Apple App Store Stats
Source: Apple Insider, Apple announces App Store downloads top 2 billion
Source: 148Apps.biz, App Marketing 101: Pricing your iPhone App – Art and Science
Numbers like two billion downloads, four and half million app downloads each day and 85,000 applications available for iPhone OS are staggering. The App Store is clearly a huge market where people are seemingly printing their own money. Apple has essentially created a new billion dollar industry almost overnight using iPhone OS as a platform to sell software.
Even more enticing to people like myself is the dream of being involved in this market as an independent developer. That is, a developer who works either alone or with a friend or two to compete on the same turf as the big guys like Google, Microsoft and Electronic Arts. Our feeling is that with such a huge market we only need a very small piece of the pie to turn our hobby into a sustainable business.
However, taking a closer second look at the numbers above paints a more sobering picture. If we assumed that each of the 85,000 apps had an equal number of the 4.5 million downloads each day then each app’s share of that pie would be about 53 downloads each day. Since the most common price point on the app store today is 99 cents then that works out to about $37 in revenue each day after Apple’s cut. This works out to a $13,500 a year job before taxes. And of course, each app does not have an equal piece of the pie…
Here Is What This All Means For You
What you need to know about all of this is that if you are planning on simply releasing an app at the 99 cent price point then the odds are stacked against you. You are going to have to break out of the mindset that you can just build it and hope to magically get rich. You need to find a way to stand out.
How Do I Stand Out?
I’ve been spending some time with developers recently learning about how to stand out. Three themes have been repeating themselves over and over in terms of standing out on the app store: polish, Apple and pricing
Polish
Essentially, you must have your house in order for anything to happen for you on the App Store. This is means having an app that works well and looks nice. Everything that faces the customer must have a nice coat of polish, including things developers do not always think about like the app icon, description, support website and screenshots.
Apple
Apple can be your best friend or worst enemy on the App Store. Part of your strategy must be to become friends with Apple. You can do this by intentionally adding features that you know Apple is promoting, meeting Apple engineers at conferences and making sure all your contacts with Apple are positive. Most of the successful app developers I have met have cultivated contacts at Apple and have jump-started their success by being featured on iTunes.
Pricing
99 cents has become the de-facto price on the App Store for one reason: to get to the top 100 lists. This is becoming more unrealistic and developers need to start dealing with the reality that pricing apps at 99 cents is not sustainable. If you have a niche app or an exceptional app (aren’t they all?) consider raising your price point to $2.99, $4.99 or even $9.99. At those prices you may be able to support your app in the long run.
For what it’s worth, my app that sells as $4.99 has always had more revenue that similar apps I sell at $1.99 and $2.99. Sometimes, a higher price has actually increased sales for me since and I believe that some people assume that higher priced apps represent a higher quality. NOTE: right now I am experimenting with all my app pricing so it is not $4.99 right now, stay tuned for the results of that…
Recap
There are two answers to the question of standing out: make friends with Apple and offer a truly polished product. The other thing we need to think about is not about standing out at all, but simply creating a sustainable business supported by an appropriate price point.
How Do YOU Stand Out?
What tactics/strategy do you use to stand out on the Apple App Store? Comment below!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good stuff brother. I’m following you.
@Rich – very cool. Are you using Twitter by any chance?
Hi Matt,
I enjoyed reading your article. I agree that things are getting ever more challenging for iPhone developers. In addition to having a great product and being friends with Apple I would add a third tool people should be using, a marketing and promotional strategy driven by feedback.
I wrote a blog post on the analytics that iPhone developers are missing.
http://blog.appsto.re/the-stats-iphone-developers-are-missing-sales
If we can get better tools for the development community to measure the impact of marketing and promotion I think it will help.