

How my very first iPhone app (version 1.0.0) got featured in the App Store - preichen

We submitted our very first iPhone app (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/localuncle/id473554413?mt=8) about 3 weeks ago to the App Store and about 2 days ago we were featured in the App Store. It's called "LocalUncle" and it gives you the ability to know what's happening anywhere in the world by sending questions to people who are checked-in on Foursqure. Think Quora meets Foursquare meets Magic.&#60;p&#62;Here's the proof: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=197084127038309&#38;set=a.131140903632632.33967.124227507657305&#38;type=1&#38;theater&#60;p&#62;Or just go to the App Store to the "Featured" and "New" section and you'll find us.&#60;p&#62;How did we do that? Well, we just built a great app! Literally the only thing we did was build an app, submit it and we got featured! We haven't had ANY press whatsoever cause we wanted to softlaunch our app and prevent a #faillaunch like color.com. Little did we know that version 1.0.0 of our app would already be featured on the App Store!&#60;p&#62;We're seeing an amazing amount of downloads and couldn't be happier.&#60;p&#62;So our advice is: Focus on building a truly useful and nice-looking service. The rest will take care of itself! Good products always surface to the top and rise above the crowd.&#60;p&#62;If you have any further question, shoot me an email to philip@localuncle.com.
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ricardobeat
Great idea! Do you need the app to answer questions, or are they sent via
Foursquare's messaging system?

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preichen
You do need the app. Do you think it would be possible to build it via 4sq
messaging system? We were looking into different options, but came to the
conclusion that this was the only way to build it.

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ricardobeat
I thought it was possible, but just saw they don't allow comments on
strangers' check-ins. Could use people's twitter/facebook profiles, get sign-
ups as a bonus :)

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preichen
true!

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coryl
Congrats, how many downloads are you doing daily?

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taphangum
I'd like to know this too. If you guys don't mind sharing of course. Also
would you consider doing a report of your progress after the first month?

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preichen
Thanks! Well, we've only been featured for about 72h now. We're seeing that
download rates are doubling daily. And on the first day we got over 1k
downloads. You can do the math. People I talked to say that we can expect
anywhere from 50k-100k downloads. Let's hope for the best!

I'll definitely put up something on our blog blog.localuncle.com. Just follow
us on twitter @localuncle to stay in the loop. Exciting times coming up!

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nhangen
I hate to nitpick, but this should be labeled as a Show HN instead of a 'how
we did it' type of post.

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preichen
You're right. I guess that our excitement took over and I kinda forgot the HN
etiquette for a moment.

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nhangen
It's cool, I remember chatting with you during Startup Weekend on Justin.tv (I
think). Good product - congrats on the success!

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preichen
Thanks!!!

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revorad
Congrats! Can you make it available on the UK store please? I hate the app
store for this - half the apps I see are only in the US store.

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preichen
We're working on it. Main reason to launch US only was not to pull off a
color.com type of #faillaunch. But expect LocalUncle to be available worldwide
sooner than you think! Follow us at @localuncle on T to stay in the loop.

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jvdmeij
Congrats. Cool to read!

Could you explain the difference between this and LocalMind?

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preichen
Yup. \- We give you the ability to ask about areas. LocalMind doesn't \- We
route your questions with some heavy tech in the background to the most
adequate users on the system, in real-time. LocalMind doesn't have this
intelligence in the background which means that at the end of the day, the
experience on our system is way more relevant and simply better than on
LocalMind.

Here's more info on what we do exactly
[http://blog.localuncle.com/2011/11/04/know-the-world-in-
real...](http://blog.localuncle.com/2011/11/04/know-the-world-in-real-time/)

