
My Experience in the Educational Apps Market – 2013 report - PierreA
http://blog.lescapadou.com/2013/12/my-experience-in-education-apps-market.html?hn
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altcognito
Hey Pierre,

Thank you for this post. First, because I use your apps with my kids and they
love them. Almost certainly one of the reasons your applications sell is
because they are very good. It was recommended to me by a relative who is a
teacher and I know she recommends it to others. These types of applications
_are_ the reason I purchased a tablet device: I am a very stingy person, but
if a tool will engage my children in learning, I am happy to separate with my
cash. (we use the app with our kids together)

Second of all, it is just good to have this perspective on the market
potential for a well made app. I'm disappointed about the Android market, I
hope it improves.

~~~
jcampbell1
> I'm disappointed about the Android market, I hope it improves.

Based on some research that I have done, iOS revenue is about 2:1 for phone
apps, with the gap closing quickly. If the app has strong international
appeal, it is probably closer to parity. For tablet apps, iOS has something
like a 10:1 revenue advantage.

I wouldn't write off Android if the app is designed to be used on phones, but
for tablet apps, it is currently a waste of time for most indie devs.

That being said, this type of software is completely evergreen. You can't
reach saturation because there are always new kids and new parents searching
for apps. It is conceivable you could launch an Android app, make $10k this
year, but then the app earns $100k five years from now.

The bigger problem is other devs poisoning the well with high quality free
apps. Which is why I believe this type of post is a mistake if maximizing
income is your priority. This type of post is an invitation for talentless
hacks to hire people from elance to clone your app. All it takes is someone to
figure out how to game the app store rankings better than you. I could
probably pay $40k to clone an app, with the twist that modules are unlocked if
you rate the app, and then out rank Pierre's apps.

~~~
PierreA
Nice feedback on Android market (yes the issue is that I sold mostly on
tablet). I don't agree about cloning - what is difficult is to have a
good/large user base and being featured. Cloning will not help you a lot for
that. Gaming the app store (at least the ios app store) is not easy at all (or
very expensive and not applicable for this kind of app). I don't think the
trick you describe would work.

~~~
novaleaf
for what it's worth, i wanted to buy your crosswords on android, but your
version there is incredibly dumbed down. I finally got an old ipad a few
months ago so finally bought it there.

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coob
Hi Pierre, competitor here :) As to your query about

 _Perhaps a good alternative is to create two apps: one free with IAP and one
paid (but I don 't know if Apple is still OK with this)._

We do this with our primary education maths apps[1], one version unlocked
fully and paid (marketed as 'for schools') and one with a certain amount of
content free and more unlock able with IAP. Apple have not had a problem with
this.

[1]
[http://eurotalk.com/apps/en/age3-5/maths/](http://eurotalk.com/apps/en/age3-5/maths/)

~~~
PierreA
yes it is still an open question for me. There are many big brands that don't
do this - why ? I think everybody is experimenting in kids'app world - it's
not clear as in games where (consumable) IAP are very profitable.

~~~
jpkenobi
I think it's mostly because it's harder to market two apps than one. From my
experience (I'm also developing educational apps for kids), what makes an
indie iOS app a success is more and more determined by Apple's decision to
feature it, and going up in rankings. With two apps, it'll be twice harder to
get in the top 10, and you'll have to choose between one of them to be
featured.

~~~
Groxx
And from what I've seen, the paid-IAP users' reviews get lost in the free
reviews. You split your high-quality reviews (from people who like it well
enough to pay) into two pools, and then poison one of them. Worse yet, since
people tend to try free versions first, you're funneling a lot of people into
the poisoned review pool.

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epaga
Wow, thank you SO much for sharing these numbers. It seems to me a huge part
of your success was due to you picking a niche (Montessori) with weak(ish)
competition and making a high-quality product in that niche, would you agree
with that assessment?

~~~
PierreA
I think my luck is that I was here at the beginning of the /marketiPad. I was
not thinking the market would grow so much. Using the Montessori name was not
a big marketing plan actually (I was really dumb about marketing 3 years ago -
just check the name of my company, it is really not good - especially for the
US Market!). It was just because the concept was coming from a Montessori
activites my homeschooled daughter was doing... Some people told me that it
was a very good marketing to have used the Montessori name, and now I agree
but at this time I didn't know that. My second app and 3rd app has no
"Montessori" in the title because I don't want to use this name too much
(perhaps I should because my work is always inspired by Montessori methods we
use at home...) Anyway, picking a niche and sticking to it is definitively
something important and that worked well for me. All my apps are in this
niche. As a final note: when I release my first, there was almost no
competition. The market was empty.

~~~
austenallred
I'm not familiar with Montessori and the search results regarding what it is
are confusing. Is it a company that produces educational products that haven't
been "digitized" or a theory/method?

~~~
JonnieCache
It's not a company, it's a teaching method/movement. The word Montessori is
the name of it's originator (died 1952,) and it is used freely by anyone who
uses the method:

 _In 1967, the US Patent Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled that "the term
'Montessori' has a generic and/or descriptive significance."[24] Therefore, in
the United States and elsewhere, the term can be used freely without giving
any guarantee of how closely, if at all, a program applies Montessori's work.
The ruling has led to "tremendous variation in schools claiming to use Maria
Montessori’s methods."[25]_

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method#Use_of_Monte...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method#Use_of_Montessori_terminology)

~~~
thejteam
Some states have additional regulations on who can call themselves
"Montessori". For example, Maryland requires schools using the name
"Montessori" to be approved by a "Montessori Validating Organization" that the
state recognizes.

[http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/nonpublicschools/m...](http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/nonpublicschools/ms.htm)

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PierreA
Let me know if you have questions (I'm the lucky indie dev who wrote the post)

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Aren't you afraid that by posting this you are going to attract a lot of
unwelcome competition?

~~~
PierreA
actually I've done this report in 2011 and 2012, and at this time this was
really a good question because there was not so much competion. Nowadays as
maxerison unerlined, there is a lot of competition (and I'm happy to still
have a good visibility). I was even wondering if it was interesting to publish
my report this year (I mean not only for my ego) but several devs told me that
it was inspirational and give them energy to read such posts...

~~~
goldenkey
PierreA, it was indeed inspirational. Partly because you're immensely
talented. It's easy to make utilities with programming chops. But you made
something so much more, you made an artistic, learning, _EXPERIENCE_. Kudos
Pierre, your apps are super high quality and the colors are just blooming,
very fun stuff, even for an adult like me to just mess around and watch the
pretty colors fly around, or the ball physics. Cheers mate.

~~~
PierreA
Thanks - it's just because I'm still a kid somehow, so I like it to be fun for
kids like me ;-) For the UX, I worked in this field so I've got some
experience/feeling/theoric knowledge in this field. Pedagogy knowledge comes
from having homeschooled kids - you need to learn (and also you experience)
how kids learn the best way.

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wil421
Nice this is awesome I dabbled in iOS dev one summer but my simple apps looked
horrible. If you can find something that targets children the parents will
buy. When I worked in a restaurant you wont believe how many parents would
just give the kid an iPad/iPhone so they would calm down, worked immediately.

Kudos for making an app that actually has the kids learning instead of some
trippy cartoon to watch.

2.99 is a good price to pay for a decent app any more and I probably would
look for something else, the days of .99 across the board are long gone.

~~~
scrrr
Seems like bad/lazy parenting, but hey.. good for our industry.

~~~
PierreA
Let's say that you can't always play with your kids, so sometimes it's nice
that they have some toys to play with...By the way, my kids are just around
with friends and they are playing with.. Playmobil (whereas there 5 ipads
available)

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kohanz
Are those revenue numbers before or after Apple takes their cut? Either way,
it's very impressive, but at one point the $1M is listed as "sales" and
another it is labelled "profit".

~~~
PierreA
yes it is after Apple cut. Sorry for my bad english - I should use profit I
believe. I've got a little bit of expense but not much since I work alone and
from home. I just have some royalties to give back to a text to speech engine
for one of my app (I think it is around 30/40K for all my expense for 2013)

~~~
pcharles
Do you see yourself expanding to other app niches outside of education?

~~~
PierreA
No.It would be very hard to succeed, I believe. My brand is only known in the
educational space. But sometimes I really like to create a game :-)

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bonzq
PierreA, jcampbell1 said you are immensely talented and he meant the app you
created. I agree with that but there is one more thing to that, and that is
the way you use English. I suppose English is your second language (so is
mine) but how clearly you express yourself and what a pleasure it is to read
your blog confirms that you're a super talented guy.

~~~
PierreA
Thanks ! According to my wife who is english to french translator - which
helps me a lot to check my writing - my english is not so good ;-) But I
believe it is enough to explain clearly what I want to say

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kubiiii
Great find, I will try out your apps with my daughter. Congratulations on your
success. Escpacially since I never saw theses apps promoted on the app store.
Bonne continuation.

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PierreA
all my apps were promoted on the app store (thanks Apple to help some indie!)
but apps doesn't stay for long featured (competition!)

~~~
kubiiii
Also liked on facebook. Finding quality (educational)(french) apps is a pain
in the derche on the app store. I have already installed/uninstalled dozen of
crappy apps. I think there is also room in the web or traditional french
medias for success stories like yours. Did you get some exposition?

~~~
PierreA
France is strange. I've got articles in NYT but never in french major medias.
Recently, I've got more exposure in the US App Store than in the french app
store... Perhaps I don't know the right person (or big medias are not
interested in apps for kids ?) - or I just need a french PR

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tsuriyathep
Hi Pierre, thanks for your new inspirational article and your previous one. I
have 3 kids and attempted the educational apps market 2 years ago, I didn't
have nearly as much success as you. My games are not pure education either, so
maybe that's my issue, but they are more educational than my competitors. Do
you have any specific advice for my situation? Congrats to you!

[http://www.littlefivegames.com](http://www.littlefivegames.com)

~~~
PierreA
kid's game market (not "purely" educational) is more competitive, and you have
to fight with big players like toca boca/disney/nickelodeon. So you have to
innovate even more. I've seen great apps disapearing from the charts in 2
weeks. Did you try free with not consumable IAP ? Did you try to work on your
keywords ?

~~~
tsuriyathep
I have my top two games Wood Puzzler and Exotic Pet Puzzler in the education
category, they are geared towards learning the alphabet and have lots of
extras. I recently tried keyword stuffing the title as I've seen others doing,
but it hasn't had any affect. Both those games have paid and free-with-IAP,
which works well. My most recent game below, we've done tons of free/paid
marketing and cannot penetrate at all, maybe 1-3 sales per day. Thanks again.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exotic-pet-
puzzler/id7178059...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exotic-pet-
puzzler/id717805944)

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aliirz
This further proves the lack of decent apps in the educational market. I am
glad this worked out well for your PierreA, congratulations.

~~~
PierreA
thanks - but I don't think it is the case anymore. There are indie,big
publishers, funded startups that are doing great stuff (some have based their
business model on my previous reports!!). As I've said, when the iPad was
released nobody thought that the iPad could be useful for education and that
there will be iPads in a lot of schools...

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callmeed
Pierre, thanks for the great post. I have one question for you:

I've heard that the download:rating ratio for iOS apps is around 30:1 and you
can, therefore, estimate an app's downloads by multiplying ratings by 30. Do
you have any thoughts on this?

You seem to have a higher ratio based on your numbers and the ratings in the
app store.

Thanks again.

~~~
josephlord
I think the ratio for at least free apps that don't pop up a request to review
the app is MUCH higher. It is at least for my small scale app.

I don't have any fake reviews (although there might be two or three from
friends and family) and while I don't have metrics for the number in active
use the number of updates downloaded on a recent update was 130 times the
number of reviews I have and the total number of downloads is well over 400
times the review count.

Review counts and download numbers global. A user generally only sees the
reviews in their own country's app store I think.

I really don't want to do it to the user experience but I might have add a pop
up requesting rating when a user has used the app enough, I've only had a
couple of reviews in the past few months.

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sivetic
A local school recently voted to introduce iPads into schools. Immediately
following the vote, there was a huge backlash from the parents about why the
school thought it was a great idea to give a platform for messaging and gaming
to their kids.

I wish more parents and educators actually understood the benefit and
potential of computers in classrooms. Thank you for helping the cause in a
huge way!

~~~
PierreA
The issue in schools is that older kids are smarter that the teachers and can
fool them to do what they want on the iPad Or simply they can the hack the
device to do what they want - there was a big story in LA schools about this -
but I believe it is learning as well no ? I remember I learnt a lot about
security and Unix when I was hacking the network of my university 20 years ago
:-)

~~~
wmeredith
Maybe they should give iPads to the teachers, too ;)

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ommunist
Thank you for the post, Pierre. It is very rare such figures appear for to be
viewed by average Joe. As one can see the consumer market is very much biased
towards the US. Is it because of marketing or because EU markets are so small?
Is Russia relevant as an app market?

~~~
PierreA
If you put all EU markets together I think you've got something as big as the
US (although one would need some figures to prove that). Now the issue is that
you need to market in each country and in a different language. In addition,
it is very complex to localize an if you do a literacy app - language,
culture, way of learning, testing with teacher, etc... I don't know the size
of the Russia market but I think it is the 10th if I remember well just after
France (also to check on reports like Distimo's)

~~~
ommunist
Thank you very much. If you are interested to localise for Russia, let me
know.

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randomhero
which text to speech engine did you used? or is it your own?

~~~
PierreA
it's Acapela. it's impossible to build your own text to speech engine if you
want quality - it's years of R&D to have a very good one.

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apierre
Félicitations! Funny we almost have the same username here :)

