THE MERCHANT

OF CUPERTINO
Tales from the App Store

Nate Heagy
Barcamp Saskatoon 2010
AN APP TOLD IN 3 ACTS
 AND WHAT IS THIS?
This talk is meant to
give you a bit of the
stuff it takes to release
an app for the app
store.
Act I: Motivation. Why
every developer should be
making iPhone apps in their
spare time.
Act II: The First Steps.
A quick run-down of what
you’ll need to get started.
Act III: Marketing. Some
tips on the non-code part of
releasing an app: promotion,
release dates, free versions,
etc.
 ACT I: MOTIVATION
Why every developer should be making iPhone apps
 LIKE A GOLD RUSH
The app store presents a unique opportunity
A lone developer can create an application and expect
it to be seen by thousands of shoppers
People will pay for your application
“In the 4 months between launch and the end
of September, I sold 2338 copies and made
$3200”

— Matt Rix, Creator of Trainyard

PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE

Previous Slide
PERSPECTIVE

App Store Feature

 The
x = App
Store
 APP STORE CASINO
A few things can drive up your app’s sales by an order
of magnitude or two:
being featured by Apple
a review on a site like TouchArcade
Good app store sales drive even more sales, so your
best odds are in a good marketing strategy (coming in act
III)
YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU
DON’T PLAY
—Gamblers everywhere
 TRAINYARD
Made by Matt Rix, in
his spare time, just
around the time his first
child was born
Even before Apple’s
feature: “$240 in a
single day”
 TRISM
“Trism has profited
over $250,000 USD
since the opening of the
iTunes AppStore two
months ago”
Built by one developer,
Steve Demeter, in his
spare time
 iSHOOT
“It only took six weeks
from start to finish—
and that includes
learning Objective C”
“I'm not going to be a
millionaire in the next
month, but I'd be
shocked if it didn't
happen at the end of
the year”
 BUT NATHAN,
WHAT IF I DON’T HIT
THE BIG TIME?
An example of app store “failure”
WORD DESCRAMBLER
Developed by yours
truly in about two
weekends, while
working a full-time job
Currently profits about
$500 per month
I consider this the
“didn’t win the lottery”
level, and imho it’s still
pretty damn good.
YOU CAN DO IT
—Ice Cube
 ACT II: FIRST STEPS
A quick run-down of what you’ll need to get started.
FIRST: A MAC
The iOS IDE, XCode,
only runs on Mac.
If you don’t have one:
Refurbs on Apple.ca
are cheapest
NeuralNet in
Saskatoon is most
helpful
Best computer ever,
anyway
2ND: iOS DEV ACCOUNT
Sign up at
developer.apple.com
Free account works to
start, with a few limits:
No device testing
Can’t submit apps
No beta access
2ND: iOS DEV ACCOUNT
Paid account needed to
submit apps
Paperwork and
approval takes a while
—don’t leave until the
last minute
$99/year
 3RD: AN iOS DEVICE
iPod Touch would be most inexpensive
Technically, you can release an app without testing on
a device
You won’t see real world performance
You can’t properly test a UI without one
Good UI is critical on iOS
 4TH: CODE
This part is boring as shit.
NEXT
WHAT YOU DON’T NEED
Much free time
The world’s greatest app idea
Word Descrambler is definitely not my most original
app idea…
Experience with Objective C
ACT III: MARKETING
Some tips on the non-code part of releasing an app
“Take your time planning for
your scheduled release”
— Phill Ryu, Creator of Classics, MacHeist, and
partner in Tap Tap Tap, creators of Calcbot,
Voices, Camera+
 IT’S CRITICAL
Do not launch your app with no planning, crossing your
fingers that someone finds it
Start planning for your marketing on day one
Be patient and take the time to execute your
marketing plan well
Learn from others…
 ABOUT LAUNCHES
App launch always
starts with a big spike in
sales, followed by a tail
One and only time your
app will be at the top of
the just released list
 AN EXAMPLE
First four weeks
of Word
Descrambler
sales
Halved the
second week,
kept falling
from there...
ANOTHER EXAMPLE
Voices
“App Store is very
much like long
distance hot-air-
ballooning… the
best way to balloon
far and smoothly is
to find the highest
starting point”
 EXAMPLE THREE
Trainyard
BELIEVE ME YET?
Take the time to plan your launch well!
 WHEN TO LAUNCH
Pick your launch date several weeks in advance
I suggest 8 weeks from the time you submit to Apple
Your first app will probably be rejected at least once
Blogs need time to review your app
You need to build anticipation
MAKE A FREE VERSION
 EXAMPLE
From Flurry
App Analytics
“Among your
strongest
marketing plays
in the App Store
is to offer a free
trial of your
game or
application”
TRAINYARD EXPRESS
“I had beaten my single-day launch profit record of
$140 with $240 in a single day.”

Free version released

 iSHOOT
Released October 19, 2008
iShoot Lite released on January 3, 2009
On January 11 iShoot became the #1 paid app
16,972 downloads in one day
“Other developers [ask] him if they should produce a
"Lite" version of their own apps. ‘Hell yes!’”
ALSO DO THESE:
MAKE A VIDEO OR 2
Post it 4–6 weeks before your release date
See examples:
Fruit Ninja (140,000 copies sold first 2 weeks)

Word Descrambler
GET A PRETTY ICON
For the most part, this is the single most important
design element in your game.
It’s all most people will see:
GET A PRETTY ICON
Seriously, put some effort into this
If you can’t design a good icon yourself, it’s
probably worth it to find someone that can
More on that in a second…
 NAME WELL
Like an icon, one of the few things that most shoppers
will see
Some successful apps have put quite a bit of
information in theirs.
“Doodle Jump - BE WARNED: Insanely Addictive!”
Then again, “Angry Birds”
 ONCE APPROVED
(It should still be weeks before your release date)
Generate promo codes in iTunes Connect and send
them to all the big review sites like TouchArcade
“I [believe] that Apple monitors TouchArcade
much more than any other site when deciding
which games to feature” —Matt Riz
“I put an effort to try every game we get a promo
code for” —Arnold Kim, operator of TouchArcade
 GOOD UX
A good user experience is critical on iOS

Fixed crash on iOS 4 Sped up launch

WHAT IF I CAN’T DO IT ALL?
Then I guess you’re not Nate Heagy, mate
SURPRISE ENDING
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
Today I’m starting something that’s been in my head
for a while: The iOS Developer’s Business Group
A google group (thus mailing list & web site) to
share information about the business of releasing
iOS apps
http://groups.google.com/group/iosdevbiz
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
Not just developers: marketers, accountants, lawyers,
venture capitalists, oracles, monkeys… anyone with
business skills and an interest in iOS apps is welcome
The ultimate goal: give indie developers an edge in the
increasingly crowded app store
AN EXAMPLE

The only indie app in this list

JOIN TODAY
Almost all of you are invited
THE END

Nate Heagy
twitter.com/nheagy
WIN AT SCRABBLE
Buy Word Descrambler Today!