Develop for Android or iPhone - Which is better - FIIIIIGHT

[LindsayManning]

Riiiight then, it looks like there is a healthy debate coming up on the mobile apps market and that is who should we be looking at developing for.

I think I already know the answer and will put forward my argument because I want a healthy debate so I am well informed before buying my kit and jumping in.

I have been recently looking about for an iPhone job. I had heard rumours that the USA developers were cleaning up and in some cases demanding $200 an hour because of the demand for apps writers.
This obviously made me want to get an iPhone right away and a MacBook and get right into learning COCOA and XCode so I could claim some of this lucrative market.

Firstly I wanted to find these people that are paying extortionate amounts for developing apps. What I actually found across the Apple developer communities is people who want to sell their ideas for you to run with and see if you can make something with it, or they all want to give you the idea, have you do all the work and write it and then split any profit with them 50/50.
So it seems there are a lot of people that want to leverage the iPhone to make money from apps, but they don’t want to pay developers to do it, they all want rewards from just coming up with a concept. And while original concepts are worth paying for, most of these ideas are bound to be rehashes of current ideas.
I also thought about my own ideas for what could be handy for an iPhone developer, I had loads, from auto handwritten Postcard services from when you are travelling, to help me solve the Rubik’s cube apps.
It turns out that everything has been done before (that is why I can put some of my ideas up here because I know they have already been done).
Everything from shopping lists that are linked into your supermarket account, thru to games that use the accelerometers to bounce a basketball.

I heard recently that there are about 400 new Apps per day coming out on the iPhone so chances are whatever you want as the saying goes (there is an app for that).
So I want to see what competition is out there.

The main runners as I see it in the smart phone world are:
iPhone
Android
Palm Pre
Windows Mobile

I think personally I can dismiss Windows Mobile because even though they are trying to claw back some reputation for their ASP.NET compact framework, they are too far behind now to compete in this market and are better placed for touch screen panels and Pocket PCs and other areas.
I can also dismiss the Palm Pre, because although I love the look and idea of it, I think the fact that they are now under an O2 exclusivity contract is going to stop them from ever getting to the stage to fully compete with the iPhone.

So this leaves Android. Good old faithful Google...
I guess I started writing this post because it has just been announced that Google has launched its free Sat Nav service this week. This is a sat nav service that not only can show Google Earth photographs, but can even go down to use the new Google Street View. It can also hook up with Google traffic watch, and basically does everything that a top end Tom Tom or Road King can do (on a device that costs less and can be used as a phone as well).
I believe with one foul swoop they have probably just killed off the Sat Nav device business and firmly positioned themselves as the best and cheapest (free) service, so who can compete?
I also believe that because Android is Open and the phones aren’t locked then I can take my Vodafone pay as you go SIM and plonk it straight into an android phone and it will work (unlike the iPhone with its locked device state).

So what about the business models and their future?
The best analogy I've heard is that Android is like Windows - runs on many different hardware set-ups whereas iPhone OS only runs on iPhone hardware. So it's the classic Windows vs MAC debate all over again. And the windows approach (lots of hardware support) is the proven winner over time. I don’t want to start a Mac / Microsoft debate on here, and I am not saying which is better, Windows or MacOS, I am saying the business model is making Microsoft more profit still than Apple on the software side. If you don’t agree that Windows software is still making more profit than MacOS software please start the debate on another thread.
AAANYWAYS..
So I think the Android is going to get stronger and stronger.
I think that is my informed choice of next Gen phone that is the most future proofed.

Also and most importantly. I think that is my choice of phone to start developing Apps for. One great thing about that is they haven’t already been done. I can take some of the more popular apps from the iPhone and Port them over, or I can take my ideas and run with them knowing they haven’t already been developed.

So I guess I have written enough to start the debate. What are other peoples thoughts?
Just as a side note - As for Android devices, I am thinking that the HTC Hero is currently looking like the best Android phone on the market and would be the one that I might go for as my development kit.

So after extensive research and trying to make sure I don’t follow a dead horse (VHS versus BETA MAX and Blu Ray versus HDDVD etc..)
I believe I now know what platform I want to start developing things for.

I’ll let you all know when I have developed my first app and when I have anything coolf for you all to have a look at.

Cheers,

Lindsay.

 

[DotNetWebs]

Interesting post - thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I have a few ideas for mobile apps myself would like to see a clear market leader arise before I pursue it further.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Regards

Dotty

 

[Gillie]

I have an android phone, had it now for quite a few months so I keep reading all the information out there at present and yes, I keep reading about how surprised everyone is with the android platform ...

I am noticing that there is now, especially with the new Android 2.0 a lot more buzz about this system etc and from my viewpoint, especially with the mighty google behind it, can only see it going places.

EDIT and yep I have the HTC and adore it!

 

[ivebeenstiffed]

Hi,

Thanks for this posting - very interesting.

I too am facing the same dilema.

I want mobile versions of my taxi fare calculator written and have been pondering the same question.

I have written an alpa version for Windows Mobile CF to help me get the necessary functions into the webservice but, like you, I'm not sure which platform to take on next.

My current thinking is to go iPhone and then Blackberry, in that order. Im not sure about Android yet as, and I could be wrong, it doesnt have the market penetration as yet.

Trev
www.taxiroute.co.uk

 

[Gillie]

Hi,

Thanks for this posting - very interesting.

I too am facing the same dilema.

I want mobile versions of my taxi fare calculator written and have been pondering the same question.

I have written an alpa version for Windows Mobile CF to help me get the necessary functions into the webservice but, like you, I'm not sure which platform to take on next.

My current thinking is to go iPhone and then Blackberry, in that order. Im not sure about Android yet as, and I could be wrong, it doesnt have the market penetration as yet.

Trev
www.taxiroute.co.uk

If you are in doubt about android etc, check out the marketplace to see what applications are on offer at present, as I did see something along the lines you are chatting about on there only a few days ago.

http://www.android.com/market/

 

[LindsayManning]

Hi Gillie.

Which HTC do you currently have? Is it currently upgraded to Android 2.0?

I have been looking into the differences between the HTC Magic and the Hero. The Hero I think is the one that is going to cause the hype for a true iPhone competitor but the Magic might be more than enough to develop on and comes in at over £100 cheaper.
One site I found says that the Magic handles java whereas the Hero doesnt.
I dont know why they would drop a feature in an upgrade, and I dont really know if that is a factor if java isnt really used on it (need to find out if that means javascript in a browser as well).

Anyways since writing this post I seem to have been digging deeper and coming up with far more questions than answers heheh.

One definate thing I have found that I like with Android development is the SDK can use the Eclipse Ganymede or Galileo development environment (free on Linux) and I have been getting to grips with that with a few PHP web apps recently. While not quite Visual Studio 2008 it still isn't bad.

There are definately a few factors that are pushing me towards the Android setup. I do still like the iPhone though, and you do see a lot of people with them out constantly playing with them. You know the people, the ones who update Facebook profiles every hour are all doing it from an iPhone

 

[garyk]

Well guys it is possible you could target multiple platforms with a single tool. phonegap.com is an example of such technology which lets you target iphone, android and crackberry at the same time. Another one is appcelerator titanium so it seems your initial dilemma Lindsay is a common one that is slowly being addressed. I say slowly as the issue with these technologies they are all in early stages at the moment. But I do think these things will grow and cover more devices, like the pre which looks like you write in html/javascript.

As for Android, yes it remains to be seen how well it will go, having the big G behind it is surely a good thing but it doesnt 100% guarantee its success. I think the problem with different hardware is that it then makes it much harder for developers to take advantage of all the features of each individual device. My concern is that being an open source OS attracts people who like OSS and therefore *may* not as quick to part with their money as say iphone owners for apps.

For me as an iphone (read Apple) fanbois I think the iphone still has massive potential and dont forget if you are selling apps there is the base of ipod touch users which will also grow as owners of older generation ipods upgrade. I'm currently going through the pain of objectiveC/Cocoa development for iphone as I think it has a very strong commercial model. That said I agree with your sentiment entirely Lindsay, just writing an app is now not enough, there is so much on the app store you are fighting for visibility but that is an issue you will face on any platform if the equivalent stores get as busy.

Gary

 

[andrewb21]

I'm an iPhone owner and all I can say is that iPhone is great and has billions of application

 

[edmondscommerce]

I would go for android just because I really think the following suck:

1. Iphones are locked down to specific mobile providers

2. You can only develop on a mac


Both of those are in my opinion unnecessarily greedy and corporate things to do. It turns me off completely, even if the handset is really slick.

now you've told me about that sat nav thing, it just cements it even more.

 

[LindsayManning]

Thanks for your input. You are right about the iPhone has hit the market already so is it better to concentrate on whats popular now rather than trying to guess what next years winner will be?
And even if the Android does make massive in roads, the iPhone is definately here to stay alongside it. It wont be getting pushed out of the way completely.

Plus with the iPhone like you say its like writing for a games console. You know everyones hardware is the same and will run it the same rather than needing minimum specs.

I dont trust those generic (all device) development kits at the moment Gary, I just know they will all hit a small hurdle during implementation that cant be overcome. I much prefer working in the intended SDK / IDE for each device.


Hmmm so Gary, when you say you are diving in right now because of the good commercial model, are you thinking of developing your own ideas to bring to market, or are you intending to sell your services to other people to allow them to get an app to the store?
I think my experience with the latter is what has made me wonder if the market is now hitting capacity for iPhone apps.

That being said I was very surprised to see on the gadget show that it was the motorbike game that far outsold the facebook app the other week.
Maybe if I thought about producing a game for a handheld rather than an app then that would make my decision easier (the iPhone has accelerometers and I have already written stuff for the wiimotes).



musings over....

 

[edmondscommerce]

has billions of application

this turns me off as a developer...

probably wouldnt even be able to sell enough apps to cover their various fees never mind my actual development time

 

[LindsayManning]

I absolutely agree edmondscommerce. Those are exactly the reasons I have tried for as long as I can to shy away from the whole iPhone development and looked to see what the competition holds.

I have been a Pocket PC developer for years and could still argue merits with the Windows Mobile Compact Framework (I wont though).


However is that a smart business move? iPhones do seem to go hand in hand with people with disposable incomes.

 

[Gillie]

Hi Gillie.

Which HTC do you currently have? Is it currently upgraded to Android 2.0?

I have been looking into the differences between the HTC Magic and the Hero. The Hero I think is the one that is going to cause the hype for a true iPhone competitor but the Magic might be more than enough to develop on and comes in at over £100 cheaper.
One site I found says that the Magic handles java whereas the Hero doesnt.
I dont know why they would drop a feature in an upgrade, and I dont really know if that is a factor if java isnt really used on it (need to find out if that means javascript in a browser as well).

Anyways since writing this post I seem to have been digging deeper and coming up with far more questions than answers heheh.

One definate thing I have found that I like with Android development is the SDK can use the Eclipse Ganymede or Galileo development environment (free on Linux) and I have been getting to grips with that with a few PHP web apps recently. While not quite Visual Studio 2008 it still isn't bad.

There are definately a few factors that are pushing me towards the Android setup. I do still like the iPhone though, and you do see a lot of people with them out constantly playing with them. You know the people, the ones who update Facebook profiles every hour are all doing it from an iPhone

I have the magic and after having a previous touch phone for nearly two years prior to that could not imagine going back to keypads and little keyboards etc.

Yes I now have 2.0 as the phone does go away and update itself as does any decent piece of software I would suppose. Will admit it took a fair while to do it and it did take up a lot of battery that day, and I am still getting used to some changes I don't like, such as not being able to restart a download and having to wait for the phone to do it itself ... (I have no patience!) but yes its working brilliantly and the mere fact I don't have to think about syncing laptop/pc/phone so appeals to me, knowing all my contacts/diary/emails etc are available on all of them.

Sorry getting carried away slightly there ... I enjoy the phone and enjoy when fed up and bored of browsing the marketplace and seeing what I can download that particular day.

 

[garyk]

I dont trust those generic (all device) development kits at the moment Gary, I just know they will all hit a small hurdle during implementation that cant be overcome. I much prefer working in the intended SDK / IDE for each device.

Yes I know what you mean Lindsay, they can charge for their services but if you hit a wall what can you do? Apple wont support you thats for sure.

Hmmm so Gary, when you say you are diving in right now because of the good commercial model, are you thinking of developing your own ideas to bring to market, or are you intending to sell your services to other people to allow them to get an app to the store?
I think my experience with the latter is what has made me wonder if the market is now hitting capacity for iPhone apps.

Both if I'm honest Lindsay, I have spoken with a couple of US iphone developers who make as much money doing stuff for others as they do actually creating apps. Capacity maybe but I think just like the 'net there is money in niches on the app store. There isnt 'billions' of apps like someone said, there are 85,000 and there must be more than that for windows but people still keep making em and selling em!

That being said I was very surprised to see on the gadget show that it was the motorbike game that far outsold the facebook app the other week.
Maybe if I thought about producing a game for a handheld rather than an app then that would make my decision easier (the iPhone has accelerometers and I have already written stuff for the wiimotes).

Yes I was reading the breakdown today and games are much more popular than other apps. I'll dig out a really useful site I found recently that has lots of good iphone related links.

Its a shame they didnt charge for them to get a better reflection of the response. As both apps were free its difficult to tell how well they would have done if they were paid for apps. It was staggering to see Suzi's game reach over £1m+ downloads and that was with no promotion.

Anyways show me your new toy (80s targa?) and I'll show you my new toy (74 targa), I'm the p'boro side of Bedford (just off the A1)!


Cheers


Gary

 

[edmondscommerce]

However is that a smart business move? iPhones do seem to go hand in hand with people with disposable incomes.

Interesting point..

there will be cash to be made in both camps

probably large amounts but small turnover on the apple side and high turnover low amounts on the android side

of course, only if you actually create something people will be willing to pay for

 

[LindsayManning]

Hi Gary, yeah its an 82 Targa. and I've just had my first summer with it.
Oooh it was gawjuss

(best not go off topic..)
Ahem..!

about your quote: edmondscommerce

of course, only if you actually create something people will be willing to pay for

I wonder if any other phone fans would be up for paying for the "I Am Rich" App (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Rich)

I think I am turning towards the iPhone still (keeping one eye on the Android), if only for the App Stores ease of bringing something to market.

EDIT: Having said that I have just seen I am richer came out for the $200 limit on androids app store and they said its okay to stay there.

 

[edmondscommerce]

i'll never come up with ideas like that

unbelievable

 

[avalore]

As a developer for iPhone, Android and the Ovi store I much prefer the iPhone for personal projects.... at this moment in time, although I think this will hold true for some time yet.

A lot of money is being made on the iPhone app store, admittedly mostly in the games category, but there are still a lot of people struggling to get more than a couple of downloads/day at £.59. Some people say this is because there are too many apps.... personally I think this is because there are a lot of BAD apps.
If you take the time to develop a quality app with an excellent UI then your chances of making some decent money dramatically increase.
Since the launch of the app store there have constantly been new additions of 'unit conversion' apps. Traditionally none of these have sold particularly well. Until someone developed one with a beautiful and easy to understand UI. This app has actually made some decent money, compared to the rest, this is because the developers have put some effort in developing a fast, easy to use and good looking app. This may be to do with iPhone owners being the type of people who appreciate good, clean, apple-esque interfaces but I think it will hold true on other app stores too.

The other problem with developing for other platforms, at the minute, is that many mobile apps are what I call hit-based-apps. This means that rather than large teams, spending upwards of 6 months on an app we see a tendency towards small teams spending UPTO 3 months on an app. This is because most of an apps sales are at the beginning of its life and quickly dwindle down. Yes you can boost this with updates, marketing, etc but it still doesn't dramatically increase sales. Of course there are exceptions to this, but in general it seems to be true.
Because of this there is less risk in continuing to develop for the iPhone, especially when it is still increasing its market share.


Also, on the note of making money from iPhone development there is, in my view, 3 methods
1) Develop and release your own apps
2) Develop apps for a 3rd party
3) Develop white label apps

1) You take all the risk, spend time developing and deal with marketing yourself

2) If you can find the work, you have less risk but less potential for future reward if the app becomes popular (unless on a revenue share in which case you have more risk)

3) You approach multiple companies/organisations/etc selling them their own branded iPhone (or whatever platform in the future) app for a fee (cheaper than bespoke app development). All of these companies want the same style app but branded for themselves.
You develop the app and change branding/content for each customer.
This works best where there is a very large group of companies to sell to.
I have successfully used method 3 to sell 4 contracts so far and lots more to contact. Selling 1 covers my cost of time and development.
As a very basic example of this, you could develop an app to help the user find details about their local council (contact numbers for departments, directions to different offices, etc, etc). Then sell this to each council with their data and branding. Obviously this is a very basic example and has flaws but gives you an idea of what I mean + I'm not about to give away the apps I am currently working on .

Just my 2 pence worth

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Is it just me?
I have just re-read the above posts,and didn't understand a word of them.

 

[LindsayManning]

Thanks for that very informative and experienced post. I think that was exactly the advice I needed to read.
From what started out as a real dilemna this morning and was swaying me away from the iPhone in favour of the Android, I think I am confident enough now to say its still the iPhone is best to start off with.
Perhaps in future if I move over to more mobile apps then I can shoe in some Android and crossover ports.

Thanks again everyone for chipping in to this.

L

 

[DotNetWebs]

This looks like an interesting development:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/

We currently build applications in ASP.NET and Flash. If this lives up to it's promises we could simply port our applications to the iPhone using CS5 and cut out the need to convert to Objective C etc.

Regards

Dotty

 

[Upshot Media]

Interesting debate, as a company who offers development of iPhone Apps it's something that comes up in conversation on many occasions, I think iPhone is one of the most popular in terms of Apps today (nothing to back this up just gut feeling and discussions), others will catch-up maybe.

Anyways this is why we are looking to expand and offer development of Apps for multiple platforms - anyone with ideas, we can offer cost effective models to suit all requirements, large or small - sorry could not resist the plug...

Stuart

 

[Lukejenx]

Android is picking up mind... Not just the G1 and Magic now, there's tons. Soon going to be many more than apple have... If there's not already.

 

[edmondscommerce]

OK so another angle on this question..

which apps will make the most money:

platform & basic app type

will it be the same kinds of apps on both platforms or will the iphone apps be more in the im rich camp and the android ones in the more utilitarian camp.. or what?

 

[avalore]

I think that ultimately apps in the Android market place could have the same potential to make cash as apps in the iPhone app store. There are however some key improvements that Android will have to make for this to happen.

1) App browsing - Currently to browse through apps for Android you essentially just have the mobile interface. No iTunes equivalent or close. Many people browse apps, for the iPhone, through iTunes as they find it easier to find what they are looking for, more information, easier/quicker access to ratings, reviews, etc. Plus it makes it quicker to download larger apps (> 10mb) such as games etc.
Until Android introduce something similar I think they are going to struggle to push as many apps as the iPhone does to their users.

2) Payment systems - Apple have made it incredibly easy to pay for an app, this encourages impulse purchases and fits in with the general trend that (this is a generally accepted statistic) most users have 15-45 seconds spare time to use/buy an app.
Any app store/market place wanting to compete with the iPhone app store seriously needs to make their app payment systems as quick and as simple as possible.


One other problem, or issue to consider, with Android is the number of different devices. Google produce the OS and not the phones, it is just licensed. This means that when your developing an app you need to either develop for a particular phone or spend much longer in development to support the myriad of features that the different phones have (physical keyboard, touch screen keyboard, different cameras, screen sizes, resolutions, etc, etc).
As android adoption increases amongst handset manufacturers this could become more of a problem to developers and also the popularity of the android market place.

 

[LindsayManning]

Hi again. This has turned out to be a reeeeeelly interesting thread to me.

Avalore, I agree that Android are going to hit hurdles with App delivery and purchasing.
It is also a relevant argument to say that there will be many Android devices to develop for which could make it more expensive, but going back to earlier arguments, that hasnt stopped PC applications and games from being more popular than Apple Mac applications and games (the fact that there are many more flavours of PC and chipsets to make sure your software runs on).

So why am I still fighting a little bit for Android. Hmmm it has to be that it is Google. I love Google, I love the whole ethos of it, and I love their ability to rise above the rest without losing too much of their original business plan. I love to think that they will continue to produce things like free sat nav and hopefully their new Wave will open up whole new worlds of business connectivity from a mobile device. I have to say I am using wave now, and WOW, thats a whole new conversation right there as to how the future of communication life cycles can be replayed and kept up with.

Anyway - There hasnt really been a convincing argument so far as to why to go the route of just one of them, so I think the next stage is to get one of each and give it a go on both.

My business partner has just informed me that vodafone are doing the HTC Hero and the iPhone 3GS is coming soon so its time to get one of each, start off with a hello world, move up to a client server app, then finally take one of our ideas off the ground either on both of them or one that I find easiest at that point in time.

I will post any rants somewhere in this forum along the way heheh

Speak to you all soon,

Lins.

 

[DotNetWebs]

...start off with a hello world, move up to a client server app, then finally take one of our ideas off the ground either on both of them or one that I find easiest at that point in time...

I would be very interested to hear how you get on with this so please do keep us informed.

Regards

Dotty

 

[Bewdy]

Well, speaking from experience, I recently completed developing an iPhone app for my business, and if I had to do it again, which I doubt I will, I would only target the gaming sector. And it would have to be an absolutely unbelievably main stream and ground breaking concept for me to do that.

The app I produced has got the backing of an international drum manufacturer, and while the app itself has received wide praise in the press and user base for it's usefulness and implementation, becuase it is both targetting a niche, and also out there with the other 100,000 apps now on the market, it isn't making me a rich man, yet. So beware!

The key to a succesful app sale, on whatever platform is awareness. And with the massive flooding on the app store that is increasingly harder to do. I'm sure all the developers who feature on the TV adverts for apple are rubbing their hands together in glee, but for the rest of us, it is a difficult path, and that's coming from someone who has the support of a major international brand behind them.

 

[avalore]

Of course there are going to be difficulties for the majority of people developing apps to make money, its essentially a market place that is less than 18 months old, there's a lot to learn.

In the past we had the difficulty of being able to produce an app but had no distribution system. Now, with the introduction of app stores we suddenly have an amazing opportunity to reach millions of users around the world with our applications. This presents a whole new problem: How to stand out from the crowd and sell enough copies to make it a viable business.

This will be true of every major app store in time. As android becomes more popular there will be an increasing amount of apps just as has happened with the iPhone app store, the same will happen with the Ovi store and any other platform worth developing for.

We need to learn about the specifics of marketing for mobile app stores (what works/what doesn't) and become better at gauging how many sales to expect when taking price, brand, functionality, etc into account.


I think a lot of people are expecting to make vast amounts of cash from developing apps, sure this has happened in the past but is becoming less and less common. Because developers still believe this they are spending more money/time on development and becoming disappointed when they dont make £100's per day.

One app isn't very likely to make you rich, successful development agencies are learning to speed up the development process allowing them to continually release applications, this is a viable business. Smaller teams, quicker development, more apps.


Your drum app, and I hope you dont take offence to this, although it does look very nice has some problems, in my opinion, with its placement in the market....
Like you said you have targeted a niche and partnered with an existing brand, great! However the price point of £2.99 is right on the cusp on impulse purchases. Many people (according to a number of surveys) start to stop and think about purchasing an app at the £2.99 point.
I dont know much about the drumming world but a quick look seemed as if the brand you partnered with is known for selling drums? and not producing learning materials? I would prefer to have seen a 'learn to drum' app partner with an existing learning provider.... Just a thought.
There are some promotional/marketing tricks/techniques that are specific to app stores that you may or may not have used to increase sales? Such as making good use of voucher codes for your app... not just with app review sites but industry related magazines/websites to get promotion. Some other useful techniques are starting off with a lower price (as a sale) to increase downloads and get in the top 100, then increase the price when you have a good rank. And then again go on sale when your rank/downloads start to slip.

Like I said hopefully you didn't take any offence to that, just a couple of thoughts. It does look like a very nice app (no I didnt buy it ), I dont know what promotion you did and I'm not part of the drumming world so I could be wrong, apologies if I am! I also think your app could work quite well with in-app purchasing to increase revenue.


Ultimately I think there are a few routes to follow on the app store
1) Games - Not every game makes a lot of money but it is generally accepted that a large amount of the sales take place in the games category
2) As Bewdy said a ground breaking and/or mainstream product
3) Rapid development of small apps, continually introduce apps that are basic and sold 1 problem (small set of features)... there is still lots of room in the segment. Dont add lots of features to an app, 1 or 2 features but done very well with good tactile design.
4) Expand on already popular apps to make better use of platform (for example many apps do not make good use of in-app purchasing- done well this could be an extremely positive boost to a number of apps)


Anyway, sorry for the rant, its good to write down ideas (its more for myself than you guys )

 

[Bewdy]

No offence taken, I'm sure there must be good explaniations as to why I am not sitting on top of a pile of money wearing a jeweled crown after my forey into the app store world!

With regard to your comments though, the only thing I haven't tried is altering the price point of the app, which is something I may consider when it gets official launch with the international marketing, as at the moment I have only been able to really heavily market the app in the UK, though it is on sale worldwide. But promo codes have been used extensively. And if you type mapex drum app into google you'll see the poliferation of info out there.

I spent a long time considering the price point for the app and did a fair bit of research into pricing the app and the in app purchases. From what I calculated, was that it made more sense to sell the app for more money and make less sales, rather than having to make potentially 4x as many sales for the same revenue. I take your point about getting the rating up, perhaps that is one of the short comings of my marketing approach.

Perhaps I should have a one month sale to see how it goes!

 

[avalore]

Yeah the price point is an interesting one... I do kind of agree that a higher price makes sense in that you need less downloads to make as much cash but there is a point at which it doesn't help to increase the price any further, the point this happens is different for every app and lots of developers are still trying to figure this out. If you watch some of the more popular apps over time you might notice that they are constantly changing the price to keep it at the top... so its definitely something to play around with... especially if your not making huge money it cant help to play around with it.

As far as the google listing goes, in my experience and from what I've heard from other developers it doesn't really seem to make much difference, its a strange world. SEO and adwords doesn't seem to boost sales at all, most people purely use app ranking sites, itunes and the app store on their phone to find and decide which apps to buy.
The report here http://www.scribd.com/doc/22647946/Winning-iPhone-Strategies-Report might be of interest to you, to get an idea of how people find apps.

You might also consider a 'lite' version of the app, it seems as though a fair few developers have had success with this strategy.

Anyway, good luck with the app! Hope it goes well for you

 

[DotNetWebs]

This may be an interesting development for any .net developers wishing to target the iPhone:

http://www.9to5mac.com/silverlight-on-iPhone-35435

Regards

Dotty

 

[LindsayManning]

Interestingly enough I was having a good chat with another iPhone expert yesterday about the lack of flash on the phone and some of the stumbling blocks you get with that, and then I saw this and thought. Oooh Silverlight, on an iPhone - well that is going to put Adobe's nose out of joint.

But yes I see that it is more of a translator for the MPEG v8 2 codec so that it can stream and play in an iPhone. So that is probably a step forward again for the tv cnannels that are moving across to the Wii and iPhone (youtube and BBC iPlayer and alike)

Never mind. Always good to know, but I think if I had a choice of tools to use for rich graphics and animation heavy apps then I would still choose Flash over Silverlight, and that is only because everyone has flash on their browser but not everyone has silverlight player. I actually believe Silverlight can be debugged and dropped into projects (integrate with the server) far easier than flash but that isnt the main deciding factor when writing fo a target audience.

Cheers

L.

 

[LindsayManning]

Of course a very good idea for an app now (which may already be in the pipeline) would be to write something like GlovePIE for the iPhone, so that if and when they do start playing flash movies on there you have an app that can translate the accelerometers and multi touch inputs over to flash inputs to be used.

That would also make a very good app for the Wii because at the moment you can play flash in their browser on a Wii console but you can only interact using point and click (mimic mouse actions).
I use it when writing apps on the PC that I control using the Wiimote, but it is a shame you cant get that same freedom on the actual console the wiimote was made for. Aah well PC homebrew wins again.

Sorry - I went off on one there, but yes if you could vision that flash will definately one day be coming to the iPhone then you could see if Flash are updating to take accelerometers and multitouch inputs, or you could port GlovePIE and make a fortune when flash does finally hit.

 

[DotNetWebs]

...flash will definately one day be coming to the iPhone ...

Roll on CS5!

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/

Yes at this stage it will the obvious choice over Silverlight but it will be interesting to see how it develops.

Regards

Dotty

 

[garyk]

Yep agree with the common sense of opinions above, write simple stuff and get it out there as it is rapidly becoming harder to make money because of the sheer scale of apps being released, last I heard it was something like 400 new apps per day!

I have also read that games have a significantly higher uptake than utils but of course game development is abit tricker. That said I have been playing around with this and its pretty damn good, www.gamesalad.com.

Gary

 

[LindsayManning]

Excellent! I love the 2 last posts First CS5, I didnt know that. I just read up a little more and it will support full multitouch and accelerometer, so no need for GlovePIE then.
If there are 400 apps a day coming onto it now then when CS5 is out and every flash developer in the land is going to want to port their stuff over to iPhone that number is going to treble at least. That then also begs the question is it worth learning COCOA when you may as well wait a bit and can use the familiar Flash AS3 interface to build whatever you want.

Also GameSalad. Once again WOW heheh. I just watched the video for that to see the multitude of 2D game formats you can apply.
I want to stop what I am doing now and spend a couple of days porting over some old Atari ST (STOS) games I wrote back in the day. I havent seen those sprites in action for years heheh. Aaah well I might get time over Christmas to have a proper play around with that, but thanks Gary for letting me know about it, what a find.

 

[garyk]

No problem Lindsay, yes I got my ear very close to the iphone development tool/framework options. Like you I also owned an ST back in the day and did some game development using STOS. In fact that model never went away, for the PC there is blitz basic (2d and 3d) which gives you accessible game development.

The flash development route is like you say going to be perhaps worth considering due to the fact that potentially you use one tool/language to target multi-platforms. For me the issue is that it is more suited to the designer/creative mindset than the developer one. I've always been a coder so for me its logical to use objects, properties, methods and events. To do iphone development in flash will be with CS5 and that uses timelines and scenes which is a completely alien concept. If iphone development becomes available using Flex than that is different.

But you are right is it worth learning ObjectiveC/Cocoa Touch? Only time will tell!

As an aside to gamesalad if you dig around on their site there is also some links to royalty free sounds/music/sprites as well.

Gary

 

[DotNetWebs]

... I've always been a coder so for me its logical to use objects, properties, methods and events. To do iphone development in flash will be with CS5 and that uses timelines and scenes which is a completely alien concept....

I used to think like that too but CS4 allows you to code without using the timeline and frames and is much more like a 'traditional' development environment.

Regards

Dotty