IOS development: 60% (or more) of applications do not discourage costs
From the translator : This is a complete translation of the article by Ars Technica, a small part of which was quoted yesterday by the highly respected alizar. It seems to us that it contains many interesting facts, omitted in a brief summary.
There is no shortage of stories about lonely developers who have developed an application for the iPhone or iPad and have earned a resounding success. But in the real world, most mobile application developers do not reach the break-even point, says App Promo, a recent study by marketing firm. Although the research methodology slightly embellishes the picture, numerous developers with whom we spoke described the results - 59% of applications do not bring profit, and 80% of developers cannot support business only on applications - as fairly accurate.
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Apple often boasts that the App Store offers users hundreds of thousands of applications to choose from. However, despite the fact that a large variety helps users, being seen in a large market can be much harder for smaller developers.
“Over the years, I see how the visibility of the applications I’m working on is noticeably reduced,” says developer Pat McCarron. “Right now, your application will never be noticed unless you are on the Top 100 or Top 200 list. Users don't want to always scroll down to search for your lonely application at the end of the list. ”
Paul Cafasis of Rogue Amoeba agrees that the App Store is increasingly becoming a lottery, giving less chances for small developers to succeed compared to reputable companies.
“The App Store is very much like a lottery, and very few companies are at the top of the charts,” says Kafasis. “This is a hit business. Just like in music or books, there are a few big winners, a few more minor successes and a full set of failures. ”
Some developers even say that App Promo's claim is about 59% of applications that do not discourage costs, even a slightly embellished picture. Former NetNewsWire developer Bren Simmons suspects that this figure is “close to 85%,” while Lucius Kwok suggests that it may be “in the range of 90% or more.”
Apple offers almost everyone to try their hand at developing for iOS. For just $ 99 a year, Apple gives access to a development program, development utilities are free to download, and numerous shelves (both physical and virtual) with books offer a wealth of information for iOS developers. While it forms a large developer base for the platform, it also creates a large group of developers who greatly underestimate the amount of time, effort and money that a high-quality application will require.
“The cost of development is usually much higher than people represent,” says Kafasis. “Application development still requires tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Paying back such sums with 99 cents - or in reality with 70 cents - is not easy. ”
Part of the problem may be related to consumer expectations. The fact is that the price of 20-30 dollars, common for desktop software created by small developers in the recent past, was quickly reduced by the App Store to 99 cents or $ 1.99, which we pay for mobile apps. There are many more free apps that monetize through advertisements or freemium purchases within apps.
"Paid applications, despite the price of just $ 1, have a surprisingly high barrier to entry," writes McCarron.
Cafasis agrees. “Users still expect a lot, even from a 99-cent application,” he says. “Worse, everything that is more expensive than a couple of bucks in iOS already falls into the rank of premium prices and you will receive negative reviews only for the price from everyone - from users and from journalists. This makes the cost recovery process very difficult, not to mention making a profit. ”
Another part of the problem is that Apple has little changed the App Store process over four years. Detection of applications for users is a real problem, and search algorithms have led some developers to try and play with the store in SEO (even a similar term has been introduced for search engine optimization in stores - App Store Optimization , for which special applications and offices already exist, purposefully engaged in this), for example, to rewrite titles, descriptions and metadata with given keywords.
To illustrate the problem, McCarron says that Words Play’s application is not even on the first line in the search for the phrase “words play”. Instead, on top of the search are applications that are called “Words With Friends And Friends”.
“We knew that such results would be given out by these words when we chose a name,” says McCarron. “But we assumed that since our name exactly matches the search phrase, we will get first place in the search regardless of anything. Instead, we seem to accidentally jump on the top five, I have not seen us in the first place since the first week, as we started. "
Developers agree that Apple can improve browsing and detection, and the company itself seems to understand this, making a number of efforts in this direction. Recently, Chomp , a service that helps in navigating the shops of various mobile platforms, was purchased . Last week, Apple removed the Chomp app from the Play store, so it’s likely that closer integration with the App Store is waiting for us very soon.
In addition, Apple needs to offer a demonstration mechanism for paid applications. Globular or commercial software on desktops was sold mainly due to time-limited or demo versions. Although Photoshop costs hundreds of dollars, the user can at least download a 30-day demo version in order to decide whether the investment makes sense or not.
“I have met many situations in which I would have bought an application to perform certain tasks,” writes McCarron. But he thinks that consumers would be willing to pay $ 5 and $ 10 for an application if they were able to make sure that the application is useful with the demo version as an example.
Of course, the developers themselves could help themselves more by focusing their efforts. Many developers, inspired by the App Store "lottery" effect, are developing several applications in the hope that one will become a hit. But they could get a great benefit if they would sharpen the capabilities of one that performs its functions as an application.
"It would be better for developers to invest more in fewer applications, in better ones, to build a real business," Simmons echoes.
“I think the best answer is the creation of narrowly focused and limited applications that do one thing, but do it well,” adds Qafasis. "This can lead to the creation of great target applications." But he warns, however, that the constant adoption of this approach will leave a lot of room for applications with broad functionality that can be successful. "Deeper, more expensive applications will find a place for themselves."
The reason for App Promo to do this research is to show the importance of marketing to the success of the application: 51% of developers do not allocate any marketing budget at all. The developers with whom we spoke agreed that this is crucial at the initial stage of the distribution of the application and this, in consequence, can lead to falling into the charts.
“It used to be easier to enter the market without spending money on marketing, but now it’s quite difficult to get through without it,” says McCarron.
“If the application is not included in the charts and it is not supported by Apple , then the only way to get through to the user is the developer’s marketing efforts,” adds Qafasis.
And even with them, success is not guaranteed.
“I think that there is only a small correlation between how much time and effort you put into the application and how successful it is,” writes Kwok. “My most successful apps were pretty easy to do, but they just ended up in the right place at the right time. The applications in which I invested the most time and effort ended in failure. ”
Developer Jonathan Rentzch gave more cynical advice to programmers who are trying to "hack" the iOS market. Instead of starting a business by yourself, consider working for a large company with a large budget.
“It's no secret that money in the App Store is made on contracts for writing applications, and not on selling the applications themselves,” he adds.
There is no shortage of stories about lonely developers who have developed an application for the iPhone or iPad and have earned a resounding success. But in the real world, most mobile application developers do not reach the break-even point, says App Promo, a recent study by marketing firm. Although the research methodology slightly embellishes the picture, numerous developers with whom we spoke described the results - 59% of applications do not bring profit, and 80% of developers cannot support business only on applications - as fairly accurate.
Great expectations
')
Apple often boasts that the App Store offers users hundreds of thousands of applications to choose from. However, despite the fact that a large variety helps users, being seen in a large market can be much harder for smaller developers.
“Over the years, I see how the visibility of the applications I’m working on is noticeably reduced,” says developer Pat McCarron. “Right now, your application will never be noticed unless you are on the Top 100 or Top 200 list. Users don't want to always scroll down to search for your lonely application at the end of the list. ”
Paul Cafasis of Rogue Amoeba agrees that the App Store is increasingly becoming a lottery, giving less chances for small developers to succeed compared to reputable companies.
“The App Store is very much like a lottery, and very few companies are at the top of the charts,” says Kafasis. “This is a hit business. Just like in music or books, there are a few big winners, a few more minor successes and a full set of failures. ”
Some developers even say that App Promo's claim is about 59% of applications that do not discourage costs, even a slightly embellished picture. Former NetNewsWire developer Bren Simmons suspects that this figure is “close to 85%,” while Lucius Kwok suggests that it may be “in the range of 90% or more.”
Apple offers almost everyone to try their hand at developing for iOS. For just $ 99 a year, Apple gives access to a development program, development utilities are free to download, and numerous shelves (both physical and virtual) with books offer a wealth of information for iOS developers. While it forms a large developer base for the platform, it also creates a large group of developers who greatly underestimate the amount of time, effort and money that a high-quality application will require.
“The cost of development is usually much higher than people represent,” says Kafasis. “Application development still requires tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Paying back such sums with 99 cents - or in reality with 70 cents - is not easy. ”
Part of the problem may be related to consumer expectations. The fact is that the price of 20-30 dollars, common for desktop software created by small developers in the recent past, was quickly reduced by the App Store to 99 cents or $ 1.99, which we pay for mobile apps. There are many more free apps that monetize through advertisements or freemium purchases within apps.
"Paid applications, despite the price of just $ 1, have a surprisingly high barrier to entry," writes McCarron.
Cafasis agrees. “Users still expect a lot, even from a 99-cent application,” he says. “Worse, everything that is more expensive than a couple of bucks in iOS already falls into the rank of premium prices and you will receive negative reviews only for the price from everyone - from users and from journalists. This makes the cost recovery process very difficult, not to mention making a profit. ”
Detection, demo applications and marketing
Another part of the problem is that Apple has little changed the App Store process over four years. Detection of applications for users is a real problem, and search algorithms have led some developers to try and play with the store in SEO (even a similar term has been introduced for search engine optimization in stores - App Store Optimization , for which special applications and offices already exist, purposefully engaged in this), for example, to rewrite titles, descriptions and metadata with given keywords.
To illustrate the problem, McCarron says that Words Play’s application is not even on the first line in the search for the phrase “words play”. Instead, on top of the search are applications that are called “Words With Friends And Friends”.
“We knew that such results would be given out by these words when we chose a name,” says McCarron. “But we assumed that since our name exactly matches the search phrase, we will get first place in the search regardless of anything. Instead, we seem to accidentally jump on the top five, I have not seen us in the first place since the first week, as we started. "
Developers agree that Apple can improve browsing and detection, and the company itself seems to understand this, making a number of efforts in this direction. Recently, Chomp , a service that helps in navigating the shops of various mobile platforms, was purchased . Last week, Apple removed the Chomp app from the Play store, so it’s likely that closer integration with the App Store is waiting for us very soon.
In addition, Apple needs to offer a demonstration mechanism for paid applications. Globular or commercial software on desktops was sold mainly due to time-limited or demo versions. Although Photoshop costs hundreds of dollars, the user can at least download a 30-day demo version in order to decide whether the investment makes sense or not.
“I have met many situations in which I would have bought an application to perform certain tasks,” writes McCarron. But he thinks that consumers would be willing to pay $ 5 and $ 10 for an application if they were able to make sure that the application is useful with the demo version as an example.
Of course, the developers themselves could help themselves more by focusing their efforts. Many developers, inspired by the App Store "lottery" effect, are developing several applications in the hope that one will become a hit. But they could get a great benefit if they would sharpen the capabilities of one that performs its functions as an application.
"It would be better for developers to invest more in fewer applications, in better ones, to build a real business," Simmons echoes.
“I think the best answer is the creation of narrowly focused and limited applications that do one thing, but do it well,” adds Qafasis. "This can lead to the creation of great target applications." But he warns, however, that the constant adoption of this approach will leave a lot of room for applications with broad functionality that can be successful. "Deeper, more expensive applications will find a place for themselves."
The reason for App Promo to do this research is to show the importance of marketing to the success of the application: 51% of developers do not allocate any marketing budget at all. The developers with whom we spoke agreed that this is crucial at the initial stage of the distribution of the application and this, in consequence, can lead to falling into the charts.
“It used to be easier to enter the market without spending money on marketing, but now it’s quite difficult to get through without it,” says McCarron.
“If the application is not included in the charts and it is not supported by Apple , then the only way to get through to the user is the developer’s marketing efforts,” adds Qafasis.
And even with them, success is not guaranteed.
“I think that there is only a small correlation between how much time and effort you put into the application and how successful it is,” writes Kwok. “My most successful apps were pretty easy to do, but they just ended up in the right place at the right time. The applications in which I invested the most time and effort ended in failure. ”
Developer Jonathan Rentzch gave more cynical advice to programmers who are trying to "hack" the iOS market. Instead of starting a business by yourself, consider working for a large company with a large budget.
“It's no secret that money in the App Store is made on contracts for writing applications, and not on selling the applications themselves,” he adds.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/143470/
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