Filed under: Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Apple gives developers the ability to use promo codes
Apple has now given developers the ability to use promo codes to give away copies of their applications on the App Store. Previously, developers had to build a special version of their application (i.e. Ad-hoc copy) that included a mobile provisioning file and the actual application. These two files were then dragged onto iTunes to install them. With the Ad-hoc model, developers were limited to giving away 100 copies of their applications. Plus, users needed to find & supply the UDID information for their iPhone/iPod touch. With this change, developers can give away a special code that, when typed into the iTunes Store under the "Redeem" section, will give the user a free (or promotional) copy of the application. However, there are some caveats to using the promotional codes:
- The developer can only give away up to 50 promotional codes per application version
- Currently the promo codes can only be used in the US iTunes Store
[via MacRumors]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AriX said 7:35PM on 12-02-2008
The 50 code limit is per version of the application, not per application.
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Aron T said 7:37PM on 12-02-2008
Oh neat!
Devs - I can haz promo kode?
kthxbye
Ps, This LOLcat comment brought to you by my recent discovery of the LOLcode programming language!
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Johnny said 10:12PM on 12-02-2008
I think I'm not reading this right... You can only give 50 people a free copy per version? If that's the case, this is a baby step in the right direction, but doesn't help much at all.
The only other way I could read this is that there are 50 possible variations of each version. In that case, why even have a limit?
Somebody knock me upside the head.
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andy g said 11:01PM on 12-02-2008
I'm snooping around my iTunes Connect account, but not seeing anything mentioning these promo codes.
How do I activate them?
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thezonie said 11:45PM on 12-02-2008
It's on the main page, under Manage Your Applications.
It also says that they expire 4 weeks after they are requested ... So I guess if you request them you better use them. :)
This is a welcome addition as far as I'm concerned. That way reviewers will be more apt to review your app, and you want have to worry about PayPal-ing them money so that they can buy your app to review it.
G said 11:43PM on 12-02-2008
Very nice! I wish they would do this for indie labels on the music side instead of trying to shoehorn 3 songs into the weekly thing.
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awolf said 1:44AM on 12-03-2008
Nice.
I use to just give out $10 gift certificates for my apps when I wanted people to review them.
This will save me some money :) .
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TheJonesBoy said 8:03AM on 12-03-2008
What it needs is apps that time out. All this will do is allow people to give a choiuce 50 potential reviewers the chance to talk up a free app that the rest of us need to buy.
That'll be distorted praise because something free is sure easier to 'approve' and praise than something that is £9.99. US-centric yet again of course...
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James said 10:28AM on 12-03-2008
This is a step in the right direction. Know if I could only find more ask programmers to help me finish some apps...
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Erich said 10:14AM on 12-03-2008
This sounds great for reviews, and for handing out copies to friends and family.
Anybody want to write up a blog post/review of my kid-oriented game, TowerSmash? http://brattonbrothers.com/towersmash/
Email me at erich at bratton dot com (don't just post here) and I'll send you a promo code in return for you writing a blog post about it, whatever you want to say :-)
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James said 10:32AM on 12-03-2008
This is a step in the right direction. Now if I could only find more SDK programmers to help me finish some apps. It is hard to find programmers in the MidSouth area.
Version 2
Hit send before I was done. My apologies.
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Jeff Scott said 5:22PM on 12-03-2008
We’ve discovered another great use for promo codes — giveaways. Who doesn’t love free stuff? Taking a queue from Major Nelson on Twitter, we’ve started giving away iTunes promo codes for iPhone apps that we get from developers on our Twitter stream.
Cheers,
Jeff
http://148apps.com
http://twitter.com/148apps
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samuel said 3:47PM on 12-31-2008
I notice that no app on the iPhone can be previewed, no option to test them. That would be a nice addition.
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