Some sales figures from an app in the top 10 education
Hello,
After being mentioned by the NYT, my app was in the top 10 education market in the US for a few days. I share my sales figures on my blog to let everybody understand the iphone and ipad education market.
Congratulations, that's great you were featured in the old grey lady (NYTimes) and to share your stats with us.
I'm also in the education category with a Architecture app and haven't broken into the top 100. Your stats are very useful and give me a clearer understanding of what I would need and have to aim for now.
you mentioned in your post that you would like to know how many apps are sold on each device, iPad, iPhone etc. If you incorporate Flurry analytics into your code it gives you device data as well as other useful data about your users.
I think it's almost impossible to get good sales if your app is useful or educational.
The apps that really sell are games and entertainment apps. It's sad but it's true.
And unless you have solid marketing, you will see a rapid downward trend. It's inevitable considering how bad the App Store is for browsing.
it depends what you mean by good sales. Since august I've made about $13000 with this education app. This is a lot of work (dev (updates) and marketing). This is not enough to make a living yet (I've got a familly to feed!). But I hope that in the long term, with several quality educational apps, I will build my brand and a nice user base, and be able to reach $200 a day average (my goal).
There are some apps that stays in the top #50 in education, and I think that these people are pretty happy with their sales.
It's clear that I will never have a hit like you can have in game or entertainment...it is more a long term investment...
it depends what you mean by good sales. Since august I've made about $13000 with this education app. This is a lot of work (dev (updates) and marketing). This is not enough to make a living yet (I've got a familly to feed!). But I hope that in the long term, with several quality educational apps, I will build my brand and a nice user base, and be able to reach $200 a day average (my goal).
There are some apps that stays in the top #50 in education, and I think that these people are pretty happy with their sales.
It's clear that I will never have a hit like you can have in game or entertainment...it is more a long term investment...
I think, since you're doing educational software, you should focus on marketing to schools that may want to buy in bulk at the educational pricing. Instead of having constant sales, you'd be getting spikes whenever a school decides to buy a couple hundred copies of your apps.
I was thinking long and hard about doing an educational game, and RPG of sorts where you have to defeat monsters by solving math equations as fast as possible (the faster you solve, the harder you hit the monster and the faster it dies, the longer you live). But I figured nobody would buy it... or that it would get bad reviews from kids that want games that don't involve any thinking... but you've shown that it is possible to make at least some money with an educational app.
Last edited by Picklefoot; 11-02-2010 at 02:03 PM.
@picklefoot yes that is tricky to sell educational games or apps. you have to remember that it is the parents that buy the apps (so show them educational value) and the kids that use it (so give them something they like to play with).
Parents (I'm a dad) are ready to give some bucks for a educational toys/apps/games - that's a fact. But as you see in my figures, the market on iphone and ipad is not yet very large (that's why you don't see a lot of big brand in the app store)
I think it's almost impossible to get good sales if your app is useful or educational.
The apps that really sell are games and entertainment apps. It's sad but it's true.
And unless you have solid marketing, you will see a rapid downward trend. It's inevitable considering how bad the App Store is for browsing.
Highly disagree. I think useful or educational apps can make pretty good money. The games are at the top of the charts, but you can only charge 99c for an entertainment or game app. Apps that actually fullfill customer needs can get away with charging a lot more. I would guess if you looked at the top 10,000 grossing apps useful apps would be represented very well.
Highly disagree. I think useful or educational apps can make pretty good money. The games are at the top of the charts, but you can only charge 99c for an entertainment or game app. Apps that actually fullfill customer needs can get away with charging a lot more. I would guess if you looked at the top 10,000 grossing apps useful apps would be represented very well.
This is where we'll have to agree to disagree because, from my point of view, people usually enjoy wasting time with games and entertainment apps. I bet if you looked at the 10,000 grossing apps, you'll find that over 80% are games or entertainment apps with the remaining 20% being useful apps.
I'd like to be proven wrong though.
Looking through the 500 top grossing on appannie.com, you'll find that I'm right. In fact, it's closer to 98% games/entertainment vs 2% anything-else for the 500 top grossing.
Last edited by Picklefoot; 11-04-2010 at 12:39 PM.
This is where we'll have to agree to disagree because, from my point of view, people usually enjoy wasting time with games and entertainment apps. I bet if you looked at the 10,000 grossing apps, you'll find that over 80% are games or entertainment apps with the remaining 20% being useful apps.
I'd like to be proven wrong though.
Looking through the 500 top grossing on appannie.com, you'll find that I'm right. In fact, it's closer to 98% games/entertainment vs 2% anything-else for the 500 top grossing.
I have to agree with Mightybao - why? The standard you are using just is not a realistic/useful one. Mightybao states, "makes pretty good money". Well, pretty good money may not be top grossing, it could easily be a substantial number.
It just does not seem realistic to judge what you do based on the top 500 apps out of 300K apps. There is tons of money to be made. I would say the app I would like is one that sells day after day for years - not one that peaks for a couple months, is a top grosser, and then disappears - which many of the top grossing apps actually do.
I have to agree with Mightybao - why? The standard you are using just is not a realistic/useful one. Mightybao states, "makes pretty good money". Well, pretty good money may not be top grossing, it could easily be a substantial number.
It just does not seem realistic to judge what you do based on the top 500 apps out of 300K apps. There is tons of money to be made. I would say the app I would like is one that sells day after day for years - not one that peaks for a couple months, is a top grosser, and then disappears - which many of the top grossing apps actually do.
Good discussion.
The app that sells day after day for years would only sell day after day for years if you spend time maintaining it for years. The return on those apps is lowered by this.
It's all a matter of perspective, I know... but, my perspective is that my two useful apps sell a few copies every day (if I'm lucky) and I'm always updating them to make them better. And my entertainment app that I'm rarely update is making a lot more money.
You prefer an app that consistently sells every day. But if this nets you less money than an entertainment app that has a few months of amazing sales, what would you prefer developing?
Ok, that's a trick question... *I* would prefer developing my useful apps... but I'm so tempted to keep creating junk apps knowing that they're raking in the cash.
I guess I'll have to create an entertainment app just to see. But all I know is the revenue curves I'm seeing from my useful apps are way better than what people are getting for entertainment and games (large spike in the beginning and poor long tail). I'm not on the Top 200 lists but my revenue is pretty consistently high. Yes there are a lot more entertainment apps in the Top 500 but a lot of those drop in and out since there are just so many more of those type of apps on the store. Not many of those have a lot of staying power. If you look at some of the more useful apps, they have a lot better shot at staying in the top for a longer period of time. People just don't get bored of them as easily.
I guess I'll have to create an entertainment app just to see. But all I know is the revenue curves I'm seeing from my useful apps are way better than what people are getting for entertainment and games (large spike in the beginning and poor long tail). I'm not on the Top 200 lists but my revenue is pretty consistently high. Yes there are a lot more entertainment apps in the Top 500 but a lot of those drop in and out since there are just so many more of those type of apps on the store. Not many of those have a lot of staying power. If you look at some of the more useful apps, they have a lot better shot at staying in the top for a longer period of time. People just don't get bored of them as easily.
This is not an insult of any kind but I would classify your FantasyMonster apps as entertainment apps. You probably dropped them into the "Sports" category... but creating fantasy teams is fundamentally a game...or entertainment.
And this would explain why you're doing so well with them. People like to sit down and do something other than "work/homework".
I may have chosen my words poorly by saying "useful". Because your FantasyMonster apps are useful. I think a better word for what I was talking about is "productivity". Productivity/educational/whatever apps don't fare as well as games and entertainment apps.
Last edited by Picklefoot; 11-04-2010 at 08:11 PM.
Some sales figures from an app in the top 10 education
Linear Mode
