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My First Year in the App Store

trevormckendrick.com

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Re: My First Year in the App Store

#31

Post by trevmckendrick »

scottluptowski wrote: post #30

This sounds very interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more. How much time did you spend researching potential app categories? Was your category decision driven by any hard data, other than anecdotal knowledge that Spanish bibles were a category that was selling and had search volume?

Great question.

No hard data. I saw that Spanish Bibles were ranking in the Reference and Book categories, like you said.

Also important (but not "hard data") is that when I searched "la biblia" relatively few apps appeared in the search results compared to other search phrases.

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#32

Post by bluedino »

trevmckendrick wrote: post #29
schrodinger wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you develop it yourself, or outsource it?

I did the initial mockups by hand and some of the debugging. Other than that all outsourced.

Is it possible that the guys you outsourced it to could just make their own version and put it on the store? I haven't read a HN article titled "How foobar consulting stole my iPhone app and re-branded it as their own"

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#33

Post by Paul_D_Santana »

trevmckendrick wrote: post #28
nanijoe wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Impressive...How do you collect the email email addresses? Do you just ask people for their addresses?

Yep. When the app launches the very first time I ask for their 1st name and email if they want to hear about deals/offers, new apps, etc. They can cancel out easily and never see the form again. But when you have a free app that quite a few people download, email addresses start accumulating pretty quickly.

I was under the impression that this was a paid app. How does it generate so much revenue while still being free?

I signed up for future posts (extremely well-placed sign-up form by the way!), but I didn't see a description of in-app purchases or other revenue model as a topic for a future post, which is why I ask. I am also using Android.

Thank you for this post by the way. This is amazing and I'm excited to read your future posts!

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#34

Post by trevmckendrick »

bluedino wrote: post #32
trevmckendrick wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the initial mockups by hand and some of the debugging. Other than that all outsourced.

Is it possible that the guys you outsourced it to could just make their own version and put it on the store? I haven't read a HN article titled "How foobar consulting stole my iPhone app and re-branded it as their own"

That has definitely crossed my mind more than once. There's a few reasons this isn't as scary as one might think:

1. Contractors work on tons of apps, the vast majority of which don't make any money. Their business is making apps, not selling them.

2. Focus on long-term relationships. If the contractor knows you're going to hire them in the future for more work they'll be less likely to screw you over now.

3. Last resort: you can report pirated apps to Apple.

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#36

Post by trevmckendrick »

mansigandhi wrote: post #35

trevmckendrick - good to see the app do well! If you remember I (Sleepyhead) helped with the email forms. We pleasantly surprised to see the post here :)

Hello! You guys did great work; those forms have done perfectly... over 30,000 signups so far.

Thanks for saying hi!

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#37

Post by trevmckendrick »

Paul_D_Santana wrote: post #33
trevmckendrick wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. When the app launches the very first time I ask for their 1st name and email if they want to hear about deals/offers, new apps, etc. They can cancel out easily and never see the form again. But when you have a free app that quite a few people download, email addresses start accumulating pretty quickly.

I was under the impression that this was a paid app. How does it generate so much revenue while still being free? I signed up for future posts ( extremely well-placed sign-up form by the way!), but I didn't see a description of in-app purchases or other revenue model as a topic for a future post, which is why I ask. I am also using Android. Thank you for this post by the way. This is amazing and I'm excited to read y…

Great questions. Revenue is where it's at!

Initially it was just a paid download for the text of the Bible.

With more research in the App Store though I realized audio Bibles were selling much more than I was.

So I outsourced the audio (mentioned in the post I think) and now the model is that users download the original app (with the text) for free, and then can buy the audio as an IAP.

This works great on multiple fronts: I collect more email address, I rank better in search because I get more downloads, and the audio sells better as an IAP than as a stand alone app.

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#39

Post by orangethirty »

Religious products are big sellers. Specially anything that has to do with the bible or prayers. I used to sell bibles as a teenager. Made more money than drug dealers. It was funny. But then I went ad turned atheist. I could no longer sell itwith a clean conscience.

Re: My First Year in the App Store

#40

Post by greenranger »

orangethirty wrote: post #39

Religious products are big sellers. Specially anything that has to do with the bible or prayers. I used to sell bibles as a teenager. Made more money than drug dealers. It was funny. But then I went ad turned atheist. I could no longer sell itwith a clean conscience.

Seems like an atheist would have less of a moral problem profiting from the sale of bibles then someone who believes they are sacred texts.
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