Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally • Hacker News Board

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#51

Post by bigger_cheese » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 3:53 AM UTC

flybirdx101 wrote: post #45

jmnicolas wrote: post #27

> PDF Expert is available at an introductory price of $19.99, but that will rise in the near future to $60–70 once we add PDF editing and OCR. $60–70 for a fancy PDF reader ? By doing this you will get only the people that really, really need your software, the others will turn away unable to justify such an expense for a non vital software. A bit like an iPhone in fact. I could afford one, but I don't want to make s…

But other PDF editors cost a lot more. PDFpen is worth $75, and Adobe Acrobat DC costs like $450 if purchased fully, not by subscription model. Finally, it all depends on what exactly you need from the app. Fast, reliable and well-designed software can't be cheap - and I don't think it should.

I must admit I found the proposed $60 price a bit shocking when I read the article. Surely there are free software solutions which do much the same thing. I believe Okular can do most of the things the article alluded to.

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#52

Post by feelix » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 5:38 AM UTC

awakeasleep wrote: post #49

ericjang wrote: post #2

It's interesting that their views on competition run counter to what YC / Peter Thiel advocate for in all startups - that is, avoiding competitive spaces and going for monopolies. Perhaps monopolies are necessary for huge growth and investor upside, but it should be made clear that there's obviously space in startups for modest goals like a nice PDF reader, and I hope their employees makes a reasonable living off it…

The best one I've seen yet is the twitter background for Salesforce's Desk.com https://twitter.com/Desk?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Es... If you look for more than a second, you realize nothing, absolutely nothing about it makes sense. It's insane.

I've been staring at that for 5 minutes and I can't for the life of me see what doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense?!

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#53

Post by feelix » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 5:50 AM UTC

Denzhadanov wrote: post #39

pavlov wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering about the same thing: Apple is being very helpful these days, and they want developers to succeed. That is why you really should keep in touch with App Store Business Management and keep them updated on what you’re building and when you’re getting ready for a launch. It's a highly rarefied group of developers who have a contact in App Store management that would be interested in hearing about an upcomin…

Guys, I recommend attending WWDC in SF! You can meet all the Apple folks there. For us, we launched our first web app in 2008 even before the App Store. Apple loved it - they called us and told about App Store that is being launched so they wanted us to be there on day 1. We consistently delivered great products that people loved. Here, I wrote a post on how to get featured on the App Store http://denzhadanov.com/201…

I would love to go to WWDC. However isn't having the honor of paying the 2k or so a bit like winning lotto? I mean - since you have to enroll to be (hopefully) selected as one of the lucky few who can attend, and if you're selected you're allowed to pay them to attend?

I have been a solo mac developer for the past 15 years or so (you can see my stuff at http://macdaddy.io), and I have never been able to attend a WWDC. It does strike me as unfair when I see other companies having the opportunity to attend, getting advice and recognition, and then getting featured by Apple and so forth. I have seen other companies allowed to have their apps on the mac app store which require root access, while I write a competing app data recovery app and it's never allowed on the mac app store - only to see that they blogged about attending WWDC and rubbing shoulders with the right people at Apple. Sometimes I feel that I write good software, but I lack the political connections to make real progress.

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#54

Post by vitd » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 6:00 AM UTC

jobu wrote: post #10

The time-limited trial is essential for selling productivity software, unfortunately most companies are doing it wrong. Beyond Compare[1] has a 30-day trial that is 30 days of use - not just 30 consecutive days. If I actually use a piece of software 30 different times on different days, then it's definitely worth a purchase. It's too bad more developers don't design their trials this way. [1] - http://www.scootersoft…

One scheme I saw required a code that worked for a day. They had a server that generated a new code and posted it to their web site every day. So you could use it as long as you wanted, but you had to go to their website every day to get a code to use it that day. If you used it every day, you probably got sick of going to the website and just purchased it.

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#55

Post by njpatel » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 8:22 AM UTC

feelix wrote: post #52

awakeasleep wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best one I've seen yet is the twitter background for Salesforce's Desk.com https://twitter.com/Desk?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Es... If you look for more than a second, you realize nothing, absolutely nothing about it makes sense. It's insane.

I've been staring at that for 5 minutes and I can't for the life of me see what doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense?!

Probably the lack of power going to the iMacs, which could also explain why they have to use their mobile devices instead... :)

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#56

Post by jerols » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 3:03 PM UTC

zkhalique wrote: post #19

How do they get in touch with that "App Store Business Management" they spoke about? It's not like they make their emails available for any Joe Developer to talk to them.

I posted Denys article to HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10669628

Our apps have been featured dozens of times and there is definitely a method to the madness. I shared my 2 cents on how to get featured as a comment on that HN link.

Re: Launching a Mac App and Becoming the Top Paid App Globally

#57

Post by flybirdx101 » Thu, Dec 03, 2015, 3:20 PM UTC

bigger_cheese wrote: post #51

flybirdx101 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But other PDF editors cost a lot more. PDFpen is worth $75, and Adobe Acrobat DC costs like $450 if purchased fully, not by subscription model. Finally, it all depends on what exactly you need from the app. Fast, reliable and well-designed software can't be cheap - and I don't think it should.

I must admit I found the proposed $60 price a bit shocking when I read the article. Surely there are free software solutions which do much the same thing. I believe Okular can do most of the things the article alluded to.

That's true, $60 would be too much for current set of features. But this is a supposed price for updated version, which will be released soon, which includes powerful PDF editing features as well (similar to those in Acrobat Pro, for example).