TechCrunch
A survey of sales and pricing data from 96 iPhone app developers has some interesting numbers that journalists looking at developing paid apps may find useful. Most of the apps were sold for $.99, and development costs averaged $6,453. So, developers saw a 15x return on their investment, with a big caveat from post author Alex Ahlund. “Several developers omitted development costs and most did not include their personal time in these figures. It is safe to assume the cost would be at least five or 10 times more when using a contracted team.”
Looking at the numbers, without the top 10 percent of highest-selling apps, it’s not quite so dazzling. Fully half the remaining apps sold 10,000 copies or less. The biggest guarantee of success? Being featured by Apple in the iTunes store. “Generally speaking, it is safe to assume a 2-20x sales spike following being featured, with the effect lasting roughly a week or so before returning to average numbers.”
The app developers surveyed create apps of all kinds, from serious to silly, but none of the 50 listed were specifically journalism apps. The biggest takeaway for newsrooms is the importance of promotion — when you launch your app, you’ve got a window of about a week to make a splash and get in front of your likely users before it will get much more difficult to reach them.
