In my opinion, companies and people developing an iPhone application can be devided into two categories: those who want to jump into this exciting market with a new kind of app or established tech web sites or services wishing to capitalize on iPhone traffic in order to drive additional traffic to the service. The aim is the same for both groups – get more downloads of the app.

An iPhone app start ranking in category as long as it has enough daily downloads. Once the app is ranking in specific category or in overall rank (wow you lucky!) you start getting natural AppStore downloads. If the app is good – downloads will increase and thus the rankings will increase as well.

The topic I cover in this post is getting initial downloads needed for the app to start actually ranking in the relevant category of AppStore. If you don’t follow at least one of those steps below (the more the better for sure) your app will end up nowhere in AppStore and be lost among 45.000 apps available.

1. Change the release date of the app as soon as it’s approved for sale!

By default, your app is released with the date of submission. Change that to the date of approve (during 24 hours since approval). The date will be changed and the app will pup up in Recently Released list of Desktop and Mobile AppStore 2-4 hours after that. Presence on the list gives immediate downloads! As long as you go down the list number of downloads decrease. Once the app is on the page 3-4 the number of downloads from it are minimal. The only way to get back on top of that list is to submit an update to the app (can be very minor) and do the same change of date again.

2. Have a marketing strategy behind the app or hire a PR company

You need to get immediate downloads in order for the app to show app in TOP100 of category – remember?

Here is the overview of marketing methods that are generally used for the promotion of iPhone apps in order to get that initial traffic.

Important
1. iPhone app review sites (there are about ~300 of those with ~10 big ones)
2. Mainstream and tech, mobile review media
3. Social media (digg, bookmarking, commenting, twittering)
4. Press Release distribution sites
5. AppStore optimization strategy
Optional (extra cost incurred)
6. Facebook ads
7. Google Adwords ads
8. Admob ads
9. Banners on iPhone review sites
10. Other custom and sometime guerrilla marketing methods

Tags: changing the release date for the iphone app, iphone app marketing, iphone application marketing
Posted in iphone development | No Comments »

Nokia, mobile phone giant, is finally getting into AppStore business with the launch of Ovi AppStore. The launch was a disaster – they probably had to much press coming out and experience a huge traffic spike. While I write this post the Ovi home page says ‘We’re sorry, Ovi.com is unavailable at the moment’. I’m sure they will figure it out and get it right in a matter of short time and developers should start getting their hands on (use this link to register as a publisher). It took me about 10 minutes to register our legal entity as a publisher. Way faster then with Apple AppStore.

Applications published on Ovi have the potential to reach 50 MLN of devices right now and 300 MLN of devices by 2012 according to Nokia. This is why you might want to become the publisher ASAP. It looks like there is only 536 applications on AppStore and some of the phone models have a few apps only. This might be a gold rush for early publishers.

Nokia believes that Ovi Store is the best opportunity for Flash developers to reach Nokia users globally, targeting 50 million users at launch in May and up to 300 million by 2012.

Revenue split between publisher and Nokia? Home page says 70% of revenue goes to developer but digging further in terms you find out that it’s true as long as user pays by credit card, once it’s operator billing you end up with 50% extracted for tax and operator fees and the resulting amount is multiplied by 0.7 which leaves the publisher with much lower payout.

Credit Card Transactions
Developer will receive 70% of end user price, less applicable taxes, returns, refunds, and bad debt.

Example Calculation
Purchase Price: 5€
Tax Deduction: 5€ – 10% tax = 4,50€
Publisher Revenue: 4,50€ x 70% = 3,15€*

Operating Billing Transactions
Developer will receive 70% of end user price, less applicable taxes, returns, refunds, bad debt, and operator billing charges ranging from 40% – 50%.

Example Calculation
Purchase Price: 5€
Tax Deduction: 5€ – 10% tax = 4,50€
Operator Billing Deduction: 4,50€ – 40% = 2,70€
Publisher Revenue: 2,70€ x 70% = 1,89€*

Technologies/programming languages supported?

Symbian Applications, Java Applications, Web RunTime (WRT) Widgets, Flash Lite Appications

Useful process start-up links:

Ovi Developer Discussion Forums

Documents: Publisher Guide, Billing Matrix, Supported Device List as well as FAQ section

Developer Wiki

Actual Ovi Store where you can browse published apps.

Signing application issue explained

Good luck with development and see your content on Ovi soon!

P.S. We were lucky to register www.ovidevelopment.com and www.oviappreviews.com domain names a while ago, if you have a partnership or purchase offers for those please feel free to email to peter (at) moveyourweb.net

Tags: ovi, ovi appstore, ovi development
Posted in cool links, flash, game development, iphone development | No Comments »

Apalon, our game development and animation arm is definitely having a busy week launching several projects at a time. There were more then 100 online news and review publications about those projects during this week so I’m going to list major news here:

It started on Monday with the release of Drunk Sniper iPhone Application which was released last weekend and immediately started generating buzz online:

http://www.venturebeat.com/2009/05/11/drunk-sniper-an-unofficial-sequel-to-those-iphone-beer-apps/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/may/13/ifart-iphone-applications-apps-apple

http://www.digg.com/apple/iPhone_App_Turns_iPhone_into_a_Penis

http://www.appleiphoneapps.com/2009/05/drunk-sniper-realistic-beer-relieving-experience-on-your-iphone/

http://www.iphonesavior.com/2009/05/drunk-sniper-the-ultimate-iphone-pissing-game.html

Tuesday – browser based animated MMORPG Disciple released together with Resistor Productions LLC and MMORPG.COM. Disciple had 12.000 preregistered users and during 4 days it raised to 15.000+ :

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/12/disciple-is-a-real-time-player-to-player-fantasy-battlefield-for-adults/

http://www.venturebeat.com/2009/05/12/resistor-productions-launches-a-bloody-browser-based-game-for-adults/

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/405/feature/3030

http://www.digg.com/playable_web_games/New_MMO_lets_gamers_hack_people_s_heads_off

Wednesday – Sparta – iPhone Game developed for Pockey Monkey Games is released and becomes popular the same day. I see it in TOP50 Games USA and TOP100 overall while writing this post.

Looks like half of Apalon folks was working day and night this week – me for sure. Luckily the weekend is here and we can take some rest now.

Tags: apalon, iphone application development, mmorpg development
Posted in cool links, corporate events, flash, game development, internet marketing, iphone development, management | No Comments »

We have 5-8 apps in production simultaneously at the same time now which means that we deliver multiple applications in a month. Now what we experienced during the delivery is that several of our customers didn’t have iPhone developer accounts needed to publish the app or actually they started applying for it but it was not not yet ready. That puts the success of any application at risk, because the number of apps on AppStore is skyrocketing and chances high that competitor will release the same app tomorrow. So get iPhone developer account early if you still don’t have it!

The registration process consists of multiple steps and takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months of time. If you are in USA and quick in furnishing Apple with the data required you might get it during 2-3 weeks time. Here is the brief guideline on what to expect from the registration process:

1. Apply for iPhone Developer program
2. Fax business documents that Apple requests after review of initial application (Apple will email the reqs)
3. Agree to iPhone Developer Program License Agreement (Apple will email the link)
4. Pay the membership fee. If you are not in the list of supported countries email to devenroll@apple.com and ask to provide IDP Billing Form for manual CC processing
5. Receive the account activation code from Apple and apply it
6. Login into iTunes Connect and fill in ‘Free Apps’ Contract, ‘Paid Apps’ Contract, Wire Details for payment, Japanese sales agreement and ‘Available on AppStore’ artwork license agreement as well as W8-BEN form for foreign developers .
7. Mail ‘Paid Apps’ contract, ‘artwork license’ agreement, ‘Japanese sales’ agreement to Apple and wait till they review those and fully activate your account.

Frequently Asked Questions:

- How can I speed up the process?
Reply: If at a certain point you don’t hear from apple for more then a week – start calling them +14089744897 or emailing to devenroll@apple.com. They are overwhelmed with the applications so couple of reminders will not harm

- Shall I receive EIN if I’m a foreign developer?
Reply: Up to you. We’ve been talking to Apple billing department numerous times and they confirmed that providing 000000000 (9 zeros) instead of EIN/TIN is an allowable option. They report AppStore payments to be commission as opposed to royalty so there is no withholding of tax or reporting on form 1042 at year end. There is a big confusion caused by the list of countries that have double treaty but this is valid for iTunes and not AppStore since AppStore sales are put in a different fashion. So you just pay taxes at your country not USA.

Some foreign developers prefer to obtain EIN/TIN (afterall it’s a 10 minute call to IRS 1-(215) 516-6999. Make sure you filled SS-4 to dictate it to a representative).

- Can I pay by wire transfer for iPhone Developer admission fee?
Reply: Not any more

- Are the payments from sales coming in multiple currencies?
Reply: Yes. Make sure that your bank account is capable of receiving multiple currencies and converting those.

- I’m an indie developer and don’t have fax to send documents to Apple. Any online solutions?
Reply: PamFax on Skype – reliable and dirt cheap

- How do I pay for iPhone Developer Program if my country is not in the list?
Email to devenroll@apple.com (make sure you include identification code) and request iDP BILLING: Credit Card Processing Form. You will need to feel it with CC details and fax over to Apple

- If I have further questions on getting registered – will you assist me?
Reply: If you are our customer – email to your Project Manager ASAP! If you are a random visitor to the web site – try posting your question in comments to this blog entry.

Posted in outsourcing | 1 Comment »

Everyone releasing iPhone application should submit URL for the application web site along with the other app data. While we were just adding extra page dedicated to the app description to our customer’s web sites in the past it might be time to consider creating stand alone web sites now. There are 30.000+ apps on the AppStore now and hoving another ’stand out of the crowd’ factor will definitely be useful. The question is to what degree. If you have opinions – please comment.

Developers has already started it, but it’s still hard to find the best sample. Folks from WebDesignerDepot has come up with the collection of 40 best-looking iPhone Application Websites up to date.

Also I would be interested to hear other developer’s thoughts on traffic that AppStore is bringing to the web site and other useful stats on the subject.

Tags: iphone application development, iphone application websites
Posted in iphone development | 1 Comment »

I noticed that Apple is testing (or releasing) the updated AppStore review system today. So far the new system is visible on selected apps. But the number of those is growing fast.

Customer Rating are introduced. Instead of posting a review a customer can leave a rating in the special menu which is quick and easy and see how much reviews are already left.

Customer Reviews are broken down into ‘current’ version and all versions of the app. Review date and version number shown with particular reviews. Apps that are submitted as 1.0 versions have limited functionality and users generate a lot of feedback (not always positive). Based on how well developer reacts by releasing updates users tend to improve there ratings. New review system is encouraging developers to come up with better products and is generally more fair to developers.

Thanks Apple for making steps towards organizing 27,000 apps on AppStore better. Kill the “rate when you delete” issue next Await for official news.

Update: AppStore mobile version is being updated as well. I dropped on time while all Reviews were turned off.

Tags: appstore customer ratings, appstore customer reviews, appstore update
Posted in iphone development | No Comments »

As an iPhone developer or a publisher you are eager to know the sales stats for a certain applications on Apple AppStore.

We noticed that it’s possible to guess the sales of a particular app by looking at the number of reviews of application in the AppStore. Sure, this is very relative guess and can give the results which differ up to several times but still it’s good for a guess. Knowing if an app made 1.000, 10.000, 50.000, 100.000 or 500.000 sales can really help with understanding the preferences of iPhone users. Please note – we talk about paid Apps with no specific geo-targeting placed in USA AppStore since it’s the biggest one. Generally this is the case for 95% of Apps out there.

Let’s compare the sales numbers published online vs number of reviews those Applications have and come up with the ratio:

- Ocarina, reports $1MLM in revenue on Dec 13th, 2008 with price changing from $1.99 to $0.99. Rough guess: 700.000 units sold by now with 1255 reviews. Ratio: 550:1

- iFart Mobile. Is at 300.000 units right now based their twitter post and on the sales data they published when the app was in TOP1 of all categories. Has 769 reviews. Ratio: 400:1

- Trism reported 250k in sales with the price being $4.99 and ultimetly dropping to $2.99. Our guess the guy made 200.000 unit sales. There 545 reviews now. Ratio: 350:1

- Wooble sold about 10.000 units for one week and has 50 reviews. Ratio: 200:1

And the last piece of info: calculate sales of the apps which have at lest 30 reviews. Smaller number of reviews could get irrelevant sales figures for many reasons, e.g. the first reviews could be made by friends and family of the Application Developer.

We welcome you to post sales data vs number of reviews other applications in comments and will be updating this post accordingly.

Tags: iphone application development, iphone development, iphone sales data, iphone sales figures
Posted in iphone development, management | 13 Comments »

Everyone is excited about Iphone platform these days. With about 15 MLN devices sold so far it makes a huge new audience to target. A great deal of our customers and partners is coming up with the ideas for the Iphone Applications. I love talking to people about their ideas – being a business development person in nature it makes a good part of my day. All the Iphone-related requests can be divided into three categories according to my experience:

- Make another kick-ass application that will hit TOP10 AppStore. With stories like that popping up the internet every day there is a bunch of folks out there that think they have another great idea for the app. And I’m sure some of those will hit the jackpot!

- Port existing application or web service to the Iphone Platform. This is very wise move typically! Literally there is a wholly new audience waiting for the service which you provide on the web and not yet on Iphone. Be the first and gain competitive advantage over competitors. Now I heard the stories from CEO’s telling that they not only managed to increase the audience for the main service they provide but to earn some extra buck from the Iphone App sales.

- Update the web sites so they are displayed correctly on the Iphones. That is the simplest but smart move as well. With adoption of Iphones people started using Internet more heavily on mobile devices. So yes, it’s time to update your web site if you still didn’t do so.

Now the funniest thing about all Iphone-development buzz is that experienced app developers charge up to $150-250 per hour and some are booked up for the coming months. There are lots of talks about Interactive Agencies rejecting <$30k Iphone development projects because of the gap between the demand and available experienced developers on the market. MoveYourWeb is here to help as always! We have enough talent pool onsite and keep charging at a fraction of the rates mentioned above. Even after one of our apps was featured by Apple team.

Tags: iphone, iphone application development, iphones
Posted in iphone development, outsourcing, web development | No Comments »

The the post of October I was suggesting that Belarus is one of the best choices for outsourcing destination in those hard times. While it’s storming the exchange rates of many customers chances are high that local salaries of people will be eroded and the purchasing power will become less. Not the case for outsourcing industry in Belarus. Below is the extract from our post last year:

Worth case scenario for crisis is that devaluation of the belorussian ruble will occur which will be a hit for the country but not the outsourcing industry. In fact it will win in this case (consider employees being able to purchase more for the same salary).

On 2nd of January, 2009 Belarus’ central bank sharply devalued the belarusian ruble, allowing the currency to plunge 20 percent. It’s not my intention to cover the reasons and effects of this change on the economy and citizens. What’s I’m going to highlight instead is that the developers and other tech folks in Belarus started earning higher salaries overnight (of course the prices for commodities will be increased eventually). That is the case for all companies who are export oriented – the compensation of employees increased and so the satisfaction. Happy New Year to everyone!

Tags: belarus currency, currency, outsourcing
Posted in outsourcing | No Comments »

It’s a holiday time! We wish you and your family a peaceful, joyous holiday season and stability in 2009. We will happily keep supporting your business in the coming year!

Take a minute and see a greetings card created by our animation folks

You can also watch it in HD quality (youtube finally came up with the way to do it!)

Tags: greetings card, greetings cards, holiday greetings, joyous holiday season
Posted in cool links, corporate events | 2 Comments »