
What Does Having the #6 App in a Mac App Store Category Get You? $15.42 - Osiris
http://www.hanchorllc.com/2011/05/06/what-does-having-the-6-app-in-a-mac-app-store-category-get-you-15-42/
======
modernerd
Even in the iOS App Store, there's a world of difference between sixth place
and first place in terms of revenue. (I've charted in the US in both positions
for the productivity category.)

It took Pixelmator 20 days to take a million dollars on the Mac App Store[1],
so his suspicion that 'the stats aren't that great' might be true for most
people, but it's not true for everyone.

This isn't surprising, though, because the Mac App Store will be subject to
the same formula for profit as the iOS App Store:

    
    
      1. Build something unique with mass appeal.
      2. Polish it until it shines.
      3. Market it to a big list of loyal fans.
      4. If you don't have a big list, build one or piggyback someone else's.
      5. Update your app, improve it, and do one thing every day to spread the word.
    

Consistently, the apps doing well appear to get steps 1-to-5 right, which
often results in Apple featuring them. Earning $15/day isn't reason to give
up, though. It's a great starting point; there's plenty of room to grow from
there.

[1]: <http://www.pixelmator.com/weblog/>

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Actually being featured is the single biggest factor to success in the App
Store. Sure, having a good product is necessary for _continued_ success, but
many have done well initially just by having a contact on the review team and
getting placed in a prominent position (Color comes to mind).

~~~
leon_
Or Angry Birds. It only became a success after the devs got a publisher with
contacts to Apple.

> "we went to Apple with Chillingo and said, 'We've got something here.'"

> On February 11, 2010, Apple agreed to feature Angry Birds on the front page
> of the UK App Store as game of the week. In preparation, Rovio made a
> YouTube trailer, only the second ever for an iPhone game, which has now had
> over 17 million views.

[http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/how...](http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/how-
rovio-made-angry-birds-a-winner?page=3)

------
pagliara
You can't expect to make much money on the Mac App Store with an app priced at
$2 in a niche category. You'll never get the volume of downloads necessary to
be profitable, unlike on iOS, whose market is many times larger than the Mac.

My Mac App Store experience has been rather different. I have several
applications in the store ranging from $5-$20, and daily revenue is usually in
the $100-$200 range. The Mac App Store has brought much greater exposure and
increased sales.

To generate income on the Mac App Store, you really need to be aiming for
products that can be sold in the $20 range if your product is in one of the
smaller categories.

~~~
seanalltogether
Same here, I get 100-200 downloads a week for [Space
Gremlin]([http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-
gremlin/id414515628?mt=...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-
gremlin/id414515628?mt=12)) and do just fine with revenue.

~~~
theevocater
Awesome app. This is random, but I was just looking for something similar

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maxklein
I have an app called SongCleaner (to delete double MP3s) that I sell at $5. It
floats around in the top 20 of the Music Category. Peaks at around #14 then
goes to #30 and so on.

I make about $35 a day on that app. Peak was $70 and bottom was $17. That's
about 10 downloads to 20 downloads a day.

I'm quite satisfied with the income considering it took barely 2 weeks to
develop (part-time), but consistently brings in a steady income.

There is a competitor who sells at $20 and also does the same floating around
that my app does. So I guess he's making 4 times as much money as I do, but I
personally don't think $20 is a fair price for something you use once or
twice.

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YooLi
1\. This is MAC App Store. Not sure why people are mentioning Android.

2\. This was only over 1 (ONE) day.

3\. This was in the Dev Tools category.

~~~
rbritton
The ranking mentioned is also the "Top Paid" one. That is pretty meaningless
for a relatively inexpensive app ($2) in a niche category.

My direct experience has been with the iOS App Store where I've never once
been above #25 in the top paid photography category but am always within the
top 10 of top grossing photography. I make considerably more than $15.42 in a
day because I charge more.

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evilduck
The article cites sales of Panic's Coda and BBEdit.

Panic has been around for a long time and has an established brand among Apple
users. If I wanted a Panic product, I'd go directly to Panic.com where I've
purchased from them before, and I'd prefer to give them their full price
instead of 70%. Random Hanchor LLC product of questionable usefulness? I'll
let Apple shield me. Hence, lower App Store sales of reputable products,
higher sales of unknowns.

Coda and BBEdit are also relatively old products. Citing their slow sales as
evidence that the Mac App Store is ineffective would be the same as citing
slow sales of Adobe CS3 on the App Store if it were for sale. The primary
purchasers for those products owned them well before the App Store even
existed.

~~~
btipling
You wont get the nice upgrades. I always get the mac app store version because
you can't convert from one to the other.

~~~
evilduck
Panic's stuff already has nice upgrades.

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jcnnghm
I bought the app a couple weeks ago. It can be downloaded from github and
compiled, but I wanted to support the developer. Small world I suppose.

~~~
jcnnghm
I wanted to expand a little more on the app store itself. I pop it open every
couple of days, looking for new tools, but new software seems to take a while
to show up. Until there is a huge base of software like there is for iOs,
sales are going to be slow. I also feel that in general, the pricing is a
touch too high. I want to buy apps that will inexpensively solve an immediate
need. I will pay a dollar to save a minute. The need doesnt have to be huge,
but the app does have to nail it. The authors app is in this category, along
with an app I purchased to quickly resize icons, and another to create
buttons.

In general, the store doesn't provide enough detail for high-end app sales.
Going to the apps website kind of defeats the point. I'm not willing to bet
too much money on something I'm evaluating from a few screenshots.

Of course, there may be demand, but the fact that the author is selling an app
to developers, who can download and compile the app for free, may skew the
numbers.

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dusing
We have a $.99 app for a sports team. One 3 day period we were #3 in the
Sports category in the US. It yielded 703 sales during that period, and a
sustained period of 3x downloads pre ranking.

~~~
bignoggins
is this iOS or Mac? Sounds incredibly high to me if this is Mac App Store, but
sounds about right for iOS (I've been #2 in sports on iOS)

~~~
dusing
Sorry it was iOS - I didn't read.

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kefs
I guess this is the opposite end of the spectrum..

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2140208>

~~~
balac
It has to also depend on the category you are in. A lot more people will be
interested in a easy to use photo editor over some iOS beta delivery software.

------
scottcha
I work on one of the top 100 free apps in the mac app store (its been as high
as the top 20s). Our volume is surprisingly low considering we are ranked so
high in the overall category. I guess its telling about the overall volume in
the store.

~~~
alanfalcon
Any chance of sharing the numbers?

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blownd
I'll share some numbers: I've got three utilities in the Mac App Store, two
currently free: WindowFlow[1] & Window Keys[2], and one paid: Optimal
Layout[3].

Firstly, from what I've seen, only the US store really matters for paid apps.
I've seen very low numbers move Optimal Layout to close to the top of the
category: e.g 5 sales in Canada placed it at #5 in the top paid utilities.

In the US Optimal Layout hit #4 in the top paid utilities and #40 top paid
overall with 82 units sold in a day.

For the free apps, WindowFlow was the best performer getting the most
downloads in Japan & France (for some reason) hitting the number 1 spot in
both store with about 700 downloads a day. Neither of these translated into
many sales for Optimal Layout, but it was just great to have lots of people
trying out the apps.

So overall it's not a big market yet, being a part of bundle like MacUpdate or
MacHeist delivers access to a much bigger market (40,000+ in 2 weeks) but it's
relatively steady and only going to get bigger.

I'll revive my blog soon and post a more detailed analysis of how I see it
playing out.

[1]WindowFlow: <http://most-advantageous.com/windowflow/>

[2]Window Keys: <http://most-advantageous.com/window-keys/>

[3]Optimal Layout: <http://most-advantageous.com/optimal-layout>

------
sosuke
So how much did he spend on advertising? Why is he saying that all of his
advertising only goes towards a single day of sales? Shouldn't it really be
seen over a week after and week prior to get a good idea of the impact it had?

~~~
benologist
I don't think that was the point ... the point was he's achieved a prominent
position in the Mac App Store, and that's not worth many sales.

I've spent almost no time in the Mac App Store, when I want software I go to
Google and when I want games I go to iTunes.

~~~
glhaynes
Achieving a prominent position in the Mac App Store _in a category like
Developer Tools_ isn't worth many sales. That doesn't surprise me in the
least.

~~~
Zev
Going against the old adage of "Don't dig for gold; sell tools to miners"?

~~~
awj
That works great, unless said miners have an almost ridiculous quantity of
tools just lying on the ground waiting for someone to clean them up a bit and
start using them.

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dasil003
Could the rankings be factoring in how many people looked at the app? Or maybe
the sales rate? Maybe everyone flocked to the app right at the same time
creating a spike over a short period of time that Apple noticed. I actually
heard the podcast in question (5by5) and it's broadcast live, so there could
be a discrete bump.

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davidedicillo
The main problem is that I feel developers don't look for apps on the Mac App
Store. And being a cheap app in a niche category doesn't bring money.

------
MatthewPhillips
Let this be a warning to the mobile platform app devs: this is your future.
Get all the gold you can, while you can.

~~~
olivercameron
Why is this a warning to mobile app developers? The article is about the Mac
App Store.

~~~
chc
I think he is trying to say that mobile is still in a gold rush, and the Mac
App Store is what an app store on a stable platform looks like. I'm not sure I
agree with that, but it's not completely unrelated.

