For example, App submission to 50 review sites for $427. Initially, this work involves plain filling in of contact forms and takes 3-4 hours at most.
That is why I have asked app developers here if anybody tried the ComboApp services. Maybe it is not as plain as it seems to me and can bring effective results.
For example, App submission to 50 review sites for $427. Initially, this work involves plain filling in of contact forms and takes 3-4 hours at most.
That is why I have asked app developers here if anybody tried the ComboApp services. Maybe it is not as plain as it seems to me and can bring effective results.
Hi, couple words from the company in subject:-)
If you only consider a time on typing requests and sending them over - yes, it actually can be done even faster but if you consider how many apps being submitted to these sites daily it becomes obvious that chances of an app developer to break through on his own are slim. We've spent a lot of time on establishing business connections and proving that we offer only high quality apps to review.
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Artyom Diogtev - New Media Manager
Looking at your site, $4900 for a top 100 CATEGORY?
Surely this is the _most_ ridiculous price human kind has even seen.
Didn't you read the thread where people have lost money even with the $500 promotion that guy used to do?
I'm sorry my quest for justice it's too strong to let you go away with it!
( I'm bracing myself for all sort blah blah blah non-senses... :O )
Gosh - we love public debate! :-))) Let me quote what Steve Jobs said from D8 conference stage "If people love it - they buy it, if they don't - they won't!"
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Artyom Diogtev - New Media Manager
I can speak to this subject...
Around a year ago, Combo-App had a promotion for their top-100 campaign that was not $4,900 but still very expensive. They did what they said they would and I got what I paid for. They got me into the top-100. With that said, I was naive and I thought that being in the top 100 would create enough momentum to sustain itself and they told me it is up to the desirability of my app as to whether or not it stays or gains position. Fair enough.
My problem is this whole notion of the value of being in the top-100 is VERY MISLEADING. Even a great app needs more than the top-100 exposure to attain success and they market this service as if it is worth almost 5 GRAND??? Yet Combo-App and company's like them play on the hopes and the naivety of new developers and are happy to take their money when they know damn well that
exposure in the top-100 is next to worthless. This was true a year ago and with each passing day and new iPhone/iPad/iPod sale, it becomes even more true.
Hey. Buyer beware. As I said. Combo-App did for me exactly what I hired them to do. Shame on ME for not doing my homework. With that said, had they been honest and really gave me a strategy for the app store that was fairly priced, I would still be giving them my business today. After my experience, I have no desire whatsoever to deal with Combo-App or any other app-marketing company. The fact that they place a 5,000 value on top-100 placement is all you really need to know about their scruples. Ask any developer on here with any experience how much being in the top-100 is worth.
If I am wrong? I'd love to see testimonials from Combo-App clients who paid for top-100 service and at least made their investment back. I won't hold my breath.
Anyone seriously considering dropping 5 grand for this?? Take the money and hire a damn good graphic designer and pump up your visuals, take the money and hire people to QC your code and make it flawless and crash proof. Take the rest of the money and put it in the bank!
I would be pleased to pay a company, who can ASSURE me, that they get my app visibility through high quality review sites or on the Appstore itself.
If ComboApp can deliver this, then their service is excellent.
We live in a world with a free market. They are allowed to price their services as high as they wish. If I want to pay THAT price, is MY decision.
That being said: YOU have to know, what your app is worth. Can it STAY in the top 100 or not? That is surely not the companies problem if it doesn't.
I didn't try ComboApp and for that price I probably never will, but as the other guy said, they delivered, what they promised, so for me their business is legit.
People should learn to excersize some selfcritics. If your app is crap, nobody can make it successful. With them it seems, you can get a headstart over the others for that price, that's all. The rest is in your hands.
"If your app is crap, nobody can make it successful."
While this is of course true, I think it can also be a cop-out for marketing companies to conveniently wash their hands of any accountability on the value of their services by saying: "Oh well, I guess your app was crap".
The argument here is how much money is top-100 placement worth in the current state of the app market. I would argue, in the early days it WAS worth 5 grand to get exposure there. Now? Hardly. Nowadays, I think you get staying power and traction if you are in the top 25 and that might even be worth MORE than 5 Gs!
My problem with Combo-App and other marketing services is their marketing of top-100 placement AS IF this were still the early days of the app store when exposure there meant something.
As I said, it's easy to just call my app or anyone else's app crappy. The REAL test is if these companies can produce consistent, recent testimonials from people who purchased these services and made their investment back.
Interesting exercise: Spend some time in the category of your choice in iTunes and keep refreshing it every so often-- Watch the amount of turnover and movement in the 25-100 positions and the amount of stability in the 1-25 positions!
If ComboApp can deliver this, then their service is excellent.
We live in a world with a free market. They are allowed to price their services as high as they wish. If I want to pay THAT price, is MY decision.
I didn't try ComboApp and for that price I probably never will, but as the other guy said, they delivered, what they promised, so for me their business is legit.
I do not agree, for 3 reasons, (even the free market has rules):
- If they delivered using illegal practices like toying the rankings then it's not even allowed on the appStore.
- Even if they've delivered the price is so exaggerated that it could seriously being treated as a "scam", ie paying 100x more what a service is really worth it. Unless it's a luxury brand, it could also be illegal. (Shops get sued if they do that, at least in the UK, fair trade rules)
- If they base their business on some clueless devs that want to flush their money down the toilet it's also bad practice, acting deliberately to give you a worthless service is not good business, even for the stupidest of your client. You should never do that as a company.
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That being said: YOU have to know, what your app is worth. Can it STAY in the top 100 or not? That is surely not the companies problem if it doesn't.
If your app is good to stay and reach the top100 it will do it anyway, you don't need this service.
This is the key point, if you need this service to even reach the top100, which could well be only 30/40 copies, then your app will never stay there anyway.
if you need this service to even reach the top100, which could well be only 30/40 copies,
Exactly my point. Someone tell me how reaching 30/40 copies is worth $5,000?
Realistically it is even less effort than that because I doubt that anyone willing to shell out 5 thousand in marketing dollars is starting from absolute zero sales.
If my grandma were yellow, she would be the mailbox in the village...
Your arguments have absolutelly no base, therefor absolutely irrelevant.
Who said, they promise Category top 100?
What if they say Top overall 100?
I really don't like, how you try to pull everybody down based on assumptions, just because you can't afford a price for a service or because you are jelous that they can offer something eventually more worth than your whole life (yes, take it personally). Grrrrr
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Last edited by Promo Dispenser; 12-17-2011 at 03:23 PM.
who said, they promise Category top 100?
What if they say Top overall 100?
Really? Let's check the website....
"That's why ComboApp's marketing teams will use every resource at their disposal to guarantee your app finds a place in at least one of Apple's TOP 100 categories,"
You try and tell me that my argument has no base yet you ask a stupid question that it takes 5 seconds to find the answer for yourself?
I'm not getting into a pissing contest over it, this is simply my opinion.
In my opinion, in the early days of the app store, being in the top 100 of a category meant something, today it does not and it CERTAINLY isn't worth $5,000! You obviously feel it is worth the money, that is your opinion and you are welcome to it. I didn't start this thread I responded to it.
..and it isn't about the AMOUNT of money or whether I can afford it, that is just a cheap ad Hominem attack ( and you accuse me of pulling everyone ELSE down!) Hypocrite.
The problem with the english language is, that you can't differentiate between singular and plural for "you".
I was talking in plural. Just for clarification.
Who are you to decide, what it is worth or what is not? Who are you to judge those people for me or for anybody else except for yourself?
And you can wind it how you want, "you" (the users of this forum) did the same with me and with my service. Assuming something and talking stupid, that's why I am pissed about this.
And btw who the **** decides what a "luxury brand" is? Did I miss something and there is a commitee in the UK, that tells me, if something is luxury or not and if they say not, then I am not allowed to pay the asked price? Do I go to jail for paying anyway?
If Rolex asks 10 thousand dollars for a watch and somebody is willing to pay it, then it is worth it.
Not _being a luxury brand_ defines the price, but the price defines the luxury. So, ComboApp is a luxury service, because not everybody can afford the price. So simple.
And btw I don't care for ComboApp. If they make business, fine. If not, it's fine for me too. I am just theoretical here.
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Last edited by Promo Dispenser; 12-17-2011 at 04:38 PM.
And you can wind it how you want, "you" (the users of this forum) did the same with me and with my service. Assuming something and talking stupid, that's why I am pissed about this.
Really? You had no trouble assuming that my app sucked or assuming that I am too poor or cheap to afford the service.
...and who says I am "deciding" anything for anyone? I offered my O P I N I O N and I qualified it as such. I joined a discussion that was already in progress and offered my experiences.
Who are you to decide, what it is worth or what is not? Who are you to judge those people for me or for anybody else except for yourself?
We do not decide, the market decides. The market to go into the top100 cateogory is not what you would pay for them, it's 100x, so it's a borderline scam, why is so hard to understand?
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And you can wind it how you want, "you" (the users of this forum) did the same with me and with my service. Assuming something and talking stupid, that's why I am pissed about this.
Funny, I've praised your service, even more than once, when other people were attacking you for wrong reason out of your control, I perfectly understand it. I think your service was great, so give credits where credits are due, I give stick where stick are due. And this time it's not _my opinion_, it's pure math, you can't go against it.
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And btw who the **** decides what a "luxury brand" is? Did I miss something and there is a commitee in the UK, that tells me, if something is luxury or not and if they say not, then I am not allowed to pay the asked price? Do I go to jail for paying anyway?
Yes someone decides what a luxury brand is, what's so strange about it? The tax man decides it, if you buy a ferrari you pay more insurance due to their higher luxury tier, if you sell a Gucci from eBay you are only able to sell 10 of them a month or something like it, etc etc...
btw you do not go to jail to _pay_, you've got it the wrong way around.
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If Rolex asks 10 thousand dollars for a watch and somebody is willing to pay it, then it is worth it.
Exactly, rolex. Not a plastic watch. Look there are rules of fair trade in this world, even if you are not aware of them, what else can I say? You are not aware of something and you keep bragging about it without even doing a simple google search.
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Not _being a luxury brand_ defines the price, but the price defines the luxury. So, ComboApp is a luxury service, because not everybody can afford the price. So simple.
Sure, it's exactly like that, now I rest my case cos I do not want to spend my time with someone who just doesn't want to get its fact right.
Funny, I've praised your service, even more than once, when other people were attacking you for wrong reason out of your control, I perfectly understand it. I think your service was great, so give credits where credits are due, I give stick where stick are due.
I was speaking generally in this matter, not specifically about you. That's why I used "you" and added "users of the forum".
No need to defend yourself.
Thanks btw.
Ah and I looked up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_good on wikipedia before I posted and there was no mentioning about a specific group of people, who decide what Luxury is.
We are saying the same, just your logic differs from mine.
Swatch is a plastic watch, still can be seen as a luxury good... so...
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Last edited by Promo Dispenser; 12-18-2011 at 09:45 AM.
In economics, a luxury good is a good for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises, and is a contrast to a "necessity good", for which demand is not related to income
.
I don't consider this a luxury brand though just because they charge a lot of money for it. In my opinion, luxury brands are status symbols or indulgences, getting to the top 100 of your category on iTunes is neither of those things.
Getting to the top-100 of your category in iTunes has value in people's eyes because they think it is a gateway to success on the app store.
I liken this more to a get-rich-quick scheme that is based on outdated information and strategies. You are getting caught up on the high price tag and confusing it with a luxury item.
I liken this more to a get-rich-quick scheme that is based on outdated information and strategies. You are getting caught up on the high price tag and confusing it with a luxury item.
I am sure, many people think the same about Rolex too.
I just don't get it, why you can't let go? They charge their prices. Some people will pay that price. Why do you bother?
There are many-many other services, which will be seen as legitimate and valid, like FAAD or Tapjoy, which in my opninion are nothing different to this. Why should I make myself crazy about them?
If a sucker wants to lose so much money, let them lose.
Hopefully in a short time I will start a unique service where developers can take advantage of the appstore. It will be legal and relatively affordable compared to other services even if it will cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars based on your desires. And it will be worth it, because my service will deliver, what the others can't.
Do I develop it for getting rich? YES!
Do I develop it without scruple? Absolutelly not. Like I never did with any of my services. Rather the opposite. I always try to please everybody.
Will you attack me and scream scam anyway? YES.
Do I care? Absolutelly not.
So what the heck?
You can explode out of anger, I will (hopefully) get rich and you can't do anything about it
A service provider can ask what ever he wants for his service, it's up to the user to determine if this service is worth it FOR HIM. If it's massively over priced, the thing wont last anyway. He might get a few lucky shots where he gets a naive customer into buying his service, but in the end the service provider is always better off asking a "fair" price.
Well, first of all I would like to thank everybody who's expressed his opinion here in this thread!
Naturally every developer thinks of his app as the best one since he's put so much energy into its development and righteously expect it to be successful on the market.
Now, we do not promote ANY app with the $4,900 value marketing service as we have to be realistic about its potential on the App Store, if we see that the app is purely written and doesn't look like it has a marketing potential we reject in applying the Top 100 Campaign to such app's promotion.
Certainly we are not interested in dealing with a refund and delivering poorly executed marketing service. We do not fool our clients - it is our motto.
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Artyom Diogtev - New Media Manager
ComboApp Services
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