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Our first app: One month on the iOS App Store
- slaven 15y agoThat is very cool, thanks for sharing! Are you doing any marketing for it?
- jwhelan 15y agoThanks. So, we had a $100 credit from Google to use on adwords. That was interesting but not something that would work if we had to actually pay for it. In terms of other marketing, Apple gives you 50 download codes so we handed those out to local bike businesses & nonprofits. Our experience is that people rarely redeem the download codes, but will often reciprocate kindness. Our biggest sales came when we gave some promo codes to a bike courier company, and they tweeted about the app to their 3,000 followers. Aside from that we comment on some of our favorite cycling blogs with our url. That's it. Suggestions?
- tstegart 15y agoA small press kit with some screenshot of the app that you can send to blogs and biking websites. I would use your promo codes with bloggers rather than bike businesses, unless they have large followings like the courier company.
- pault 15y agoYou're reading it. :)
- brador 15y agoI love postmortems! Could you give more details on the app...how long did it take to develop? How many people worked on it? Did you outsource parts of it? Any ongoing costs (eg, APIs etc.)? Any interesting side stories? Also, what would you say is your total estimated cost for making the app from start to finish?
- x1r0 15y agoWe're a team of 2. I do all the development. All the work was done in-house... no outsourcing. The app, icon, and website were all us. It took 3 months to get to version 1.0. We worked on it part time, nights and weekends. There were some big gaps as life and work got in the way. It was my first iOS development experience, and I had only dabbled in Objective-C previously, so most of that time was getting up to speed with the language and framework. I primarily work in Ruby. There are no real ongoing costs. The website is completely static, so hosting is negligible. We use Google's local search and directions APIs. Both of them are free at our usage levels. It cost $99 for the Apple developer license. That's all the capital all we invested. The rest of it was just time.
- brador 15y agoAwesome, thanks for the details. You mentioned only dabbling previously, any tips on learning iphone app programming quickly? What tools/things did you use to learn? Any recommendations? Did you use any books/guides? Finally, did you use a mac pro or imac? and if it's relevant, does the glossy screen cause eye strain when programming for extended periods?
- x1r0 15y agoI still remembered a decent amount of C from high school & college (I'm just old enough to have snuck through before Java took over CS). I brushed up on the ol' K&R and then read about 2/3rds of O'Reilly's Programming iOS 4 book. Apple's documentation and sample code is excellent, and really nicely integrated into XCode. Once iOS 5 came out, I learned almost exclusively from there. Of course, Stack Overflow is great for very specific gotchas and questions. I did all the work on a MacBook Pro, with glossy screen, usually plugged in to a 27" Apple display (also glossy). The gloss doesn't cause me any problems unless I sit in very bright sunlight, but all things equal, I would prefer matte. Xcode is a bit of a pig, so it definitely does best on a big display.
- pthreads 15y agoThank you for sharing.
- nathanbarry 15y agoNice. Congrats on getting your live app in the store. It is a great way to get hobby projects out in the open. Plus I get nice sense of completion when the app goes live. Sometime soon I'll post a sales breakdown for my latest app. For me getting reviews written on sites like MacLife and AppAdvice made all the difference for sales.
- pkamb 15y ago> For me getting reviews written on sites like MacLife and AppAdvice made all the difference for sales. How so? The initial traffic from those sites? Other sites picking up the story? Ongoing SEO benefits?
- nathanbarry 15y agoThe review from App Advice generated enough sales to push Commit (http://thinklegend.com/commit http://thinklegend.com/commit) into the top 25 productivity apps. Which got it even more sales. Unfortunately I can't tell how many came from App Advice, only the total number of sales that day (600).
- AznHisoka 15y agoCongrats on releasing. Question: When you submit an app for approval, can you tell them the exact date you want the app to be officially released in the App Store?
- sainttex 15y agoThey give you an option of putting in a release date, or immediate release after approval.
- joeblossom 15y agoOn thing you may consider doing, if you aren't already, is using one of the many libraries available which ask users to rate your app. In the last release of one of my apps I implemented one of the libraries and I saw the amount of ratings soar. Especially the positive ratings.
- x1r0 15y agoThanks! Good idea. Which library are you using?
- jasimq 15y agoTry Appirater: http://arashpayan.com/blog/2009/09/07/presenting-appirater/ http://arashpayan.com/blog/2009/09/07/presenting-appirater/
- k-mcgrady 15y agoI second this. I added 'AppiRater' (https://github.com/arashpayan/appirater https://github.com/arashpayan/appirater) to one of my popular apps which users weren't reviewing. As soon as I added AppiRater the number of reviews increased a lot. I also noticed that it didn't increase the number of negative reviews which was a surprise.
- sumukh1 15y agoIf you do it right, then yes it will help your reviews. I suggest actually using iRate (https://github.com/nicklockwood/iRate https://github.com/nicklockwood/iRate) The advantage of these libraries is that you can ask at a specific time, say the tenth launch.
- megablast 15y agoAs you can do with pirater. You can also set a time limit, a combination of both, remind the user again, or give them one change only. AppiRater is very flexible, not sure what iRate offers over that.
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- voxmatt 15y ago(a) This is great. I've been using Maps+, which is a really impressive little app, but it's complexity often makes it cumbersome. Yours is very barebones, but in playing around with it, that's an asset. (b) With (a) in mind, there really needs to be a way to plot to/from somewhere other than (what the iPhone thinks is) your current location. (c) It would be great to be able to see bike lanes, but I understand how much extra effort that would require; so don't sweat it, but if this does rise to the level of a business... (d) Get rid of the icon-sheen in the App store. It's not enabled on the actual phone icon, and it looks so much better that way. It looks cheap with the sheen in the App-store: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4087500/does-itunes-store-always-put-sheen-on-512x512-image-when-submitting-iphone-app http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4087500/does-itunes-store...
- jwhelan 15y agoa) Glad you like it. Simplicity was a goal. b) Yes, totally agreed & in the works. c) This will be in the next release. d) We actually have a ticket in with Apple to get this fixed. There's nothing we can do on our end. Terrible. Thanks for the honest feedback!
- inkaudio 15y agoThanks for the link to distimo.com analytic, I'm looking into it. My marketing suggestion: contact blogs that a cyclist would read, blogs by/for cyclist or even a blog by a boutique bike shop. Perhaps some will write about your app.
- jaxn 15y agohttp://dcrainmaker.com http://dcrainmaker.com comes to mind
- TheFuture 15y agoProbably made the same mistake I did with iOS 5 and the icon. You have to define in the root level Custom iOS target properties: Icon already includes gloss effects BOOLEAN YES You've probably only set it under Icon files -> primary icon You can tell if you did it right if it shows up without the shine in itunes connect when you upload.
- sainttex 15y agoYou mentioned you're using google's directions API, what is this doing differently than the walking directions in maps? Doesn't that include bike paths, passages etc?
- x1r0 15y agoGoogle uses different algorithms for walking & biking. For example, you can walk in either direction on a one-way street, but you can only bike in one direction. The bike directions prioritize streets with bike lanes and low traffic bike boulevards. With walking, really any street with a side walk will do.
- tluyben2 15y agoCongrats with the app :) And thanks for sharing your experience. You're high up on HN, so your marketing skillz are improving. Just keep marketing your app and work on the next one.
- jack83 15y agoGreat app, thank you for sharing those data
- ajlburke 15y agoCongratulations! I went through a similar process with my first app as well. A few things I'd recommend: - Use appfigures.com and appannie.com to track your sales and rankings. They provide much nicer reports than those provided by Apple. Also, they'll tell you if reviews come in, and even translate them for you. I'm personally addicted to the hourly ranking updates from AppFigures. - Never stop promoting. Do something (even if it's something small) every day to raise awareness. Getting on the front page of Hacker News is an excellent start! But don't stop there. - Get a 'press kit' of screenshots and descriptions to send to popular app review sites and tech writers etc. Many will ignore you, but the hits are worth it. A great review in AppAdvice completely turned around my app's fortunes. - Don't bother with AdWords - at least at the start. Generally the price per click and the conversion rates won't support the revenue you would get from an app sale. Some people spend big on AdWords to push their rankings, but that's not a reliable way to make money. - Expriment with pricing. Price changes are quick and easy to make. Don't be afraid to raise your price. You might be pleasantly surprised by the result. And if it doesn't work out, you can lower it again. I found I got fewer cranky reviews when my price was higher. but YMMV. - Continue writing honest reports about your app's progress. We see so many news items about huge successes and huge failures, it's a good corrective to see how a 'normal' app fares. - Work on your next app. I just launched my second app in the store and while I'm still not making enough to live on, it's great to get twice as much money coming in. - Have fun. Building something of your own and selling it is great. You might start resenting your day jobs, though.
- wouterinho 15y agoThanks for sharing! What are your experiences with Distimo?
- jwhelan 15y agoWe were interested in Distimo their reporting on rankings. Unfortunately, you have to be in the top 200 (it seems) to get ranking info. Appfigures is better for this. They do hourly rankings (thanks to ajlburke for recommending it, we just signed up today). They do have a nice dashboard and the site is easy to use.
- keithnoizu 15y agoAwesome stuff, Hopefully word of mouth among your existing user base continues to pick-up along with your daily sales, but you are already off to a great start.
- mdellanoce 15y agoThanks for sharing! I'd be interested in a follow-up to see how this Hacker News discussion affected your sales too.
- x1r0 15y agoWe're currently #46 in the Top Paid apps for the Navigation category, so I think it's safe to say that the influence has been substantial. We won't get to see actual sales numbers until tomorrow morning.
- msolheim 15y agoCongrats on your app launch! I’ve been sharing it with all my biker friends. :) Thanks for sharing this info it is very valuable info! You mentioned the disconnect when someone transitions into the App Store. I was wondering if you are signed up for Apple’s Affiliate program and using your unique affiliate link on your websites App Store button. Would that give you any more idea of what is going on inside the App Store?
- jwhelan 15y agoThanks so much. We have not tried this...but you've motivated me to take another look at it. Do you know anyone who's used it?
- msolheim 15y agoI do not. I’m in the process of getting my own app developed and in my research I found that if you sign up for the iTunes Affiliate Program (www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/) , use your unique link where ever you send people to the iTunes Store or App store and you get a commission on anything they buy within a 24 hour session or until they click another affiliate link. So even if they don’t end up buying your app if they buy anything you’ll get a commission! So, make sure you include affiliate links inside your app too. I’m not sure what type of analytics they provide back to you for any purchases or activity but hopeful it’s something to overcome the data disconnect once inside the App Store.
- option1138 15y agoVery good example of why developers are dumb for writing mobile apps. It makes zero business sense with the exception of the very few who sell hundreds of thousands. Apple screws the developers and we all bend over. What a joke!
- pclark 15y agoI don't really like your website. Specifically the image of the iPhone. It's a good size but most of it is the iPhone bezel. There is no way to understand specifically what the app does and how by looking at it. Make it the full iPhone height and add obvious arrows to let the user manually progress through a 3 step "this is what it is" in the form of images.
- x1r0 15y agoThanks for the feedback!
- jbrennan 15y agoThe site won't even load for me. I've been trying on and off over a few hours... What gives?
- megablast 15y agoAlso, what does coffee have to do with bike maps? It looks like your app finds the nearest coffee place, by the first 2 images on your website.
- Macsenour 15y agoPardon me if someone else mentioned this but... have you thought of a free version with ads? You can use IAP, In App Purchase, to go to the paid version without the ads. This skips the App Store "no information" wall by not going to the App Store at all.