Wow, a great presentation that really quantifies how insane the appstore economy is. I think we might be bucking one or two trends mentioned in the deck, but for the most part we've had our share of success and failure with various app pricing strategies.
The question I struggle with is whether or not these consumer trends are created due to the AppStore's hit-driven structure, or simply the purchasing & usage habits of a VERY large demographic driving the economy on iTunes. ie: people ages 16-21. look @ the top music/movie charts.
Here's where we are winning. If you're going to do a free app (and you produce paid apps), do your own internal marketing and banner ad system. Don't pay someone else if you don't have significant volume. AdMob ROI is too low for most small shops with small budgets. With our ad system, we're saving a lot of money and it's responsible for roughly 25% of our premium app sales. Plus, we get a 5% commission through linkshare, so we take back profits from Apple's 30%. For the record, we're currently delivering ~2M ad impressions a month.
It doesn't take much to setup your own system. You can do it easily with a Webkit frame + Google AdManager or OpenX. We use AdManager, the interface is easier IMO and GOOG hosts everything (no costs).
The question I struggle with is whether or not these consumer trends are created due to the AppStore's hit-driven structure, or simply the purchasing & usage habits of a VERY large demographic driving the economy on iTunes. ie: people ages 16-21. look @ the top music/movie charts.
Here's where we are winning. If you're going to do a free app (and you produce paid apps), do your own internal marketing and banner ad system. Don't pay someone else if you don't have significant volume. AdMob ROI is too low for most small shops with small budgets. With our ad system, we're saving a lot of money and it's responsible for roughly 25% of our premium app sales. Plus, we get a 5% commission through linkshare, so we take back profits from Apple's 30%. For the record, we're currently delivering ~2M ad impressions a month.
It doesn't take much to setup your own system. You can do it easily with a Webkit frame + Google AdManager or OpenX. We use AdManager, the interface is easier IMO and GOOG hosts everything (no costs).