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there is fierce competition and a LOT of noise in the App Store, making it extremely difficult to stand out With 500k+ apps in the store, what are the chances

there is fierce competition and a LOT of noise in the App Store, making it extremely difficult to stand out With 500k+ apps in the store, what are the chances that a user is even going to see your app at this point? Without a ton of marketing muscle or the good graces of the kingmakers at Apple just hanging your shingle out in the App store doesn't get you anywhere.

z92 15y ago
I think a better comparison number is [grand total of all apps sold per day] / [total number of apps in store]. When the customer base is 20 times larger, even 10 fold competitors still keeps the market twice as attractive.
- danmaz74 15y ago
  That would be true if sales went down linearly when you get farther from the top spot. But the reality is much closer to a "top X take (almost) all".
  - mark_up 15y ago
    The 1% are raking it in. #OccupyAppStore
TillE 15y ago
Sure. Like any other piece of software, you have to do your own marketing. Unless you hit the lottery, you can't rely on Apple doing it for you. Getting people to your app via searches on the app store can be part of your marketing, though. There are still some good niches to be found there with little serious competition.
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand you have a strong possibility of being lost in the shuffle (unless you have VC funding). On the other hand, there are a lot more eyeballs that could find you. My own personal experience is that getting in early is huge. I was in the Chrome Web Store before it officially launched and always got a lot of traffic despite barely working on the app and it being designed for Chromebooks (used a feature only available on Chromebooks) and almost no one owning those. My second app in the store got much less traffic. I had similar experience on Android (perhaps it's a Google problem). I'm trying to get into the Windows 8 market early for the same reason.
CubicleNinjas 15y ago
"With millions of apps on the PC, what are the chances that a user is even going to see your app at this point? Without a ton of marketing muscle or the good graces of the kingmakers at Microsoft just hanging your shingle out on the Internet doesn't get you anywhere." Funny how that sounds ridiculous now, no? The larger the audience the greater the potential. Successful software has always been equals parts technology and marketing.
- cageface 15y ago
  Sure, but I think there's still this lingering perception that just being in the App store at all buys you some attention. It doesn't. My most popular app has even been featured several times but it's still bringing in chump change.

z92 15y ago

I think a better comparison number is [grand total of all apps sold per day] / [total number of apps in store]. When the customer base is 20 times larger, even 10 fold competitors still keeps the market twice as attractive.

danmaz74 15y ago
That would be true if sales went down linearly when you get farther from the top spot. But the reality is much closer to a "top X take (almost) all".
- mark_up 15y ago
  The 1% are raking it in. #OccupyAppStore

TillE 15y ago

Sure. Like any other piece of software, you have to do your own marketing. Unless you hit the lottery, you can't rely on Apple doing it for you. Getting people to your app via searches on the app store can be part of your marketing, though. There are still some good niches to be found there with little serious competition.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand you have a strong possibility of being lost in the shuffle (unless you have VC funding). On the other hand, there are a lot more eyeballs that could find you. My own personal experience is that getting in early is huge. I was in the Chrome Web Store before it officially launched and always got a lot of traffic despite barely working on the app and it being designed for Chromebooks (used a feature only available on Chromebooks) and almost no one owning those. My second app in the store got much less traffic. I had similar experience on Android (perhaps it's a Google problem). I'm trying to get into the Windows 8 market early for the same reason.

CubicleNinjas 15y ago

"With millions of apps on the PC, what are the chances that a user is even going to see your app at this point? Without a ton of marketing muscle or the good graces of the kingmakers at Microsoft just hanging your shingle out on the Internet doesn't get you anywhere." Funny how that sounds ridiculous now, no? The larger the audience the greater the potential. Successful software has always been equals parts technology and marketing.

cageface 15y ago
Sure, but I think there's still this lingering perception that just being in the App store at all buys you some attention. It doesn't. My most popular app has even been featured several times but it's still bringing in chump change.