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iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

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Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#71
post #51

Regarding #3, I wrote a script that automatically emails the 20% of customers who get their orders declined, asking them to purchase the app directly through me using PayPal. A surprising number of them do. It's not a perfect solution, but at least it recovers some lost revenue. You can have this feature available for your app through http://www.AndroidLicenser.com

If they don't buy through the market, delivering updates becomes a problem.

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#72
post #59
post #55

Thanks for helping to dispel this myth that has somehow developed that Android users "don't buy apps". I don't know how this idea got so entrenched. You can definitely make an argument that they buy somewhat less, but it's completely misleading to say they never buy any, which is what you will see commonly stated around the net.

It got entrenched from Android devs sharing their numbers and those numbers being lower for Android than iOS. I don't know if other Android devs were making good money and just didn't want to share that info or if it's gotten better recently, but it's good to see that it's actually a viable market now.

When iOS became popular, developers spilled the beans left and right about how successful they were, causing a landslide of competition and a massive goldrush. I think Android devs with success realized this and have decided it's better for business just to shut up.

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#73
post #66

Taking credit cards is hard. You get random declines from merchant banks all the time. I bet the app store simply doesn't tell you about it. Not a single decline in 15 months? Hardly likely. 20% of all attempted virtual purchases bouncing sounds not unreasonable if you compare to other markets (pc, game credits, etc)

I think the difference is that with Apple, you get charged BY Apple, and a payment to Apple doesnt get declined, but on Google, each dev is a merchant that the banks aren't recognizin, and we get declined left and right.

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#74

I have actually found my Phone 7 has 4x my android, blackberry, WebOS, and iOS app sales combined.... Probably because the market isn't flooded yet. Android was my lowest, iOS next, then Blackberry, followed by webOS. If you can hit markets people do not yet find viable, that may very well be your key to success.

Do you have a blog or anything? I've recently gotten into WP7 coding (submitted my first WP7 app to AppHub last night!) and am interested in reading more about people's experiences.

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#76

For 75%, it well worth the effort of porting the app, instead of creating a new one for the iPhone.

not mutually exclusive. I outsourced the port and in the meantime created a new iPhone app (which happens to significantly outsell the original that I ported).

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#77

For 75%, it well worth the effort of porting the app, instead of creating a new one for the iPhone.

not mutually exclusive. I outsourced the port and in the meantime created a new iPhone app (which happens to significantly outsell the original that I ported).

You are genius man!

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#79
post #72
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It got entrenched from Android devs sharing their numbers and those numbers being lower for Android than iOS. I don't know if other Android devs were making good money and just didn't want to share that info or if it's gotten better recently, but it's good to see that it's actually a viable market now.

When iOS became popular, developers spilled the beans left and right about how successful they were, causing a landslide of competition and a massive goldrush. I think Android devs with success realized this and have decided it's better for business just to shut up.

this is so true. theres a bunch of people banking but why divulge secrets when it only invites competition :)

Re: iPhone vs Android app sales: numbers from an indie developer

#80
post #72
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It got entrenched from Android devs sharing their numbers and those numbers being lower for Android than iOS. I don't know if other Android devs were making good money and just didn't want to share that info or if it's gotten better recently, but it's good to see that it's actually a viable market now.

When iOS became popular, developers spilled the beans left and right about how successful they were, causing a landslide of competition and a massive goldrush. I think Android devs with success realized this and have decided it's better for business just to shut up.

I think this is silly. Android download info is public (the range anyway). You can just go to the android market and easily see that the top apps are making quite a bit of money.
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