macnn
08/05/2008, 9:05pm, EDT
Tuesday, August 5th
iTunes pays off big for part time developer
The iTunes App Store is paying off for even part time developers; when developers were uncertain whether they would even meet the $250 store minimum, some have discovered they are making almost $2000 per day. 9 to 5 Mac reveals that Eliza Block, developer of the 2 Across crossword puzzle app, found through the various developer resources that hundreds of downloads per day have translated into the above figure, based on the $6 app.
This success story mirrors others in the industry, such as developer of Where To's John Casasanta, who recorded over $9500 in net sales of his various apps. Marketing costs are also comparably inexpensive, with Casasanta's company spending around $2000 to achieve the aforementioned sales.
Many free applications are seeing a great deal of exposure, with the popular Tap Tap Revenge registering almost a million downloads as of last Saturday.
Filed under: software, iPhone apps
Other story tags: iTunes, App Store
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there's a minimum?
So, if you've got a great idea for an app, but it has very limited appeal, you run into a wall at the appstore? I guess the only way around that is to give it away for free?
No
The smartest thing to do is make a "Lite" version of your app that's free. The Lite version can be limited by not allowing it to save or some thing equivalent.
If it's good, people will spring for the full version of the app. Currently the ratings make or break an app, which I think is nonsense. Especially since 1/2 the reviews are from people who haven't even used the app.
lite? no.
people are inherently cheap. if there's a "lite" version, 90% of people will only use that and, despite how nice the full version is, will not upgrade to the full application... and then complain "why pay for the full thing when you can get this other app for free. whaaa!"
Depends on the app
For instance, you can get the iClip Lite widget for OS X for free. But I bought the regular iClip after trying the widget because the regular app just had so many more useful functions.
My Apps are Selling!
I've got a few iPhone Apps posted, in the range of $0.99 to $3.99 and the ones I've made free are the ones I've been seeing the most income from.I have to say the base number of the "Cheap People" is much lower then "90%". Many of my Lite versions are being picked up to unlock the additional feature sets. I'm personally seeing an 87% for my apps getting the upgrades, on the base sales I have on the Apps Store. Plus the numbers you are hearing about seem low, or maybe I'm just lucky because I'm already getting well over 6 figures from all the apps in just a few weeks. I'm laughing all the way to the bank :-)LITE Versions are the way to go, if the app is good they will buy it for the additional feature set."If you build it, they will come." :-)