Comments on: Conclusions from selling an application on BlackBerry App World http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/ The voice of the BlackBerry community. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:40:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: All the Phone Information » Blog Archive » Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-439062 All the Phone Information » Blog Archive » Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:08:56 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-439062 [...] Conclusions from selling an application on BlackBerry App World by Steve Beauregard [...]

]]> By: App World, a sellers perspective | BlackBerry development stories by James Harnedy http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-436007 App World, a sellers perspective | BlackBerry development stories by James Harnedy Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:41:08 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-436007 [...] http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-w… Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)BlackBerry App developers need to diet!Story of a BlackBerry app developer [...]

]]> By: Yatca http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-435089 Yatca Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:18:58 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-435089 In my experience, the majority of BlackBerry users are completely unaware that it is possible to download apps to a BlackBerry. They will say that the existence of apps is the main reason they would move to iPhone or Android, and they will look pretty sceptical when you tell them that there are thousands of apps available for the BlackBerry. Of users who know about BlackBerry apps, many tend to see this as a sort of theoretical possibility – certainly not something mainstream that ordinary users do. They’ll express concern about bricking their device or violating their carrier agreement. This represents nothing less than a massive failure on the part of RIM.

]]> By: Yatca http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507393 Yatca Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:18:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507393 In my experience, the majority of BlackBerry users are completely unaware that it is possible to download apps to a BlackBerry. They will say that the existence of apps is the main reason they would move to iPhone or Android, and they will look pretty sceptical when you tell them that there are thousands of apps available for the BlackBerry. Of users who know about BlackBerry apps, many tend to see this as a sort of theoretical possibility – certainly not something mainstream that ordinary users do. They’ll express concern about bricking their device or violating their carrier agreement. This represents nothing less than a massive failure on the part of RIM.

]]> By: Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd | Blackberry Software http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-434096 Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd | Blackberry Software Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:18:39 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-434096 [...] Conclusions from selling an application on BlackBerry App World by Steve Beauregard [...]

]]> By: Name (required) http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-433728 Name (required) Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:59:21 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-433728 First: 98% of people out there who download apps go crazy with it and download any app under the sun until they run out of space on their BlackBerry. It may be apps that they never use or never even had any intention of using, but downloaded it just because it was there.
Second: Out of the 28 million BlackBerry users out there, at last count over 50% of them were personal users, meaning your market would be a little over 14 million (assuming that EVERY enterprise user had an IT policy on their device blocking 3rd party applications).
Third: As mentioned above, you are appealing to a very small market compared to the other apps that are on the market.

This is the risk you take as ANY type of software developer. The minute that you start charging for an application that had been free before, you are going to lose a good chunk of the subscribers/”downloaders”. ESPECIALLY when you (now) do not have a “Try & Buy” option. Users simply are not going to download an application they can’t try and purchase it for $3.99. Put it at $0.99, and you will probably sell a good amount. People don’t think twice about spending a buck on an application…But $4.00 is a different story. They aren’t going to download it unless they ABSOLUTELY are going to use it.

Also as mentioned in the first comment…what type of advertising have you done for your application other than the website and placing it in AppWorld? Have you approached any blogs about giving-away 10 copies or so for free? Given the app to any blogs and asked them to review it? Other than here at BBCool (and a berryreview link to the BBCool article), I don’t see anything on CrackBerry, Rimarkable, BBRocks, etc. Do you expect to just put the App in AppWorld and it will magically sell copies? How did you sell the other apps that you have created BEFORE AppWorld even existed?

Here is some feedback from a post on CrackBerry that may help you a little:
I did try this R-Vintage not too long ago, but was quite disappointed. R-Vintage only shows a vintage (year) and a region, and then tells you what general quality you’re looking at. Seems awfully prejudiced, and it only includes major wine producing regions (Italy, France, Australia, California) and overlooks many smaller/less popular wine regions (i.e. BC’s Okanagan Valley). Additionally, I can’t imagine that all Napa Valley red wines from 2006 would taste the same.
http://forums.crackberry.com/f35/wine-app-blackberry-200337/

Hopefully you will take all of the above recommendations to heart and realize that it’s not AppWorld that is keeping this app from selling, it’s yourselves…

]]> By: Name (required) http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507392 Name (required) Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:59:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507392 First: 98% of people out there who download apps go crazy with it and download any app under the sun until they run out of space on their BlackBerry. It may be apps that they never use or never even had any intention of using, but downloaded it just because it was there.
Second: Out of the 28 million BlackBerry users out there, at last count over 50% of them were personal users, meaning your market would be a little over 14 million (assuming that EVERY enterprise user had an IT policy on their device blocking 3rd party applications).
Third: As mentioned above, you are appealing to a very small market compared to the other apps that are on the market.

This is the risk you take as ANY type of software developer. The minute that you start charging for an application that had been free before, you are going to lose a good chunk of the subscribers/”downloaders”. ESPECIALLY when you (now) do not have a “Try & Buy” option. Users simply are not going to download an application they can’t try and purchase it for $3.99. Put it at $0.99, and you will probably sell a good amount. People don’t think twice about spending a buck on an application…But $4.00 is a different story. They aren’t going to download it unless they ABSOLUTELY are going to use it.

Also as mentioned in the first comment…what type of advertising have you done for your application other than the website and placing it in AppWorld? Have you approached any blogs about giving-away 10 copies or so for free? Given the app to any blogs and asked them to review it? Other than here at BBCool (and a berryreview link to the BBCool article), I don’t see anything on CrackBerry, Rimarkable, BBRocks, etc. Do you expect to just put the App in AppWorld and it will magically sell copies? How did you sell the other apps that you have created BEFORE AppWorld even existed?

Here is some feedback from a post on CrackBerry that may help you a little:
I did try this R-Vintage not too long ago, but was quite disappointed. R-Vintage only shows a vintage (year) and a region, and then tells you what general quality you’re looking at. Seems awfully prejudiced, and it only includes major wine producing regions (Italy, France, Australia, California) and overlooks many smaller/less popular wine regions (i.e. BC’s Okanagan Valley). Additionally, I can’t imagine that all Napa Valley red wines from 2006 would taste the same.
http://forums.crackberry.com/f35/wine-app-blackberry-200337/

Hopefully you will take all of the above recommendations to heart and realize that it’s not AppWorld that is keeping this app from selling, it’s yourselves…

]]> By: Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd at SmartPhoneCool.com http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-433573 Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd at SmartPhoneCool.com Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:00:58 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-433573 [...] Conclusions from selling an application on BlackBerry App World by Steve Beauregard [...]

]]> By: Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd | BlackBerry Cool http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-433557 Feature roundup for the week of November 22nd | BlackBerry Cool Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:23:37 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-433557 [...] Conclusions from selling an application on BlackBerry App World by Steve Beauregard [...]

]]> By: davinci27 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-433516 davinci27 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:06:15 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-433516 I read the article, but I don’t see how your experiences serve as a basis for your conclusions. At leaset one of your conclusions is completely opposite of the data you provide. “User are frustrated by “out of memory” issues when downloading apps.” If this is really a concern, it won’t change the download rate between free and paid models. Free apps don’t use less memory. The same can be said about your conclusion that “Of the 28 million BlackBerry users, many are in enterprises that block the ability to download apps.” If the user can’t download paid apps they can’t download free apps.

I am not trying to offend anyone with these comments. I just spent my time reading the article, and I was hoping to read data supported comments about the experience of selling apps. It seems like all I really got was your guesses as to why your app isn’t selling as well as you had hoped.

]]> By: davinci27 http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507391 davinci27 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:06:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507391 I read the article, but I don’t see how your experiences serve as a basis for your conclusions. At leaset one of your conclusions is completely opposite of the data you provide. “User are frustrated by “out of memory” issues when downloading apps.” If this is really a concern, it won’t change the download rate between free and paid models. Free apps don’t use less memory. The same can be said about your conclusion that “Of the 28 million BlackBerry users, many are in enterprises that block the ability to download apps.” If the user can’t download paid apps they can’t download free apps.

I am not trying to offend anyone with these comments. I just spent my time reading the article, and I was hoping to read data supported comments about the experience of selling apps. It seems like all I really got was your guesses as to why your app isn’t selling as well as you had hoped.

]]> By: Eduardo http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-433079 Eduardo Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:43:30 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-433079 You don’t mentioned how bad is the process of reviewing and approving applications. They are supposed to 8 business days, the reality is that it may take months to get a response from store managers.

(Sorry for my bad English :)

Eduardo

]]> By: Eduardo http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507390 Eduardo Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507390 You don’t mentioned how bad is the process of reviewing and approving applications. They are supposed to 8 business days, the reality is that it may take months to get a response from store managers.

(Sorry for my bad English :)

Eduardo

]]> By: Cliff http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-432858 Cliff Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:47:23 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-432858 I don’t drink wine, so would never be a candidate for this app. However the four conclusions you drew seem inconsistent. You said when the app was free it got “thousands of downloads per month.” Does the paid version not work for enterprise users, require more device memory, or need more advertising and corporate BlackBerry support than the free version? If not, it seems the more obvious conclusion is that your app was deemed by users as good enough to at least try when it was free, but not worth the price you eventually charged for it. To me it’s as simple as that. Come up with an app with a broader appeal, charge less for this one, or choose a different revenue model (advertising supported rather than user licensed).

]]> By: Cliff http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507389 Cliff Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:47:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507389 I don’t drink wine, so would never be a candidate for this app. However the four conclusions you drew seem inconsistent. You said when the app was free it got “thousands of downloads per month.” Does the paid version not work for enterprise users, require more device memory, or need more advertising and corporate BlackBerry support than the free version? If not, it seems the more obvious conclusion is that your app was deemed by users as good enough to at least try when it was free, but not worth the price you eventually charged for it. To me it’s as simple as that. Come up with an app with a broader appeal, charge less for this one, or choose a different revenue model (advertising supported rather than user licensed).

]]> By: Terry @ momentem http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-432853 Terry @ momentem Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:24:36 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-432853 hi Steve, great article. We are a successful app developer on App World with our Call Time Tracker free app, you can read about our experiences at http://www.momentem.net/news.asp, can we talk offline sometime? My email is terry@widality.com

Cheers (as they say in the wine business!)

Terry

]]> By: Terry @ momentem http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507388 Terry @ momentem Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:24:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507388 hi Steve, great article. We are a successful app developer on App World with our Call Time Tracker free app, you can read about our experiences at http://www.momentem.net/news.asp, can we talk offline sometime? My email is terry@widality.com

Cheers (as they say in the wine business!)

Terry

]]> By: Richard K http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-432762 Richard K Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:18:08 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-432762 My Storm’s memory management is so primitive and obnoxious, I am very tight with what I download. Not a price issue. And I haven’t downloaded your app because I don’t drink wine.

]]> By: Richard K http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-507387 Richard K Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:18:00 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-507387 My Storm’s memory management is so primitive and obnoxious, I am very tight with what I download. Not a price issue. And I haven’t downloaded your app because I don’t drink wine.

]]> By: Frank http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/11/25/conclusions-from-selling-an-application-on-blackberry-app-world/comment-page-1/#comment-432751 Frank Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:30:36 +0000 http://www.blackberrycool.com/?p=16900#comment-432751 I think the big thing is Blackberry users are not App users. They use the Blackberry for what it is and not much more.

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