November 6, 2011 at 22:27How I earned $ 200K in the iOS educational apps market
I want to coincide with this article at the same time the release of the second version of my Word Wizard application and taking a new mark of $ 200,000 in the Apple AppStore. Next, I will try to share my experience and thoughts about the educational market, as well as tell my success story. I hope that this information will be useful to many independent developers. For those who create educational products on the iOS platform, my article will provide an opportunity to assess the application market in this area.
Actually, I’ll start with sales and rating , and then I will tell you more about my personal experience. I note that the data I bring from AppFigures
I released my first product for iPad and iPhone more than one year ago, respectively, the Montessori Crosswords sales schedule begins in August 2010 (see the figure above).
$ 200K is very good, considering that my second application in English and French has brought me $ 90K since August 2011 (note the steep rise on the chart, the pace is much better than when I started with the first application). Let's now look in more detail at the four applications that allowed me to earn this money. I must say that all my applications are universal - iPhone & iPad.
Price $ 2.99 , published August 2010 , selling $ 113,000 . ITunes Link
Montessori Crosswords is the first serious app I developed. Until the end of September 2010, it was only for the iPad. The biggest peak of sales occurred at the time the New York Times mentioned it (Q4 2010). Closer to Christmas, having received feedback from users, I released a small update. Thanks to this, the results have improved. During the 2nd quarter of 2011, sales fell slightly, at which time I worked on the Word Wizard , but fortunately the Children's Technology Review awarded Montessori Crosswordsand things went better. I realized that you can improve a lot of things, found 3-4 weeks and made another update. Both ordinary users and teachers really liked it, so sales immediately went up (end of the 2nd quarter of 2011). Montessori Crosswords sales went up thanks to the popularity of the Word Wizard . In the near future I will release a new update, which I am sure will again increase the dynamics of sales.
This is the French version of Montessori Crosswords .
Price $ 3.99 , published November 2010 , selling $ 26,000 . ITunes link
I am French, so naturally there was a desire to release a French version of my application. The French AppStore market is not so big, but I still decided to localize the application in French. For their children, for the children of friends, etc., in the end, this decision was chosen correctly. Due to the fact that the quality of applications in the French AppStore is poor, my application was immediately published in the main blogs of France. And France AppStore added French Words for Kidsin the category “Apps for kids” and it was included in the first 10 applications. Honestly, I didn’t even do much promotion (only a little in January 2011) and it didn’t leave the TOP-10 because of little competition. In addition, there was a large increase in sales associated with the French version of the Word Wizard
Price $ 2.99 , published July 2011 , selling $ 34,000 . ITunes Link
I worked on the Word Wizard for about 5-6 months, a lot of design, tests, graphics, etc. I really liked to come up with various chips, I needed to find the right balance. I would also like to say “thank you” for feedback to my beta testers, they helped me a lot. After the publication, the Word Wizard was noted by teachers, people who are engaged in technology in the field of education, and other representatives of the educational industry. I understood that in order to become more visible the application needs to be actively promoted and promoted. And in fact, let's go, app sales began to gain momentum when the Children's Technology Review first awarded the Word Wizard, then they wrote about it in the online version of The New York Times, after and in the paper The New York Times (the largest peak on the chart), on the Wired Geek Dad Blog, Apple mentioned it on its Facebook page and added it to the category "New and Noteworthy" (iPad & iPhone) in the USA AppStore and many English-speaking countries. However, after a month, sales naturally fell, since I was not engaged in promotion, and this was a good lesson for me. Even if everything is fine, they write reviews about you and speak in the press - do not stop promoting! Most recently, I released the second version of the Word Wizard , which included more than 20 changes based on user comments. Things have improved and in the near future to publish a paid press release on PRWeb.
This is the French version of the Word Wizard .
Price $ 3.99 , published September 2011 , selling $ 11,000 . ITunes Link
It was amazing, in one day the application entered the TOP-10 France AppStore according to the overall rating (Overall) and remained there for two weeks. Peaks are associated with publications on French iOs blogs. Apple selected the French Word Wizard in the “New and Noteworthy” category, but the effect was already lower.
Back in March 2010, I released a small Draw with Stars application ($ 0.99) in order to try programming for iOs devices and in order to understand how the Apple AppStore works from the inside. Someone liked this application. Now it brings about $ 10 a day, that is, since publication, I have earned about $ 6,000 on it.
I also made the Montessori Crosswords application for the Mac AppStore , but unfortunately it did not work - about $ 6,000 for 9 months of sales for the English and about $ 1,600 for the French version. I tried to experiment with the French version of Montessori Crosswords French Words for Kids for Mac and offered it cheaper than the iPhone version, but it still didn’t work out - there were $ 2800 sales for $ 1.99.
I also developed the free application Hearts Extravavaganza - a game application for drawing with hearts, made specifically for my daughters.
It would be interesting to see the ratio of application sales to its rating in the AppStore. This can serve as an indirect indicator of the volume of the market for educational applications (and maybe even the entire market). You see that my applications usually did not fall into the TOP-10 (Overall or Education category). All my applications are universal (iPad & iPhone), AppStore does not share statistics on how many copies of the application are sold separately on iPad and iPhone. However, the rating data is divided by device - separately iPad and iPhone. Nevertheless, I feel that the market for educational applications for the iPad is larger, even despite the total number of iPhones existing in the world. Another observation is that if your application is in the TOP-10 iPhone applications, then overall sales increase faster than if your application would fall into the TOP-10 iPad applications only.
Note: my goal is not to provide specific analytical data on the AppStore educational applications market, but to improve your understanding, give a general idea of it, and show that this market is quite large (at least large for independent developers). Someone will be able to see and extract more information from the figures and graphs given - please.
The data below describes the undoubtedly largest USA AppStore market. Since we are considering a specific AppStore, the numbers here are slightly less (than in the graphs above). By the way, this information may well be used to compare the global AppStore with the USA AppStore.
Word Wizard
It is interesting that the Word Wizard was very successful in August 2011. When The New York Times wrote about the application in paper version, it reached the 2nd place in the iPad rating and the 5th place in the rating of iPhone applications in the “ Education ”, and in the overall rating (Overall) took the 30th and 326th lines of positions, respectively.
Let's look at the rating of the application by income (Grossing Ranks) for the same period, to the question of understanding the size of the market (unfortunately there are no sales on the chart, using AppFigures they could not be displayed and displayed in one picture).
Interestingly, after publishing in The New York Times, my application reached the 104th position in the overall iPad Grossing rating, but I made only $ 2,000 a day, can you explain this when you are in the TOP-10 iPad rating by downloads ( in the Education category)? And a few more thoughts will be further on the French version, which was in TOP-10 (Overall according to France AppStore), but in relation to this data from USA AppStore I could not adequately compare them.
Montessori Crosswords
Next, I give the data on income and position in the ranking at a particular point in time for Montessori Crosswords . It is interesting to compare revenues for the same rating in the 2010th and 2011th years.
Of course, the French market is smaller, but it is quite good if the application has a good position in the ranking. According to my ideas in the educational sphere (the “Education” category) it is 7-10 times smaller than the American one.
Interestingly, the application was in the overall ranking on the iPad at the 5th position (Overall), these days sales ranged between $ 900- $ 1,000 (by the way, at that time the app’s revenue rating (Grossing) was around 10th position). If you compare this with the moment when the application was on the 30th position in the overall iPad rating (Overall) in the USA AppStore, then I earned $ 2000 a day. Now you can understand why I focus with my products primarily on the US market.
I think that there are enough numbers and it's time to talk about my experience. As I said, I started by exploring a very large number of blogs and other useful information. It was interesting, I really hope that my article will help you!
I made the decision to develop for the iPad just a couple of weeks after its public presentation by Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, my first startup was unsuccessful, so I was looking for new projects. I was invited to several startups, but I got excited about the idea of developing for the iPad. After reading several blogs, I realized that there are prospects in the educational field. It was also interesting to do something for their children. My children are in home schooling and my wife and I have experience in their education, this was also a plus. The project in this area allowed me to be closer to my family and communicate with children - indeed, my children were the first users and tested all my applications. The iPad seemed like a great device for the kids, they already had experience and loved playing with the iPhone. I am sincerely convinced that children learn better during the game.
I started by developing a small application, about which I already wrote, it took me about 2-3 weeks. This development made it possible to understand how the Apple AppStore works. I began work on the first serious application with several brain-storms, as a result of which I decided to create Montessori Crosswords . One of my children liked this game very much and in general it was suitable for the iPad. The idea was originally even more global than just an application, but I decided to start with the application. After publication, it became clear to me that it would be enough to leave everything as it is.
After the release of the iPad version of my first product, I was creating a universal application - for work, incl. and on the iPhone. The release of such a version increased sales, but not by much (I think that this is due to the fact that the price for the iPhone application was high). Then I began to think more seriously about the promotion, the first thing I found was a few tips on the MomsWithApps forum . My application was presented at the AppFriday event, which makes MomsWithApps - which later led to an article in The New York Times. I collected all the feedback and feedback from users and made an update. Further, I was engaged in promoting the application using all possible methods - I remember how I wrote an article in PRWeb for almost a week(it was not easy, because I am French, and in the end I did not always know if what I was doing was useful and whether it would bring results). As for the French version of the application - I was going to release it as early as possible, but there was a problem with the fonts, and the recording of my wife’s voice dragged on the process (now I understand that it was then necessary to really concentrate on promoting the already released product in the USA AppStore!).
In January 2011, I started testing new ideas for a new application with words. My idea was to do something like a game where people could enter their own words. I created 2-3 prototypes, but they seemed to me imperfect. Then I began to test the speech synthesis library, which would allow me not to record the pronunciation of each new word with my voice, but to immediately start playing with a speaking moving alphabet - that would be very cool! Children and adults played with the prototype, they liked it. But in the end, a small project lasted for 6 months. One of the reasons for such a deadline was that I wanted to make an excellent usability product. In addition, the delay also occurred due to the fact that I decided to add a section with a quiz to the application, the need for this functionality was confirmed by my little marketing research. By the way, the important question was that the speech synthesis library under the terms of the license agreement took 20-30% of the product’s sales (you couldn’t just buy it for a fixed fee), but it made the product more fun and I certainly used it.
Fortunately, I managed to make enough money on Montessori Crosswords , and this allowed me to work on the Word Wizard . Although overall sales were not so good, I already received promising reviews for a new product, which of course encouraged me. In May, I still spent 3-4 weeks to release an update to Montessori Crosswords . As already written, this solution was chosen correctly. At the end of July 2011, the English version of the Word Wizard was released. I launched the French version of the Word Wizard in September 2011. Now I have plans to update Montessori Crosswords and release German and Spanish localizations for the Word Wizard .
I will try to summarize and analyze what is actually not so simple, the total time of my work. Perhaps my assessment will be somewhere approximate or very different from the labor of other developers. In addition, I have days devoted entirely to development, and sometimes I spend only the whole day promoting.
Development 20-25% For me it is not difficult. I have been programming for 25 years, and started writing for Apple since I was 15 years old. I studied for a long time, received a doctor of technical sciences, worked as a developer and designer of software interfaces for 6 years in one company. I was interested in learning a new programming language and a new platform, I like to program! Compared to my last job, it’s easy and simple for me now.
Product Development and UX 15-20%It was easy to conceptually invent a product, I am a father and I understand what parents want for their children (of course, in order to improve a product you need to listen to your little users). As for the development of the interface and its usability, I had a lot of experience with this before and I know all the "pitfalls". In fact, it is very interesting to design an interface for a children's application for a device with a touch screen (before that I was developing enterprise software and websites more). Creating a product with the right usability seems easy, but in fact there are nuances, and if you do not have experience in developing interfaces, then I would advise you to read at least a few books on this topic. In them you can find an explanation of the basic things - the person, user goals, tasks, tests, etc.
Design 20% It was the most difficult for me, because I am not a designer by education. I like to do design, but it takes me a lot of time. I can work with Photoshop and Illustrator, but it would certainly be right to hire a designer and save time on this. If you don’t have experience in this, or if you think this area is not interesting, I advise you to hire or partner with a designer, because design is also one of the important things - this includes issues related to website design, icons, screenshots, advertising design, etc.
Promotion and marketing 15-20% As you probably already understood, this is one of the decisivesuccess factors! If you are an engineer, as I am, then it is better to focus on this task (after you have finished developing the application as a whole, of course). I had a period when I dealt only with this issue and support for a month. By promotion, I mean the whole complex of works: preparing and publishing press releases (PRMac, PRWeb - for large projects), the application’s promotional website , working with reviewers, the application’s Facebook page , and Twitter account, advertisements, working with forums, etc. It is very important to understand exactly how to work with all of this. When I started, I knew that marketing was very important, but I did not have experience in everything related to it. In fact, marketing is not so complicated, but very time-consuming process. You need to try to look for different ways to promote your product. I recommend choosing your tactics, as the most comfortable and productive work for you personally, and stick to it. Having learned, you will continue to spend less and less on this time, you will already have some contacts, you will know where to find this or that information, etc.
Be aware, participate in a party?%I listened to the advice of other developers, talked to the community of developers in the educational field. The best advice I received in 2010 was the MomsWithApps Forum . This is really a very useful place where you can discuss any topic and any question. You can even post your product promo on their Facebook page or website . At the forum I met great people who helped me figure out those moments where I did not understand something and I really needed to learn something new. I also help other people now, when I find time for this. I tried to participate in discussions in other forums, but this one is the best in my opinion!
5% supportWhen you start selling a large number of copies of a product, of course the question arises with user support. And it’s very cool to support your users, because this is the easiest way to understand how to improve the product. Of course, a lot of letters come about some little things that are simply solved on the user's side, but some will send really valuable suggestions! In order to receive feedback, I advise you to embed a button in the application itself, which would allow users to send feedback to you easily and simply. I also think it’s quite normal to ask users to add a review if they really like your application.
Other (leisure)There is another work related to the analysis of the AppStore, which applications users like, what they write in their reviews, as well as playing the guitar when there is no energy to work, reading blogs and news and other small things. You also need to remember about the weekend - this year I had two weeks of vacation, but I participated in the forums and was engaged in support. It takes me about 45 hours a week to work, but I never work on the weekend (this is time for the family, and the family is holy!). I try to be productive, but when it does not work out - at this time I just do not work.
I hope the article was useful to you!
Original article: http://blog.lescapadou.com/2011/10/how-ive-made-200000-in-ios-education.html
PS We have Alex & Rovich in our teamI liked Pierre’s article very much and we with great pleasure translated it into Russian. We would really like to see more interesting applications from our Russian developers appear in the AppStore. We hope that the article motivates independent developers and small teams to work on their new projects, and you choose not only the development of a new toy!
Actually, I’ll start with sales and rating , and then I will tell you more about my personal experience. I note that the data I bring from AppFigures
Sales
I released my first product for iPad and iPhone more than one year ago, respectively, the Montessori Crosswords sales schedule begins in August 2010 (see the figure above).
$ 200K is very good, considering that my second application in English and French has brought me $ 90K since August 2011 (note the steep rise on the chart, the pace is much better than when I started with the first application). Let's now look in more detail at the four applications that allowed me to earn this money. I must say that all my applications are universal - iPhone & iPad.
Montessori Crosswords
Price $ 2.99 , published August 2010 , selling $ 113,000 . ITunes Link
Montessori Crosswords is the first serious app I developed. Until the end of September 2010, it was only for the iPad. The biggest peak of sales occurred at the time the New York Times mentioned it (Q4 2010). Closer to Christmas, having received feedback from users, I released a small update. Thanks to this, the results have improved. During the 2nd quarter of 2011, sales fell slightly, at which time I worked on the Word Wizard , but fortunately the Children's Technology Review awarded Montessori Crosswordsand things went better. I realized that you can improve a lot of things, found 3-4 weeks and made another update. Both ordinary users and teachers really liked it, so sales immediately went up (end of the 2nd quarter of 2011). Montessori Crosswords sales went up thanks to the popularity of the Word Wizard . In the near future I will release a new update, which I am sure will again increase the dynamics of sales.
French Words for Kids
This is the French version of Montessori Crosswords .
Price $ 3.99 , published November 2010 , selling $ 26,000 . ITunes link
I am French, so naturally there was a desire to release a French version of my application. The French AppStore market is not so big, but I still decided to localize the application in French. For their children, for the children of friends, etc., in the end, this decision was chosen correctly. Due to the fact that the quality of applications in the French AppStore is poor, my application was immediately published in the main blogs of France. And France AppStore added French Words for Kidsin the category “Apps for kids” and it was included in the first 10 applications. Honestly, I didn’t even do much promotion (only a little in January 2011) and it didn’t leave the TOP-10 because of little competition. In addition, there was a large increase in sales associated with the French version of the Word Wizard
Word wizard
Price $ 2.99 , published July 2011 , selling $ 34,000 . ITunes Link
I worked on the Word Wizard for about 5-6 months, a lot of design, tests, graphics, etc. I really liked to come up with various chips, I needed to find the right balance. I would also like to say “thank you” for feedback to my beta testers, they helped me a lot. After the publication, the Word Wizard was noted by teachers, people who are engaged in technology in the field of education, and other representatives of the educational industry. I understood that in order to become more visible the application needs to be actively promoted and promoted. And in fact, let's go, app sales began to gain momentum when the Children's Technology Review first awarded the Word Wizard, then they wrote about it in the online version of The New York Times, after and in the paper The New York Times (the largest peak on the chart), on the Wired Geek Dad Blog, Apple mentioned it on its Facebook page and added it to the category "New and Noteworthy" (iPad & iPhone) in the USA AppStore and many English-speaking countries. However, after a month, sales naturally fell, since I was not engaged in promotion, and this was a good lesson for me. Even if everything is fine, they write reviews about you and speak in the press - do not stop promoting! Most recently, I released the second version of the Word Wizard , which included more than 20 changes based on user comments. Things have improved and in the near future to publish a paid press release on PRWeb.
French word wizard
This is the French version of the Word Wizard .
Price $ 3.99 , published September 2011 , selling $ 11,000 . ITunes Link
It was amazing, in one day the application entered the TOP-10 France AppStore according to the overall rating (Overall) and remained there for two weeks. Peaks are associated with publications on French iOs blogs. Apple selected the French Word Wizard in the “New and Noteworthy” category, but the effect was already lower.
Other applications
Back in March 2010, I released a small Draw with Stars application ($ 0.99) in order to try programming for iOs devices and in order to understand how the Apple AppStore works from the inside. Someone liked this application. Now it brings about $ 10 a day, that is, since publication, I have earned about $ 6,000 on it.
I also made the Montessori Crosswords application for the Mac AppStore , but unfortunately it did not work - about $ 6,000 for 9 months of sales for the English and about $ 1,600 for the French version. I tried to experiment with the French version of Montessori Crosswords French Words for Kids for Mac and offered it cheaper than the iPhone version, but it still didn’t work out - there were $ 2800 sales for $ 1.99.
I also developed the free application Hearts Extravavaganza - a game application for drawing with hearts, made specifically for my daughters.
Ranking vs Sales
It would be interesting to see the ratio of application sales to its rating in the AppStore. This can serve as an indirect indicator of the volume of the market for educational applications (and maybe even the entire market). You see that my applications usually did not fall into the TOP-10 (Overall or Education category). All my applications are universal (iPad & iPhone), AppStore does not share statistics on how many copies of the application are sold separately on iPad and iPhone. However, the rating data is divided by device - separately iPad and iPhone. Nevertheless, I feel that the market for educational applications for the iPad is larger, even despite the total number of iPhones existing in the world. Another observation is that if your application is in the TOP-10 iPhone applications, then overall sales increase faster than if your application would fall into the TOP-10 iPad applications only.
Note: my goal is not to provide specific analytical data on the AppStore educational applications market, but to improve your understanding, give a general idea of it, and show that this market is quite large (at least large for independent developers). Someone will be able to see and extract more information from the figures and graphs given - please.
US market
The data below describes the undoubtedly largest USA AppStore market. Since we are considering a specific AppStore, the numbers here are slightly less (than in the graphs above). By the way, this information may well be used to compare the global AppStore with the USA AppStore.
Word Wizard
It is interesting that the Word Wizard was very successful in August 2011. When The New York Times wrote about the application in paper version, it reached the 2nd place in the iPad rating and the 5th place in the rating of iPhone applications in the “ Education ”, and in the overall rating (Overall) took the 30th and 326th lines of positions, respectively.
Let's look at the rating of the application by income (Grossing Ranks) for the same period, to the question of understanding the size of the market (unfortunately there are no sales on the chart, using AppFigures they could not be displayed and displayed in one picture).
Interestingly, after publishing in The New York Times, my application reached the 104th position in the overall iPad Grossing rating, but I made only $ 2,000 a day, can you explain this when you are in the TOP-10 iPad rating by downloads ( in the Education category)? And a few more thoughts will be further on the French version, which was in TOP-10 (Overall according to France AppStore), but in relation to this data from USA AppStore I could not adequately compare them.
Montessori Crosswords
Next, I give the data on income and position in the ranking at a particular point in time for Montessori Crosswords . It is interesting to compare revenues for the same rating in the 2010th and 2011th years.
French market
Of course, the French market is smaller, but it is quite good if the application has a good position in the ranking. According to my ideas in the educational sphere (the “Education” category) it is 7-10 times smaller than the American one.
Interestingly, the application was in the overall ranking on the iPad at the 5th position (Overall), these days sales ranged between $ 900- $ 1,000 (by the way, at that time the app’s revenue rating (Grossing) was around 10th position). If you compare this with the moment when the application was on the 30th position in the overall iPad rating (Overall) in the USA AppStore, then I earned $ 2000 a day. Now you can understand why I focus with my products primarily on the US market.
My way as an independent iOS developer
I think that there are enough numbers and it's time to talk about my experience. As I said, I started by exploring a very large number of blogs and other useful information. It was interesting, I really hope that my article will help you!
Start
I made the decision to develop for the iPad just a couple of weeks after its public presentation by Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, my first startup was unsuccessful, so I was looking for new projects. I was invited to several startups, but I got excited about the idea of developing for the iPad. After reading several blogs, I realized that there are prospects in the educational field. It was also interesting to do something for their children. My children are in home schooling and my wife and I have experience in their education, this was also a plus. The project in this area allowed me to be closer to my family and communicate with children - indeed, my children were the first users and tested all my applications. The iPad seemed like a great device for the kids, they already had experience and loved playing with the iPhone. I am sincerely convinced that children learn better during the game.
I started by developing a small application, about which I already wrote, it took me about 2-3 weeks. This development made it possible to understand how the Apple AppStore works. I began work on the first serious application with several brain-storms, as a result of which I decided to create Montessori Crosswords . One of my children liked this game very much and in general it was suitable for the iPad. The idea was originally even more global than just an application, but I decided to start with the application. After publication, it became clear to me that it would be enough to leave everything as it is.
After the release of the iPad version of my first product, I was creating a universal application - for work, incl. and on the iPhone. The release of such a version increased sales, but not by much (I think that this is due to the fact that the price for the iPhone application was high). Then I began to think more seriously about the promotion, the first thing I found was a few tips on the MomsWithApps forum . My application was presented at the AppFriday event, which makes MomsWithApps - which later led to an article in The New York Times. I collected all the feedback and feedback from users and made an update. Further, I was engaged in promoting the application using all possible methods - I remember how I wrote an article in PRWeb for almost a week(it was not easy, because I am French, and in the end I did not always know if what I was doing was useful and whether it would bring results). As for the French version of the application - I was going to release it as early as possible, but there was a problem with the fonts, and the recording of my wife’s voice dragged on the process (now I understand that it was then necessary to really concentrate on promoting the already released product in the USA AppStore!).
Word Wizard, second application
In January 2011, I started testing new ideas for a new application with words. My idea was to do something like a game where people could enter their own words. I created 2-3 prototypes, but they seemed to me imperfect. Then I began to test the speech synthesis library, which would allow me not to record the pronunciation of each new word with my voice, but to immediately start playing with a speaking moving alphabet - that would be very cool! Children and adults played with the prototype, they liked it. But in the end, a small project lasted for 6 months. One of the reasons for such a deadline was that I wanted to make an excellent usability product. In addition, the delay also occurred due to the fact that I decided to add a section with a quiz to the application, the need for this functionality was confirmed by my little marketing research. By the way, the important question was that the speech synthesis library under the terms of the license agreement took 20-30% of the product’s sales (you couldn’t just buy it for a fixed fee), but it made the product more fun and I certainly used it.
Fortunately, I managed to make enough money on Montessori Crosswords , and this allowed me to work on the Word Wizard . Although overall sales were not so good, I already received promising reviews for a new product, which of course encouraged me. In May, I still spent 3-4 weeks to release an update to Montessori Crosswords . As already written, this solution was chosen correctly. At the end of July 2011, the English version of the Word Wizard was released. I launched the French version of the Word Wizard in September 2011. Now I have plans to update Montessori Crosswords and release German and Spanish localizations for the Word Wizard .
What do i do every day?
I will try to summarize and analyze what is actually not so simple, the total time of my work. Perhaps my assessment will be somewhere approximate or very different from the labor of other developers. In addition, I have days devoted entirely to development, and sometimes I spend only the whole day promoting.
Development 20-25% For me it is not difficult. I have been programming for 25 years, and started writing for Apple since I was 15 years old. I studied for a long time, received a doctor of technical sciences, worked as a developer and designer of software interfaces for 6 years in one company. I was interested in learning a new programming language and a new platform, I like to program! Compared to my last job, it’s easy and simple for me now.
Product Development and UX 15-20%It was easy to conceptually invent a product, I am a father and I understand what parents want for their children (of course, in order to improve a product you need to listen to your little users). As for the development of the interface and its usability, I had a lot of experience with this before and I know all the "pitfalls". In fact, it is very interesting to design an interface for a children's application for a device with a touch screen (before that I was developing enterprise software and websites more). Creating a product with the right usability seems easy, but in fact there are nuances, and if you do not have experience in developing interfaces, then I would advise you to read at least a few books on this topic. In them you can find an explanation of the basic things - the person, user goals, tasks, tests, etc.
Design 20% It was the most difficult for me, because I am not a designer by education. I like to do design, but it takes me a lot of time. I can work with Photoshop and Illustrator, but it would certainly be right to hire a designer and save time on this. If you don’t have experience in this, or if you think this area is not interesting, I advise you to hire or partner with a designer, because design is also one of the important things - this includes issues related to website design, icons, screenshots, advertising design, etc.
Promotion and marketing 15-20% As you probably already understood, this is one of the decisivesuccess factors! If you are an engineer, as I am, then it is better to focus on this task (after you have finished developing the application as a whole, of course). I had a period when I dealt only with this issue and support for a month. By promotion, I mean the whole complex of works: preparing and publishing press releases (PRMac, PRWeb - for large projects), the application’s promotional website , working with reviewers, the application’s Facebook page , and Twitter account, advertisements, working with forums, etc. It is very important to understand exactly how to work with all of this. When I started, I knew that marketing was very important, but I did not have experience in everything related to it. In fact, marketing is not so complicated, but very time-consuming process. You need to try to look for different ways to promote your product. I recommend choosing your tactics, as the most comfortable and productive work for you personally, and stick to it. Having learned, you will continue to spend less and less on this time, you will already have some contacts, you will know where to find this or that information, etc.
Be aware, participate in a party?%I listened to the advice of other developers, talked to the community of developers in the educational field. The best advice I received in 2010 was the MomsWithApps Forum . This is really a very useful place where you can discuss any topic and any question. You can even post your product promo on their Facebook page or website . At the forum I met great people who helped me figure out those moments where I did not understand something and I really needed to learn something new. I also help other people now, when I find time for this. I tried to participate in discussions in other forums, but this one is the best in my opinion!
5% supportWhen you start selling a large number of copies of a product, of course the question arises with user support. And it’s very cool to support your users, because this is the easiest way to understand how to improve the product. Of course, a lot of letters come about some little things that are simply solved on the user's side, but some will send really valuable suggestions! In order to receive feedback, I advise you to embed a button in the application itself, which would allow users to send feedback to you easily and simply. I also think it’s quite normal to ask users to add a review if they really like your application.
Other (leisure)There is another work related to the analysis of the AppStore, which applications users like, what they write in their reviews, as well as playing the guitar when there is no energy to work, reading blogs and news and other small things. You also need to remember about the weekend - this year I had two weeks of vacation, but I participated in the forums and was engaged in support. It takes me about 45 hours a week to work, but I never work on the weekend (this is time for the family, and the family is holy!). I try to be productive, but when it does not work out - at this time I just do not work.
I hope the article was useful to you!
Original article: http://blog.lescapadou.com/2011/10/how-ive-made-200000-in-ios-education.html
PS We have Alex & Rovich in our teamI liked Pierre’s article very much and we with great pleasure translated it into Russian. We would really like to see more interesting applications from our Russian developers appear in the AppStore. We hope that the article motivates independent developers and small teams to work on their new projects, and you choose not only the development of a new toy!