetization should be expected? tl;dr question: Can I expect an app that a user checks 2-3 times a week to make as much money in a year as an app that I sell for $1.99? How about one that is checked once a week?
Question 2
What can we do with the camera connection kit? Can we do anything? Specifically, can we write files to the SD card? One of the features I'd like to add in at some point would involve being able to download a zip file and unpackage it in a special file structure on the SD card (the app would handle that transparent to the user, they'd just click on a button, no file system seen).