Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, App Store
iPhone dev tap tap tap releases sales figures
John Casasanta from iPhone app shop tap tap tap has released the company's sales data for the week of 7/28/08 to 8/3/08. John is one of the guys behind MacHeist, and as such has a history of being open about sales figures; still, releasing this information is a bold move.Although the only available data was for the last week of sales (though the tap tap tap blog says it will be updated if they get access to past figures), it is still really interesting to to gauge the figures and evaluate, at least to a small degree, how one publisher is doing at the App Store.
For tap tap tap's two applications, this is the breakdown:
Where to Go (App Store link) sold 3193 copies at $2.99 a copy in seven days.
Tipulator (App Store link) sold 353 copies at $.99 a copy in seven days.
After Apple's cut, tap tap tap's revenue was nearly $7000 for the week. Not too shabby. Even on this micro scale, this is further evidence of the long-term market viability for iPhone applications. This isn't surprising, but it is nice to have some solid sales data to backup the download tallies.
Furthermore, John discusses the relative marketing costs associated with iPhone apps as compared to traditional software. So far anyway, it appears that lower upfront promotional costs are needed to ensure a good return. Of course, we're still in the first month of iPhone app sales, as more and more apps come to the store and the "newness" factor starts to wane, marketing costs will likely have to increase.
The future of the App Store is exciting and this kind of news is encouraging, especially in light of some of the snake-oil applications that threaten to turn the App Store into Palm Store 2.0.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SuperSexyErik (^_^) said 1:00PM on 8-06-2008
the app store is great!
I can't wait to see which company copies it first and then all the anti-apple fanboyz will say apple never started the revolutionary idea :) As usual.
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CaptSaltyJack said 1:01PM on 8-06-2008
Sick, sick money! I can't help but wonder if sales figures like this will drop off as the App Store ages. I feel like the initial developers who were on board when the App Store launched made the most profits, and I think maybe people who release apps six months from now won't see those kinds of profits because some of the hype will have died down, plus these new apps will be lost in the sea of mess on the App Store.
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g said 4:04PM on 8-06-2008
You know, I think a lot of people thought the same thing for the iTunes music store, that a lot of people bought at first for novelty reasons, but sales would taper off after a while. Well, that certainly hasn't happened, so I don't expect the opposite to happen to the App Store.
OTOH, I do think that which apps Apple picks to feature on the front page will have a great influence in which apps can be profitable, especially with the deluge of absolute crapware (how many flashlight apps or tip calculators do we need?) being added everyday.
Dale said 6:49PM on 8-06-2008
Once the novelty wears off, it'll be down to who produces the best applications. Once people find a great app and know what's possible, they'll be far less forgiving of some of the toss on there.
Ryan Trevisol said 1:21PM on 8-06-2008
Wow, What to Do sold 3,000 copies a week, and it's just an interface for Google Maps? That can't be sustainable, especially with the one-star reviews its getting.
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Kev Orng said 1:55PM on 8-06-2008
Yes, I would guess that after a few weeks, the initial surge of app-buying will wane a bit.
Right now we're all buying apps because we can buy apps. Give it a month, and you'll buy an app to fill a specific need, or because you saw an ad for a useful app on a blog, or you're on the bus and sick of playing Super Monkey Ball.
The rush will become business as usual, and I'm sure it will still be profitable, but not like this.
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Christina Warren said 2:07PM on 8-06-2008
I agree -- although you never know, did anyone think ringtones would still be pulling in as much money as they do?
It'll be interesting to see these types of numbers after 3 months to better gauge the market.
imatt said 1:59PM on 8-06-2008
this has been an example of a good post. nicely done, christina! certainly better than much of what's been passing at TUAW lately.
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