2. About me
• Author of the iOS 5, iOS 6 Programming:
Pushing the Limits book - Reached the top
100 books in Amazon’s Computer and
Technology books list
• Trainer - Conducts classroom training on
iOS programming at iOSTraining.sg.
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3. Agenda
• The Mobile Eco System
• Differences between Open Web and App Store
• Designing
• Submission
• Marketing + Launching
• App Rejection
• Updates to App
• Questions
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4. Target Audience
• Those who sell and make money from App Store
• Those who make free apps and want to get traction for
their complete product through the App Store
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5. The Mobile Eco System
• Accept the fact that the mobile eco system is locked
• iOS App Store is locked and so is Google Play
• Though you can sell apps outside of Play (and you can’t
on iOS), number of downloads is far too low.
• Lamenting won’t help
• Apple is the most developer UNFRIENDLY company in the
world, yet has attracted the most talented developers to
work on their platform
• OTOH, Apple is the most customer friendly company
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6. Open web vs App Store
• Open vs Locked
• Web is open.
• You can deploy anytime you want.
• App Store is not open
• You have to wait for Apple to approve.
• Plan your deployment strategies accordingly
• Approximate release dates
(reviewtimes.shinydevelopment.com)
• Slightly optimistic, but still ok.
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7. Deployment Strategies
• Deployment strategy in a locked App Store
• If your app uses a backend server
• Go live with your production server when you submit
• If your server is down or someone screws up while
Apple is testing - Brrr
• Work on version 1.1 while waiting for approval
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8. Building the App
• This is 2013. Almost 5 years after the SDK went public
• Every single app you see on App Store has a customized UI
• Hire a good designer/UX Expert
• May or may not be full-time, but still hire one.
• You can’t live without them.
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9. Indies
• You can make an app targeting a broader audience
• You can make a niche app targeting a specific audience
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10. Target audience for your app
• When you make an app targeting a smaller group you have
the liberty to price it higher
• Apps for kids = Broad audience (High competition)
• Apps for kids with special needs = Niche audience (Low
competition)
• Competition and price are inversely proportional. Higher
competition means your app ends up being a commodity
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12. Pricing
• Before lowering your price, think.
• By doubling the price, will I lose half of my prospective
buyers?
• If the answer is “NO”, do that.
• Because, by lowering your price, you will not
automatically get twice the number of buyers
• And you will enjoy lesser support emails
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13. Not making enough?
• I’m selling my app and I’m not making enough money
• Two things.
• Your app isn’t known to many people
• Your app is expensive
• In most cases, it’s the former. Do your marketing.
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14. App Store Marketing
• Getting downloads on App Store is different from getting
visitors to your website
• Most downloads are through word of mouth
• Analytics won’t help for the most part
• Think again, how did you come to know about Whatsapp or
Instagram?
• Customers are your marketers
• Review sites (the big ones) can help, but not that much
(Think Color)
• No SEO
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15. Launch
• Launching the app
• Soft launch
• Hard launch
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16. Soft Launch
• Most websites use Soft Launch
• Totally won’t work for Apps
• Why?
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17. App Store Algorithm
• Favors
• Apps that are recently submitted/published
• Apps that are updated often
• Apps with higher number of positive reviews
• App enters New and Noteworthy or Featured section
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18. New and Noteworthy
• Your app should be NEW
• Your app should have a considerable number of
downloads
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19. Featured
• No loophole
• Apple tends to feature apps that are “New and
Noteworthy” and looks beautifully done
• Lots of animations and good looking UI
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20. Featured
• Apple also features apps that use a “cool hardware or
OS feature” during the honeymoon period.
• Apps with push notifications
• Apps for Passbook.
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21. Featured
• Unlike most other App Stores, you can’t “talk” to
someone at Apple to get featured.
• If someone (a marketer) promises to get your app
featured, ignore him
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22. App Store Front Pages
• Featured section - You
are already successful
• Chillax and sip that pina
colada
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23. App Store Front Pages
• New and note worthy section
• Very important for startups (Free apps)
• Usually apps stay here for 30-50+ days
• Improves your “Word of mouth” marketing
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24. Hard Launch
• Apps should always use Hard Launch
• Easier to get into “New and Noteworthy” section
• Easier to get into “Top 10” Free/Paid apps section
• All because your app is new and gets traction
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25. Hard Launch
• Wait, but my app is still not ready yet
• Yes, continue iterating. No choice
• If your investors are pushing hard, do a soft launch
• But when you are ready, submit a new app and do a hard
launch (v2)
• Submitting new app means, your old users will not get an
update. But that’s ok.
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27. App Rejections
• App crashes at launch
• App doesn’t work as advertised
• Server was down when Apple was testing
• App uses private API
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28. App Rejections
• Analyze your crash reports and fix the issue
• On launch crashes are mostly dynamic load errors
• Your developer would immediately know why.
• When your app doesn’t work as advertised, Apple will
sometimes as you to fix the description (Metadata update)
• This is not always a rejection.
• Private API - You normally get a clear email from Apple what
private API you tried to use.
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30. Updates
• Update your app regularly
• Keep your users delighted
• Remember, Apple is the most customer friendly company. If
Apple iDevice users are happy, Apple will be happy.
• Aim to submit one update every week for the first three
months and one update every fortnight there after.
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31. Open vs closed debate
• Yes, Apple is closed and Web is open
• Bitching around is not going to help your business or make
you rich
• …unless you are a journalist
• Think, what’s next.
• Win the Apple way
Thursday, 11 April, 13
33. Thanks
@mugunthkumar
mugunth@steinlogic.com
iostraining.sg
Available for consulting
services and in-house
training
iOS App Development
API Design
Mobile UX
Thursday, 11 April, 13
