App developers and store reviews

Hi

So yet again a new post. New York times is reporting on the iPhone app store success.

The idea is that smaller/niche developers can monetize throught the new channel. Ethan Nichols (30 year old) earned himself in 5 months 800.000 dollars with the iShoot application. Another success storey is based on 22 year old Kostas Eleftheriou who gained 100.00 with his iSteam app in three months.

Needless to say that these are the "success" stories. Similarly there was a case where three developers made a game going strait to the top 10 and was downloaded per week over 10.00 times. However the game was free. Thereafter (3months) they decided to give it a price tag of .99 cents. Well downloads fell to 200 per week - ration being somewhat 400:1. At the end they tried advertising and update/upgrades, but the game/app never made it again to top levels.

The idea behind an app store is to view it critically and as a new distribution channel. There might not be any time for price "testing" as trends emerge within days/weeks. Your app might be the hottest and most selling for only a short period of time.

Moving on Gizmodo: has an extensive review on apple, android (Google), blackberry, windows, palm and Nokia app stores.

Please visit their site for more info. Also below is a pick on the main differences.



Below some highlights from Gizmodo:

Apple:
* At least for now, the App Store is the standard by which all others are judged.
* With a $99 dollar developer's fee and a novice-friendly SDK, the barriers of entry for an iPhone developer are fairly low.

Android:
* Google has been much more lenient about what they allow in their store since the beginning but in the rare case that they don't approve of an app you can just go download an .APK file and side load it onto your G1 anyway.
* Google has been much more lenient about what they allow in their store since the beginning but in the rare case that they don't approve of an app, as in the case of tethering apps earlier this month, you can just go download an .APK file and side load it onto your G1 anyway.

Blackberry:
* Listing your wares in App World costs a hefty $200, which gives you the right to upload 10 apps, but doesn't come with any new SDKs or development tools. The payment system is PayPal, which is clumsy to use and a pain to set up. A minimum non-free price tier of $2.99, probably intended to filter out spammy apps.

Nokia, Windows and Palm:
* All still more on the speculative side.

More on ovi store as they arrive :)

Br. Vesa