

Ask HN: How will iPhone 5 release affect app developers? - ChelseaT


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appcoder
I have had a successful run on the App Store. I've had two apps featured by
Apple and one app selected as a staff favorite by Apple.

In June, when Apple changed their search algorithm, my sales dropped by 70%.
The decline continued until it stabilized at around $700 a month. I went from
$5,000 a month of steady app sales for over two years to $700 a month.

Free apps that are completely unrelated to education now show up in search
above my apps.

When IOS6 is released to the public, I expect my sales to fall even more. I
may not even hit $300 a month when IOS6 comes out.

The App Store in IOS6 is broken. You can only browse one app at a time when
you search. Throw in a broken search algorithm and app discovery becomes very
difficult.

Current search results favor free apps with a lot of downloads. The new App
Store also does not have a newly released section. So it will be very hard for
new paid apps to gain traction.

I tried external marketing. I tried blog reviews. I tried mobile ads. Nothing
helped. If your apps can't be found, nothing external is going to help. If I
give a customer my app's name and tell them to download it on the app store,
they will most likely end up downloading someone else's free app because they
could not find my app.

As a comparison to this, my gadget & tech site has been earning a steady
$60/day for seven years.

I'm not sure what Apple's play is at this point. But I do know that this has
been a painful summer for a number of IOS developers. And by the look of
things, it's only going to get worse.

I am fortunate enough to have another online income stream that keeps me
comfortable. However, I know that many developers rely solely on Apple for
their income.

All this is really disheartening.

~~~
orangethirty
I have some questions regarding your experiences (I'm researching the app
market model). Looked at your profile but no email. May you contact me
instead?

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ChelseaT
Good to know. I was thinking more along the lines of long-term effects- what
type of effects do you think it will have on app development trends in general
moving forward (if any at all)?

~~~
jamesjguthrie
None? iOS apps are pretty far behind Android apps - the OS will only just be
getting native Facebook integration next week whereas Android has had it for
years. iPhone 5 has the biggest screen yet and it's still only 4 inches.
Android phones have been kicking 4.3 as a de facto standard for years and the
latest phones are even bigger.

The main point is that iOS as an OS is behind the major player in the industry
now and along with iPhone 5, will just be playing catch-up on Android for the
foreseeable future.

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olivercameron
Not much. All existing apps will be letter-boxed, which means that for your
app to take full advantage of iPhone 5, you'll have to submit a new version
with tweaks for the larger screen.

