A RETURN TO
QUALITY.
Rana Sobhany, co-founder at
SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Contact Details
rana.sobhany@medialets.com
@ranajune on Twitter
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

HI.
WE NEED
TO TALK.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

446 DAYS
We are veterans of a year and a half old industry.
It’s easy to forget how far we’ve come
and yet how different things are from
the first days of the App Store.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

APP STORE IS
CHANGING
right before our eyes.
Have you noticed?
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Let’s get to the root of the
PROBLEM
Developers need to make money, and in order to
make money quickly, they need to sell applications
and/or advertisements.
Developers.....are developers. Most (okay, basically
all) developers are not marketers or salespeople.
...and just like that, the predicament reveals itself.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

WHY DO DEVELOPERS KEEP
TRYING TO OUTSMART THE
APP STORE?
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

A History of
CHEATING?
It started out with app names.
Remember “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA Flashlight”?
Then, developers changed their price points from
free to paid in order to ascend the rankings.
Developers have been trying to game the system
instead of solving the problem.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

App Store’s
GOLDEN RATIO 75% paid, 25% free
- 85% of App Store downloads come from the
25%.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

MILESTONES
A sampling of small changes that made a big
difference in shaping current App Store dynamics.
- One Category per application, July 2008
- Downloads no longer carrying over between
free and paid price changes, August 2008
- Apple drops NDA, October 2008
...and many more.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

07 OCT 2008
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

TWO APP STORES
1.0 VS 2.0
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

APP STORE 1.0
- Sales trends and patterns were derived from an
atypical sampling of users.
- iPhone users in July 2008 were early adopters and
tech-savvy.
- Everything was new.
Conventional wisdom: lower your app’s price.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

APP STORE 2.0
- Sales trends and patterns were derived from an
atypical sampling of users - and developers never
evolved from their antiquated conclusions.
- Grandma wants an iPhone.
- Every niche needs to be filled, every niche is
an opportunity.
- You are not the user.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

STAND OUT.
Use your pricing strategy to your advantage.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

LAW OF DIMINISHING
MARGINAL UTILITY
“A law of economics stating that as a person
increases consumption of a product - while keeping
consumption of other products constant - there is
a decline in the marginal utility that person derives
from consuming each additional unit of that
product.”
(via Investopedia)
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

LAW OF DIMINISHING
MARGINAL UTILITY
Something is only as valuable as what you are
willing to pay for it at that time.
- Rana June
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

A BIG IDEA
Raise the quality of your application.
Don’t be peer pressured into ignoring your gut.
Perceived value.
Ironically, you can stand out to consumers by setting
a high price point.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

STOP
COMPLAINING.
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Contact Details
rana.sobhany@gmail.com
@ranajune on Twitter
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Thursday, October 8, 2009