7 ms·
My Experience in the Educational Apps Market – 2013 report
- PierreA 13y agoLet me know if you have questions (I'm the lucky indie dev who wrote the post)
- tonyedgecombe 13y agoAren't you afraid that by posting this you are going to attract a lot of unwelcome competition?
- maxerickson 13y agoI bet they already have plenty of it.
- PierreA 13y agoactually I've done this report in 2011 and 2012, and at this time this was really a good question because there was not so much competion. Nowadays as maxerison unerlined, there is a lot of competition (and I'm happy to still have a good visibility). I was even wondering if it was interesting to publish my report this year (I mean not only for my ego) but several devs told me that it was inspirational and give them energy to read such posts...
- goldenkey 13y agoPierreA, it was indeed inspirational. Partly because you're immensely talented. It's easy to make utilities with programming chops. But you made something so much more, you made an artistic, learning, _EXPERIENCE_. Kudos Pierre, your apps are super high quality and the colors are just blooming, very fun stuff, even for an adult like me to just mess around and watch the pretty colors fly around, or the ball physics. Cheers mate.
- PierreA 13y agoThanks - it's just because I'm still a kid somehow, so I like it to be fun for kids like me ;-) For the UX, I worked in this field so I've got some experience/feeling/theoric knowledge in this field. Pedagogy knowledge comes from having homeschooled kids - you need to learn (and also you experience) how kids learn the best way.
- sivetic 13y agoI'm glad you chose to publish the report, as even skimming it (will read thoroughly later) I found it really useful. It is great to see some real-world figures about what app makers are able to earn.
- mildtrepidation 13y agoOh wow, now that I actually hit the article, I remember at least one of the previous articles! Congrats, glad to see this is still going strong!
- booop 13y agoIf you'll only spend your time working on a product for some niche that no one has found, you'll end up with nothing. Competition is inevitable, so it's best to face it and never fear it.
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoYes its a fundamental precept of any new business idea that existing competition validates the idea, it doesn't shoot it down.
- tonyedgecombe 13y agoWell I work in a niche with lots of competition, some of it strong, some not so strong. I'm not convinced that I'd want more of it though.
- pcharles 13y agoIt wouldn't matter. He's got the ball rolling & momentum + brand recognition. It would take as long if not longer for a newbie to try & copy his methods. Even if they do, it doesn't mean you'll succeed or even persist through adversity.
- ClayM 13y agoNo questions - but a thank you, as I'm one of the people who has given you money. Your apps, if nothing else, are an excellent way to distract our kid if we go out for dinner :)
- NDizzle 13y agoI just want to give you a nod of appreciation. It takes a lot to put yourself out there like this consistently. Thanks.
- slashedzero 13y agoTwo of your apps mention Montessori by name, which makes me wonder how often you are criticized for using her name in vain? My wife is a Montessori teacher and would flip her shit if a parent ever substituted the real montessori numbers/letters (usually sand paper letters) for an app. Montessori would've surely been incredibly against an app for children young enough to learn anything from sand paper letters.
- PierreA 13y agoIt is a big discussion in the Montessori community. Some montessorian love my apps, some wants kids to play only with wood objects... Nobody knows what would think Maria Montessori but since she was an innovator, I think she would be open-minded and uses all the tools that can help kids to learn. If you check my last app about tracing letters, the sense of touch coming from the sand paper has been replaced with sound (another sense). Anyway, I say it again: the iPad is just another tool, it does not replace all the existing materials.
- pcharles 13y agoWould you recommend a technical person to create the apps (design & coding) themselves or outsource it? You're giving up a little bit of control but you may be able to get more done faster Thoughts??
- PierreA 13y agoit really depends on your skills. Coding is one thing. Designing is another and graphics and third one. If you are weak in one, you should get help... I'm good in coding and designing but I'm not so good in graphics and for some graphical tasks I outsource, and always ask for feedback about the graphics I do. Of course I forget a very important one skill : marketing !
- pcharles 13y agoVery true. I'm decent at coding but not so good with designing & graphics (so I have no problem outsourcing that). I've also spent a LOT of time over the past few years building up my marketing skills. So I hope to divide & conquer. Thanks for the feedback!
- malloreon 13y agoWhat's the breakdown in iOS versions you have to support? I imagine educational buyers probably aren't picking up the latest and greatest hardware.
- PierreA 13y agoI support all ios device (but you need at least ios5.1).
- epaga 13y agoWow, thank you SO much for sharing these numbers. It seems to me a huge part of your success was due to you picking a niche (Montessori) with weak(ish) competition and making a high-quality product in that niche, would you agree with that assessment?
- PierreA 13y agoI think my luck is that I was here at the beginning of the /marketiPad. I was not thinking the market would grow so much. Using the Montessori name was not a big marketing plan actually (I was really dumb about marketing 3 years ago - just check the name of my company, it is really not good - especially for the US Market!). It was just because the concept was coming from a Montessori activites my homeschooled daughter was doing... Some people told me that it was a very good marketing to have used the Montessori name, and now I agree but at this time I didn't know that. My second app and 3rd app has no "Montessori" in the title because I don't want to use this name too much (perhaps I should because my work is always inspired by Montessori methods we use at home...) Anyway, picking a niche and sticking to it is definitively something important and that worked well for me. All my apps are in this niche. As a final note: when I release my first, there was almost no competition. The market was empty.
- austenallred 13y agoI'm not familiar with Montessori and the search results regarding what it is are confusing. Is it a company that produces educational products that haven't been "digitized" or a theory/method?
- PierreA 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education Now there is a lot of discussions on how this approach can be translated to touch devices because moving things in the real world is something important in the approach. But most of Montessori people thinks that it is just another tool that can be useful (I think that too - it is just another tool) and there are certified Montessori teachers (I'm not) that are doing apps, and a lot of teachers told me that they love my apps
- kubiiii 13y agoGreat find, I will try out your apps with my daughter. Congratulations on your success. Escpacially since I never saw theses apps promoted on the app store. Bonne continuation.
- PierreA 13y agoall my apps were promoted on the app store (thanks Apple to help some indie!) but apps doesn't stay for long featured (competition!)
- kubiiii 13y agoAlso liked on facebook. Finding quality (educational)(french) apps is a pain in the derche on the app store. I have already installed/uninstalled dozen of crappy apps. I think there is also room in the web or traditional french medias for success stories like yours. Did you get some exposition?
- PierreA 13y agoFrance is strange. I've got articles in NYT but never in french major medias. Recently, I've got more exposure in the US App Store than in the french app store... Perhaps I don't know the right person (or big medias are not interested in apps for kids ?) - or I just need a french PR
- kohanz 13y agoAre those revenue numbers before or after Apple takes their cut? Either way, it's very impressive, but at one point the $1M is listed as "sales" and another it is labelled "profit".
- PierreA 13y agoyes it is after Apple cut. Sorry for my bad english - I should use profit I believe. I've got a little bit of expense but not much since I work alone and from home. I just have some royalties to give back to a text to speech engine for one of my app (I think it is around 30/40K for all my expense for 2013)
- kohanz 13y agoVery impressive. Thank you for your response and overall transparency!
- pcharles 13y agoDo you see yourself expanding to other app niches outside of education?
- PierreA 13y agoNo.It would be very hard to succeed, I believe. My brand is only known in the educational space. But sometimes I really like to create a game :-)
- aliirz 13y agoThis further proves the lack of decent apps in the educational market. I am glad this worked out well for your PierreA, congratulations.
- PierreA 13y agothanks - but I don't think it is the case anymore. There are indie,big publishers, funded startups that are doing great stuff (some have based their business model on my previous reports!!). As I've said, when the iPad was released nobody thought that the iPad could be useful for education and that there will be iPads in a lot of schools...
- wil421 13y agoNice this is awesome I dabbled in iOS dev one summer but my simple apps looked horrible. If you can find something that targets children the parents will buy. When I worked in a restaurant you wont believe how many parents would just give the kid an iPad/iPhone so they would calm down, worked immediately. Kudos for making an app that actually has the kids learning instead of some trippy cartoon to watch. 2.99 is a good price to pay for a decent app any more and I probably would look for something else, the days of .99 across the board are long gone.
- scrrr 13y agoSeems like bad/lazy parenting, but hey.. good for our industry.
- PierreA 13y agoLet's say that you can't always play with your kids, so sometimes it's nice that they have some toys to play with...By the way, my kids are just around with friends and they are playing with.. Playmobil (whereas there 5 ipads available)
- wil421 13y agoYes some cases it was bad/lazy parenting. A few times I saw whole families that would each have their own tablet with minimal interaction with each other. But those were extremes most families would take away the tablet during the meal or after. Kids tend to get crazy in anticipation of the food, the tablet calmed them.
- apierre 13y agoFélicitations! Funny we almost have the same username here :)
- sivetic 13y agoA local school recently voted to introduce iPads into schools. Immediately following the vote, there was a huge backlash from the parents about why the school thought it was a great idea to give a platform for messaging and gaming to their kids. I wish more parents and educators actually understood the benefit and potential of computers in classrooms. Thank you for helping the cause in a huge way!
- PierreA 13y agoThe issue in schools is that older kids are smarter that the teachers and can fool them to do what they want on the iPad Or simply they can the hack the device to do what they want - there was a big story in LA schools about this - but I believe it is learning as well no ? I remember I learnt a lot about security and Unix when I was hacking the network of my university 20 years ago :-)
- wmeredith 13y agoMaybe they should give iPads to the teachers, too ;)
- DennisP 13y agoA school system in my area did it and got a lot more support, but had to stop for now because the kids broke so many of the iPads.
- coob 13y agoHi Pierre, competitor here :) As to your query about Perhaps a good alternative is to create two apps: one free with IAP and one paid (but I don't know if Apple is still OK with this). We do this with our primary education maths apps[1], one version unlocked fully and paid (marketed as 'for schools') and one with a certain amount of content free and more unlock able with IAP. Apple have not had a problem with this. [1] http://eurotalk.com/apps/en/age3-5/maths/ http://eurotalk.com/apps/en/age3-5/maths/
- PierreA 13y agoyes it is still an open question for me. There are many big brands that don't do this - why ? I think everybody is experimenting in kids'app world - it's not clear as in games where (consumable) IAP are very profitable.
- jpkenobi 13y agoI think it's mostly because it's harder to market two apps than one. From my experience (I'm also developing educational apps for kids), what makes an indie iOS app a success is more and more determined by Apple's decision to feature it, and going up in rankings. With two apps, it'll be twice harder to get in the top 10, and you'll have to choose between one of them to be featured.
- coob 13y agoOur Maths stuff has not been featured (not counting What's Hot, which is algorithmic as far as I can tell), yet it has hit top grossing in the category in a few major stores.
- jammmuel 13y agoI'm wondering whether Apple will ever offer either: 1] a dedicated education app store, invisible to non-volume purchasers. 2] a mechanism for allowing volume purchases of in-app content.
- Groxx 13y agoAnd from what I've seen, the paid-IAP users' reviews get lost in the free reviews. You split your high-quality reviews (from people who like it well enough to pay) into two pools, and then poison one of them. Worse yet, since people tend to try free versions first, you're funneling a lot of people into the poisoned review pool.
- altcognito 13y agoHey Pierre, Thank you for this post. First, because I use your apps with my kids and they love them. Almost certainly one of the reasons your applications sell is because they are very good. It was recommended to me by a relative who is a teacher and I know she recommends it to others. These types of applications are the reason I purchased a tablet device: I am a very stingy person, but if a tool will engage my children in learning, I am happy to separate with my cash. (we use the app with our kids together) Second of all, it is just good to have this perspective on the market potential for a well made app. I'm disappointed about the Android market, I hope it improves.
- PierreA 13y agoThanks ! Yes it's not a secret that the best way to market app is word of mouth but the issue is really to get a large user base so that it works. Happy to read that you play with your kids with my apps - I'm always thinking about that when I do an app because it is very important for me.
- sampaq 13y agoCongratulations for you success! Would you say that the most important reason of your success is you penetrated a relatively new market with a good product early, and it was easier to gain traction and build a large user base that you can now cross-promote your other apps? Merci d'avoir partager l'histoire de ton succès. C'est toujours inspirant et surtout éducatif ;) Bonne continuation!
- 13y ago
- randomhero 13y agowhich text to speech engine did you used? or is it your own?
- PierreA 13y agoit's Acapela. it's impossible to build your own text to speech engine if you want quality - it's years of R&D to have a very good one.
- tsuriyathep 13y agoHi Pierre, thanks for your new inspirational article and your previous one. I have 3 kids and attempted the educational apps market 2 years ago, I didn't have nearly as much success as you. My games are not pure education either, so maybe that's my issue, but they are more educational than my competitors. Do you have any specific advice for my situation? Congrats to you! http://www.littlefivegames.com http://www.littlefivegames.com
- PierreA 13y agokid's game market (not "purely" educational) is more competitive, and you have to fight with big players like toca boca/disney/nickelodeon. So you have to innovate even more. I've seen great apps disapearing from the charts in 2 weeks. Did you try free with not consumable IAP ? Did you try to work on your keywords ?
- tsuriyathep 13y agoI have my top two games Wood Puzzler and Exotic Pet Puzzler in the education category, they are geared towards learning the alphabet and have lots of extras. I recently tried keyword stuffing the title as I've seen others doing, but it hasn't had any affect. Both those games have paid and free-with-IAP, which works well. My most recent game below, we've done tons of free/paid marketing and cannot penetrate at all, maybe 1-3 sales per day. Thanks again. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exotic-pet-puzzler/id717805944 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exotic-pet-puzzler/id7178059...
- FridayWithJohn 13y agoFirst off, thanks so much for sharing your data PierreA. What I find really interesting is the massive gap between your sales down on essentially the iOS market vs the Android market. Do you have any idea why this might be the case?
- ommunist 13y agoThank you for the post, Pierre. It is very rare such figures appear for to be viewed by average Joe. As one can see the consumer market is very much biased towards the US. Is it because of marketing or because EU markets are so small? Is Russia relevant as an app market?
- PierreA 13y agoIf you put all EU markets together I think you've got something as big as the US (although one would need some figures to prove that). Now the issue is that you need to market in each country and in a different language. In addition, it is very complex to localize an if you do a literacy app - language, culture, way of learning, testing with teacher, etc... I don't know the size of the Russia market but I think it is the 10th if I remember well just after France (also to check on reports like Distimo's)
- ommunist 13y agoThank you very much. If you are interested to localise for Russia, let me know.
- bonzq 13y agoPierreA, jcampbell1 said you are immensely talented and he meant the app you created. I agree with that but there is one more thing to that, and that is the way you use English. I suppose English is your second language (so is mine) but how clearly you express yourself and what a pleasure it is to read your blog confirms that you're a super talented guy.
- PierreA 13y agoThanks ! According to my wife who is english to french translator - which helps me a lot to check my writing - my english is not so good ;-) But I believe it is enough to explain clearly what I want to say
- callmeed 13y agoPierre, thanks for the great post. I have one question for you: I've heard that the download:rating ratio for iOS apps is around 30:1 and you can, therefore, estimate an app's downloads by multiplying ratings by 30. Do you have any thoughts on this? You seem to have a higher ratio based on your numbers and the ratings in the app store. Thanks again.
- PierreA 13y agoI've never heard about this. Some apps have a lot of "fake" 5-stars rating and are not performing very well...
- josephlord 13y agoI think the ratio for at least free apps that don't pop up a request to review the app is MUCH higher. It is at least for my small scale app. I don't have any fake reviews (although there might be two or three from friends and family) and while I don't have metrics for the number in active use the number of updates downloaded on a recent update was 130 times the number of reviews I have and the total number of downloads is well over 400 times the review count. Review counts and download numbers global. A user generally only sees the reviews in their own country's app store I think. I really don't want to do it to the user experience but I might have add a pop up requesting rating when a user has used the app enough, I've only had a couple of reviews in the past few months.