

How I Got to the App Store Top with a Simple Currency App - skazka16
http://kukuruku.co/hub/ios/how-i-got-to-the-app-store-top-with-a-simple-currency-app

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z92

        In November, a rapid devaluation of the ruble began.
        This fueled interest in my application and all similar
        ones in the App Store.
    
    

Looks like we still need a good luck factor.

~~~
koonsolo
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

~~~
gramsey
Bullshit. Luck is luck. No one can predict the future, and not everyone gets
the same opportunities as everyone else.

~~~
koonsolo
Opportunities are indeed out of your control, but preparation isn't. And
keeping an eye open for opportunities is also within your control. Everyone
who got "lucky" worked their ass off. Bill Gates, Notch, ...

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IgorPartola
Wow, that's actually really good. I recently released an app in a related
category (personal/family budget and spending tracker), and I am struggling to
get to my first thousand downloads. My friends and people who have seen the
app or the landing page are enthusiastic, and about half of the users become
very active, but even with ads I am having a hard time spreading the word.
Either my social circle is too small, or the app has more niche appeal than I
initially anticipated.

Off topic edit: for those interested, unlike other budget apps/spending
trackers my app actually is meant to be used by a family that shares expenses.
You log your purchases as you go (this was optimized to be super quick), and
your family can see how much money is left until the next refill period
automatically. This was also out of necessity. I read on HN that the easiest
way to get extra cash every month is to make a budget. Turns out, that's
correct, and this is the easiest way to do it for me.

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bitdestroyer
It's probably not eating into your user-base too much, but there is at least
one somewhat well known competitor in that space that my wife and I use called
You Need a Budget. I say it's probably not eating into your user-base too much
because while it's somewhat popular in personal finance circles, I've never
met a person on the street that's known about it. I definitely feel like
there's room to grow in that area. Anything that helps people meet their
financial goals is great so good luck!

~~~
IgorPartola
Someone actually pointed me to You Need a Budget as I was nearly ready to
launch. Their product is very similar, and I actually really like it. I was
very excited to learn about it for several reasons: it proves that there is a
market (their product was highly reviewed), and they are much more expensive
than Family Fortune: $60 up front. One of my plans of attack is to actually
email the blogs and sites that reviewed YNAB and ask them to take a look at my
app. Hopefully that'll result in maybe even dozens of users!

~~~
lazyeye
For anyone interested, the founder of You Need A Budget gave a good talk
recently on growing his company. Its on the Vimeo Microconf channel:-

Jesse Mecham - From Zero to $4M/year Without Quora, Hacker News, or Mixergy
[https://vimeo.com/95653848](https://vimeo.com/95653848)

~~~
IgorPartola
Thanks! Just finished it. Great insights here.

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colinbartlett
Молодец!

Here's the app, in case anyone was interested:
[https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/kurs-
valut/id831528898?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/kurs-
valut/id831528898?mt=8)

~~~
colinbartlett
As a follow up: This was absurdly difficult to get on my phone after I found
the app on my computer.

Searching for "Exchange" in the AppStore on my phone led to a zillion results,
none of which were this app. I tried searching by words in the description. I
tried the name of the app and the developer's name together. Nothing.

In the end, I searched the AppStore for the developer's name and found it.

Does anyone else find iOS app discovery, even when you know the app that you
want, to be horrendous?

~~~
throwaway344
Marco Arment has a similar thought to you.
[http://www.marco.org/2014/12/16/how-broken-is-discovery-
on-t...](http://www.marco.org/2014/12/16/how-broken-is-discovery-on-the-app-
store)

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bemmu
It seems the natural in-app purchase would be for some kind of package that
would add more data sources. Maybe you get the daily bank rate for free, but
if you want some other data sources then that would be extra.

~~~
tormeh
It's normal to charge for real time data in finance. Real time has to be
really real time, though, like max a couple of seconds old.

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bpg_92
Good read man! I made me consider to start an app with an idea I had for a
while. Can you go a bit more technical and talk about the technologies you
used? (besides git of course xD)

~~~
skazka16
The article is the translation from Russian. Let me try to bring the author
here.

~~~
bpg_92
I would appreciate that. Please keep me updated.

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rcarrigan87
People will be willing to look past a weak design in order to get their
questions answered.

The OP didn't set out to start a business, but this definitely is a good
example of rather than looking for the next billion dollar startup idea just
focus on building cool stuff to solve problems. Who knows, maybe this could
turn into some kind of exchange rate information company.

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rcorin
So, if I understand correctly you've the top biz category app and it's just
generating ~100$ daily in ads? Seems a bit low actually :(

ps: would love some support for multiple data-sources per currency: for
instance in Argentina we've official dollars but since they're impossible to
get we also have sidemarket "blue" dollars...

~~~
onion2k
Getting to the top of a category in the app store is a metric based on
installs. Ad revenue is based on number of times the app is actually used.

Developing an app that thousands of people install but don't actually use
often won't make you especially rich.

~~~
rcorin
Agreed. But I still tought the top category app should drive so many installs
that even users launching the app just once should generate more than that.
Looks like the the business category is driving less installs than other more
popular ones, like games or photo apps...

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kleer001
1) Work smart. 80% of your problems come from 20% of your code.

2) Work hard. Then again, pace yourself. Sleep dep is a bitch and counter
productive.

3) Be lucky. Make something that lots of people want.

To be honest there's a lot more and the article is well worth reading.

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aerialcombat
Send two more apps to the top and I'll read what you have to say

~~~
wingerlang
It's not really about that though. He states very very early in the post the
following:

> "It’s not a success story and not a guide for action. I just want to tell
> you how I developed the most popular application in its category"

So, he's just sharing.

