Last week we received an e-mail from Apple’s App review team notifying us that after 14 days of review, our latest update to iCombat Lite would not be accepted because of “inappropriate keywords.” The offending keyword was “wii tank,” and we had chosen this because many of our users have told us that our game reminded them of the tank mini game that is part of Wii Play.

While we knew not to use current iPhone app names as keywords, it had never in a million years occurred to us that “wii” might be problematic.  In Apple’s words, they “cannot post applications that contain irrelevant keywords in their search criteria” and suggested that “it would be appropriate to remove ‘wii tank.’”  Interesting since they: 1) had already approved our iCombat paid version with the same keyword, 2) have approved an app with Wii in the title, and 3) they had already rejected iCombat Lite two weeks prior for some other reason without mentioning any problems with the keywords.

What is so frustrating about this latest round of trivial rejections is that the app review “feedback” seems to always come on day 14 (at the earliest), and happens serially.  To give you an idea, we first submitted iCombat Lite update 1.1 on September 8th, 41 days ago!  After being rejected for an issue Apple reported with the code on September 22nd, and spending several days working on replicating the bug (which we never even managed to), we resubmitted the exact same keywords and code on September 28th.

On October 12th (14 days later) we received notice that the entire update would need to be resubmitted because of the “wii tank” keyword.  Had anything changed from the approved iCombat Paid version or the previously rejected lite version?  Nothing at all…and so we deleted the words, resubmitted and for the third time started another 14 day approval cycle.  All in all, if we are lucky we expect the iCombat Lite update to be approved on October 26th, just 48 days to get to market (42 if we subtract the days we took to work on the first rejection).

Reasons to Avoid Developing for the iPhone

Ignoring how illogical this last keyword rejection has been, the real damage of the current app approval process is that it has created a slow and arbitrary development environment that does nothing but discourage indie developers.  The biggest issues with this setup are:

1. Slower development cycles – As if figuring out what users wanted wasn’t hard enough, now add a 14 day approval delay which quickly turns into 1 month with any rejection and you have a buffer that really starts to isolate developers from their users and this constrains the feedback – iteration loop
2. Product/ Market fit is replaced with Product/ Apple fit – To use Andreesen’s advice (worth a read), entrepreneurs should “do whatever is required to achieve product/ market fit.”  Here the only thing that matters is finding what users want and giving it to them.  Yet with Apple as the gatekeeper success is not determined by the market but first by whether Apple will LET you play in its garden. This perverts the goals of the developer and ultimately reduces the chances that an efficient product/ market fit can occur.  You could even argue that on the off chance that you find an exceptional product/ market fit you are at even a higher risk of being cannibalized or pulled or copied by Apple itself.
3. Impossible ROI calculations – If you are trying to run a business based off of App development, how can you possibly calculate the return on your investment when you have no control over your launch to market? Unless you are ngmoco with funding from Kleiner Perkins then how can you build a business on top of such uncertainty (market and execution risks should be more than enough to contend with without having to worry about the d-bag app reviewer risk)
4. App approval amnesia and the lack of a fast track system – What seems to be happening all too often is that previously approved apps, after waiting weeks in the queue, get rejected for features that had already been approved in past releases.  This approval amnesia combined with being lumped in with new app approvals creates a developer disincentive to work on refining applications.  Does it make sense when iCombat Lite, having been live for 3 months with 100k installs and no complaints, suffers a 40+ day delay because it is being forced to the back of the line over and over again to wait amongst what is new crapware?  The sooner these apps can get updates out the sooner they can deliver high quality experiences to Apple users.

All of these factors serve to undermine developer confidence, reduce the quality of apps in the store, and ultimately choke app development activity.  Developers are already looking to other platforms and are limiting investment as the environment has simply become too unpredictable to work with.  Sure Apple has its reasons, namely pushing its 85k or 100k or 250k apps commercials to prove it has the most evolved app ecosystem versus its peers.  But if Apple doesn’t fix these problems soon, those numbers will begin to mean less and less, and at some point the number of apps in the App store will be about as meaningful as the number of videos uploaded to YouTube.

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The rise of the fractured, multichannel market has created dozens of sites that developers now need to visit to build goodwill and help gain exposure, something that is fundamentally different from what they probably want to be doing. In my case this translates into 18-20 hours a day since launch to manage the marketing effort and frankly it is still more than I can handle. While I have enlisted friends and an intern to help, most developers don’t have the luxury of dedicating all of their own time to managing their launch.

I have compiled a list of some of the tools and sites I think necessary to use today:

Top Down channels – kissing the ring

1. Bloggers – what some refer to as the “digital influencers” – sites with major traffic like Gizmodo, Techcrunch, GigaOM
2. Targeted review sites – Touch Arcade, 148Apps, Pocket Gamer, etc. – I have counted 60+ serious ones in all

Bottom Up channels – connecting with your users

1. Facebook – both personal status and group page
2. Twitter
3. MySpace
4. App/ Development/ Gaming Forums - Touch Arcade, maybe iPhonedevSDK, etc.
5. Product website & blog – here you need to have a demo, maybe a news section and your blog
6. YouTube – a great way to communicate with avid gamers
7. iTunes App store summary

Analytics Tools – monitoring usage, downloads, buzz

1. User downloads – iTunes Connect – Heartbeat App or AppViz (super easy to use but less flexible than Heartbeat)
2. Usage behavior – Pinch Media – gives you uniques, geo data, version & device stats, as well as unique data by action in your App (very cool)
3. App ranking – AppRanking by Michael Dorn or Mobclix
4. Web traffic - Google Analytics or Wordpress Stats
5. Affiliate data – Linkshare – here if you are an Apple affiliate you can earn back 5% of your 30% cut that goes to Apple – and monitor clickthrough conversion data from your site
6. Brand management – ScoutLabs or Google Alerts – Scout doesn’t really seem to work for small apps or early on in a campaign as it is, for these smaller apps Google Alerts is a great basic filter

While this list is not comprehensive this is basically everything I am using for the marketing of iCombat. I didn’t realize just how many channels and tools this involved until trying to post an urgent piece of news.  When iCombat was reviewed in Gizmodo’s weekly roundup of iPhone apps I quickly wanted to update every channel I was using.

Spreading the word for that first update went something like this: first update Twitter, then my Facebook status, then the Facebook “Fans of iCombat” group news section, then the iCombat website news page, then the Touch Arcade forum thread discussing iCombat, then I finally shot some e-mails to friends (funny I actually just realized in writing this that I forgot to update my App description in iTunes for the good review – add that to the list).

Once I had finished with the news updates, 2 hours later, I started to comb the anaytics tools: first Pinch media, then user reviews in iTunes, then Mobclix to see if rankings had hit, then Wordpress stats to see website hits, then Linkshare to see the conversion rates, then Scout Labs to check for buzz.

What I experienced was the effects of the new multichannel model where the developer has had to become a social media explorer, pushing into every nook and cranny of the social web.  From gamer forums to niche blogs by 12 year old app reviewers (they do exist), developers risk ignoring these communities at their own expense.  With users fatigued by so much new product noise, it is easy for an unmonitored launch to go unnoticed by these users.

Not all products are good enough to sell themselves, and even if they are amazing, the system isn’t efficient yet at rewarding quality (more on this later).  So while I concede part of the problem is that most developers don’t have the time, especially amateur ones, to dedicate to marketing, I do think we all still need to shift our attention to just how important app marketing is.  Traditionally, developers seem to look at rising to the top in the App store as primarily a question of the product.  I would argue that in most cases it is equal parts product and packaging (dare I say it may be even more about packaging).  This new balance should be weighed when estimating the time, cost and energy it will take to execute your idea – i.e. when laying out a development time line, product features and depth of marketing focus should be weighed as equally relevant factors (as each is a drain on your resources, be it time, money or energy).

I don’t know the reason developers ignore marketing as much as they do.  While it is undeniably a question of bandwidth, it must also have to do with the underlying personality traits of developers as a group.  The desire to code, to focus on the hard part leads to a natural urge to ignore the boring marketing and a disdain for the whoring out that is pushing a product.  In the case of iCombat, we too struggled to stay engaged once we launched the app, but had to remember that we were only half the way there.  In our case, I was planning and handling marketing all along, so like a relay, my work began as the coding ended.

As a lone developer, the combination of fatigue at the end of a project and the lack of desire to get into “marketing” mode is what leads to developers choosing to focus on the wrong thing.  Here is where most developers launch, email their friends and family and a few review blogs, and then return to working on updates for their app.  This decision to immediately turn back to updating is precisely where most developers doom their apps (I am not talking about gimmicky apps or super early launch and iterate strategies like Pocket God).  In my mind this is just like carrying a child around for nine months, giving birth and then deciding to not feed the baby.

The reason that post partum neglect is such a travesty (I will leave that horrible metaphor alone from here out I promise) is that the App store is the PERFECT place to get into marketing mode.  Content discovery is inefficient and the market is young so you can make an impact and experiment without knowing the landscape.  It’s like Junior Prom, in the App store; it’s basically everybody’s first time.

To understand the opportunity it helps to look to the music industry where content discovery dynamics are similar.  Here, the highly subjective nature of determining “quality” and the huge breadth of options makes ranking what is good difficult.  And it is precisely in this type of inefficient discovery marketplace – where success is not necessarily deserved that a system of patronage becomes key.  Since the music industry is a highly evolved market (although getting rocked by technology shifts), an elaborate web of connections has developed where bribes, quid pro quos, image consulting, content engineering and the like, all thrive.  The app market will eventually trend toward this, as do all markets, where market leaders seek to protect and enhance their competitive advantage, but for now it is still young.

In the App store the definition of what is “good” is all over the place, open to interpretation across the huge breadth of gaming, niche, utility, gimmicky and entertainment apps as well as age and demographic groups – so the opportunity to define what is good is wide open for anyone willing to get down into the dirt and push.  While it is fantastic that there is no system of patronage or well laid tracks in the app store in terms of rankings and exposure (as occurs in music), it is a bit like the Wild West in that everyone is in a land grab racing for market position (whether it be in App reviews, app analytics, brand management, or the apps themselves).  What’s clear is that the ones who will triumph aren’t those sitting waiting for the meritocracy to kick in, but rather those who act aggressively and start thinking creatively about how they can get noticed.

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While I have been vague about what iCombat would be until now, I wanted to give you some background as to why we chose to do a classic arcade style tank game.  I grew up in the mid 80’s playing a beat up Atari 2600 – it was behind the times even then (let alone now!) but the good side of having the outdated console was that I could buy old Atari games at used book stores for under a dollar. I didn’t have the money, or need, back then to buy a newer console and it didn’t matter because the Atari had some of the best game play design of any console I have ever played.  Simple rules, easy to use controls, a fast learning curve, all of these things helped make it much easier than picking up today’s games (except maybe the Wii).

The game that captured my attention most was Combat, a 27 game in one combo pack that included the Tank game.  There were many variations of play, one of which was Tank pong – here you fired missiles (squares) at the other tank (a rectangle) and they could bounce off of walls and hit the enemy.  For me the bouncing missiles and fierce 2 player versus mode hooked me, and so when the iPhone launched we saw the opportunity to bring a similar type of game play to the younger generation of gamers.  The idea was to stick to simple game logic but utilize the powerful features of the iPhone to create something great.  Truthfully, we just created it also because we wanted to play it – and we tried to stay true to the game play fundamentals that made the original games so addictive.  And while there are half a dozen tank style games in the App store, we hadn’t found one that scratched our itch for this classic arcade style play.

We hope, after playing, you will start to share our enthusiasm for tank games and that you will become a fan of iCombat.  We also want to make iCombat better in future updates, so please send us your feedback at icombatgame@gmail.com or post something here.  We are planning to offer prizes of some sort (maybe t-shirts or something) to anyone whose idea is implemented in future updates so send us your best suggestions for future changes such as new weapons, levels, enemies, etc.  If your idea is good and others support it in the comments we will do our best to make it happen.  I will be posting some ideas of my own in the coming days so don’t be shy to shoot them down if you think they are weak!

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With the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple is winning in two formerly very different spaces: The smart phones market… really, the mobile phones market: Apple is already one of the largest phone makers in the world (#3 in revenues after only Nokia and Samsung), and hands-down the leader in smart phones and next-gen devices

The handheld gaming devices market. Who’d’ve thunk in July of 2007 that Apple would be rivaling Nintendo and Sony for leadership in the handheld games devices market? Well, six months into the App Store, there are three times more games available on the App Store than for the Nintendo DS, five times more than for Sony PlayStation Portable – and, says BusinessWeek , Apple is on track to sell as many game-capable handsets in twelve months as Nintendo, the current market leader, has sold in its most recently reported 18 months.

At Tapulous, we’re still getting used to that idea, and trying to shake our habits of assuming that all our users are above the legal drinking age, on an iPhone, and always online.”

Bart offers a much needed dose of enthusiasm and reminds his readers that last year, over 100 million app downloads were done in 90 days.  The numbers are astonishing, and while many of these downloads are free applications, the amazing fact is that developers have access to well over 13 million devices by now (was around 12+ million by Q4 ‘08 see here) for almost no upfront or fixed costs at all.  And now with Apple’s new focus on marketing the App store more aggressively (just check out your local Apple store or turn on the TV) you get free marketing as well.  Perhaps for me the best part about accessing users though the iPhone is the near frictionless 1-click purchase solution that removes all of the trouble associated with purchasing something online.  By lowering this friction, Apple has effectively made the dollar cost of most apps the new free (Europe has known this with SMS campaigns for over 5 years).  This is well worth the 30% cut that Apple takes and in return they get to offer mobile users the most impressive deep resource in mobile computing.  So I say ignore the 25,000 apps (as of 03.05.09) and negative usage stats and focus on creating a quality app for the 13mm+ users waiting for you.

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Building PhotoKast: Creating an iPhone app in one month

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1.  “I need a simple iPhone app done…”

A lot of iPhone job posts at Odesk, Elance, RentACoder start like this.  This is somewhat similar to the typical “I need a simple shopping cart solution” post we often see in the web development section.  It might be interesting for you to know that when your ad starts like this there is a very high chance that it will be disregarded by developers or their sales teams that check the website.  This is because developers in most cases find the requirements for something stated to be simple as oftentimes being actually very complex software: with bells and whistles, using GPS location, chat, camera, social networking functionality and a website to support the server functionality.  All of this is just assumed to appear out of the blue built by the same developer.

Typically, there are no specification documents and the job poster has a general, unfinished idea of  what he/ she thinks is a “killer app” and they want the developer to do the rest of thinking. It is also common in such cases that the author did little or no research into what is possible with iPhone SDK and after a discussion it may well turn out that implementing such functionality is impossible at all (except for jailbroken devices) so it turns out to have been a waste of time to even sign all the confidential agreements and begin discussion at the end of the day.

So in such case one may understand the frustration of a developer reading such posts. Therefore, a bit of advice here – while it is good to let developers know that you are not a dollar printing machine and you value your money and know what is difficult and what’s not, it is better to demonstrate this by having a professional approach in making your job specifications properly.

So to summarize the most important steps are:

1. Think your idea over.
2. Do some market research.
3. Write the specs. Create mock-ups and use cases where applicable.(you may find useful our guide on writing use cases and also an Adobe Photoshop PSD file for making iPhone interface mockups)

2. Post broadly

There are a lot of great developers who just stick to one website such as Elance or Guru.com. So if you post to Craigslist or Odesk only, you might lose a chance to find the best coder/ company just because they won’t see your message. Some developers check these desks themselves, some have special sales people. Sales people are often working as a freelance force finding projects for multiple groups of developers – taking a percentage of the contract price in exchange. So in some casing posting broadly means you have a better chance to reach your developer directly and therefore save some money.

Pick those who you think might be eligible and do a better selection process on them.  Check their portfolios, talk to them, ask if they’ve done something
similar. Find out from the communication what’s their English level, what are the times they are available online, if they are responsible people. Might be a good idea to Google them.

4. Ask for a development plan

After you have your professional looking outlined specs, you have a right to expect the same courtesy from developers.  It is the developer’s responsibility to study your specs, think the technical details over and create the development plan which may include hourly breakdown for each task or, alternatively, your project might be broken down into milestones describing features to be implemented with each iteration of the development. Such plan is a must to be able to track project development progress and it can also be a convenient way to organize payments upon successful completion of each milestone.

Injoit.com

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