1. iPhone Application
Development Distilled
by Joe Chavez
statistical data from Apple, Pinch Media and App Figures
jumping photo courtesy of Lauren Elizabeth Randolph (Lauren Lemon)

3. players
you - person, company or enterprise
iPhone/iPod
Apple: ADC
iTunes App Store
iPhone/iPod user
social media

4. everyone’s doing it
50,000 65,000 apps in the app store
1 1.5 billion downloads in 9 12 months
50,000 100,000 app developers
15,000 downloads/app - but all apps are NOT
equal
30 million iPhones/iPods with 75% using apps

5. getting started
Pay $99 and wait...
wait...
while your waiting go buy and iPhone or iPod
Touch - $199+$30/month $225
oh and wait bit longer

6. meanwhile
start writing your app
wait a bit longer for ADC approval
work on your app
plow through the legal/contract stuff

7. legal stuff
ADC contract
iPhone contract
iTunes App store
contract
EUL
admin, legal, and
financial info

8. legal stuff
ADC contract
iPhone contract
iTunes App store
contract
EUL
admin, legal, and
financial info

9. App is ready
coding is done, now what?
Testing on the device and OS
version
BETA test distribution
12+ steps to App digital signing
Moment of truth

10. App is ready
coding is done, now what?
Testing on the device and OS
version
BETA test distribution
12+ steps to App digital signing
Moment of truth

11. App Approval
AKA the black hole or maybe the worm hole
the approval process is subjective at best
based on the HIG doc - 130 pages
with a bit of human reviewer thrown in

12. frustration
three stages: submitted, rejected, approved
happy day: submitted -> approved
sad day: submitted -> rejected
time: 7 to 10 days between -> even on
resubmit after rejection
factor approval time in setting submission
date

13. top 10 rejection notices

14. top 10 rejection notices
10. carpet does not match drapes - something
is wrong with your icons and/or app bundle
9. it’s broken - good news the reviewer
actually installed and ran your app
8. the lights are on and nobody’s home - you
messed with the screen brightness, a no-no

15. top 10 rejection notices

16. top 10 rejection notices
7. stay away from my privates - use of Apple
private frameworks is not allowed
6. stay off our turf - don’t compete with what
Apple is developing or will develop in the future
5. rejection is the new approval - NIN app
rejection results in free publicity and is
eventually approved
4. don’t DIS my GUI - know how to program the
user interface controls and don’t get to creative

17. top 10 rejection notices

18. top 10 rejection notices

19. Victor Wang
rejected
“Pull My Finger”
- reason: limited
utility

20. in the store
first couple of days will be great - drinkin’
Coronas on the beach in no time
then the “drop off”
in store date sets creates “buzz” about your
app - twitter, blogs, etc.

21. feedback
reviews - voluntary and helpful (maybe)
ratings - really only happens user removes
your app
contact your users - not possible via Apple
use twitter - free and easy to setup
create web presence - facebook, myspace,
web site, etc.

22. metrics
Apple will provide
download/purchase
stats on a daily basis
Sites like
appfigures.com
aggregate and
summarize Apple data

23. the “drop off”
much of the free advertising comes from
“newness” to the app store
after that you are on your own - surprise!
apps selling thousands of units need are in
top 100 - 10’s of thousands are in the top 25
with 50,000 apps available the odds are
against overnight success

24. the pirates are here
jailbroken phones are the
gateway drug to piracy
cracked apps are a fact
of iPhone app distribution
two schools of thought
“they are ripping me
off”
“they would not have
paid for it anyway”

25. finding success
niche market
universal utility
tracking app usage
time, features, etc.
Pinch Analytics can help with this
build a community

26. and for my next trick
looking for the “Dream iPhone App”
http://izen.me/dreamiphoneapp
Anyone want to participate in an iPhone App
Studio?