MODERN APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Clocks has just been released to the App Store. No problems with review, thankfully, but I’m busily now putting all the marketing in place. Iphone development certainly has stretched my skill set ;-)

App Store link is here

Full press release is here

When I check the App Store this morning I almost spat my tea all over the Mac.

Clocks was ranked no.4 in the US Utility category.

Alas, it was not to be, turns out there was some sort of glitch at Apple HQ.

For a while, though, rumour was rife amongst developers that Apple had changed the rules and was employing some different algorithm when calculating the ranking system.

That’s not good.

Unfortunately, it speaks volumes about the lack of trust that now seems to exist between Apple and iPhone devs that anyone gave it any credence at all.

So far, there hasn’t been any communication from Cupertino about what happened, so we’ll wait and see if any explanation is offered. Frankly if people have lost money (and they will have) then someone should be on the blower double quick wringing their hands in abject apology.

Meanwhile we’ll see if this has any effect on Clocks’ sales.

I’ve been meaning to get a few tecchy posts up, but the ongoing shenanigans in the AppStore keep diverting me. Briefly, the lastest rumour mill is that any updates to an app now won’t get shown in the newly released section in iTunes.

For anybody who doesn’t know, having your app appear in that section is one of the major ways that a new or updated application gets air time and free marketing on the AppStore. Since a large proportion of people find apps by browsing in the AppStore, this is a big deal.

Of course, devs have been gaming this like crazy and many release frequent updates to their apps which contain little or no new functionality, just to keep getting the publicity. Not that I blame anybody for this – for an indie developer, getting any publicity for an iPhone app can be an uphill task without an advertising budget.

I’m more concerned about what this says about Apple. Again.

CAVEAT – At this point this is all still rumour, and it may be part of the ongoing issues with the AppStore at the moment.

That said, if this does mark a policy shift by Apple, it sucks. It sucks root.

Why? Because it’s just another example of Apple having a hidden set of policies which developers then plan their entire release lifecycle around, only to have the rug yanked from under them once again because Cupertino decides to switch things around.

More on this as we find out more, but I really hope this is just another glitch.

The dust seems to be settling somewhat, and while there’s been no official announcement from Apple about upgrades to apps now longer appearing on the front page of iTunes, enough developers have been receiving emails from Apple support confirming it that we can now assume that it is so.

So, how does this change the App Store landscape.

Free to Pro In App upgrades are now much less attractive

With the recent news that free apps could have In App purchases, lots of people had predicted that this would be the end of the lite version, and that you would be able to make one version of your app, with an In App option to upgrade to a pro version. Not any more, or at least not until Apple dicks around with the AppStore again.

It’s like this – I make a restricted version of my app for free, with an In App option to upgrade. I only get one set of release marketing on the AppStore, and I get a load of poor reviews (free versions often get loads of bad reviews for the most spurious of reasons) which drag down my full version, because it’s essentially the same app.

Or, I make a lite version and a full version. I then get two different sets of AppStore marketing and the only people who get to review my full version are the people who’ve paid for it.

Of course, In App purchases are still going to be great for applications whose model supports it, such as new levels for games etc, but as a way of tying together a lite and pro version of an app, it’s nowhere near as attractive now.

If we draw back a bit this might indicate that the App Store free lunch is over. I don’t mean for developers (for whom it’s been over for a while), but for users. Users have had it wonderfully good in the Appstore – pay peanuts for an app, which then just gets better and has more functionality added over time, all without paying a penny more.

Not any more.

Instead of free upgrades, developers will now look to follow tweetie and others, and turn significant upgrades into new applications, simply because it’s going to be a lot harder to make it work economically otherwise.