Our app SoDunked! has been in the Apple store for almost 3 weeks. The main conversation we have with other people these days goes something like this:
Lyle or I to anyone: “How are you and what’s new?”
Anyone to us: “Fine, not much. How’s the app? How much have you sold?”
Lyle or I: “Fine. Yes.”
Anyone: “Okay….”
We don’t really know how to answer. It would be great if the answer really was “1 million as of yesterday” but since it is not, we don’t feel comfortable saying exactly how many. We have sold some. We can tell you that more than just our parents have bought the app, including some people outside of the United States. We did not break any “XXX number sold in 4 days” milestones or anything like that. But in 3 weeks? What do you expect? Or, more importantly, what do we expect?
If you read enough of the success stories you expect a lot. Hopeful entrepreneurs set expectations high for themselves. (Why else do this?) You dream and rely on the “magic” that can happen when timing and quality and publicity and everything comes together in your favor. The reality is that even when all of these things do come together, the magic doesn’t always happen and some apps never get the traction they need to be successful.
I know for myself that when I go to the app store, I spend a lot of time searching on all kinds of topics, scan the top lists, read reviews of experts on specific subjects, and listen to my own circle for recommendations. I am probably looking more deeply than the average user because it is my business to do so, yet I am sure I miss most of what is out there because of the sheer quantity. Let’s say I actually read the descriptions of 50 apps every 2 weeks. According to http://148apps.biz/app-store-metrics/?mpage, there are 325,672 active apps in the Apple store as of the end of 2010 (there are also 64,688 inactive apps). And, about 9% of active apps are entertainment apps. How can I possibly see and evaluate all of those? The average iPhone/iTouch user probably spends much less time and sees far fewer apps in a year than I do.
So, we are up against 35,991 entertainment apps. We have no easy way to measure whether we have a bigger fan base or more downloads than other related apps. We have no easy task ahead of us to get ourselves noticed and liked. Our goal has to be to get on one of the "top" lists at the app store or get a positive review from a popular technology pundit. And, if Lyle has the time, I am sure he will aim to get 25,000 Facebook fans and 50,000 Twitter followers. None of this has happened yet, but we hope it will.
Stay with us and find out what happens and please share the blog and the SoDunked! app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sodunked/id406270928?mt=8# with as many people as you can. You can help us get there. Thanks!
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