Ask HN: How will iPhone 5 release affect app developers?
3 comments
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?
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.
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)?
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.
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.
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.