Techno-Marketing

Promotion on the App Store

Promotion is a common method employed by retailers to control the situational factors influencing their customers. In stores, companies can entice customers with free gifts, or “buy one get one free” promotions, but in an online store such as Apple’s App Store, there are unique factors that need to be considered when devising a successful promotion.

An interesting trend that has taken over App Store promotion is the “free for one day only” concept. iTunes is very crowded with good apps, and has a limited amount of space with which to promote them. As a result, most customers only see the apps that are featured in the Top 200 list (which is comprised based on sales numbers). In order to get their apps onto these lists, developers have begun changing the price of their apps to free for one day in order to inflate their sales numbers, and then quickly change the price back to normal by the end of the day.

One might think that the sales would drop off again after the app was no longer free, but by generating so much buzz in a single day, the apps are usually able to make it into the Top 200 Paid Apps list (which is separate from the Top 200 Free Apps list) quite easily. Once they have secured a spot in the top 200, the increased visibility generally continues to inflate their sales, and if the app is good they might even make it up into the top 25.

This promotional method may not always be enough, however, as so many developers have begun to exploit it. To ensure the promotion’s success, it is also important to get featured on blogs and websites around the internet. FreeAppADay.com was started up with this exact idea in mind, and has been extremely successful since its inception in 2009. I began following the site on the very first day that it offered a free app, and within weeks it was already putting nearly every app it featured into the best sellers list on iTunes.

This is by no means the only promotional method on the App Store, but it is arguably the most prevalent today. Similar to other online stores, ubiquity is important to App Store promotion, and it is imperative to secure features and reviews on as many blogs and websites as possible. For iPhone games, Touch Arcade and IGN.com have some of the largest readerships, and provide an excellent source of promotion.

I was prompted to write this post by the influx of amazing iPhone games that have seen price drops this week, and I will feature some of the best downloads below. Some of the more premium apps (which cost anywhere from $2.99 to $9.99 regularly) have $0.99 sales instead of going all the way to free, and most of the apps I will list below are currently on sale for $0.99.

Osmos

On Sale for $0.99 (usually $2.99)

I have posted about Osmos previously, and this is because it is one of the absolute best games on the App Store. IGN.com (the largest games reviews site on the internet) ranked it the #1 game on the entire app store in its Top 25 iPhone Games feature, and I couldn’t agree more. In Osmos, you play as a tiny orb floating in space, surrounded by smaller and larger orbs. To win, you must propel yourself into smaller orbs by ejecting mass, and avoid larger orbs that will consume you. The game sets the mood with vibrant visuals and excellent ambient music.

My Rating: 5/5

Peggle

On Sale for $0.99 (usually $2.99)

Peggle is similar to the classic game of Plinko, and has players shooting balls at coloured pegs with the aim of removing all the orange pegs. The game oozes style with its colourful visuals, catchy soundtrack, and memorable characters (each with their own special power-ups and stages). Its high level of polish will come as no surprise to those familiar with its developer, PopCap Games, which has released hits such as Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, and Bookworm. When the final peg is cleared at the end of a level, the game switches to a zoomed-in, slow-motion shot of the ball colliding with the peg, that triggers a shower of fireworks and blasts the triumphant tune of “Ode to Joy” through your headphones. It is truly one of the most satisfying and enjoyable experiences that you can have on the app store.

My Rating: 5/5

Other Notable App Sales:

• Need for Speed Shift is also $0.99, down from its regular price of $6.99. 4.5/5
• Sketch Nation Shooter is on sale for FREE (usually $0.99). 3.5/5
• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is on sale for $0.99 (regularly $2.99). 4/5

App Store Pricing

I was reading a blog post regarding the Apple App Store pricing model and how it affected the pricing strategy for Hemisphere Games’s iPhone/iPad title Osmos, and felt compelled to reply to the company.

The App Store is experiencing a very unique combination of competitor-based pricing and value-based pricing, which has put tremendous pricing pressure on developers. Since the barrier to entry in the App Store is very low (only $99.00 per year to release an unlimited number of apps on the store) and the developer tools to create apps are free, the store has seen a tremendous volume of apps since it opened in 2008. As a result, the competition for visibility on the store is intense, and prices have been forced downwards to the point that many believe pricing an app at anything above $0.99 is suicide. This has caused the perceived value of apps by consumers to drop considerably, regardless of the fact that many apps require large teams and upwards of 6 months in development time. The top selling $0.99 apps on the App Store have seen sales of up to 20 million copies, and as a result the pricing structure of the market has been sustainable. However, this structure is dependent on volume, and companies without a top 100 app are starting to find it difficult to recoup costs and turn a profit with such low prices.

To complicate matters further, Apple released the iPad this year with an App Store that is only partially separated from the iPhone/iPod Touch store. Developers now need to decide whether they release a “universal” app that is purchased once and works on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, or release separate versions for each platform.

On their blog, Hemisphere Games addressed this issue very well, and although I agree fully with their reasoning, I had some additional ideas for a strategy that they could pursue.

I could probably write an entire essay on this topic, but for the time being I have kept it brief and to the point. Here is their blog post, and here are my comments on their strategy.

Epic Citadel: Showcasing Epic’s Powerful New iPhone Engine

Epic games has created something truly amazing for the iPhone. At Apple’s latest press conference they showed off their Unreal game engine running on an iPhone, producing reflections, lighting, and textures that look more in line with what can be expected on an Xbox 360 than an iPhone. A demo of the tech, called Epic Citadel, is now available on the App Store and the results are stunning on an iPhone 4. The user can walk around a medieval castle and marvel as the sun casts realistic shadows on buildings, and trees sway in the wind, slowly dropping their leaves.

The engine can reproduce accurate reflections and shadows.

Epic Citadel is not a full product, and does not feature any real gameplay aside from walking around the environment and taking in the sights. However, hidden behind the lush visuals is a brilliant marketing strategy. By releasing a free demo before the engine is ready, Epic Games can increase developer interest in its platform, and promote the use of its engine to power their upcoming games.

If I was a game developer, I know I would want my game to look like this.

It really is amazing that games on the iPhone/iPod Touch platforms can look so realistic. Graphics like these were unthinkable on a personal computer ten years ago, and now they have already made the leap to portable devices. For more insight into the capabilities of Apple’s ever-shrinking, yet powerful, devices you can read Chang Jie’s Comm296 blog, and if you have an iPhone and would like to see Epic Citadel for yourself you can download it here.

Google Search Stories

I’m going to begin my first blog post by linking to a really great ad campaign that started at the end of last year. The concept is very simple, but the ads really connect with the viewer on an emotional level as well.

When I first saw these Google ads there were just 3 Youtube videos that connected Google searches to real life situations, but now they have expanded the campaign to allow users to make their own versions of the ads. By doing so they are not only marketing Google search, but also promoting the use of Youtube: another one of Google’s services.

You can view the original ad below, or click here to view the full ad campaign.