[quote=203558:@Dave S][quote=203519:@Michel Bujardet] Sales in the iOS App Store are so dismal, I will probably not touch iOS for a while…/quote]
No kidding… I have a retro StarTrek game… sold 18 copies
but even worse I have a calculator that (my opinion) rivals PCalc (one of most popular in the iOS Store)… and NOBODY HAS EVER EVEN VIEWED IT and its been over 3 months![/quote]
It is quite similar to what I got, with less than half a dozen sales for a title that sells well in the MAS, and in the Windows Store.
This market is utterly alien. The worse is the quasi impossibility to stand out organically, such is the number of apps and the completely inadequate search.
Maybe the only way is through free apps and somehow find a hook for a pro version ?
At this point, and pass the enthusiasm of the technical discovery, I do not think iOS development is anything I need or want to be involved anymore. I realize the learning curve was there, but when I see the tremendous amount of time I invested for one app, it very much looks like a waste.
Heck, I was complaining about the Windows Store, but I did have to report sales to the tax man this year. I am in the starting blocks eagerly awaiting the Millennium Bridge that should allow Xojo apps to be sold in there. At least I know there is a market. If the bridge was not here in say, six month, I’ll probably go back to my initial plan of listing in the Windows Store and sell on my own web site, even if kind of cumbersome.
And on the Android side, at least, my little free app I did to get a hand on B4A is regularly downloaded. I am seriously considering a more serious foray.
The MAS and the Windows Store can to an extent be promoted through shareware packages, if people do not feel like buying direct. But the iOS App Store is completely locked in.
I am sure at one point the inadequacy of the App Store is going to bite them. Unfortunately, by then , developers will have given up.
I’m still thinking that the way to go with iOS store is a free app with iAd, and a paid pro app with no ad.
but for now it seems iAd is not doable (in xojo) even with declares ?
[quote=203652:@jean-yves pochez]I’m still thinking that the way to go with iOS store is a free app with iAd, and a paid pro app with no ad.
but for now it seems iAd is not doable (in xojo) even with declares ?[/quote]
From what I hear, iAd is not always getting the results one would hope. I have read time and again in Apple developers forums it was simply not worth it. I suppose a very popular app can be profitable, but not everybody has the means to be Candy Crush. There were even analysts saying the scheme was simply no good.
Nothing prevents you to advertise in the free app for the Pro version. I have been doing advertisement for my other products in the MAS in all my apps, and even for other friendly Xojo developers products Sort of a cross pollination. The only rule is that you should not nag the user with bad dialogs, or be disruptive for the use of the app. As far as I know, crippleware is not allowed. That would be a program where a button would say ‘Gizmo’, and when the user taps or clicks he gets a dialog like ‘Gizmo is only available in the Pro version’. Tactfulness is the name of the game.
What you really want is In App Purchase, so the user can directly get the Pro version from within the free app. Jason King is currently working on a solution. You may want to ask him.
[quote=203652:@jean-yves pochez]I’m still thinking that the way to go with iOS store is a free app with iAd, and a paid pro app with no ad.
but for now it seems iAd is not doable (in xojo) even with declares ?[/quote]
What is needed is a way for users to FIND your app, regardless of if its free/pro etc. But now unless it is something the blows the socks off the reviewers at Apple it simply disappears into the catalog with the other billion apps
Indeed, the “free” effect has less appeal today to very jaded users than an old prostitute in the shadows of an unknown road. Then people won’t care about yet another app, iAd or not. Like it or not, the market for iTunes apps is more similar to music than anything else. If you are not one of the top ten, forget it.
Sort of a cross pollination. The only rule is that you should not nag the user with bad dialogs, or be disruptive for the use of the app. As far as I know, crippleware is not allowed. That would be a program where a button would say ‘Gizmo’, and when the user taps or clicks he gets a dialog like ‘Gizmo is only available in the Pro version’. Tactfulness is the name of the game.