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8 People Bought a $999 Feature-Less App from the iPhone Store...

by Jesus Perez
16 replies
ave you ever wondered what to set your price-point at? Are you trying to decide whether to sell at $7, $17, $27, $47 or $167?

Why not try $999? That's what this iPhone developer did. He created an app called "I Am Rich" with a secret mantra that, when clicked displayed a glowing gem.

That's it.

And 8 people bought it resulting in $5600 within 24 hours.

So don't worry, there's a market for anything. Even iPhone apps that don't work!
#$999 #app #bought #featureless #iphone #people #store
  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
    Originally Posted by BlueSquares View Post

    ave you ever wondered what to set your price-point at? Are you trying to decide whether to sell at $7, $17, $27, $47 or $167?

    Why not try $999? That's what this iPhone developer did. He created an app called "I Am Rich" with a secret mantra that, when clicked displayed a glowing gem.

    That's it.

    And 8 people bought it resulting in $5600 within 24 hours.

    So don't worry, there's a market for anything. Even iPhone apps that don't work!
    He made one fatal flaw...

    His price point was WRONG!

    The POPULATION of     the market for featureless $999 iPhone apps isn't large enough to sustain his business.

    What good is a higher price point if you can only ever sell your product/service to a handful of people? (Unless of course you're selling $100 Million yachts, etc.)

    If he would have charged $9.99 perhaps he would have sold 100,000 of them. Now that would be a story!

    Not only that, but he would have 99,992 more customers to market future apps to.
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    "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
    ~ Zig Ziglar
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    • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
      I'm not sure $5600 in a day is a "fatal flaw."

      I could use some failures like that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Texas_Guns
        This is too cool. Marketing to the affluent...

        If Apple didn't remove that app, I bet there
        would be a TON of sales over the next few
        weeks. Look at the BUZZ and press that it
        created. Killer idea - wish Apple didn't
        remove the app so we could see how many
        of these were sold.

        In economy like the one we're in, those
        with massive amounts of money to spend
        will do so in crazy ways - this is just one
        great example of creating something that
        would appeal to those "gotta have everything
        and look at me" types of people.

        Good find.

        Any iphone app developers on the forum?
        PM me.
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        Launching A New Product? Need Copywriting? Multiple services offered. 13 years of experience as a Direct Response Copywriter. Product/Company launch expert. Millions of dollars in products sold online.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
        The more I think about this...
        • Was it a marketing stunt? If so, it worked. This was featured on the front page of Digg and Reddit and Slashdot yesterday. Worst case scenario: the developer got tons of free publicity.
        • Was the developer silently 'attacking' Apple's poor management of the iPhone store?
        • Is curiosity truly so powerful that someone will spend $999 just to find out the "secret mantra"?
        These questions and more unanswered...
        Signature

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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Originally Posted by Jelasco View Post

        I'm not sure $5600 in a day is a "fatal flaw."

        I could use some failures like that.
        That's not the point. I guess, perhaps if Apple had left the app up, we could see if the market is really sustainable. But since it's not offered any more, we can only speculate. I'd wager that it wouldn't be sustainable. But I've been wrong before.

        IMO a lower priced app would lead to more customers and long term profits. People who will pay $9.99 for apps will probably buy more.

        Those that buy $999 ones for flash probably won't. But I guess you could cross promote other "status" products/services to them. Hell, I may be blowing my own argument out of the water here!

        But the point I was trying to make is that a higher price point may not always be the best price point.

        You have to take market population into account and how many potential buyers you have at each price point. Then you have to be able to determine your lifetime customer value. Then you can accurately decide whether you're better off with fewer customers at a higher price point or more customers at a lower price point.
        Signature
        "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
        ~ Zig Ziglar
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
        Originally Posted by Jelasco View Post

        I'm not sure $5600 in a day is a "fatal flaw."

        I could use some failures like that.

        Yeah, with numbers like that...I look forward to failing
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        • Profile picture of the author Jose Delgado
          If he would have charged $9.99 perhaps he would have sold 100,000 of them. Now that would be a story!
          If you read correctly the article, you will see that the app was removed by apple which means people can't buy it.

          What if apple didn't remove it? More sells would have come in I think.

          Nevertheless,

          That thing is pointless and people are so Dumb for wasting money on something useless that will supposedly feel better by telling people you are "Rich"

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          • Profile picture of the author Lance K
            Originally Posted by tigres409 View Post

            If you read correctly the article, you will see that the app was removed by apple which means people can't buy it.

            What if apple didn't remove it? More sells would have come in I think.

            I see that. I didn't read the article at first. Was just going off the OP. I'm sure more sales would have come in. Especially with the extra publicity.

            Again, I was speaking to the issue of price point. For example, at $99 there may be a whole slew of people who would pay for that to portray the image of "I am rich". And lots of people would still think they have too much money. Which is the point, I guess.

            Then you would have to weigh the long term effects of having x # of customers at $x vs. y # of customers at $y by determining the lifetime customer value in each scenario.


            I'm not saying that focusing on the $5,600 is wrong, but if that's all you see out of the deal you're not thinking very strategically. And I look forward to competing against folks like that.
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            "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
            ~ Zig Ziglar
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Burton
      Two possibilities come to mind.
      First, maybe he MEANT to do $9.99 and left out the "." ?

      Second, maybe he's put a $999 launch price on it, then when it dries up, he can legitimately come out with something like "$999.00 value, Now only $19.99" After all, if 8 people bought at $999, then it's a legitimate way to justify saying it was a $999.00 value.

      BTW - How do 8 purchasers at $999 = $5600? Wouldn't that be $7992? Or were they not all in the first 24 hours?

      Scott Burton
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      - = Signature on Vacation = -
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Originally Posted by randalin View Post


        BTW - How do 8 purchasers at $999 = $5600? Wouldn't that be $7992? Or were they not all in the first 24 hours?

        Scott Burton
        Scott, Apple takes a 30% cut on all sales of apps.
        Signature
        "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
        ~ Zig Ziglar
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        • Profile picture of the author Rufus Steele
          Originally Posted by lakading View Post

          Scott, Apple takes a 30% cut on all sales of apps.
          HOLY SH*T - 30%????

          Dang, I'm at the wrong end of the marketplace again!

          Rufus
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          • Profile picture of the author Steve Taylor
            From what I understand from the OP article, a person complained about the app and Apple took notice of the one complaint and took the app down.

            You don't want to get on the bad side of Apple or you'll be a bad apple and maybe not even get paid.

            -Steve
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            Ask...Because you never stop learning.

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            • Profile picture of the author peteinoz
              My Sister in Law consulted with me on this point..

              She's a wedding photographer, and originally offered 3 different packages.

              in 5 mins, between us we changed them up and came up with 4.

              the top one now was 100% more expensive than her original high ticket item..

              she nearly doubled her income in the next 12 months..

              Some people just always choose the high end product..

              hth's

              Pete
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              • Profile picture of the author Ty Maier
                Those 8 people would not have bought it if it was $9.99.
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                • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
                  That's cool!

                  But the most important thing to notice here is that these are the people that are buying 999 app UPFRONT.

                  And the warriors that are talking about lifetime value fail to realiae that these people have much larger lifetime value than those who buy jusy 9.99 app upfront.

                  And this is exactly why they would like to do it again and again and again!

                  I'm pretty sure the few benefits that were depicted to the prospect were strong enough to make them buy, so I'd love to see that because that is great marketing!.
                  .
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                  • Profile picture of the author Lance K
                    Originally Posted by lakshaybehl View Post

                    And the warriors that are talking about lifetime value fail to realiae that these people have much larger lifetime value than those who buy jusy 9.99 app upfront.
                    You have absolutely NO WAY of knowing that without TESTING!

                    And you're not taking into account overall VOLUME of CUSTOMERS at the different price points.
                    Signature
                    "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
                    ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author D111
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