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How (not) to sell your iOS app

stoicjesterstudios.com

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Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#51

Post by DrJokepu »

geuis wrote: post #18

Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the movie came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.) 1) Reviews are the most important things when you sell an app. I made the app free for the first week or so until I had about 10 5 star reviews. DO NOT use scammy tactics for fake reviews. Make sure your app is well polished for what it does. If it's not, don't put it in the…

> Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the movie came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.)

Ouch. You're lucky they weren't total dicks and didn't sue you for damages. You have to be very careful with copyright / trademark infringement, especially if it's a clear case like this and you're clearly making a profit on it.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#52

Post by checker »

DrJokepu wrote: post #51
geuis wrote: post #18

Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the movie came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.) 1) Reviews are the most important things when you sell an app. I made the app free for the first week or so until I had about 10 5 star reviews. DO NOT use scammy tactics for fake reviews. Make sure your app is well polished for what it does. If it's not, don't put it in the…

> Here's my experience with a Hangover 2 app I released 1 month before the movie came out. (it was taken down after Warner Bros sent Apple a C&D.) Ouch. You're lucky they weren't total dicks and didn't sue you for damages. You have to be very careful with copyright / trademark infringement, especially if it's a clear case like this and you're clearly making a profit on it.

Even Warner Bros didn't escape this. They had to pay Mike Tyson's tattooist for putting Tyson's tattoo on the dentist in the movie.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/tattoo-flap-settled...

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#53

Post by thestoicjester »

angerman wrote: post #44

I wonder if this is the common theme among many of us who try to put apps in the app store: figuring out what does not work. For our app: iEBT (which is an interface to a server allowing you to track your euro notes: eurobilltracker.com), we not only took a very tiny niche, but didn't think about marketing either. What we did was this: - picked a somewhat hight price point ($2) This seemed to use like the sweetspot,…

I think the other common theme is that programmers don't think about marketing until we need to.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#54

Post by Revisor »

biot wrote: post #32

As you're not looking for any sugar coating, after watching the video showing the gameplay you would need to pay me to want to play it. The reason is that there is no "why" to it. Shooting low-resolution textured balls wasn't fun in the late 80's, and I'm not seeing anything in the video that tells me it won't just be a chore to play. Is there some back-story to this game that is interesting? Are these spheres of mut…

I would say it's missing a purpose, rather than a story.

Otherwise I agree. I can't speak for other gamers, but my time gets more scarce as I grow older. And games without purpose were the first to go.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#55

Post by extension »

extension wrote: post #36

I'm trying to buy it but the app store isn't working right now. At any rate, here are some ideas from an iOS developer with nothing shipped yet, for what it's worth: Be way more explicit with your branding and marketing about exactly what the game is, right down to the name, if you're willing to change it. Looking at the top charts right now, there are games that show you exactly how to play just with the title and t…

Ok, I finally managed to buy it and it's FUN! Really fun. You've got a really fundamental and addictive game here. If you are really the only one in the app store doing it then you should be able to clean up. You just have to pollish the look and let shoppers know what it is.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#56

Post by randomdata »

cageface wrote: post #19
ddelphin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a better way to put this is if you want to make GUARANTEED money writing apps... I still think on the whole, its better to release a product yourself than do consulting for someone else.

It's certainly a lot more fun, but if your goal is revenue, particularly as a solo developer, you're going to have to do very well on your own to match what you can easily make as a consultant/employee.

I don't think it has to be either/or. I took about a month off to write my iOS app. While it never made me rich, it still provides a nice income stream that continues today. Now I have my regular job revenue and app sales revenue.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#57

Post by jarin »

Most of the time, it takes stops and starts, failure, heartache, and most importantly years of work and some luck to make an overnight success.

Your Ask HN not making it to the front page? Probably just bad luck (there are lots of good stories that don't make it to the front page). Game blogs not writing about it? Probably just bad luck that they heard about other games at the same time that they wanted to write about more.

I think there's a common feeling that there's just that one magic bullet that's going to make you a success (that TechCrunch article, or that Touch Arcade article, or if you can JUST get into YC or get that first investor). I think all that stuff definitely helps, but from what I've seen the best way to do it is to get a good amount of sleep, hustle your ass off 5-6 days a week, and have a partner in crime (even if it's just a drinking buddy who works on their own, separate projects).

I think you just have to pick up and start on the next project. The App Store is extremely competitive, but if you just keep making better and better games every time, something will stick. Just be sure to do some client work or keep your day job in the meantime to stay financially solvent. :)

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#58

Post by sunsu »

togasystems wrote: post #50
ddelphin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Addtionally, if/when you make your app free, you'll hopefully get more people to download it. These people may leave you reviews on the app store about what they did like and what the game was lacking... information that you could then use to make it better and maybe learn some ideas for features that you could add to the "premium" version for pay. Additionally, having this 2nd free version of the app could then serv…

It is quite amazing how much your download rate will go up when you make the game free. Try the freemium model.

This is definitely true. I made my game free and it jumped to the top 100 lists in a few countries overnight due to bunch of those automated sites that list app "sales" picking it up.

Re: How (not) to sell your iOS app

#60

Post by biot »

Revisor wrote: post #54
biot wrote: post #32

As you're not looking for any sugar coating, after watching the video showing the gameplay you would need to pay me to want to play it. The reason is that there is no "why" to it. Shooting low-resolution textured balls wasn't fun in the late 80's, and I'm not seeing anything in the video that tells me it won't just be a chore to play. Is there some back-story to this game that is interesting? Are these spheres of mut…

I would say it's missing a purpose, rather than a story. Otherwise I agree. I can't speak for other gamers, but my time gets more scarce as I grow older. And games without purpose were the first to go.

Yes, 100% agree with you and that's a much better way of stating it.
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