NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS
transitioning to iphone development
mobile portland
january 26, 2009

night & day studios
media production house
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

peekaboo barn
• #9 Kidʼs Game on iTunes App Store [how did we do it?]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

our background
museum work
the life & times of woody guthrie for the smithsonian institution
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

our background
museum work
• different types of clients
[large institutions vs. mass markets]
• different timescales, budgets, expenses
[four-year, million-dollar projects vs. six-week, $50k app development]
• different marketing
[networking with clients vs. advertising & earned media]
• different skill set of staff
[long-term intensive media production, research, and writing vs.
simple graphics, outsourced arts, and programming]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

the transition
iphone apps
• the business problem
[sustaining a lifestyle company of highly-skilled
professionals with health insurance and stability]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

the transition
iphone apps
• strategy
[aggressive growth: rapid development of many mid-level apps in
the $1.99 - $3.99 price range; building franchises and cumulative
marketing through repeat contacts and name recognition]
• cash flow challenge
[long lead-times before revenue is realized, let alone profit]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

the transition
iphone apps
• rule of thumb: one $0.99 app at 1 sale/day average = $20 / month
• example: selling 50/day of a $1.99 app = $2,000 / month
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
production process
• design docs [vital: practice, practice, practice]
• finding illustrators [develop contracting process]
• doing sound in house [easily underestimated]
• educational / use theory [advantageous]
• user-testing [required but expensive]
• submitting to the App Store [variable results]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Rimshot Pro
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Audience Pro
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Big Fat Lies
[link to iTunes
app store]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Peekaboo Barn
[link to iTunes app store]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Peekaboo Barn
• User-testing
• Spanish localization
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

NDS apps
Peekaboo Barn Lite
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

marketing
earned media
• review sites
[hidden work: 20 hours research & emailing]
• family vs. tech sites
[we tried both; family sites possibly more effective]
• VIPs
[cheap & relatively easy to contact; use free codes]
• articles & blogs
[longer cycle, more marketing effort to contact & build]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

marketing
paid media
• paid review sites
[unfortunately, very worthwhile]
• advertising
[learn about CPMs (cost per thousand impressions);
hard to evaluate]
[hidden work: 10 hours research, 10 hours emailing,
10-15 hours production]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

marketing
iTunes app store
• sales chart positions; top 20 lists; featured app
• pricing
[$0.99 pricing not worth it; we should all stop!]
• customer reviews, star ratings; responses to customers;
Appleʼs “incompatible” warnings
• updates
[valuable way to communicate with customers, improve
rankings & visibility, but high associated staff costs]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

sales
raw weeklies
Big Fat Lies Peekaboo Barn
1,000
750
500
250
0
12/01/08 12/08/08 12/15/08 12/22/08 12/29/08 1/05/09 1/12/09 1/19/09
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

sales
weekly events
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

sales
tools [appsales.app]
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

sales
conclusions—challenges
• problems with exposure
• problems with overhead
• problems with partnering
• problems with payment
• opportunities with partnering
• opportunities in this economy
• opportunities in Portland
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS

thank you
to our fellow Portland developers
Night & Day Studios
http://www.nightanddaystudios.com/
Nat Sims, principal: nat@nightanddaystudios.com
Chris Higgins, developer: chris@nightanddaystudios.com
Erin Rackelman, marketing: rackelman@nightanddaystudios.com
1917 SE 7th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
503-235-2700
NIGHT & DAY STUDIOS