⇥ Smart developers update often

February 23, 2009
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If you follow the iPhone development scene, you probably know that much is being made about what the correct strategy for selling applications is. My little camera app has reached a new milestone—I release version 2.0 last Saturday—and, therefore, I thought I’d share a thing or two that I have picked up in the process.

Unlike many other distribution channels, Apple has chosen the curious path of making the App Store something as close to a true meritocracy as possible—you don’t get exposure to potential customers because of who you are or because of the amounts of money you are willing to pay the distributor for optimal positioning. Your app either sells on its own merits, or it doesn’t.

That most people don’t seem to grasp what a tremendous opportunity this is truly baffles me. I have worked in environments where the distribution channel was tightly controlled with the sole intent of extracting as much money from the publishers—note, the publishers, not the customers—as possible, and still work in one, the magazine industry, where the distribution companies themselves are rapidly destroying their own businesses by avidly screwing publishers of all sizes in every possible way.

In the App Store, content is king, and the customer is kingsmaker. Apple has taken a relatively hands-off approach to what happens to software once it becomes available in the store, as is witnessed by the fact that the top-rated list contains a wide variety of applications in which mainstay publishers like EA or Konami sit alongside (and, in many case, are subordinate to) one-man operations that are making a killing selling their own products. If you feel like complaining about the way the App Store is run, I invite you to try and sell boxed software at retail—you’ll be buying your first AK-47 in less than a week.

Developing a Strategy

The market for iPhone applications has taken on a very definite shape, but so many developers seem to completely ignore it:

Patience, alongside attention span, is one virtue that your typical iPhone user doesn’t have. If a customer cannot understand the way an application works in less than thirty seconds, you’ll be destined for the wobble bin and a one-star rating.
This, however, does not mean that applications cannot have depth—you simply need to ease the user into it in small steps, so that the learning curve is not too steep.
Presentation is important—people choose iPhones for their eye-candy value, and they expect the same of the applications they buy. Note that this doesn’t mean that you need shiny icons all over the place—Blocked, currently in the #2 spot in the best-selling list, is anything but fancy and still offers a clean, functional and well-designed interface.
Simplicity is paramount. For all the complaining that some developers like to do, I happen to believe that it’s not Apple that is driving the prices of applications down: it’s the customers. And the reason is simple: they don’t want to use their phones as all-purpose computing platforms. Thus, the key to a successful iPhone application is to come up with one idea, and pursue it to the best of your abilities.

So, about those updates…

This actually brings me up to the original reason for this post: if limiting the time to market should be one of your primary concerns, then staying in the market should be a very close second.

Apple’s own guidelines on updating applications clearly state that updates should be few and far in between—claiming that frequent application updates that add new features denote poor development planning.

While this might be true in an environment where updates carry a significant cost—as in time for the user to procure the update and install it, or the expense of manufacturing and distributing the support media—I happen to think that the opposite is true.

Frequent updates are a great way to connect with your customers, particularly since they have an excellent notification mechanism and a seamless upgrade path. Since its initial launch, I published four updates to CP, and have developed something of a following, with customers contacting me to report bugs and suggest improvements—if they see that I care enough to provide them with frequent updates after they have become customers, they’ll feel a sense of ownership about the product that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

Most importantly, frequent updates are a great way to gather continuous exposure for your app. Because of they way the App Store works, updates are treated like new releases and, therefore, get bumped to the top of the “new releases” list. Case in point: every new update comes with a corresponding spike in sales.

Comments

great points. the importance of updates and not looking dead to visitors is lost on many startups and home brew projects. The old linux and popular OSS mentality of “it’ll be released when it’s ready” still stands, but people miss the critical point. Most apps aren’t critical and most of them don’t have a fan base as strong as the linux kernel, you can’t afford to neglect, insult, or ignore your customers.

I could not agree more with you. I just did a blog post that build a little bit on yours. Also, I guess frequent updates is required when a new platform comes to life and developers are starting to better understand about it over time. Finally, looking into the apps on the App Store right now and I cannot but feel that many apps are the result of pure business opportunism…

I agree that updates make sense considering the App Store ranking system but no one has mentioned of incorporating user feedback into subsequent updates. This would be a great way to build a loyal community, by showing them that you are willing to take the suggestions of your most loyal users into consideration for future updates.

⇥ Smart developers update often

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