Appcircle is a cross selling solution: it lets a publisher to seel an application within its own Iphone application. When such a purchase is done the publisher earns a commission. To do so appcircle should be able to associate the click on the buy button to a successful selling transaction on the app-market. I wonder how this is done and if it is possible at all.
Luca
I don't know for sure, and I'm only going by what I know of the iOS platform rather than any internal knowledge of AppCircle.
I imagine that it works by UDID. Something like this:
User downloads app with AppCircle integrated
AppCircle informs flurry server of the iOS device UDID and makes a note that it own's this app
User clicks a link to buy an app via AppCircle banner - the link will likely be a redirect which first informs the flurry server that the banner was clicked and that this user may purchase a particular app
User purchases and downloads advertised app from app store
Advertised app (also has AppCircle integrated) informs flurry server of UDID
The link is made that this user now has both apps associated with the UDID and the note that was made when the AppCircle banner was pressed
Assumption is made that the user purchased the app via AppCircle.
Of course, this could be entirely wrong. The first problem is what if a user clicks the AppCircle banner, but doesn't make a purchase, and then some time later purchases the app directly? The assumption could still be made that the user bought and downloaded the app because they saw it on AppCircle, but the inverse is true that they could have just purchased it independently, yet the developers still get the cross-selling revenue...
Other people's views will be interesting to read.
Related
I have a question regarding the apple licence over in-app purchases
I have the following scenario: I have a site that is a store of avatars (just like a mii or a xbox live avatar) where my users can buy items, just like hats or tshirts … all kinds of virtual goods for an avatar.
I want to make a game for iphone were you can load this avatar.
In this app, you login using you user account (I mean the user I have registered in my site), then your avatar is loaded and thats all.
As far as I know, I am not allowed to buy things if they are not bought using the apple in-app purchase system.
but certainly my users will be buying lots and lots of other things for their avatars in my site.
So the question is, will my app be allowed to be in the apple store?
I have read enough and I think that if I doesn't mention anywhere in the iphone app, that an external store exist, my app will be allowed or not?
If they can buy content outside of the application that will be used inside of the application, that's usually fine so long as the application doesn't provide a link for them to buy from outside of the App Store. If somebody can tap a button in your application and be taken to your website where you can buy things for use in the application, Apple will probably reject it.
A button has a title "Buy Now", its action talks to App store and tell them that this user wants to pay for an app without launching the App store app at all. Is this possible?
To buy what? If you want the user to buy an in-app purchase that's linked to your app, then yes (and take a look at Apple's in-app purchase programming guide for information on this).
If you mean to get the user to buy a different app from within your app, then you can use the SKStoreProductViewController (documentation here).
Hi can any one suggest me it is possible or not and if possible then how?
The premise is that the user pays for the app via a website and they gets an access code to send to her guests via the website. The user downloads the free app from the iPhone store and enters the code. We're trying to figure out if we can enable each user to customize the app icon so it can appear with a different image or text on the user phone.
You can't. The application's icon (and the application's property list file) is in the application bundle, which cannot be modified.
This would also violate the iOS SDK Terms of Use and the iTunes Store Terms of Service; you cannot have a third-party receive payment to access a free iOS application.
You can customize the iOS icon of a web app clipping, and put the web site to be clipped behind your private paywall. Apple has been reported in the past to accept App store apps that generate URLs to customized clippable web apps. No idea if they currently or will continue to do so.
Icons on App store iOS apps for stock OS devices can only be changed by Apple approving an update.
Evan is right... This goes against so many terms of the iOS SDK.
One thing you could do (but I can't guarantee it will be accepted by Apple) is create a registration system on your website. Then have a login on the App as soon as it loads and check that the user has a valid account which has paid the subscription. You would have to handle all of your payment stuff on the webside though, meaning the app would be useless unless the user has already sorted that out. If you do this, on submission of your app make sure you provide Apple with a demo account username and password!
As for the icon, you can't change it once the App is submitted. It is bundled in with your app binary and there is also a logo included in iTunes connect. You can change them, but only by submitting a new binary.
I'm developing a website and a companion iPhone app where users can purchase video content. I'd like to let users buy content from the iPhone app or the website, and then view their purchased content through either medium. My understanding is that the app will be rejected from the App Store unless it uses the StoreKit framework for in-app purchases, so I can't implement my own purchase backend. As far as I can tell, though, there's no such thing as a web version of the StoreKit framework.
Is there any way to make/verify "in-app purchases" from outside an app, e.g. through a website?
There must be, because the DC Comics/Comics/Marvel Comics apps from Comixology all do. You can purchase content either from the in-app store, or via the website. And then you can read the content both in the device or online.
Alas, I don't know how they did it. I guess that the web shop replicates the in-app purchases when you buy something: i.e., the device calls home after an in-app purchase and adds that purchase to your online account as well. And, when you buy something online, you can download it from within the app, bypassing the apple store. You can even download content in one app that was purchased in the other (they are mostly the same app with different branding)
We intend to launch a free iPhone/iPad app on the AppStore.
The content will actually be accessible thanks to a subscription model (login/pwd authentication in iPhone app).
The subscription (about 100$ a month) is handled via a dedicated web server.
If used without subscription, this app will provide minimum value.
Does anyone know if this kind of subscription model can be rejected by Apple ?
I know some apps follow this model, but I'd like to have your thought on this before starting in this direction.
Thanks for your answer.
This is fine AFAIK - As long your app is free and you put in the description that it requires a subscription to whichever service. When you submit the app, you'll need to hand over details to a test account to Apple so that they can test it, but other than that it's no hassle at all.
I know of an app which works just like that on the app store right now - Spotify for iPhone. It's a music playing app which streams music from the web - but you need a Spotify premium account. When you first open the app, you have to sign in, and if you don't have a premium account it just tells you that you're not allowed in!
Javawag
There are plenty of apps which only work if I have an account somewhere, and some for which I have to pay for that account so, without knowing the specifics, there is nothing which immediately rules out your subscription model. There are even Apple apps, iDisk for example, which are useless if you don't have a $100 mobile me subscription.
If there are issues you can look at selling your subscription as an in app purchase (apple will take their 30% which should make them happy) or look at making the app more functional without the subscription.
Either way, when submitting for approval make sure to set up a sample account with a full subscription that the apple testers can use (there is space in the submission for including logins for this kind of thing).
Our app, previously approved, update was just rejected because we sell subscriptions through our website. (We have been doing this for 15 years, without giving Apple 30% of our money.) They are requiring that all subscriptions for iphone/ipad content go through in-app purchasing. I guess we will be looking at building a browser based app instead.
Cheers,
Gerry