When Apple opened its App Store along with the iPhone 3G in the summer of 2008, it took a mere three days for iPhone users to generate 10 million downloads from the 800 apps that were available, averaging 12,500 purchases per application. Barely a year later, the App Store has swelled to 65,000 applications and boasts over 1.5 billion app downloads. In short, the App Store is its own economy. Perhaps you’ve heard of the iPhone or you own one, or even several, applications and you want to see how you can take advantage of this 21st century gold rush. Perhaps you’re a software developer looking to create something for this booming economy. Perhaps your company is looking to reach out to new and existing customers. To all of you, welcome to Starting an iPhone Application Business For Beginner.
When the iPhone launched in June of 2007, it was a smash success. The ability to use a handheld device that was a real Apple computer enthralled Apple enthusiasts. The device’s sleek, leading-edge design and innovative features elevated it to a status symbol quickly in the eyes of the general public. But there was only one problem. What about all that space for more apps? Apple hadn’t made it possible to install additional apps and was mum about the subject.
By the time the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) was announced in March 2008, the thirst for apps on the iPhone was palpable from both consumers and developers. As soon as the SDK was released to developers, the mad dash to develop apps for the upcoming unveiling of the App Store resembled the land grabs of the homestead days out West.
The success of the App Store is not the only source of excitement about iPhone apps. iPhone apps are fun to develop and use! A robust mobile platform that rivals the power of a laptop computer with an innovative easy-touse interface is a real game changer in both technology and lifestyle. The fact that you or anyone else can sign up cheaply, learn what you need to know for free, put your ideas into action, and sell mobile computing software supported by a world class leader like Apple is an opportunity unlike any other in the world.
We’ve written this blog to help you with the aspects of iPhone development you can’t find on Apple’s Developer Connection Web site: How to start and operate an iPhone app business.
You do not need to be a programmer to read this blog!
Like anything else, this is a business and many of the modern business rules apply, with some Apple twists. We hope you enjoy the process of creating your very own iPhone software business. It’s fun, challenging, and rewarding.
This blog covers all aspects of creating, launching, and marketing an iPhone application. There’s a lot of advice and many concepts, but also some step-by-step instructions to get things done, and it’s all right here in this blog.
This blog is organized as a guide. You can read each chapter in order or read only specific chapters. Throughout the process of building an iPhone application, you can think of this blog as a reference, where you can find the chapter you need that applies to your situation and the knowledge nugget you need to know, and then be on your merry way. We do a fair amount of cross-referencing too, so if you need to look elsewhere in the blog for more information, you can easily find it.
In writing this blog, we assume that you know a bit about computers, as most folks do today. But you may be utterly fresh to the concepts of programming an iPhone application and submitting it to the App Store. Despite what you may think, you do not need to be a programmer to create an iPhone application. (Naturally, though, it can make the process simpler if you are a programmer.)
This blog is designed to help everyone, from the aspiring entrepreneur who wants to enter this exciting world to the programmer who knows how to write XCode but needs help with the business and marketing aspects of the iPhone application to the company that wants to reach out to the iPhone user community and extend its brand with its own application. We divide this blog into six handy parts:
✓ Part I starts with the basics, as we talk about the world of the iPhone, the App Store, mobile computing in general, and a crucial step in the process: how to price your iPhone application.
✓ Part II goes into the idea generation process, helping you come up with your winning idea, figuring out what you can bring to the table, and identifying which market forces may affect your development. We describe how to craft the core of your iPhone application and make a competitive analysis of the idea and then show you resources where you can learn more.
✓ Part III is designed to get the necessary stuff done up-front so you don’t have to worry about it later. We talk about how to register with Apple, gather all the development tools, and think about all the different team
members you may need to help create your iPhone app.
✓ Part IV takes everything we’ve covered and gets you into the nuts and bolts of turning your idea into a functioning iPhone application. We’ll talk about how to flesh out a concrete app specification, hire developers to write the code, put together a budget and figure out how to fund this project, and keep everything running as the developers are writing code and the designers are creating graphics.
✓ Part V talks about everything you need to focus on after your iPhone app launches in the App Store. We talk about different ways to get publicity for your app and have it reviewed by different sites, and we help you build buzz by using the latest in social networking, blogging, and talking to the user community. We’ll show you some effective paid marketing options and describe how to build your business for the future.
✓ Part VI is the traditional For Beginner Part of Tens — our lists detail a number of iPhone application review sites to consider and traits we found in highly successful applications.
