iPhone Developer Success Stories Continue to Inspire

[holmesf]

Or maybe, it should encourage YOU to make better apps.

You've missed the point entirely. My goal as a developer is to make applications that my customers will buy and keep around for a long time. And I'm happy to say that's what I've done. The problem is that to keep making good applications instead of junk applications, there needs to be enough incentive to produce the good stuff.

Unfortunately, Apple's policies, which includes gives more or less equal promotion to both good and junk applications (with a handful exceptions that receive very good promotion) as well as equal promotion to new applications and updated applications has some bad ramifications:

- Developers are encouraged to create as many applications as possible. Instead of creating one good game, for example, the policy encourages them to produce a set of 4 mini-games.

- Developers are encouraged to produce "junk apps". Afterall, these apps will receive roughly equal promotion as good apps.

- Developers are encouraged to game the system by producing useless updates to their applications in order to be placed back on the front page.

- Developers are encouraged to game the system by dishonestly introducing a product as free, then ramping up the price once the game has hit the top 100 or top 10 list.

All of these effects are negative towards the end user. Moreover, they have a snowballing effect. As more and more junk and novelty apps roll in, high quality applications receive less and less promotion.

Also, while the dramatic drop in prices of iPhone apps over the months does have something to do with free-market competition, it also has a lot to do with the limited ability developers have to market their application in the iTunes store (ex. no movies). Sure, developers could market elsewhere, but unlike us power users, most users just look in the store for apps.

I do not know exactly how I would change the iTunes application store if given the chance. Certainly I would not want to get rid of the Democratic element where anyone can release an application, but Apple really needs to address the issues I've mentioned. It's hurting both their developers and negatively affecting the user experience.

 

[bytethese]

- Developers are encouraged...
- Developers are encouraged...
- Developers are encouraged...
- Developers are encouraged...

Developers, developers, developers, developers!!!
/Ballmer

 

[kdarling]

Why do iPhone devs think Apple owes it to them to do all their marketing for them?

.

Why? Because of the 30% they take. When a contracted (and in this case, sole) distributor takes a percentage, it's usually greatly / partly in exchange for advertising.

The trouble in this case is, the sole distributor is also the distributor for ALL iphone apps.

 

[holmesf]

Developers, developers, developers, developers!!!
/Ballmer

Heh.

 

[hypermark]

.

Why? Because of the 30% they take. When a contracted (and in this case, sole) distributor takes a percentage, it's usually greatly / partly in exchange for advertising.

The trouble in this case is, the sole distributor is also the distributor for ALL iphone apps.

This is one of those statements of having never had to count on other indirect channels to sell your products.

My friends in the iPhone Developer universe that sell/sold their products through retail and other channels consider the iPhone App Store model to be manna from heaven in terms of margin, reach and control.

It's like US-style democracy. It's sucks until compared to all other forms of government.

My only point is get over the premise of 100% free market as that is not what Apple provides. By same token, the alternative is an indifferent channel that provides zippo to drive monetization for you.

Lots of experience on this one, and the margin, reach and control factor is significant. Would I like to have my cake and eat it too? Sure, but that's not the real world.

That said, it's critical that developers use these forums to drum beat on the specifics that are reasoned to separate the wheat from the chaffe, as the model is unquestionably a work in progress.

 

[kdarling]

This is one of those statements of having never had to count on other indirect channels to sell your products.

I sold my first commercial home computer applications back in 1982, through indirect channels. I understand the sales, royalty and marketing aspects.

My friends in the iPhone Developer universe that sell/sold their products through retail and other channels consider the iPhone App Store model to be manna from heaven in terms of margin, reach and control.

No doubt that's true, but they're still missing having their app promoted on its own merits, which again I point out is a normal reason for giving up a percentage. Instead, as pointed out by others, the programmers must game the system to do the marketing they paid for.

I'm not really disagreeing with you, and I think that the App Store is a great idea in principle. I just think it needs some competition to help refine it. Another outlet, where people could buy advertising, perhaps. Not sure yet. Just throwing out ideas. But it would have to come on the phone like the App Store does.

Thoughts?

 

[hypermark]

I sold my first commercial home computer applications back in 1982, through indirect channels. I understand the sales, royalty and marketing aspects.

No doubt that's true, but they're still missing having their app promoted on its own merits, which again I point out is a normal reason for giving up a percentage. Instead, as pointed out by others, the programmers must game the system to do the marketing they paid for.

I'm not really disagreeing with you, and I think that the App Store is a great idea in principle. I just think it needs some competition to help refine it. Another outlet, where people could buy advertising, perhaps. Not sure yet. Just throwing out ideas. But it would have to come on the phone like the App Store does.

I stand corrected then. Sorry. You actually go go back further than I (1993).

For what it's worth, I just blogged on the inevitability of competition and the need for it. While it seems inevitable that Apple will be THE sole App Store for the foreseeable future, from a marketing and community perspective, someone else is destined to plug in to bridge some of the gaps that you reference.

The App Store app placement conundrum frankly is analogous to when Google changes their SEO algorithms. Real blood spills in the streets. Here, the impact on the individual developer is arguably more profound (since you are dealing with lost full dollar transactions versus incremental lost paid clicks).

A legitimate side question is whether Apple would ever allow an iPhone App that bridges some of this gap. Clearly, they couldn't preclude a web app but Apple has shown great willingness to block things they consider in their domain (I am not editorializing right or wrong, just wondering aloud).

Cheers.

Mark

 

[oticon6]

The point the poster is making is that if they are really good ideas and marketing, they can't do something some programmers take for granted such as making the actual iPhone App. (Even Hello World!)

I can see some iPhone Developers that are very skilled but are terrible in the idea department.

And even more that have neither skill nor creativity...

I'm in the situation where I have the skill... and I've built a game engine... but I can't find anyone good enough to make decent graphics It's so annoying... I'm at a university, and the only people capable here are either overconfident of their skills (but really not that good) or completely unmotivated.

 

[MacFly123]

I think Apple will fix this whole problem with developers. They just need to make better App Store and expand it into Apple TV and Macs.

This is what it will be like in the future for software I think. There will be an App Store on the Mac and Apple TV and we will buy and download all our software through there I can't wait till that happens, and I do think that would help push for much more elaborate and well made functional apps.

P.S. I have heard things about Microsoft already working on a software delivery system like that for Windows and the Xbox. Anyone know more about that?

Everything is going to the cloud eventually and we will be even more dependent on technology that could easily crash and have big ramifications on life haha, kinda scary.

 

[PowerFullMac]

This is why I'm learning Objective-C, I'm gonna try and do a game coz it's the best way to get the cash... Huge market for games, there is!

MacFly123, App Store on Macs would not be a good thing, it would be too restricted!

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I think these stories are inspiring and I see little harm in them. Everything starts with a dream.

I'm new to development but I consider doing it all for the right reasons. My only experience of programming was a PacMan game on the Amiga in BASIC, but I've never had any experience of OO programming or C-based languages before.

I picked up the SDK and thought I'd give it a shot. Although I do have ambitions to make some money (don't we all), I don't go for the 'something for nothing' attitude and am looking for the following rewards out of my iPhone development:

1) that I am learning Objective-C and therefore adding a worthwhile addition to my CV (Resumé)

2) the development is enjoyable and a hobby that keeps my brain fit and tests my logical skills

3) as an iPhone user myself, any app that I develop could be of direct benefit to me, even if no-one else buys it

4) I might make some money.

At the moment, I'm focusing on a productivity app to get my head around table views and the whole data model. It's progressing nicely and will be released when ready (I'm learning a lot) but I doubt it will make too much money.

I have some ideas for innovative other apps, including what I consider to be a very original and fun game concept that I will begin development once I have gotten my first app out of the door. I expect this app, if executed well and priced correctly, to potentially make some money. But it will also serve to improve my graphics ability and get me familiar with OpenGL, of which I currently know very little about.

I see this all as a potential way of moving towards my ultimate goal to create my own business(es), as the App store approach is pretty much risk-free because there are basically no costs involved other than my time, which is good education and enjoyable anyway.

Realism must remain the focus, however. I'm not intending to give up the day job any time soon.

 

[swarmster]

.
Why? Because of the 30% they take. When a contracted (and in this case, sole) distributor takes a percentage, it's usually greatly / partly in exchange for advertising.

No, if you wanted advertising, you would be giving the distributor a 95+% take, like what happens to the original artist in the Music Store. Apple hosts your apps, gives you an easy way to link to it externally and accept credit cards, and allows everyone in your target market to access it from anywhere in the world, immediately. That's why you're paying 30%.

What happens is not that your applications gets put up on the shelves and then you need to market it, rather your application is put up on the shelves while a plethora of other products, mostly junk, are quickly stacked on top of it making it impossible for customers to find. If iPhone apps actually operated in a free market, the iTunes app store would be pressured by other iPhone application distribution sources to improve their policies. Instead developers are forced to game these policies, and the problem gets worse.

It's true that you can market the app outside of the store -- and trust me, I have. But none of this makes as much impact as apple's policies in the iTunes app store itself. Once you're a developer, you will know what it means to go from page 1 to page 2 on the product lists, or from the top 100 list to nowhere land -- it means no more sales.

Besides, if Apple could come up with a policy that encourages high quality applications to be developed, and lets developers waste less time on marketing (I'm a programmer, not a marketer!) that's beneficial for everybody.

I still don't see how this is much different from a brick-and-mortar store. When you walk in the front door you can barely see a fraction of all the merchandise held there. You have to walk down every single aisle if you want to browse them all.

Apple maintains top 100 lists for interest's sake, but I don't think people are seriously being asked to shop using those methods. The Music Store works in exactly the same way: Apple puts up banners for a few random artists, and occasionally uses a song in a commercial and that's the extent of their advertising. People who go there by and large have an idea of what they want to pick up already, search for the artist, and click buy. Or even better, they read a music blog or something and get linked directly to it.

If someone browses the App Store and stumbles across your app and buys it, that is luck. Marketing by definition tries to take luck out of the equation.

What would you like Apple to do to their policies exactly? Start ejecting "bad" apps from the store? Have a "Top 100 good apps" list? If you think there's been backlash about what apps are being accepted now, I wouldn't want to see what would happen if they actually started doing that.

 

[firewood]

No doubt that's true, but they're still missing having their app promoted on its own merits, which again I point out is a normal reason for giving up a percentage.

The normal reason for giving up a percentage to an agent is because that agent can produce a net increase in total revenue through that channel, even after the additional costs, by any means (might be by advertising, or might be by knowing which executive to lose a golf game to...). The App store seems to do that. (And I sell other apps for other devices though multiple types of channels, so I have comparison data).

Instead, as pointed out by others, the programmers must game the system to do the marketing they paid for.

Given that, even excluding several thousand "junk" apps of the 10K, there are still several hundred interesting (to some segment of the customer base) apps, more than there a slots for in any top list. Whatever a developer does to get on this list will be called "gaming the system" by developers of equivalent quality apps who don't get on the list. The only "fair" system might be what department stores do, let suppliers bid and pay for additional featured advertising and aisle end-cap positioning (and well above the equality 30% that their competition pays).

Once Apple starts charging $10K for being featured on front pages, the $0.99 chaff from quicky developers taking a gamble will fall away.

.

 

[kingtj]

Yeah, and what bothers me?

I'm disturbed that a company like Pangea hasn't grasped the reality of things; their iPhone apps were only that successful because they first built them on the Mac!

Anything's possible, but I just don't think a game like Enigmo is the type of thing one would be likely to come up with on a touch-screen device with very limited screen "real-estate". Only after making it a success on a full-blown computer system, was it much easier to figure out how to do a successful port to the iPhone. Plus, the Mac version probably generated enough "hype" over the years to help boost sales on the iPhone too. (I know I personally mentioned it to people a few times, saying "Hey, if you're looking at buying iPhone games, Enigmo is really good. I have it on my Mac.)

Well thats not a good thing.

Lets hope this is an isolated occurance.

 

[kingtj]

Umm....

The Windows platform has already had this for a while. It's called 'Steam". You can shop for and immediately download all sorts of games through it.

That's the primarily method of sales they used for "Half Life 2".

This is what it will be like in the future for software I think. There will be an App Store on the Mac and Apple TV and we will buy and download all our software through there I can't wait till that happens, and I do think that would help push for much more elaborate and well made functional apps.

P.S. I have heard things about Microsoft already working on a software delivery system like that for Windows and the Xbox. Anyone know more about that?

Everything is going to the cloud eventually and we will be even more dependent on technology that could easily crash and have big ramifications on life haha, kinda scary.

 

[MacFly123]

The Windows platform has already had this for a while. It's called 'Steam". You can shop for and immediately download all sorts of games through it.

That's the primarily method of sales they used for "Half Life 2".

But isn't that 3rd party? I am talking about an article I read pretty recently after the App Store opened that talked about Microsoft building it right into Windows natively as a central digital software store for all software, not just games.

 

[PowerFullMac]

I think these stories are inspiring and I see little harm in them. Everything starts with a dream.

I'm new to development but I consider doing it all for the right reasons. My only experience of programming was a PacMan game on the Amiga in BASIC, but I've never had any experience of OO programming or C-based languages before.

I picked up the SDK and thought I'd give it a shot. Although I do have ambitions to make some money (don't we all), I don't go for the 'something for nothing' attitude and am looking for the following rewards out of my iPhone development:

1) that I am learning Objective-C and therefore adding a worthwhile addition to my CV (Resumé)

2) the development is enjoyable and a hobby that keeps my brain fit and tests my logical skills

3) as an iPhone user myself, any app that I develop could be of direct benefit to me, even if no-one else buys it

4) I might make some money.

At the moment, I'm focusing on a productivity app to get my head around table views and the whole data model. It's progressing nicely and will be released when ready (I'm learning a lot) but I doubt it will make too much money.

I have some ideas for innovative other apps, including what I consider to be a very original and fun game concept that I will begin development once I have gotten my first app out of the door. I expect this app, if executed well and priced correctly, to potentially make some money. But it will also serve to improve my graphics ability and get me familiar with OpenGL, of which I currently know very little about.

I see this all as a potential way of moving towards my ultimate goal to create my own business(es), as the App store approach is pretty much risk-free because there are basically no costs involved other than my time, which is good education and enjoyable anyway.

Realism must remain the focus, however. I'm not intending to give up the day job any time soon.

I agree with this post except the last part, it's not fully risk free coz there are costs... $100 a year developer registration fees, to be precise.

 

[Jessica Sampson]

So what if there is a load of dross in the store

Hopefully most of it will fade away soon and anyway any half decent app, and there are thousands of users out there more than eager to pay for anything just half decent, will rise to the surface and will be successfull.

How many iPhone users are Windows only users? More than you think and even if these guys are developers there's no chance of them writing any app with the SDK as it's MAC only. No developer like's to be out of his comfort zone and the last thing a Windows developer wants is to be plunged into the alien world of writing apps on a platform he doesn't know.

You MAc developers are in a good position. Get coding.