AppStore. How Bills for iPad was # 1 in the USA
Experience from those who created the best-selling iPad app in the US.
There are many articles on how to make money on mobile applications in the AppStore and the Android market. But how many developers were really at the top? Our Bills for iPad program from June 26 through June 29, 2010 was the best-selling iPad application in the US AppStore.
How to make money in the AppStore? Here are the mechanisms that are available:
AppStore, in my opinion, is aimed precisely at the income from the “sale of programs”. Two main rankings, Top most downloaded programs (Top paid) and Top most profitable programs (Top grossing), section “new”, as well as sections of the AppStore, where Apple selects new interesting programs - all this motivates to create new, better products. Hence, such a huge number of programs in the store - over 300,000.
The second mechanism assumes that you have some kind of content or advanced functionality that you provide through your main application. The application itself may also be paid, and maybe free. With the help of internal purchases in iOS programs, both subscription and one-time purchases can be realized.
')
We used internal purchases in one of the programs. The result was an increase in the timing of consideration of the program when publishing, dissatisfaction of some users. It was at the very beginning of the appearance of this mechanism. Users were not ready yet. However, now, this mechanism is not suitable for everyone. At the moment we do not use internal purchases in our programs.
There are several solutions for advertising in iOS. There is a solution from Apple - iAd, there is Google AdSense, there are alternative solutions. We originally tried QuattroWireless, which later bought Apple. We are currently working with iAd and AdSense. The advantages of iAd are more profitable per click, more interactive, it supports the capabilities of the iOS platform, and as a result, more clicks and more profits. Disadvantages - shows ads mainly for residents of the United States. If you have users around the world - while not the best option. AdSense offers ads to all users anywhere in the world. But very low income from this advertising.
In addition to embedded advertising, you can join an Apple affiliate program and advertise iTunes content on your website or within programs. In our case, we do not advertise third-party programs, only ours on our sites. This brings + 5% of sales, which Apple pays out of its 30%. For each region, you need to make your links to Apple content. We only make links for the United States, so we have an additional 5% of sales to residents of the United States who clicked on the link either on our website or in the free version of the program.
Sales = Rating. The store has more than 300,000 programs. It is clear that in this giant pile of applications there are both masterpieces and completely tasteless colorless useless programs. But the main thing that determines whether the program will be sold, whether the program will be found by buyers in the AppStore among many others. If the program is simply not found, then certainly it will not be bought.
Let's imagine how an ordinary buyer behaves. Almost every customer enters the AppStore and sees the main store screen. Then he can perform a search by keywords, or go to his category of interest.
Here’s what the AppStore looks like if you log into it from your computer:
What is highlighted in red are the programs in the top of the rating, the green part is the programs marked by Apple:

Here's how the store looks on the iPhone:
Here is the AppStore on the iPad:
It turns out that both in iTunes and on devices before the eyes of the program buyer are in the top of the rating and highlighted by Apple. How does the search work? The search gives a list of programs in which the search words coincided with the name or keywords of the program. Again, the list is sorted by rating.
Thus, the goal is simple - always be at the top of the rankings. If you are upstairs, they see and buy you. If only those who are interested in this category see you in the category, then in the general rating these are the majority of users of iOS devices.
Sales are growing exponentially. The first ten positions in the rating can take exactly as many as the remaining one hundred or two hundred programs.
Do not take into account those who are purposefully looking for your program. I think this percentage can still be neglected. The rest, see only those products that are above. This desire to buy fashion programs, and the confidence that bad programs can not be so popular, but most importantly - the appearance. They are before the eyes of the buyer in the most prominent place. The more they buy your program, the faster it grows in the ranking, and, thus, it becomes visible to even more people. It is bought even more and it continues to grow further, a certain impulse is created.
Program. Of course, with a bad program, no rating will help. What is the “Good” program? Need to enjoy users and Apple. Here are my factors for a successful program:
You need to create a product from scratch, taking into account the features of iOS devices, and not just to transfer from another platform. This is a key point. You can of course transfer and 1C: Accounting. Only it will be a completely different product.
Apple has a Human Interface Guideline document - UI Design Guidelines. Want to be in good standing - read in detail, no - the program can simply be deployed and not allowed into the store due to inconsistencies with this document.
The product should be beneficial, solve the real problem. Ideally, you yourself should be one of the users of your product. You need it, you make it for yourself as well. Then he becomes perfect.
The uniqueness of the product, your message to the world, this is exactly what users will tell their friends, brag about something new. You bring something new into their life, make it better. Hit them. And your programs snatch like hot cakes. Read the REWORK book from 37signals.
Like Apple - get into the green zone, premium placement and a significant increase in downloads.
Here is the interface of our program:
Marketing. No matter how good the program itself is, Marketing is all, or almost everything. If you solve a problem that is initially interesting to two percent of the population, for example, a guide program for the unforgettable Vasyukov, then you can be sure that these two percent will never help you get to the top of the ranking. A separate art is to pick up a catchy icon, compose an intriguing and, at the same time, clear description, choose the right name and keywords for search. It is necessary to feel the buyer, what is popular among Muscovites, can be badly claimed by the residents of the USA. And here it’s not only in the language of program description, and not in relation to some geographical object, but in thinking. In our experience, US users are the most sophisticated, and their main difference is the high demands on simplicity and ease of use.
Cross selling. If you have several programs in one category, then this becomes an excellent means of promotion. We have established ourselves as a developer of first-class financial software for iOS devices and it works.
Localization. The USA is the largest market in the world. I think this is true for any kind of goods. The largest number of iOS users live there. Want to be successful, you need to be first there. In this case, do not forget about other countries. Geography AppStore is constantly expanding.
Now he works in the AppStore in 86 countries. This means - 86 different stores, 86 ratings for which you can compete. However, not all stores are equally profitable. Our main programs are translated into 18 languages. Here is a breakdown by income by country for the last 2 years:

What happens after the publication in the store. Here you published the program, Apple tested it and allowed it to the store. She begins to sell. And the first few days give a weak signal that there is a demand for it, it slowly begins to creep up in the rating category. In the general rating it is not registered yet.
In the first days, when the program has just been published, you also get into the list of new program categories. But this is less important, the speed of publication of new programs sends you to the invisible zone within a couple of hours.
Then the first user reviews begin to appear. Add or subtract points of our chances to rise higher. If the program is interesting, a blog or a large site can write about it. This may attract new customers and raise even higher in the rating. Separately, I note that online media influence the position in the ranking only briefly. After a couple of days, everything returns to previous positions.
And here comes the important point, if you grow well, and the program is like Apple, they highlight it in the New and Noteworthy section. Peculiar premium placement. There are already buyers see a screenshot of your program within the category.
Further more. Visibility is increasing, and you are still higher in the rankings. If you gain enough momentum, then you get into the overall rating. And there are already completely different volumes.
If the program is unique in its kind, Apple can select it and put it in one of the sections on the main page with the maximum traffic (read “visibility”) of buyers.
Quality jumps start at the following levels (for iPhone and iPad, about the same):
50 in category -> 25 in category -> 10 in category -> 1 in category. Then tezhe levels in the overall ranking. This is due to the number of “scrolling” ratings on the devices screen and the number of displayed programs in the rating when viewed through iTunes, as well as a special selection of the first program in the rating.
Here are the Bills for iPad statistics in the US AppStore:
June 16 - the program is available for download (1 day) - $ 147
June 19 - first place in the category (4 day) - $ 492
June 26 - the first place in the USA (11 day) - $ 4,950 / 3,551 download
June 27 - First place in the USA (12th day) - $ 4,667
June 28 - the first place in the United States (13 day) - $ 3,090
June 29 - first place in the United States (14 day) - $ 1,798

AppStore or Android Market. We have experience in developing and selling software for 4 mobile platforms: Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WinMobile. We have ported similar programs to these platforms, so we can compare them. Of all the platforms for identical products iOS brought more than 99%.
And although the AppStore competitors are constantly improving their platforms and stores, expanding the customer base, the advantages of the AppStore are indisputable:
The second most important platform - Android - is lagging behind in the quality of content, culture and the mechanism for acquiring programs, standardizing devices (screen sizes, performance, firmware upgrade capabilities). Android Market Acquisition Culture - downloaded, and then demanded a refund within 24 hours, this is not at all conducive to the development of projects. As a result, we have difficulties in developing a high-quality interface and significantly lower effective demand.
If the AppStore is a large modern supermarket that optimizes sales, then the Android Market is some kind of Korean-Vietnamese market with no control whatsoever. Suppose you have the best modern product, but they will not pay attention to it, they will not even try it, because among 100,000 programs for Android there is a very large percentage of low-quality applications.
It is worth noting that we are already looking more closely at Android. Recent statistics say that growth rates exceed the growth of iPhone users. An interesting comment about Steve Wozniak about Android , who compared it with Windows, “Android can have a large market share and still be pretty lousy.” Apparently here it is necessary to go on the other side.
In custody. In the article , iOS development is named lottery. I think this is not quite right. For the “average” developer, this is partly true. There are practically no chances with the “average” product. Need to be the best.
I compare the development for the AppStore with venture capital investment. You invest in a dozen projects, you get the most failures, 2-3 that pay for themselves and one star that pays for everything together. Depending on the market sense and the ability to create quality products, statistics may be worse or better.
References:
www.businessinsider.com/mary-meekers-web-2010-11 - Morgan Stanley's presentation on the state of the Web from the WEB 2.0 San Francisco summit.
www.businessinsider.com/steve-wozniak-android-apple-2010-11 - Steve Wozniak on Android.
www.forbes.ru/tehno-opinion/internet-i-telekommunikatsii/52404-iphone-porodil-puzyr-na-rynke - Alternative (Erroneous) opinion on the AppStore business. It's about the "average" incomes of the "average" developer.
appcubby.com/blog - Developer Blog Gas Cubby - the author of one of the first and most popular programs for car maintenance. David was one of the first to open the AppStore and published a number of interesting articles about his AppStore experience.
ibearsoft.com/bills - A page with a description of Bills for iPad on our official website.
ibearsoft.com/appstore/bills - Program in the AppStore. If anyone wants to read user reviews or find out the current rating of the program. Please note that in different countries the program has a different rating.
There are many articles on how to make money on mobile applications in the AppStore and the Android market. But how many developers were really at the top? Our Bills for iPad program from June 26 through June 29, 2010 was the best-selling iPad application in the US AppStore.
How to make money in the AppStore? Here are the mechanisms that are available:
- Selling programs.
- Domestic purchases
- Advertising
AppStore, in my opinion, is aimed precisely at the income from the “sale of programs”. Two main rankings, Top most downloaded programs (Top paid) and Top most profitable programs (Top grossing), section “new”, as well as sections of the AppStore, where Apple selects new interesting programs - all this motivates to create new, better products. Hence, such a huge number of programs in the store - over 300,000.
The second mechanism assumes that you have some kind of content or advanced functionality that you provide through your main application. The application itself may also be paid, and maybe free. With the help of internal purchases in iOS programs, both subscription and one-time purchases can be realized.
')
We used internal purchases in one of the programs. The result was an increase in the timing of consideration of the program when publishing, dissatisfaction of some users. It was at the very beginning of the appearance of this mechanism. Users were not ready yet. However, now, this mechanism is not suitable for everyone. At the moment we do not use internal purchases in our programs.
There are several solutions for advertising in iOS. There is a solution from Apple - iAd, there is Google AdSense, there are alternative solutions. We originally tried QuattroWireless, which later bought Apple. We are currently working with iAd and AdSense. The advantages of iAd are more profitable per click, more interactive, it supports the capabilities of the iOS platform, and as a result, more clicks and more profits. Disadvantages - shows ads mainly for residents of the United States. If you have users around the world - while not the best option. AdSense offers ads to all users anywhere in the world. But very low income from this advertising.
In addition to embedded advertising, you can join an Apple affiliate program and advertise iTunes content on your website or within programs. In our case, we do not advertise third-party programs, only ours on our sites. This brings + 5% of sales, which Apple pays out of its 30%. For each region, you need to make your links to Apple content. We only make links for the United States, so we have an additional 5% of sales to residents of the United States who clicked on the link either on our website or in the free version of the program.
Sales = Rating. The store has more than 300,000 programs. It is clear that in this giant pile of applications there are both masterpieces and completely tasteless colorless useless programs. But the main thing that determines whether the program will be sold, whether the program will be found by buyers in the AppStore among many others. If the program is simply not found, then certainly it will not be bought.
Let's imagine how an ordinary buyer behaves. Almost every customer enters the AppStore and sees the main store screen. Then he can perform a search by keywords, or go to his category of interest.
Here’s what the AppStore looks like if you log into it from your computer:

What is highlighted in red are the programs in the top of the rating, the green part is the programs marked by Apple:

Here's how the store looks on the iPhone:

Here is the AppStore on the iPad:
It turns out that both in iTunes and on devices before the eyes of the program buyer are in the top of the rating and highlighted by Apple. How does the search work? The search gives a list of programs in which the search words coincided with the name or keywords of the program. Again, the list is sorted by rating.
Thus, the goal is simple - always be at the top of the rankings. If you are upstairs, they see and buy you. If only those who are interested in this category see you in the category, then in the general rating these are the majority of users of iOS devices.
Sales are growing exponentially. The first ten positions in the rating can take exactly as many as the remaining one hundred or two hundred programs.
Do not take into account those who are purposefully looking for your program. I think this percentage can still be neglected. The rest, see only those products that are above. This desire to buy fashion programs, and the confidence that bad programs can not be so popular, but most importantly - the appearance. They are before the eyes of the buyer in the most prominent place. The more they buy your program, the faster it grows in the ranking, and, thus, it becomes visible to even more people. It is bought even more and it continues to grow further, a certain impulse is created.
Program. Of course, with a bad program, no rating will help. What is the “Good” program? Need to enjoy users and Apple. Here are my factors for a successful program:
- insanely simple and convenient interface that takes into account the features of iOS devices
- Compliance with Apple requirements and standards for design and quality
- real user benefits
- own vision, product uniqueness
You need to create a product from scratch, taking into account the features of iOS devices, and not just to transfer from another platform. This is a key point. You can of course transfer and 1C: Accounting. Only it will be a completely different product.
Apple has a Human Interface Guideline document - UI Design Guidelines. Want to be in good standing - read in detail, no - the program can simply be deployed and not allowed into the store due to inconsistencies with this document.
The product should be beneficial, solve the real problem. Ideally, you yourself should be one of the users of your product. You need it, you make it for yourself as well. Then he becomes perfect.
The uniqueness of the product, your message to the world, this is exactly what users will tell their friends, brag about something new. You bring something new into their life, make it better. Hit them. And your programs snatch like hot cakes. Read the REWORK book from 37signals.
Like Apple - get into the green zone, premium placement and a significant increase in downloads.
Here is the interface of our program:

Marketing. No matter how good the program itself is, Marketing is all, or almost everything. If you solve a problem that is initially interesting to two percent of the population, for example, a guide program for the unforgettable Vasyukov, then you can be sure that these two percent will never help you get to the top of the ranking. A separate art is to pick up a catchy icon, compose an intriguing and, at the same time, clear description, choose the right name and keywords for search. It is necessary to feel the buyer, what is popular among Muscovites, can be badly claimed by the residents of the USA. And here it’s not only in the language of program description, and not in relation to some geographical object, but in thinking. In our experience, US users are the most sophisticated, and their main difference is the high demands on simplicity and ease of use.
Cross selling. If you have several programs in one category, then this becomes an excellent means of promotion. We have established ourselves as a developer of first-class financial software for iOS devices and it works.
Localization. The USA is the largest market in the world. I think this is true for any kind of goods. The largest number of iOS users live there. Want to be successful, you need to be first there. In this case, do not forget about other countries. Geography AppStore is constantly expanding.
Now he works in the AppStore in 86 countries. This means - 86 different stores, 86 ratings for which you can compete. However, not all stores are equally profitable. Our main programs are translated into 18 languages. Here is a breakdown by income by country for the last 2 years:

What happens after the publication in the store. Here you published the program, Apple tested it and allowed it to the store. She begins to sell. And the first few days give a weak signal that there is a demand for it, it slowly begins to creep up in the rating category. In the general rating it is not registered yet.
In the first days, when the program has just been published, you also get into the list of new program categories. But this is less important, the speed of publication of new programs sends you to the invisible zone within a couple of hours.
Then the first user reviews begin to appear. Add or subtract points of our chances to rise higher. If the program is interesting, a blog or a large site can write about it. This may attract new customers and raise even higher in the rating. Separately, I note that online media influence the position in the ranking only briefly. After a couple of days, everything returns to previous positions.
And here comes the important point, if you grow well, and the program is like Apple, they highlight it in the New and Noteworthy section. Peculiar premium placement. There are already buyers see a screenshot of your program within the category.
Further more. Visibility is increasing, and you are still higher in the rankings. If you gain enough momentum, then you get into the overall rating. And there are already completely different volumes.
If the program is unique in its kind, Apple can select it and put it in one of the sections on the main page with the maximum traffic (read “visibility”) of buyers.
Quality jumps start at the following levels (for iPhone and iPad, about the same):
50 in category -> 25 in category -> 10 in category -> 1 in category. Then tezhe levels in the overall ranking. This is due to the number of “scrolling” ratings on the devices screen and the number of displayed programs in the rating when viewed through iTunes, as well as a special selection of the first program in the rating.
Here are the Bills for iPad statistics in the US AppStore:
June 16 - the program is available for download (1 day) - $ 147
June 19 - first place in the category (4 day) - $ 492
June 26 - the first place in the USA (11 day) - $ 4,950 / 3,551 download
June 27 - First place in the USA (12th day) - $ 4,667
June 28 - the first place in the United States (13 day) - $ 3,090
June 29 - first place in the United States (14 day) - $ 1,798

AppStore or Android Market. We have experience in developing and selling software for 4 mobile platforms: Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WinMobile. We have ported similar programs to these platforms, so we can compare them. Of all the platforms for identical products iOS brought more than 99%.
And although the AppStore competitors are constantly improving their platforms and stores, expanding the customer base, the advantages of the AppStore are indisputable:
- a large number of active device users (121 million iPhones, iPod Touchs, iPads) with continued growth
- payment mechanism (iTunes users are taught to acquire content including applications and music and have registered credit cards)
- single OS version and two screen resolutions
- iTunes
The second most important platform - Android - is lagging behind in the quality of content, culture and the mechanism for acquiring programs, standardizing devices (screen sizes, performance, firmware upgrade capabilities). Android Market Acquisition Culture - downloaded, and then demanded a refund within 24 hours, this is not at all conducive to the development of projects. As a result, we have difficulties in developing a high-quality interface and significantly lower effective demand.
If the AppStore is a large modern supermarket that optimizes sales, then the Android Market is some kind of Korean-Vietnamese market with no control whatsoever. Suppose you have the best modern product, but they will not pay attention to it, they will not even try it, because among 100,000 programs for Android there is a very large percentage of low-quality applications.
It is worth noting that we are already looking more closely at Android. Recent statistics say that growth rates exceed the growth of iPhone users. An interesting comment about Steve Wozniak about Android , who compared it with Windows, “Android can have a large market share and still be pretty lousy.” Apparently here it is necessary to go on the other side.
In custody. In the article , iOS development is named lottery. I think this is not quite right. For the “average” developer, this is partly true. There are practically no chances with the “average” product. Need to be the best.
I compare the development for the AppStore with venture capital investment. You invest in a dozen projects, you get the most failures, 2-3 that pay for themselves and one star that pays for everything together. Depending on the market sense and the ability to create quality products, statistics may be worse or better.
References:
www.businessinsider.com/mary-meekers-web-2010-11 - Morgan Stanley's presentation on the state of the Web from the WEB 2.0 San Francisco summit.
www.businessinsider.com/steve-wozniak-android-apple-2010-11 - Steve Wozniak on Android.
www.forbes.ru/tehno-opinion/internet-i-telekommunikatsii/52404-iphone-porodil-puzyr-na-rynke - Alternative (Erroneous) opinion on the AppStore business. It's about the "average" incomes of the "average" developer.
appcubby.com/blog - Developer Blog Gas Cubby - the author of one of the first and most popular programs for car maintenance. David was one of the first to open the AppStore and published a number of interesting articles about his AppStore experience.
ibearsoft.com/bills - A page with a description of Bills for iPad on our official website.
ibearsoft.com/appstore/bills - Program in the AppStore. If anyone wants to read user reviews or find out the current rating of the program. Please note that in different countries the program has a different rating.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/109725/
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