5 ms·

you can't afford $50/month even with a top 10 iPhone app? does not compute. if you're waiting to get your monies from apple, just email tim and i'm sure he'll l

you can't afford $50/month even with a top 10 iPhone app? does not compute. if you're waiting to get your monies from apple, just email tim and i'm sure he'll let you pay on net 60 terms (or whatever apple's terms are)...

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
holdenk 16y ago
Further in to the post they mention its a top-10 free app. They may not have any advertising (no iPhone to check it out with), but even if they do have some advertising the rates may not be amazing and advertising companies can be quite slow to actually make payments (although the last time I dealt with non-Google advertising has been quite awhile).
npsomaratna 16y ago
Our app is free. We do have plans to add advertising later on - but not for several months at least. All costs are out of my pocket (and Sandaruwan's and Parinda's) Note that $50 is a LOT when bootstrapping from Sri Lanka - my salary as a Doctor (which is much higher than that of the general population) was only $400 / month - with most of that getting burnt up in living costs.
- bjonathan 16y ago
  I'm sorry if it's a dumb question but why do you plan to wait to add advertising? You are on the TOP10 right now, you are having good review (by users AND blogs). Its seems to me like the perfect moment to add ads to your product. Arent you afraid that you loose your momentum without made any dollar from your app? You can find clean way to do advertising on an iphone app (look at Twitterific for example)
  - sandaru1 16y ago
    At the moment we have no way of knowing whether our users are health care professionals or not. We are releasing a new medical case each week(or more often), so that would keep the medical professionals from removing it - but others who are just downloading to checkout the app would get rid of it (that's our guess - we are still learning, trial and error). Advertising to medical professionals is much appealing than a general crowd. Yes, we have several clean advertising plans. i.e - sponsored cases.
    - bjonathan 16y ago
      It's not "really" your problem or at least you can made somebody else pay for the mistake if your users arent really health care professionals. With your app and your actual ranking you could cold call a few medical magazines and offer to them to be feature in the app for a couple thousand bucks. Advertising in medical publication is VERY VERY VERY expensive, I'm sure some big co or medias have moneys to spare on ads in your app. If you are not confortable with that maybe you could contact them offer them that to have an idea of what they are ready to pay to be in your app. Maybe the amount will change your mind :) I dont mean to be disrespectful with my comment but I made that mistake to wait to long before monetising my startup because I always wanted more and more data before selling ads on it. I lost a lot of time (and money) for nothing.
      - sandaru1 16y ago
        Actually, that seems to be a good idea :) We should try to do it now. Now that I think about it, another point that should have gone into the blog post is that "be prepared to monetize if your app goes viral in few days"
    - maxklein 16y ago
      You're making a mistake. Apps have a fixed life-cycle. Once everyone who wants your app has your app (happens quicker with niche products), then it will start dropping in ranks.
      - npsomaratna 16y ago
- dmix 16y ago
  I'd recommend figuring out monetization earlier. It's never as easy as flipping on a switch. It takes a while to nail down your margins, pricing, ad networks, etc. Sooner the better.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

holdenk 16y ago

Further in to the post they mention its a top-10 free app. They may not have any advertising (no iPhone to check it out with), but even if they do have some advertising the rates may not be amazing and advertising companies can be quite slow to actually make payments (although the last time I dealt with non-Google advertising has been quite awhile).

npsomaratna 16y ago

Our app is free. We do have plans to add advertising later on - but not for several months at least. All costs are out of my pocket (and Sandaruwan's and Parinda's) Note that $50 is a LOT when bootstrapping from Sri Lanka - my salary as a Doctor (which is much higher than that of the general population) was only $400 / month - with most of that getting burnt up in living costs.

bjonathan 16y ago
I'm sorry if it's a dumb question but why do you plan to wait to add advertising? You are on the TOP10 right now, you are having good review (by users AND blogs). Its seems to me like the perfect moment to add ads to your product. Arent you afraid that you loose your momentum without made any dollar from your app? You can find clean way to do advertising on an iphone app (look at Twitterific for example)
- sandaru1 16y ago
  At the moment we have no way of knowing whether our users are health care professionals or not. We are releasing a new medical case each week(or more often), so that would keep the medical professionals from removing it - but others who are just downloading to checkout the app would get rid of it (that's our guess - we are still learning, trial and error). Advertising to medical professionals is much appealing than a general crowd. Yes, we have several clean advertising plans. i.e - sponsored cases.
  - bjonathan 16y ago
    It's not "really" your problem or at least you can made somebody else pay for the mistake if your users arent really health care professionals. With your app and your actual ranking you could cold call a few medical magazines and offer to them to be feature in the app for a couple thousand bucks. Advertising in medical publication is VERY VERY VERY expensive, I'm sure some big co or medias have moneys to spare on ads in your app. If you are not confortable with that maybe you could contact them offer them that to have an idea of what they are ready to pay to be in your app. Maybe the amount will change your mind :) I dont mean to be disrespectful with my comment but I made that mistake to wait to long before monetising my startup because I always wanted more and more data before selling ads on it. I lost a lot of time (and money) for nothing.
    - sandaru1 16y ago
      Actually, that seems to be a good idea :) We should try to do it now. Now that I think about it, another point that should have gone into the blog post is that "be prepared to monetize if your app goes viral in few days"
  - maxklein 16y ago
    You're making a mistake. Apps have a fixed life-cycle. Once everyone who wants your app has your app (happens quicker with niche products), then it will start dropping in ranks.
    - npsomaratna 16y ago
dmix 16y ago
I'd recommend figuring out monetization earlier. It's never as easy as flipping on a switch. It takes a while to nail down your margins, pricing, ad networks, etc. Sooner the better.