Updating doesn't help your iPhone app, but price drops do

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Tech Help USA

Ive resroted to just getting free apps now after spending £30 on apps in the iTunes store! Try visiting http://www.bestfreeiphoneapplications.com/ for more free apps.

I no longer buy any apps without first checking appshopper.com for an update history. I am much more willing to pay a higher price for apps with regular updates. I avoid apps which only have loads of price changes.

As an example, you can see how Peggle's price sales have (temporarily) boosted its popularity here:

http://appexplorer.com/#r:314303518

(click the charts at the bottom of the page for a closer view)

Actually, some combination of price drop per update might yield the best results. Your app/game doesn't just get cheaper, the overall user experience gets even better as the cost goes down.

http://appexplorer.com/ displays charts of price and popularity history for apps so you can see how price changes affect an app's popularity.

The site also lets you get alerts when app prices change.

So does putting out an update spur sales? If a tree falls and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? What good is an update when no one knows about it. You have to make a splash. "Now with 5 new exciting levels!" "Five more reason to find out what everyone's been talking about!"

Don't expect sales to go up on their own. You have to generate some buzz. Otherwise, the only people that are going to know about the update, are the ones that already bought it.

..."Peggle was a great game..."

No, Peggle IS a great game!!

this article was wrong in my experience updates do increase sales. Simple because the categories page in itunes is sorted by release date. Keep it on that first page longer and you get loads of sales.