Over 1 billion iphone app downloads in 9 months

[Gary And Billy]

There were over a billion app downloads in just 9 months. That is a huge figure.

Have any Warriors create an app, either IM related or otherwise?

I have zero tech skills but have noticed that the most popular and most profitable have been the more basic and useful apps like ifitness.

Gary

[linkman11]

Does iFart count?

Our team created it... but some of the features and all those crazy names
were mine..

16th most popular paid app of all time.. and it was a lot of fun..still is..

This is me in the video

YouTube - iFart Mobile - iFart Changes Everything

I also came up with the iVote app..

[Gary And Billy]

Wow. Yes the ifart does count!

I have to confess at not being one of your customers LOL but there is no doubting the popularity of that app.

Congratualations on creating such a successful product. I'm impressed!!

Gary

[Johnathan]

Originally Posted by linkman11

Does iFart count?

Our team created it... but some of the features and all those crazy names
were mine..

16th most popular paid app of all time.. and it was a lot of fun..still is..

This is me in the video
YouTube - iFart Mobile - iFart Changes Everything


I also came up with the iVote app..

Curious -- what kind of return (profit) did you see?

[Steve Faber]

Dan,
I have bought some of your products before, but none of them were like iFart. Shouldn't you package it for today's generation, i.e. iPhart?

[linkman11]

Joel Comm's posted most of our numbers on his blog and in interviews, but let's just say we've sold over 400,000 units at $0.99 each..

Apple takes 30% so you can do the math from there..

And without going into details about Dev Time.. i'm just going to say.. it was short : )

[Johnathan]

Originally Posted by linkman11

Joel Comm's posted most of our numbers on his blog and in interviews, but let's just say we've sold over 400,000 units at $0.99 each..

Apple takes 30% so you can do the math from there..

And without going into details about Dev Time.. i'm just going to say.. it was short : )

Wow, not bad for a couple hours work (A day's work if you did testing)

[InternetMarketingCenter]

That's one of the funnier success stories.

[jusmon]

Tried to find an iphone app developer on the different boards and seems they're all booked solid.. :-/

[Chris Kent]

BBC showed some app developers working from home and making about $2000 to $4000 per month income from a single app.

One guy's app was so basic, it just showed total talk time used and cost. Just a basic calculator.

Another guy had an app that was simply a map of the london underground. It wasn't even interactive in any way!

Sounds like easy money to me, incredible that so many people are willing to pay for such useless apps.

Anyone done anything like this? Would love to know the basics of getting started.

[Gary And Billy]

Originally Posted by linkman11

Joel Comm's posted most of our numbers on his blog and in interviews, but let's just say we've sold over 400,000 units at $0.99 each..

Apple takes 30% so you can do the math from there..

And without going into details about Dev Time.. i'm just going to say.. it was short : )

Dan

That is fantastic. I am so pleased for you and it shows what can be done with a great idea and actually developing it.

An inspiring story and thanks for sharing. Good luck with your future projects

Gary

[linkman11]

When we launched our app, we were competing against dozens of Fart apps.. over 80 at one time, including free ones.

We actively promoted via our sites, twitter, press releases and more to get to the #1 spot..

Getting into the top 10 in the App store now is like winning the lottery.

You either have to have a brilliant app, brilliant marketing or sheer luck.

A lot of people have the gold rush mentality which I understand, but you have to be realistic.. no only do you have to find good developers, but you're going to spend $1,000's and $1,000's of dollars to get your project completed.

And by the time you do, you're competing with 10's of 1000's of other apps, and if during your dev time someone launches a similar product, you're screwed.

In the next couple of years they'll be a 100 big success stories on the App store, but they'll be 100,000 failures... just keep that in mind.

There are still killer ideas out there, and I don't want to discourage anyone.. just don't refinance your mortgage to build an iphone app. If you're trying to create an original game, utility or novelty app, it's way too risky.

[Johnathan]

Thanks... Yes, that is what I was thinking...

How much did you spend on the actual 'marketing' aspect of it? (So in effect what would your net profit be?) I would say it would be a lot more work than simply 'making' the app and expecting people to come... 10 years ago -- that kind of worked. But now the industry has really matured, everyone has dreams of riches for no work, so it's a lot more fierce competition...

Thanks,

Johnathan

Originally Posted by linkman11

When we launched our app, we were competing against dozens of Fart apps.. over 80 at one time, including free ones.

We actively promoted via our sites, twitter, press releases and more to get to the #1 spot..

Getting into the top 10 in the App store now is like winning the lottery.

You either have to have a brilliant app, brilliant marketing or sheer luck.

A lot of people have the gold rush mentality which I understand, but you have to be realistic.. no only do you have to find good developers, but you're going to spend $1,000's and $1,000's of dollars to get your project completed.

And by the time you do, you're competing with 10's of 1000's of other apps, and if during your dev time someone launches a similar product, you're screwed.

In the next couple of years they'll be a 100 big success stories on the App store, but they'll be 100,000 failures... just keep that in mind.

There are still killer ideas out there, and I don't want to discourage anyone.. just don't refinance your mortgage to build an iphone app. If you're trying to create an original game, utility or novelty app, it's way too risky.

[Gary And Billy]

Originally Posted by linkman11

When we launched our app, we were competing against dozens of Fart apps.. over 80 at one time, including free ones.

We actively promoted via our sites, twitter, press releases and more to get to the #1 spot..

Getting into the top 10 in the App store now is like winning the lottery.

You either have to have a brilliant app, brilliant marketing or sheer luck.

A lot of people have the gold rush mentality which I understand, but you have to be realistic.. no only do you have to find good developers, but you're going to spend $1,000's and $1,000's of dollars to get your project completed.

And by the time you do, you're competing with 10's of 1000's of other apps, and if during your dev time someone launches a similar product, you're screwed.

In the next couple of years they'll be a 100 big success stories on the App store, but they'll be 100,000 failures... just keep that in mind.

There are still killer ideas out there, and I don't want to discourage anyone.. just don't refinance your mortgage to build an iphone app. If you're trying to create an original game, utility or novelty app, it's way too risky.

Dan

Thanks very much for sharing your experience and expertise.

I was surprised by how much competition you had (which makes your story even more incredible) but also at how much marketing you had to do.

Creating an iphone app is not something that I could attempt to do but I thought that it would be a great idea for some of our talented warriors, particularly a IM related application.

Thanks again Dan. I am mega impressed

Gary

[linkman11]

Gary,

You're welcome.. hard to put numbers on the cost of our marketing
because it's just what we do naturally.

It's arguably the most talked about app ever, and viral marketing played a major part as well.

Pretty amazing press coverage at:
iFart Mobile ? #1 App on iTunes - The Premier iPhone Fart Application

We're also running a $5,000 video contest now.. another cheap way to generate buzz and downloads.

Let's just say the app was highly profitable.

[Gary And Billy]

Originally Posted by linkman11

We're also running a $5,000 video contest now.. another cheap way to generate buzz and downloads.

Dan

That is a terrific idea. This viral generating strategy could be used for all sorts of products, not just apps.

I have learnt a lot.

Wishing you even more success with your next projects.

Very best wishes

Gary

[Tyrus Antas]

Unfortunately most apps success is short lived and you need to constantly come up with new ideas. It can become kind of a "rats race" in the app development world. I'm currently playing with objective-c and the iphone sdk and trying to come up with a concept that outlives most apps. It's going to be difficult...

Tyrus