Someone should start up freeapp4you.com, and not charge the developers a single red cent! Living well is the best revenge.
It's an advertisement/promo platform check the info section it's all here: "FreeAppsDay.com provides an unparalleled promotional platform for developers since their application icons will remain available to our daily visitors for up to a full month." Have you seen any pricing on toucharcade displayed unless you contacted them? We are providing..and advertisement platform nothing more nothing less, if if the reason I mentioned above are not compelling enough, about how to monetize an application from my own experience and I laid out the numbers...before Appventcalendar $60 after Appventcalendar I used the exposure effectively, I used the game updates to inform the new user base about the upcoming revamped application, I integrated the tapjoy in-app sdk and things are working well, I am trying to help developers see the light on how to best utilize the exposure...it'all about the new user base, it's all about traffic! If you don't understand that...with 120k apps out there and growing traffic,exposure is the key...well good luck!
ICS Mobile still hasn't addressed this, even with their multiple posts. You should collectively run for office. No more automatic 5 stars from me.
A part of what makes Indie Indie is that other developers are not lock-stop-and-barrel ready to roll over you; there is a bit of respect involved. What makes Indie so attractive is that it entails that certain level of respect from like-minded developers who are trying their best to make a good product and may be still learning the ropes or still climbing up the ladder. Indies have always used that "we help each other"/"we do honest work for honest profit"/etc. as a means to help market their products as Indie (whenever used as a brand or not, whenever it play the "pity card" or not, the idea from a consumer angle is that it is to help honest struggling people get their craft out). Otherwise you're not really Indie. You're just a profiteer trying to use terminology as a means to profit off the behavior of others. Smart business, I'm not discounting the profit motive, but either way you look at it, carries a negative notoriety with it. Even though my business is even aiming at notoriety generation, it is a positive notoriety. A Linus Torvalds notoriety, not a Ulrich Drepper notoriety.
The amazing thing is people don't realize what needs to be done to have such a site up and running....from conception to investment etc...and I created it because I was able to generate income by using traffic effectively! And I am try my best to explain to small devs how to effectively monetize traffic! If people don't understand that, there's not much I can do! Again with the same game I went from $60/day pre Appventcalendar to average $350/day and $700/day on weekends! and I can guarantee you that I am the only one who achieved these numbers and now I am simply explaining to all how to generate more by using traffic..and if people don't understand it there's not much I can do about it! I want devs to do well, and even from a business standpoint I need devs to do well so that they will do more campaigns down the road!!...it's just common sense!
True words. I think it would be better to get people solution focused, instead of complaining about things. If they think it is easy, and the site should be run for free, then let them try, and see how easy it really is.
So first of all, you might want to spell the name of your own website correctly in your press release. Also, it seems pretty clear to me that you are intentionally hiding the fact that there are costs involved. I feel that really reduces your credibility. You take every possible chance to say how it is exactly like the Appvent Calendar, which was free, but fail to mention any cost whatsoever associated with the new site. I believe that it is intentionally misleading on your part. Just be honest. I'm not saying you have to necessarily even publish your costs online, although it would make you much more credible in my opinion, but at least mention that costs are involved in making an app free for a day. Just saying it is an advertising site is vague. Clearly there are ads on your site in addition to the featured apps, so when you mention advertising, it is those ads that everyone will think of. Why not at least say something like "We feel the value proposition we offer to developers will make the cost of promoting your app on freeappaday.com more than worthwhile."? If you had mentioned anything at all in the press release or website about advertising costs being involved in order to feature an app for free, then I likely would have just ignored your site and moved on. You also mentioned now that not everyone pays. Why isn't that on your Info page? I think that would be of great interest to developers. What specifically are the rules for getting it for free, and why doesn't Charmed qualify seeing as it is my first game and I am a new indie developer?
I'm honestly not a man of disrespect, or selfishness. But all that "you're only indie if you help other indie" is a bit far fetched. I'm indie because I developed my products 100% independently. I've supported many indie devs out there by purchasing their apps, disccusing them, etc. but on the other hand I've also taken efforts to overcome certain developers, because that means more money for me. I like that there is an established community of like-minded individuals, but like someone said previously, its a business not a hobby.
Not arguing that it is easy to make a site or get people involved in it. I believe people are arguing that it is a business practice that is obviously using the hard work of others to profit, without any sort of care given whenever the clients have any ROI, at all. Otherwise it's an issue of risk, and for 600$, I don't see an appropriate mitigation for the risk of putting your App up for free (and thus destroying any chance for honest customers to buy in) making up for the risk involved. It sounds too good to be true - and probably is. I could be wrong though. That's why I want to see some numbers on long-term ROI.
Well, there is some dispute as to how effective it will be, however, that is not at all why I started this thread. It is simply about the ethics and credibility around the way the site is run and promoted. As I originally said, I considered posting Charmed as a free app for a day, so clearly I must see some value in doing so, but don't lead me into the store with FREE, FREE, FREE signs everywhere and then hand me an invoice. It's a bit like bait and switch. Some people will fall for it and some won't.
Let's take a look at Zombie Pizza for a moment. I happen to know their sales have dropped off a bit in recent weeks, so freeappaday should help them recover. Oops, no it didn't. It completely fell out of the top 200 immediately afterward. And Zombie Pizza was the FREE app a couple days ago. But don't believe me, take a look yourself: http://topappcharts.com/search.php?string=zombie+pizza&show=search&price=any So what about an app that is already doing well and in at least the Top 200? They oughta be doing alright. Oops, it looks like Rope n Fly's sales dropped IMMEDIATELY after going free. Still declining. They are at #132 in Adventure, down from about #112 (where they were BEFORE they went free)
I doubt I'd use freeappaday.com, even if it were free to developers, but they do have a good point. There are ways to capitalize on giving an app away for free to a large number of people. The key is this: don't make your app free, and then put a price back on it. Instead, get a good app into the hands of a large number of people. Then use an update to advertise a related app en-mass to that existing user base. Even if only a relatively small percentage of them end up buying the full app, the beauty is that those buys will be concentrated - and Apple's current ranking system is weighed to favor recent buys. These concentrated buys can easily push a pay app up the chart past competitors, where inertia (from increased visibility and perception that higher-ranked = better) will then take over. Basically, you get the benefit of a free, targeted ad campaign without spending a cent, allowing you to focus your energy and money investing in the actual quality of your apps.
Not that far fetched really. The competitive aspect is still there - absolutely - but it isn't as stiff or hostile as with bigger companies. Depending on your definition of what "Indie" means really matter most, of course. It is a consumer visible aspect that we can guess on what it is made up of, but really the end user decides for themselves what it means. I just happen to think that to the ones interested (cause there are ones that think Indie = crap quality) think they are helping the more honest small-guy. Part of that could entail helping other Indies (which is what makes Indie so cool from the development side). =)
Sure, they're under no obligation at all to help out other indie developers, but that's precisely what a lot of them do. As Johannes said, there's generally a bit of respect among indie devs, the whole point being they are not massive corporations out to squeeze money out of each other, they're friends. I think that's what has hurt a few people... because there are (believe it or not) devs around here who will bend over backwards to help out a fellow indie, and a lot of us assumed that ICS Mobile was one of them. They said themselves that they were in danger of dying completely, their game struggled and the company was just about to disappear... one might think that was reason enough for them to understand just how difficult the whole business is and maybe soften their hearts a little, but somehow it seems to have done the opposite.
That's called targeted marketing. =) You use an existing free App as a means to provide target marketing impressions to the correct prospect your business is trying to attain.
Listen go to www.tapjoy.com it's an Appfund company backed by Apple! There are our parteners it's a risk free I mean zero risk invesment with a guaranteed return of 20% per apps...
FreeAppaDay recognition is from the appvent calendar, and I don't like how they're traffic they're selling isn't from anything they've done. Using the success of others to charge money to devs is the problem. I don't care about charging money for app advertisings, it just seems cheap, as we have no clue about how their games have performed. They're suing AppVent's success to charge $600-$1200, oh well if devs want to take the chance, they can pay me money too
One last time: THE SYSTEM IS A GUARANTEED CASH FOR GOOD APPS ONLY GO TO TAPJOY.COM AN APPFUND COMPANY BACKED BY APPLE UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S A RISK FREE CASH GENERATING SOLUTION,COMBINE IT WITH FREEAPPADAY AND THE MONEY WILL FLOW! IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT FREE MONEY MEANS NOT MUCH I CAN DO ABOUT IT. IF YOU HAVE A BRAIN AND CAN READ, TAKE ONE HOUR TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS, I AM TRYING TO HELP DEVS MAKES FREE MONEY AS LONG AS THEY HAVE GOOD APPS>>>>SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND...I MADE CASH FROM IT BECAUSE I UNDERSTOOD THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAPJOY AND MAX TRAFFIC,YES WE ARE CHARGING DEVS,BECAUSE IF THEY FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTION THEIR INVESTMENT WILL BE REPAIS IN 3DAYS!!!!!YOU MUST HAVE A POLISHED APP!!!!GO MAKE FREE MONEY NOW.......HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Unreal that people don't get it, simply unreal!
