The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
1–10 of 69 posts
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#2I once had someone pitch me an idea for an app, which coincidentally I had actually built and was selling on the app store. He wasn't willing to pay 99cents for it (but had previously been willing to quit his job to make it hypothetically with me).
It is a weird world.
(for the record I like marco's work)
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#3It's not dead, but discoverability is a huge problem. I still make decent money ($5-6k per month) on an app I first released in 2010, but the two additional ones since then are probably not even collectively over $1000 for their lifetime. Unless you're featured, have significant word of mouth, or are on Top Free/Top Paid/Top Grossing, the number of people that actually find your app is small. It takes significant publicity to get enough momentum in sales to where word of mouth even works.
Edit:
This isn't to say I won't make anything else. I have other apps in progress, but I'm going to apply the lessons I've learned to make them work. They are somewhat niche apps, but I've found those work for markets that are accustomed to paying for tools/software. None will be under the $14.99 price point. It's unlikely I'll ever make another one that is -- it's just not worth the effort.
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#4I put my first app into the App Store last July and had it selling for free until 2 months ago when I set it to $1.99. People continued to buy it even though I don't advertise it.
After that success (2 figure revenue!), I built another app and put it on the App Store for $9.99. People are downloading that as well. I admit that I am making more off of contract work, but based on my estimates the App Store converts really well, even at >$5 and has the potential to be profitable with paid apps.
(anecdotal evidence based on my sales of http://free2goapp.com/download)
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#5It's not dead, but discoverability is a huge problem. I still make decent money ($5-6k per month) on an app I first released in 2010, but the two additional ones since then are probably not even collectively over $1000 for their lifetime. Unless you're featured, have significant word of mouth, or are on Top Free/Top Paid/Top Grossing, the number of people that actually find your app is small. It takes significant pub…
I'm curious. What kind of marketing have you done? Or do you only rely on the app store?
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#6Here is my app. Location based time tracking.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onsite-time-tracker/id470803...
Here are my sales https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Asp1Qlg4fVlzdFk...
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#7It's not dead, but discoverability is a huge problem. I still make decent money ($5-6k per month) on an app I first released in 2010, but the two additional ones since then are probably not even collectively over $1000 for their lifetime. Unless you're featured, have significant word of mouth, or are on Top Free/Top Paid/Top Grossing, the number of people that actually find your app is small. It takes significant pub…
I'm curious. What kind of marketing have you done? Or do you only rely on the app store?
I'm highly ranked on organic search (#1 for most terms), have paid ads, pursue articles when the opportunity arises (these have historically helped a lot), limited giveaways, and watch google alerts for mentions of the app and respond as appropriate. The main app is generally in the top 30 grossing for its category, and I've found being high in that to be self-reinforcing. Being in the primary field the app is for has definitely helped since I have friends and contacts there.
One notably potential source I have not really pursued much is social media, Twitter in particular. I'm one of those people that pretty much never uses it and doesn't understand the allure.
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#8As an iOS developer I speculate that it's not the price that hinders people from downloading an App, it's the psychological barrier of paying for something (regardless of the price) that they haven't experienced yet. Sure reviews and screenshots help ease this tension as well as the standard $0.99 price tag, but I don't think it's enough. It would be really great if users could download the App and play around with it for a couple of minutes to "test drive" it and then be presented with an option to buy it.
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious. What kind of marketing have you done? Or do you only rely on the app store?
I'm highly ranked on organic search (#1 for most terms), have paid ads, pursue articles when the opportunity arises (these have historically helped a lot), limited giveaways, and watch google alerts for mentions of the app and respond as appropriate. The main app is generally in the top 30 grossing for its category, and I've found being high in that to be self-reinforcing. Being in the primary field the app is for ha…
What App is this? If you don't mind me asking?
Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious. What kind of marketing have you done? Or do you only rely on the app store?
I'm highly ranked on organic search (#1 for most terms), have paid ads, pursue articles when the opportunity arises (these have historically helped a lot), limited giveaways, and watch google alerts for mentions of the app and respond as appropriate. The main app is generally in the top 30 grossing for its category, and I've found being high in that to be self-reinforcing. Being in the primary field the app is for ha…
Where do you put ads?