iPhone® Application Development All-In-One For Dummies®

Chapter 7. The App Store Is Not Enough

In This Chapter

• Reaching potential customers

• Measuring the success of marketing campaigns

• Analyzing customer activity

• Enabling in-app purchases

• Making a business out of software development

Peter Drucker, known as the father of modern management, is also known for pointing out that business has only two functions: innovation and marketing. Because most of this book is about innovation, I need to spend at least one chapter explaining why so many developers don't make enough money from iPhone apps and what you can do to mitigate the complex issues surrounding the marketing of these apps.

Apple will list your application along with 100,000+ apps already listed in the App Store. Yes, it's wonderful that Apple takes only 30 percent of the sales price and takes care of hosting, downloading, credit card processing, and notifying users of updates. And if you remember the early days of developing for game machines, you may appreciate the fact that Apple lets you name your own price for your app. You can even distribute an app for free. What you can't do, and perhaps this is a good thing, is pay for preferential treatment. And as of this writing, Apple doesn't accept advertising within the store.

The App Store does offer lists of the top paid and free apps in each category and also lists the newest apps by release date, but unless your app is already successful and in the top paid or top free lists, your app's fleeting appearance in the list sorted by release ...