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The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

marco.org

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#41
post #3

It'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…

[deleted]

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#42

I experimented with one of my apps (www.TommyTeaches.com). I made the mistake of releasing it as a paid app at first. It didn't do so well. I switched it to free and it took off. Everyone at my kid's school got it and they let others know. Through analytics I can see it is being used for long periods of time by many kids every day. Tried the teaching approach with kids with mild learning disabilities and it made a di…

Just a thought, without knowing your app very well or the usage the kids make of it, but it sounds like some kind of new feature unlocked via an IAP may make sense.

Right now it looks like you're releasing each content pack as a new app, that's also free. There's your problem. Release content packs as IAP, give 3 away for free and charge $1 each for new content packs. There's your revenue stream. If the app is really teaching the kid stuff, parents will probably pony up and pay a few bucks now and then, since they care about their children's education.

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#43
post #30

The Site has an almost unreadable font for me. Its ugly when in normal size: http://browsershots.org/http://www.marco.org/ (Check the Firefox 22 shots) And gets worse when I increase the font size: http://i.imgur.com/jU1swoq.png Why is that?

It looks great here. Change your browser, or perhaps change your font rendering settings if you're on Linux or Winblows?

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#44
I have an app in the iOS photography category ranked about 100 in sales on iPhone and iPad. My monthly sales are $6000.00 US (after apple's cut) selling for 2.99. Not bad, I'm happy and all, but it's disappointing to think that there are only 100 developers in the photography category making more than 6000.00/mo (assuming that they have only one app)

The user interface that iTunes provides on the phone, tablet and desktop is super clunky and slow for exploring apps. Click, wait, click, wait. etc. Why no tabbed browsing so users can load and look at 50 app descriptions in the background?

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What App is this? If you don't mind me asking?

I'll have to think about it. I'm not sure if disclosing it puts me at any disadvantage, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something.

I think you've already disclosed it a few years ago. It's already a mature app for all I can see.

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#47

Here 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...

That's low. My sales yesterday: http://i.imgur.com/9GxBLCX.png

Re: The market for paid iOS apps isn’t dead

#49
post #3

It'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…

$5-6k each month is certainly decent for the original time you spent programming. Now you can just collect on earnings and maybe release updates as needed, but it's definitely more lucrative than other markets. Thank you for sharing your own personal anecdote. It's one of the main reasons I value HN's community over others.
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