

Tiny Piano sales quadruple due to Apple commercial - ronyeh
http://blog.squarepoet.com/post/35196629175/tiny-piano-sales-quadruple-due-to-apple-commercial

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chucknelson
I'm confused with the comments here - we do all know Garageband is the app in
the ad, right? It just so happens that people see a piano and search "piano"
in the app store.

I may also be missing jokes and/or sarcasm :)

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ronyeh
Yes, GarageBand is the app in the commercial. Why would Apple feature someone
else's piano? :-) But it is nice that they said "App from App Store" instead
of being more specific. That allowed the rest of us piano app developers to
benefit.

p.s. I hope I'm not the only one around here who thinks of Tom Hanks when I
hear that tune. I suppose all the kids downloading my app don't think of "big"
when they see the TV ad.

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umjames
Or Robert Loggia. I hope they never remake that movie.

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ronyeh
I loved Big! And Vice Versa (with Fred Savage). I think I fit their target
demographic.

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rickdale
I saw this commercial and I was upset that Apple didn't explicitly say which
App they were using for the commercial. At the end at the bottom it just said,
"App From App Store" . Glad that people are finding the app though, the
commercial is great advertisement!

EDIT: Ok, apparently this app is not the tiny piano app I thought it was in my
initial comment. Thanks for clearing this up. The confusion is why I was upset
they didn't explicitly say which app they were using. I guess its a just a
good day to be a piano app.

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zerostar07
In other words, TV advertising is the most effective way to promote an app?

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theallan
Depends on how you define effective. If you are getting free air time, with
Apple PR picking up the bill, then yes, there probably is no better way of
increasing your own revenue. However, if you are paying for the ad yourself -
well, I guess there is a reason why we don't get a huge number of ads for
individual apps (at least, that's the case here in the UK). Its simply not
cost effective.

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coob
When I had an app featured in an Apple commercial it appeared in an "As Seen
on TV" section of the App Store in that country, and lead to a sales boost.

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benguild
More like people trying to find a use for their iPad mini

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metatronscube
No its more like people being interested in the application, finding value in
it and actually wanting to buy it. When I got my Nexus 7 it came with £15 free
content on the play store and I couldn't even spend it all because there was
so little quality applications available.

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rogem002
3 million downloads bringing in $10K revenues, that dosen't seem like a huge
amount of money considering the spike in users of the app.

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ronyeh
Sorry for the confusion. I meant Tiny Piano achieved its 3 millionth download
since its launch in February 2012. The TV ad is bringing in about 4x the daily
sales.

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mrchess
Curious how you landed on the color scheme for the keys. Is that how you hear
them?

I just ask because I've always heard D as "red" and you had yours at
red/orageish. Was wondering if it was just coincidence.

EDIT: Scratch that. Just realized it was ROYGBIV with C as the root. :)

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ronyeh
I honestly don't recall. I am not a synesthete, and in fact I'm not a
musician. That's why I make apps that make it easy for people to feel like
they are a musician... :-)

This web app references various historical tone-to-color mappings. Check out
the settings menu: <http://mudcu.be/piano/>

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christo16
I read this title much more literally, I thought they had seen an uptick in
physical tiny piano sales
([http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Schroeder_Pian...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Schroeder_Piano.jpg))

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hkmurakami
In a way this reminds me of how Etch-a-Sketch sales skyrocketed after the Mitt
Romney Etch-a-Sketch comment earlier in the year.

(Say what you will about the former presidential nominee, but Etch-a-Sketch is
a pretty cool toy for kids!)

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blake8086
I ran into Ron at Startup School. We, like many others, exchanged business
cards. He added me on LinkedIn the next day, and was the only person I met who
added me. I think Ron makes his own luck.

Congrats Ron!

~~~
ronyeh
Hi Blake!

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rex64
I actually thought the app in the ad was Garageband for iOS! Congratz man!

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hellweaver666
The app in the ad _is_ Garageband. However people just saw a piano and went
searched for "piano" in the App Store and downloaded this instead of
GarageBand (probably because the thumbnail looked like what they were looking
for).

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dhugiaskmak

        (probably because the thumbnail looked like what they were looking for)
    

Probably because GarageBand is five bucks and TinyPiano is free.

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jws
The author's message is roughly "ship and improve", but I think he is
understating "pay attention, work hard, and learn" which also show, though
subliminally, and might be so ingrained in him that he didn't notice.

In the screen snap of the piano apps, notice that half of his competitors say
"Download" instead of "Free"? That means he has already bought them, but they
are not installed on his device. Research. Learn.

Also notice that he has a variety historical metrics easily at hand to guide
him.

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ronyeh
Yes, I try to download most related apps. It's important to be aware of the
competition. But don't be dissuaded by them.

I use as much analytics as I can. If anyone is interested in app development,
they should definitely check out: App Annie & Flurry Analytics.

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cyphersanctus
10K is good monetization for 3 million free downloads. Its not easy to get
that kind of money from ad displays. On a normal site you get a bit less for
that amount of impressions.

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hahla
Slightly less? What ad networks are you using at $10k that would be an eCPM of
$3.33 which for non-mobile ads is pretty high for what the app is.

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trhtrsh
I don't know how that app works, but I would assume that it generates more
than one impression per _download_. I assume it shows adds before/during/after
usage, not just at download or first run.

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ronyeh
Hey everyone! Feel free to leave me any questions here or on the comments
section of my blog post. I'm happy to answer your questions regarding indie
development.

I'm always glad to help another indie developer by sharing my experiences. The
more information that's out there, the better it is for someone trying to make
it!

-Ron

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netmau5
Taken another way, this campaign would have clearly been -ROI if the Piano
apps themselves ran it themselves. Although a mass-market television
commercial clearly isn't the best way to reach a niche audience, I think it
definitely says something about the market potential and profits of most apps
these days.

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ronyeh
For sure, but I'm pretty sure Apple has been happy with this campaign. Not
only did it result in increased iPad sales, it has increased app sales and iAd
impressions, from which they get 30% commission.

The #2 iPad paid music app right now is a $10 app! That developer also owns
the #1 iPad free music app. If I were him I'd be buying a plane ticket to
Hawaii right about now. :-)

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th0ma5
I consider this to be somewhat misleading advertising. The playing, especially
towards the end, has the full chord and a bit of glissando which I'm not
entirely sure you can do this on any app......

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ricardobeat
I don't hear a glissando in the ad, where should it be?

At around 0:15, just as the bigger iPad is going out of the picture, a third
piano enters the song.

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th0ma5
There's an ever so slight little twinge of something, maybe gliss is the wrong
term... perhaps like a slight flam-like jazzy diminished 32th note into the
actual note?

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dear
Congratulations! Luck plays a role but ultimately it is your hardwork that
brought you success! It is encouraging that independent developers do and can
thrive. Thanks for sharing!

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ronyeh
Thanks! Yes, that reminds me of the quote usually attributed to Thomas
Jefferson:

"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have
of it."

If anyone is thinking of doing indie development, it IS a lot of hard work.
But if you ship and continually improve your app(s), there's a good chance
you'll get lucky (someday).

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trhtrsh
Chance. Maybe not good chance.

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captaintacos
It's all very well deserved Ron, your app in fact demystified to me how to
actually play the piano. Not to mention that my toddler loves it.

Greetings from Kyoto ;)

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ronyeh
Hi Paco! Glad your kid likes it. Let me know if you have any song requests, as
I'm currently working on song packs for the next update.

I'm missing some Churro Star right about now. :P

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marcofucci
Am I the only one to find this a bit sad? People do what Apple does. I know,
it's always been like this...

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marcofucci
Well, I guess it's good for us developers. Great news for you guys,
congratulations!

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Hari_Seldon
I'm not surprised, it's a cute ad.

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sgdesign
That's great news, very happy for you :)

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Karunamon
I came here expecting a sarcastic joke at a sarcastic apple ad. Leaving
pleasantly surprised :)

