Deploying Your iPhone Applications
Lessons from the Trenches
The New CD
William Volk
CEO PlayScreen

A Developer and Publisher of Social Games
• Published 1st iPhone web games at launch
• 15 Apps in the Apple iPhone App Store
• Five on Google Android App Market
• Apps launched on Palm Pre App Catalog
• Four titles featured by Apple
• Latest iPhone Game Match 3D is a success
2 PlayScreen, LLC

Who is this guy?

Life Before The App Store
VEGETA!
What does the scouter say is the cost of
launching a BREW app on Verizon?

IT’S OVER

Apple’s App Store
1. iTunes: An accepted unified billing solution
2. On-Device and side loading purchases
3. AT&T (etc.) relinquishes control of app sales
4. Low friction for publishers and consumers
The Result?
74% of iPhone users download apps (48% other
Smartphones, 12% all phones). Over 2 Billion
downloads, More than 75,000 apps
A model yet to be replicated by any other company…

The Dream …
• iShoot - $37,000 earned in a day
• Trism - $250,000 earned in a month
• iFart - $40,000 in two days
• Tap Tap Revenge - Over 2m downloads
• iSteam - $100,000 in it’s first month of sales
• Flick Fishing - 1 Million Sold
7

The Reality …
• Free Apps 10:1 over Paid App Downloads
• Most apps - less than 1000 downloads total
• Many apps - sell only a few copies a day (or none)
• Advertising? Current networks $0.50 eCPM
• Other App Markets - FAIL
• Ranking system favors $0.99 Apps
8

Success of the Fittest
Power Curve: Daily Sales = 15000 * Ranking ^ -0.75
9 PlayScreen, LLC. From: Ajnaware’s Weblog

Reviews and Press
matter …
Pre-publicity leads to a strong launch
Press and good reviews can boost sales….

… but being featured is
best
“What’s Hot” or “New and Noteworthy” boosts daily sales 20x
Moving up into top rankings sustains sales

What Does Apple Care
About?
EVERYTHING!
• The App - Does it make the iPhone look cool?
• License matters - 60% of top 10 all time sellers.
• The Icon, The Description - Will it draw attention?
• The ‘Minisite’, Videos - Does they show off the product?
• Reviews - YES, they do matter.
Every single bit of Match3D’s presentation it top-notch. The radial
menus, touchable icons, and the 3D graphics are clean and colorful.
… I kind of appreciate the love that PlayScreen has clearly put into
this game. It looks fantastic, and it is abundantly clear that they
spent some extra time putting that bit of polish on the thing. -
4ColorRebellion

App Success
iPhone-ness, “The elusive quality of iPhone feel.”
• Does the app FEEL like a iPhone app?
• Multitouch, Accelerometer
• That “iPhone App” look
Launch Strategy
• Free app at the same time as paid app. Link to App Store
• Mod release dates upon acceptance
• Get reviews via promotion
• Update OFTEN

Stupid App Tricks
Hey, let’s launch a TOPICAL GAME!
• You can’t predict Apple’s approval time
• Apple rejects/delays political apps
• Pre Publicity is wasted if the app is delayed
• If the topic is stale, this can backfire

Stupid App Tricks 2
Making the “Holiday Rush”
• Don’t rush your releases
• Polish, polish and then polish
• Extended beta with outside testers is a must
• "A late game is only late until it ships. A bad
game is bad until the end of time." - Shigeru
Miyamoto.

What’s Next?
• Other App Stores “figure it out”
• Flash Pro CS5 - Many More iPhone Apps?
• Apple Tablet - Plan ahead now
• Will there be a shakeout?
• If you can make it there, you can make it
anywhere (take your iPhone apps to new
platforms)