Mobile Evolution - Thoughts, insight, and experiences related to the mobile software industry

My brother is always calling me with app ideas. One day, way back in late 2003, he suggested writing a calculator that took recipe ingredient amounts and adjusted them by changing the serving size. My husband, our developer, is an avid cook, so the idea intrigued him. He wasn't satisfied with just a multiplier, so he started creating a complicated algorithm for the Palm PDA that would also factor down the result into the simplest amount of steps. So, if you size up a recipe calling for 1-1/2 teaspoon from 4 servings to 14 servings, the little app would tell you “1 Tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons”. He wasn't satisfied with just that, so he displayed the result also converted into metric. Thus Serving Sizer was born and released in February 2004, at the inexpensive price of $9.95. We've since 'ported the app to iOS, both for iPhone and iPad, learning many lessons along the way. Being able to react quickly to market realizations, potential for features, and more, has helped us along the way. This post will cover some of those lessons learned on the road to making Serving Sizer a successful app.

Maximizing revenue on the AppStore is the goal of every developer. Setting the right price and changing it at the right time (increase or sale) is truly an art. Many variables are at play, but if you experiment carefully, you can find the sweet spot for revenue. This sweet spot may surprise you, so it's important to experiment, or you'll miss out on your revenue potential. Of course, when a competitor comes into the mix, you may have to adjust. It's very important to monitor things regularly, so you are not caught unawares. This post will reiterate a few things from a previous post of mine on pricing, and share some of our experiences with iOS price experimentation.

Getting one new app noticed in a sea of 100,000 apps is impossible. However, each app gets one (guaranteed?) opportunity to gain a certain sales momentum through exposure on the by Release Date (aka new releases) list. If you're in a competitive category, your app may get a few days on the front page, or perhaps your app gets nearly a week. Either way, without this jumpstart, your app is destined to only garner a few sales. However, the Release Date lists are now broken--many apps appearing on the list have 2008 release dates (some are outdated releases for 2.0 only--not even updated for 3.0 software update for the iPhone and iPod Touch). If this problem is not fixed soon, ALL apps released in this current timeframe will be DOA. Our Serving Sizer Recipe Converter app falls under this predicament! Our first day of sales can be counted on one hand, instead of 10x that amount for a partial first day of sales.

Developing for mobile platforms such as iPhone, Android, and Blackberry, is hot right now. The choices have exploded in recent years. For micro ISV's (independent software vendors) like ours, Creative Algorithms, many positive things have been happening in the mobile space. Barriers to entry have lowered on some platforms, so getting personal with carriers is unnecessary; on-device application stores have become standard (with lower commission rates, increased customer awareness of apps, and ease of installation and purchase); upfront fees or memberships have become reasonable, and the market size for smartphones has been increasing. These improvements, however, have made it more difficult to choose which platform is the best fit, or which has the greatest potential for supporting oneself. To make the choice more difficult, the numbers keep changing. For example, the numbers have already changed since the start of research for this post--sales volumes for Android handsets have increased, 30 new Windows Mobile phones are now predicted, and 20k more apps have entered the Apple AppStore.

An important part of the decision is the numbers, but each mobile platform also has their negatives--Apple's submission practices, increasingly difficult discovery in the AppStore, and penny-candy pricing for apps. Android has few released phones with its platform, which means low volumes, plus its Market can be difficult to find on its phones. The new Palm Pre (webOS) has very low initial volume (as compared to its competitors) and has only just now opened its online store for submission of paid applications. Blackberry World must be installed on the device before use and the installation of apps isn't streamlined. Windows Mobile's look and feel is outdated, and its new new app catalog, Windows Mobile Marketplace, is not open, just currently taking submissions. Symbian is downright confusing--too many options, too many phones, and entry pricing is complicated and expensive. The Ovi store is promising, but consumer awareness for apps needs more promoting.

Each platform also has varying developing environments, but that is not the focus of this post. What business-side information can help small developers determine which path to strike? Is it possible to earn a living as a mobile software developer and on which platform is this goal easiest to achieve? This post will provide a valuable platform comparison and a foundation on which to determine the path for reaching self-employment goals as an independent mobile software developer.

UPDATE: Date Wheel is now showing up for sale on the AppStore. Here's the iTunes link.

We just received the email for which we've been waiting--Date Wheel has been officially approved for sale on the AppStore! Should be a few hours before you can access it for purchase. We're very excited to finally release for iPhone. We'll keep you posted and provide links as soon as we know. In the meantime, feel free to follow DateWheel on Twitter for up-to-the-moment updates. We also ask you to please submit a review if you would. Thanks!!

We finally submitted Date Wheel late last night to the AppStore. Now we wait. Apple has a new feature when you log in that tells you how long a typical AppStore submission will take. According to Apple, right now "96% of applications are being approved within 14 days." So, to show you what Date Wheel can do, I took a little screenshot showing the estimated timing if we are among the lucky 96%.

If you want to be notified of when Date Wheel for iPhone is ready for sale,

If you are not signed up as an iTunes affiliate for links to your software from your website, then you are throwing an additional 5% in revenue out the door. The iTunes Affiliate program rewards you 5% for each sale through your link. The program is also makes sense for any news site who commonly links to iPhone apps. Affiliate programs should not be new to these sites, but it might be something a developer has not considered.

I'm on a quest for new Personal Information Management (PIM) apps! Recently I moved to an iPhone from a decade-long stint with the Palm OS. My husband's Treo 650 went into an infinite reset loop and we were ready to renew our AT&T contract. It was time for a new phone, we had to stay with AT&T (only wireless service that will work in our house), and neither of us wanted a Centro (only PalmOS choice), so it was time to move onto another platform.

A few blogs around the 'net have been discussing pricing of apps in the iPhone AppStore. I just wanted to note a few as a follow-up, since I had covered similar ideas in my previous blog post, Finding the Right Price - Marketing Mobile Software – Part II, Price.

It looks like everyone is joining the wave of application stores on-device after the success of Apple's iPhone AppStore. Hopefully this new trend will help promote mobile applications as a whole. I'm still waiting for those 2 million Centro users to discover software on the Palm OS platform. ;-)