mobile app growth hacks - developer interviews ios 8
DESCRIPTION
We interviewed developers from around the world while conducting market research for Mobile App Growth Hacks. It was an amazing experience! Take a moment and check out their inspiring stories and learn from their collective wisdom. FOR THE COMPLETE FREE EBOOK COPY WITH ALL 160 INTERVIEWS CLICK HERE: http://www.serenityappsolutions.com/2014/05/20/developer-interview-book/ or Direct Download Link: https://gumroad.com/d/5933cc18240a74155313fa166f2066d7TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Mobile App Growth Hacks – Developer Interviews iOS 8
By Chris Flammer and Michelle Nunez
Copyright SerenityAppSolutions 2014
Published at iBooks
Welcome to one of the most comprehensive collections of interviews with iOS Developers
from around the world.
We interviewed developers while conducting Market Research for Mobile App Growth
Hacks. While we were able to gather the data we needed, we also found ourselves caught up in
reading their stories and appreciative of the wisdom they had to share. So we decided to include
the entire transcript from some of our favorite interviews in a separate book
Each developer was posed 5 questions:
1. How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
2. What do you love most about being an app developer?
3. What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to market your app(s)?
4. Is there anything you would like to see changed or done differently in the App Store?
5. Any advice you would give to developers who may just be starting out?
We hope that you will be inspired as we have been by the amazing stories within these pages
as well as learn from the many wonderful insights they had to share.
*Please note that the opinions and views expressed in these interviews are the opinions of the
interviewee and do not reflect the opinions or views of Serenity App Solutions or it’s employees.
About Mobile App Growth Hacks
In today’s crowded App Store, creating exposure and marketing their app is the biggest
challenge small developers and companies face. The number one reason for failure of an app is
improper and ineffective marketing.
So how do you create exposure for your app, and build your brand in today’s App Store?
When it comes to marketing a mobile app, many people tend to think of things like writing
press releases, running ads, pitching to bloggers, and so on. These things fall into the realm of
traditional marketing. Traditional Marketing is expensive, time consuming, and in most cases
completely ineffective. Unless your marketing budget reaches into the hundreds of thousands
and you have a full time staff implementing your marketing plans, traditional marketing won’t
take you very far.
And the biggest problem with traditional marketing is that it often neglects one of the most
important facts of App Marketing:
Your app is the most powerful marketing tool that you possess.
Simply put, the app you’ve created can offer more engagement, connect more users, and
reach more people than any other website or blog out there. You don’t need deep pockets or a
full time marketing staff to achieve success in the App Store. All you need is creativity, an
understanding of who your customers are, and the courage to try new things.
In this book, we teach you everything you need to know to run a successful app business by
focusing on the driving force of your business: The product. Learn how to build and grow your
company right from the inside, starting with everything you should be doing in your app to drive
sales and downloads, and create more awareness for your brand.
Learn more about Mobile App Growth Hacks here
Receive 20% off when you use coupon code: ib20off
Developer Name: Harin Wickremasinghe
Most Successful App(s) to Date:
Smart Chef Substitutions
How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
We are a family business that started when my father lost his engineering job in early 2009 as
a result of the economic downturn in Detroit, Michigan. He was 62 at the time and finding work
was difficult, so he decided to start reading up on programming (which was not his background)
to take a crack at programming apps for the iPhone. My brother and I worked along with him to
develop the content, graphics and sound. With a lot of hard work, our first app, Smart Chef
Substitutions was published in June of 2009. As you know, it is difficult to make a living in the
App Store. However, Apple threw us a bone by featuring Smart Chef on the front page of iTunes
and using it in Magazine campaigns. That gave us the boost of confidence we needed to keep
going. Later that year, we switched to educational apps. My Mom was, at the time, still teaching
at a Montessori school, something she had been doing since 1969. With her expertise in the field,
we decided to create a Montessori inspired library of apps. Now that the iPad was out, the
possibilities seemed endless. Our first Educational app hit the App Store in November 2009.
Since then, schools have picked up our apps and promoted them and today we have a business
that supports basic needs of three families. Nobody is getting rich here, yet, but we’re content
with our work so far. Now that we have a nice library of apps, we are hoping to be featured in
some way by Apple again. Unfortunately, we haven’t been listed in any of the categories that we
clearly belong in. Hopefully that will change in the future…
What do you love most about being an app developer?
We love the fun & challenge of starting with a blank canvas and an idea and working to bring
it to fruition. For years we all worked in cubicles for ―the man‖ and now we work for ourselves
doing creative things. That’s pretty cool! Our genre of apps gives us the satisfaction that we are
helping people, too. We often get reports of parents & educators about how children are really
learning important concepts from our apps. That is fulfilling. And, on a personal note, we have
the freedom to pursue other things that are important to us,as well. I’m living in Costa Rica now,
doing volunteer work – I couldn’t do that with any other job!
What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to market your app(s)?
Getting lost in the mix of the App Store is a HUGE challenge. We get emails from our
website and Facebook site regularly that people never knew we existed. Our products are good,
the problem is, nobody knows we’re here. Recently, our website’s server crashed and our sales
plummeted by 60%. That was bad, but also good – it told us where the bulk of our customers are
coming from. So, we’ll be putting extra efforts into website related stuff to help reclaim market
share.
Is there anything you would like to see changed or done differently in the App Store?
Yes. The featured sections are filled with apps made by Apple employee friends and their
personal favorites, not necessarily, the best apps in each genre. New & Noteworthy sections
often feature repeats, which with so many new apps out there, seems like playing favorites. We
have apps in Math, Language, Geography & Science fields that are used by entire school
systems, yet, they have never been listed in a Math, Language, Geography or Science grouping
in the Education field of the App Store. Something needs to change!
Any advice you would give to developers who may just be starting out?
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Yes, there are million dollar apps out there, but most
developers who have made one or two apps cannot live off them. So, think bigger –a few dollars
a day adds up when you have a nice library of apps, quality apps, that is!
Take a moment and find out more about Harin Wickremasinghe and Smart Chef Substitutions at
http://www.mobilemontessori.org/
Developer Name: Alicia Benetz
Most Successful App(s) to Date:
Word Slug
How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
I have been developing for just over a year now. I got started as a graphic designer working
with a team of developers on a web–based flash game. It soon became evident that it would be
great if I could do the design work and just lay it out in the code. When we decided to switch
from flash to apps, I decided to pick up my coding hat and give it a try. With the help of some
developers on my team, I began to learn lua and the cross–platform mobile development tool
Corona.
What do you love most about being an app developer?
I love the ability to easily launch the in–progress product on a device. I find it pretty cool that
when I need to be away from my computer, I can still be trying out different things with my in–
progress app. Another cool bit is that nearly everyone I know has a smartphone, so when people
ask about what you do, they can download one of your apps right then and there.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to market your app(s)?
I find it hard to determine what would be a good value. Everyone will tell you that their
marketing tool, ad publisher, or magical bean will do the perfect thing to launch your app into
the King level stratosphere. What comes as a challenge is weeding through the hype to figure out
an accurate assessment of ROI for each of the options. In addition, you may have the coolest app
and some great marketing, but if a user types your app name directly into a store and it isn’t the
top hit (or even in the top 5), you can lose any benefit your marketing brought you because of the
vagaries of the app stores.
Is there anything you would like to see changed or done differently in the App Store?
As mentioned in the marketing question, if users try to find you, it can be difficult to navigate
the multitudes listed in the app stores. When they can type in your app’s full exact name and still
have a paid or higher–rated or however–it–is–sorted app as the top 5 hits for your app’s exact
name, it is challenging and frustrating.
Any advice you would give to developers who may just be starting out?
I think good testers who will be honest and not just tell you what they think you’d like to
hear is a great idea. I think if you put together a game you enjoy playing, as I am still madly
addicted to my game Word Slug after over a year of playing, at least you get something out of
it… even if your app never becomes a Candy Crush (is it illegal for me to use their name now?
Or is that just in naming my own apps :).
Take a moment and find out more about Alicia and Word Slug at http://wordsluggame.com
Developer Name: Deepti Daryanani
Most Successful App(s) to Date:
New Best Friends
How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
I am a new in this business. I was inspired to create the artistic media company ―Maadchick
Networks‖ in early July 2013, and this children’s book app, New Best Friends is our first piece
of work. Having written the stories, I wanted to reach out to all the children in the world and
developing a book app made perfect sense. I did a lot of research and finally zeroed down on
hiring technical services in developing the app. Also, I am an actress by profession.
(www.deeptidaryanani.com) I have taken up this role in app development to bring these stories
to children.
What do you love most about being an app developer?
The most fascinating part for me is to see the merger of art with technology. The artistic
ideas needs today’s technological medium. To discuss how far we can build an app that truly
communicates its message is something I am interested in. I understand that an app is like a
living document. One can constantly reinvent it to better tell it’s story.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to market your app(s)?
There are so many apps in the market. The challenge is how to make this one app stand out
and bring it to the targeted audience’s attention. Mine is a children’s app and as a conscious
developer, I wanted to keep the app non–violent and with features that do not disturb the fragile
minds but helps develop their learning skills and overall self growth. So automatically, this
makes the app not as dynamic and high end as the gaming apps that are very entertaining from
the go. So the challenge is to stand out in a market of highly competitive visually entertaining
apps.
Is there anything you would like to see changed or done differently in the App Store?
Maybe the App Store can provide some interesting ways to help market and advertise a
children’s book app to parents and educators.
Any advice you would give to developers who may just be starting out?
I don’t think I am eligible to give any advice to anyone as I am fairly new in this domain.
What I can say is that technology is an excellent medium today to share our message with the
world. But more than mere developing what really ignites the process is what is it that you want
to say through this app.
Take a moment and find out more about Deepti and her app at
http://www.maadchicknetworks.com and also explore her bio and acting career at
http://www.deeptidaryanani.com
Developer Name: Will Scott
Most Successful App(s) to Date:
ServaBid
How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
I have been involved in mobile development since 2012. As for how I got started, prior to
mobile apps I was in enterprise systems development, and dabbled in video processing in my
free time. I was very interested in video as consumable media, and pondered how video could be
leveraged for productivity via mobile. In surveying the mobile ecosystem for video apps, I found
that the most adopted applications were for social media and video chat. I decided that I wanted
to tackle using mobile video to ―get things done in the real world‖ — this early notion led to
ServaBid. ServaBid is an app that lets you take a short video of a home–related job or repair
project that you’d like completed. Service professionals view and bid to complete the job right
through the app. Video is a powerful medium to convey the scope of the work, and allows
service professionals to provide accurate quotes remotely.
What do you love most about being an app developer?
There are many things that I love about being involved in mobile development, but if forced
to answer what I love the ―most‖, I’d say facing the challenge of trying to enrich an end–user’s
life (if only in some small way). When I think about mobile devices and mobile apps, it all really
comes back to this. Consider calendar apps that try to help you stay organized, social media apps
that aim to keep you connected with friends and family, gaming apps that try to make wasting
time as entertaining as possible, etc. With successful apps, the common thread is that they
provide some value to the end–user. This was always at the forefront of ServaBid development.
For the job poster, the goal was to make getting projects done easy and convenient. Specifically,
to make it almost like ―magic‖ – i.e., take a video showing a project you want done, and it will
be completed. For the service professionals that complete the jobs, the goal was improvements to
efficiency and to reduce costs. In many instances, video would allow for providing accurate
estimates remotely, saving the time and expense of a visit.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to market your app(s)?
The ServaBid app is a bit different from many apps when it comes to marketing, as it’s
effectively a mobile embodiment of a ―marketplace‖. Here users post jobs they want completed,
and a second demographic of users (service providers) bid to complete the jobs. This led to the
chicken–and–egg problem of which demographic to woo first. We decided to focus on service
professionals first, because without them, no work can be completed. Marketing is always an
interesting subject, especially when bootstrapping (we’re currently self–funded). The goal is to
maximize return on any marketing investment, but the tricky thing is, there is usually no good
gauge to how successful a marketing campaign will be until you actually try it! I’ll be the first to
say that this is an iterative process, and I’m far from an expert on the marketing side of things.
Having said this, we continue to focus on providing value via the technology and user
experience. In taking care of these things, we also hope to ramp up word of mouth referrals —
which is the Holy Grail of marketing (it’s very effective and FREE!).
Is there anything you would like to see changed or done differently in the App Store?
As for the App Store, it’s Apple’s ecosystem, and we must work within the confines of it. In
terms of a change, it would be nice to see the cut taken for In–App purchase reduced. This would
drive competition from Google to also lower its cut, and would help app developers increase
revenue across the board. This will likely not happen anytime soon though.
Any advice you would give to developers who may just be starting out?
Regarding advice for new developers, I’d suggest starting with an ―all inclusive‖ list of
requirements for an initial release of the app. Once this list is generated, marry this with the
allotted timeframe for delivery, development resources, testing resources, and funds available to
execute on the list. When bootstrapping an app, usually development, test, and funds are very
finite resources. Thinking these things through up front will help you prioritize what actually can
(and should) be available in the initial release (this is a ―delivery‖ list of requirements). Once the
delivery list is defined, the additional items form the basis of a product roadmap, which will
allow you to deliver new function as you grow and scale. This approach keeps development and
test efforts containable, especially with a smaller team.
Take a moment and find out more about Will Scott and the ServaBid Team at
http://www.servabid.com
Developer Name: David Zobrist
Most Successful App(s) to Date:
The Sha Man
How long have you been developing apps and how did you get started?
I did paint level paper design for existing games and created simple stories in form of short
comics when I was around 12. But back then there were no real option to study in the technical /
creative direction like game art or game design. I found my way back into my beloved field
when I was 23 years old. I studied 1 year at the Games Academy Berlin and did a 1 year
internship at YAGER Development right after. Which was a lucky first step into a big gaming
studio that was busy developing Spec Ops The Line for the Xbox with 2k Games as Publisher. I
was not part of that huge team at all. Instead I created game concepts and pitch material for many
different ideas, in order for them to have a variety of future projects to work on after their game
release. I had big backlashes when I got sick and could not work for 6 months, lost my girlfriend
and my apartment. But I recovered and started of in a new Company as an Intern again but this
time much better paid and with better perspectives for a real position. I worked at Young Internet
later re–named to Goodbeans for 3 years. Starting off as an Quality Assurance Intern moving the
carrier ladder up to a Quality Manager and finally to a Game Designer. As Game Designer I was
responsible for Content, narrative, monetization and feature design. Through my experience as a
Quality Assurance I was highly benefited with insights in all departments and was a crossroad
for development. The company did major investment mistakes and broke down step by step,
shortly before the sheep sank I decided to jump and this time on my own ship. I used the first day
of my unemployment to organize my self–employment plans, visiting seminars and consulting
an founding expert. Which helped me to create a bad ass business plan, where I used my pitching
skills and his traditional/correct way of setting up all required documents to gain a Founding
support from the government. Which worked out 3 months later and since beginning of this year
I’m financially supported by Berlin until Juni of this Year, where I have to start living of my own
profits. I released my first app ―The Sha Man‖ in December 2013 and the second one ―Sha Cat‖
23. of April 2014. And now I hope to reach as many people as possible with my work to make
my dream come true.
What do you love most about being an app developer?
The barrier to create digital experiences was never as thin as now, not long ago you had to be
---------------------------------------------------***-------------------------------------------------
FOR THE COMPLETE FREE EBOOK COPY WITH ALL
160 INTERVIEWS CLICK HERE:
http://www.serenityappsolutions.com/2014/05/20/developer-
interview-book/
or
Direct Download Link
https://gumroad.com/d/5933cc18240a74155313fa166f2066d7