The App Storefor (fun and) profit

Jack Nutting www.nuthole.com@jacknutting jacknutting@mac.

com

DIY software business

Things you get to skip

•Web shop

•Payment handling

•Inventory

•Shipping

Things you still have to do

•Software development

•Customer support

•Marketing

Marketing ?!?!

Loads of people who are new to buying software

iOS installed base

100 gazillion!

Lots of these people have never bought software

before.

What prices are developers setting?

Which apps are people buying the most?

Cheaper apps attract more

hatersReducing your price will often decrease your

ratings

The sales channel

The App Store is a hit-driven economy

(somewhat)

How will you make money?

Economy of scale

“Lite”

In-app purchasing

Ad revenue

•iAd

•Greystripe

•Pontiflex

•Google

Build free apps that help people

use your business

Nordnet

Before you write a single line of code,

be smart.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Don’t reinvent the wheel

(or the spinning bottle)(or the spinning bottle)

If you’re going to be a copycat, you

have to add something

A tale of two jumping games

PapiJump

Doodle Jump

People love stories.Even stupid stories.

(Especially stupid stories?)

Pocket God

Don’t make apps that suck.

Make your app as simple as possible,

but not simpler.

Eliminate settings wherever possible. If you can make a choice on behalf of your users, do so.

Begin marketing while coding.

•“marketing”

•Use your social network.

•Find enthusiasts and give them a sneak peek.

•Issue a press release.

•Consider paid advertisements.

A “doodle game” from before there were “doodle games”

QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

•Started coding September 2008

•Submitted to Apple January 2009

•Approx 1 hour per day

Pretty good start!

2009

$ released free “lite”version

Started dropping off pretty quickly

2009

$

Everything

$

listed among“best doodle games”

FAAD

A bit over $20K

Everything, both versions

DLs

listed among“best doodle games”

FAAD

2.3 million people have downloaded

Questions?

Jack Nuttingwww.nuthole.co

m@jacknutting

jacknutting@mac.com