I think the 99 cent concept is strictly one of peer pressure. No one is forcing you to sell at that price. If you don’t have a mass market app and want to sell it on the MAS for convenience then sell it at $499 if that’s what it’s worth.
My apps right now are not there because I have a rep/dealer network that makes money from sales and I also sell a lot to Windows users. But i do have an app that I wrote for another customer that I am thinking of putting up on the MAS but it won’t be 99 cents. I’ll sell it for what I think it’s worth. If people want to buy it there - fine. If they don’t - who cares. I’m not going to be a victim of the 99 cent peer pressure. People who do that are dumb unless the app is really worth 99 cents. The issue with selling on the MAS is you have to jump through hoops and give 33% of your sales to Apple. For this app I am thinking about - it’s fine. If I get incremental sales on it from the app store it will be fine because the big customer that I developed the root app for is really the one where I am making my money.
I think the concept of a 99 cent app did not come so much from music sales as it did from iOS app sales.
And speaking of iOS, my iOS version of my main app when it’s available to be built with Xojo won’t be 99 cents either. Probably more like $50 or $100. But it will also require a purchase of the desktop app in order for it to be able to work and get the data it needs.
I have 16 apps in the AppStore. 3 apps are free and the remaining ones are to be had for $0.99 to $11.50. The ranking in the AppStore does not have to do directly with the sold apps. I have an app in the category finances. The app was on place 3 on the best-selling apps, and on place 6 on the most buyed. Although I had sold only 2 licences for $4.59 and my app had a better place than “WISO Steuer” for $31.90. Does somebody know according to which criteria the ranking is calculated?
I have purchased web development software in excess of 99p. I go to MAS to find software I want and rarely by the 99p software (as I find it is normally worth 99p). The let down is the lack of try before you buy but you will find that any reputable developer worth who cares has a trial version on their website. I try it out and then when/if i’m happy I will go back to buy and i’m happy to pay £20, £40, £60 or whatever the price tag may be if I think it is worth it.
I think if you are churning out apps that are low effort quick money spinners then you are not to expect good money for them. If you are a specialist in your area and have put effort into your software and have a good demo which people can try before they buy then you can expect more than 99p an app.
In my view badging your app at 99p is valuing it at the bottom of the pile with the rest. Punch higher and make sure when you do it is worth it to your potential customers or you will get uncovered.
I am toying with the concept of double whammy sale as well. I have been selling fonts for learning handwriting forever, and several customers have now expressed the desire to switch transparently between Mac or PC and iPad. Since the font format is the same, there is room for an iOS app that comes with fonts for PC/Mac. Will see when I get there, but it could be an argument to keep my $19.99 price tag. One thing is for sure, 99 cents is out of question.
This confirms my observations : people who had enough visibility before they went into the MAS can leave it and probably do because of the stupid sandboxing rules and idiotic reviewers.
As far as I am concerned, my school products still vastly outsell the MAS on my website, for instance, so the MAS is just icing on the cake. For other fonts such as calligraphic or other decorative fonts, the balance is in favour of the MAS. I also have small utilities I launched in the MAS that sell anecdotically outside. So without the MAS they would not be worth it.
All and all, I find the MAS extremely convenient to reach worldwide. For domestic US, my web sites work better.
I suspect one of my next apps may not be suitable for the MAS since it cannot please the cretinic reviewer crowd, so I will probably launch it through the evaluation archives (Aka shareware), which gives a pretty good exposure.
It works fairly well for Windows software, so I suspect applying the same marketing techniques to Mac software through MacUpdate, Softonic, CNet and others may lead to decent sales.
Of most interest is the way they are going to transition Apple Store buyers to 2.5, the new app detecting the MAS one and unlocking the update.
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Just did that, works like a charm.
I downloaded version 2.5 of coda and upon first run it discovers the MAS version. Then it asks for a name and email and then I was emailed immediately a new key for the just downloaded version. For free.