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How To Distance Yourself From The Shovel-Ware!
On November 4th 2009, Apple Computer announced that the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch App Store, which it calls “the largest applications store in the world” has exceeded a library of more than 100,000 pieces of applications including games content. While this is a significant milestone to Apple and an endorsement to the interest and support of the platforms, it is also a huge challenge to independent game developers trying to be successful in terms of actual sales in a highly competitive market. A quick visit to the App Store through the iTunes application reveals that among the impressive numbers you will find a combined list of more than 6,000 games!
As a game developer, it’s important to consider the following factors:
“I have a great product, but how do I stand out from crowd”?
“How do I get exposure and how do I promote my product”?
“What will it take to create awareness and drive consumers to my website and to the App Store to generate increased sales”?
Undeniable the above questions overlap. At Indie Developer Consulting we are approached (daily) by numerous frustrated game developers trying to succeed in an oversaturated market flooded with shovel-ware. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that it all begins with a quality game or product. Like any other market, if what you have created is not unique, innovative, interesting and fun, the chances of success decreases dramatically. Assuming the product or game you have developed meets those standards, the most important factor is public relations, good product description and viral marketing!
To some consumers a visit to the Apple App Store is an appalling and disappointing experience; the product descriptions for a huge number of games are inaccurate, the links to the developer website is either dead or broken, and the layout, style and design of the App page is unbearable to read because of mixed fonts, styles, color inconsistencies and uninspiring or outright boring screenshots (some game descriptions don’t have any screenshots!)
To Apple game developers – this is your wakeup call! Take responsibility for your product! Don’t expect your last holiday pictures turned into a jigsaw puzzle will make you rich! Contrary to popular belief, creating something on the Apple platform, self-publishing, and waiting for the bank account to finance your next multimillion game company is not going to happen! Use your talent to create innovate and fun games, and let the self-proclaimed suits at Indie Developer Consulting assist you with the product page, the public relations, the marketing and ultimately, help increase your sales.
The Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch is an excellent opportunity for independent developers to make money – and good money too – but having a good, solid, and fun game is only the start. Too many games are available on the App Store with terrible sales purely because of the inexperience in knowing “what to do” once a submission to Apple has been approved.
Contact Indie Developer Consulting to help you out! Our terms and pricing are fair, and if you truly wish to be among the top 20 or even top 100 in the App Store, asking for help and advice is the least of your concerns. After all, as Apple confirms – you are competing against more than 6,000 other games!
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This selection of iPhone applications will help you get the most out of your iPhone-motoring partnership. From starting your car's engine with a touch of the screen to measuring the speed of your vehicle, these applications will make your iPhone a valued motoring accessory.
The top five car applications on your iPhone:
Dynolicious
If you've ever wanted to see how fast your car can accelerate or to measure if your vehicle has more horse power than your mate's, Dynolicious can provide you with the tools to record and measure your car's performance metrics. Using the iPhone's accelerometer the application can record and track your vehicle's 0-60 acceleration, lateral G's and horsepower. Dynolicious costs $12.99 in the US App store.
Viper SmartStart
This newly released application allows you to remotely start your engine, set and disable your car's alarm, open the boot, and lock and unlock your car with a press of a button on your iPhone from anywhere in the US. The Viper SmartStart application requires you to have a Viper SmartStart system installed in your car (prices range from $300 to $500 including installation) as well as a yearly $29.99 service plan. Viper SmartStart is free in the US App store.
Trapster
Trapster is a location-based radar program that alerts you to the location of police, radars and red light cameras. The application provides you with (almost) real-time updates about hazards on the road and reminds you to slow down so you can avoid having to pay expensive speeding tickets. Live police positions and mobile radar locations are submitted by other users. Trapster is free in the US App store.
iGasUp
iGasUp helps you find the cheapest petrol, gas or diesel available in your area. The application provides users with the names of the 10 cheapest stations (and their current fuel prices) within their area or alternatively can list ten petrol stations located in the nearest vicinity. Once a station has been chosen, the application provides directions to the location using Google Maps. iGasUp is priced at $2.99 in the US app store.
Carticipate
While the community of users is still small, Carticipate could one day become a very helpful, eco-friendly and cost saving application for those wanting to share their car travelling costs and cut down the environmental impact of driving. The application lets both drivers and passengers organise and plan their shared car travel - from short, every day journeys to long road trips across country. Carticipate is free in the US app store.
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Apple has introduced an in-app purchase feature for free iPhone apps that allow you to fulfill transactions within the iPhone applications themselves -- no Apple App Store required. The feature was previously available for paid applications.
By enabling in-application transactions, Apple makes life easier for developers who no longer have to make "lite" or teaser versions of applications along with ones that cost iPhone owners money. If you like the free version of Ragdoll Blaster Lite and want to upgrade to the $1.99 full version, now you may have the option to upgrade within the application itself -- no App Store needed.
Apple's decision to allow in-app purchases was unexpected, as the company's stance on this matter was that free apps should remain free, and users shouldn't pay for anything from within a free application. As with paid apps, Apple will still facilitate the backend billing and take a cut out of the sale price of the in-app purchase.
In-app purchases from within free applications, though, could have a widely beneficial effect in the iPhone app store economy. Using the example of a magazine application, a developer wouldn't have to charge for its application, but could charge for the actual content. This could make more customers download their app.
There is a lot of potential from in-app purchases from within free applications for games developers, who could offer for free a limited-functionality version of their game and then charge users for further gameplay levels. The App Store will also be relieved from the thousands of "Lite" apps and could eliminate customer confusion.
But this trend of in-app purchases from free apps might not be picking up very quickly. As developer Marco Arment notes in his blog, for existing apps with a free/paid version split, "there's no practical way to transition the existing paid customers to a new "free+" version without making them pay again like a new customer."
And as an interesting note, Apple also said in its letter to developers that using in-app purchase "can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases." -- which would be the first time Apple acknowledged iPhone app piracy as a problem, considering there are now over 4 million jailbroken iPhones in the wild and that Apple is trying to solve this problem by shipping jailbreak-proof 3GS models.
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Agile Messenger is one of the pioneers in the mobile IM market and I have been using it on my Symbian and Windows Mobile devices long before the invasion of the iPhone legions. So when I heard that it was available for the iPhone, I jumped onto the band wagon and what I saw didn't disappoint.
Its features include:
* Always-on connectivity
* IM to email forwarding to notify you of incoming IM messages
* Voice Messaging
* Picture Messaging
* Portrait and landscape mode keyboard
* Side swipe navigation through chats
The Feel Good factor
A Messenger is a Messenger - Connect and Communicate, right? Wrong! There is always a feel good factor involved with Apps that last as long as Agile Messenger in the Mobile IM market. For Agile Messenger it is their award winning interface that has won over many fans since its launch back in the pre-Google / iPhone days.
Agile Messenger has Tabs for virtual socialites like myself so that I may switch between conversations easily. Just tap on the conversation tab or just swipe sideways to move forward and back through them, easy!
The Voice and Picture Messaging Features also brings Messaging to the next level allowing me to share pictures and voice messages with colleagues and friends everywhere with a click and tap.
Agile messenger is available in AppStore at $9.99.
SOURCE : Instant Messaging in iPhone
A mobile iPhone and iPod touch version of of popular banking software iBank has been released by Developer IGG.
iBank is a stand alone application which allows users to keep track of their daily spending and account balances anywhere. The application's feature allows the users to transact, track spending, check account balances, and sync iBank for Mac.
For Mac users, iBank are able to sync in multiple devices over Wi-Fi, MobileMe, or any WebDAV server. However, iBank Version 3.5 is required to be sync with Mac.
The Mac OS version of iBank costs $59.99 on the developer's website. The download (demo version) includes 75 transaction trial period.
iBank on iPhone contains some key features of the software. This includes the memorized payee list, split transaction support, and multi-currency support. Expect even more great features in the future because currently Version 1.0 is available for iPhone. If you currently own iBank 3.5 for Mac, the iPhone version is a must buy.
iBank is available in the App Store for $4.99.
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iPhone Apps roundup from Steve Sande of the unofficial Apple Weblog.
Damn. iPhone developers have been clamming up over the last few weeks, so we haven't had much to post in the App News Roundup. Now that it's getting closer to i-Day Friday, the tips are starting to pour in.
* Deepak Mantena of Tapeshow told us about Chores, his GTD app for iPhone (see screenshots above). It will be in the App Store, with a Mac companion app coming in August. He'll also have Wordy (for helping you improve your vocabulary), Gratuity (easy tip calculator), and Fright (a good way to scare your friends) in the App Store Friday.
* Another ebook reader app for iPhone has been announced; Lexcycle Stanza will be in the App Store on Friday for free. Stanza uses Project Gutenberg eTexts so you can have a library of classics at your fingertips.
* Developer Pascal Bourque let us know that he's submitted DutchTab to the App Store. You can use this app to split restaurant bills fairly between a group of co-workers or friends. His site isn't up yet, but will be soon at this link.
* 3Monk3ys has three iPhone apps that available on Friday. DoubleDrop (a puzzle game) will be available for $2.99. Attitude is an simulation of an airplane's Attitude Indicator (ADI), and is priced at $2.99 as well. Finally, iSoroban is a Japanese abacus simulator priced at $1.99
* Noah WItherspoon mentioned that his game Tris will be available soon after the App Store launch. Details are on his dev blog at this site.
* Are you a pilot? Felix Khazin is releasing AirWX, an iPhone app for grabbing METARs, maps, and more. AirWX uses CoreLocation and pulls up nav charts from skyvector.com.
* Kayakers are going to need a waterproof case for their iPhones! Wayne David Daley has RiverGuide coming out soon. Can you say real-time river flow info?
* Thomas Aylesworth of Bayou Games let us know about Morocco, his Othello game for iPhone.
* Edovia will be selling Steps, pedometer software for iPhone, starting Friday for $1.99. Their Linguo translator software will retail for $2.99 and features 17 languages.
* If you need to lose a few pounds, All of Zero has iScale coming out soon. You can keep track of what you eat, find the nutrional value of various foods, and more.
The iPhone 3.0 firmware will allow the re-download of purchased applications for free, according to a AppAdvice report. A couple weeks ago it was discovered that users running the iPhone OS 3.0 beta were unable to re-download purchased iPhone applications. The mobile App Store presented a message stating, “You’ve already purchased this. You can re-download it for free on your computer, or tap Buy to buy it again.” AppAdvice discovered that this message only occurred to users who had not updated to the new iTunes 8.2 software. This new version adds some logic that tells a device what iTunes accounts are authorized on the computer. Since those users’ devices never received the authorization information from iTunes 8.2 they were not able to pass it along to the App Store when they tried re-downloading apps. So in order to re-download apps you must have installed iTunes 8.2 and have synced to a computer that has been authorized with your iTunes account.
A nice little way to make sure everyone is on iTunes 8.2 and using a non jailbroken iPhone.
This is an iPhone software news from iphoneuserguide.com.
The iPhone's App Store should feature a dedicated area for higher priced 'premium' content, according to the managing director of Dynamo Games.
Such a feature would help more expensive content stand out in the busy marketplace, said the developer of Championship Manager 2009 Express, where a majority of titles sell for as a little as 59 pence.
"I am skeptical about the different price points at the moment and feel there should definitely be a premium content area so that great games aren't lost because of their higher pricing," said Brian McNicoll, in a feature published today.
"Lets face it, these type of games cost a lot more money to make so should be priced in a higher price bracket. People are willing to pay a fair amount of money for good content as has always been the case," claimed McNicoll.
Championship Manager 2009 Express currently sells for GBP 3.49 on the App Store, at the higher end of the market, but McNicoll believes separating price points for games will help the iPhone business mature in the long-term.
"If the platform is going to mature properly it cannot keep the current price points as it will not be viable for most games to make a profit with such a small price point, as it is only the lucky few that really can break through at that price range and make a lot of money."
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