I'm strongly considering making a free version of my app that is ad-supported, but I don't exactly understand how it works. Do you get paid every time an ad is displayed or only when the user taps it? Can someone please explain how it works?
There's no single answer to your question - it really depends on how you choose to approach including ads, which isn't really a question for StackOverflow but rather for ad agencies.
It depends on the Ad Network you sign up with. Some pay you for the number of impressions some for the number of clicks.
Do a search for "IPhone Ad Network", you'll find a list of companies that handle these types of placements and you can contact them about rates.
I don't think you'll get a single answer to this, each agency does things differently.
There is a free ad rotating component AdWhirl that tries to abstract things for you, this would likely be a good place to start.
Related
I want to integrate ads (banner) in a particular category to my iPad Application (Category like ads from financial sectors, IT Sector etc). Is there any ad service that support this?
I've been doing a bit of research, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to filter ads by category on either iAd or Adsense, instead relying on "algorithms" to choose ads. That said, Adsense offers the ability to block by category, so in theory you could block less relevant categories. Directions can be found at this page. Though this is a convoluted way, it appears to be the only, short of just trusting the terrible in my experience algorithms.
On another note, buysellads works by having you approve ads before they show, sy you could accept only some ads that way. Info about the iOS SDK is here.
Hope this helps!
I am close to going to market with my app but, I am struggling a little with pricing. I think the best pricing scenario would be similar to the netflix model e.g. You get the first month free after you enter your credit card. You then have to unsubcribe to cancel the subscription.
However, I have been researching how to do this for an iPhone app being distributed through the appstore and it seems difficult to set up. You need to have your own server and the customer needs to sign up through your website. This sounds very complicated to set up and frankly I would rather get the product to market as soon as possible.
Does anyone know of an easier way to set up a netflix style payment model? I was going to use the appstore promo codes and give them out to my target market instead, but it seems like they are only available in the US. I am based in the EU.
How can I offer my app for free for a month or so to build up a user base before starting to charge for it?
Any help you could give me on this would be greatly appreciated.
I am a member of a gliding club with 150 members, and we want to have our own iPhone app. Requiring a member login, the app would be usable only by members of the club, and it would be used by an estimated 20-30 people.
Is it even possible to disribute such an app to non-jailbroken iPhones? According to my research:
It wouldn't be accepted on the App Store due to "limited audience".
Even if we were able and willing to pay $300 for the enterprise distribution model, Apple would likely not accept us as a company.
Ad hoc distribution would be fine for us except for the expiration time associated with apps distributed in the manner.
Are we at a dead end?
Thanks.
Edit: In case anyone is wondering why I didn't just ask Apple directly: I did, and their answer was, "We are unable to advise you with respect to the Apple Developer Program that best fits your needs."
I'm not 100% on your question.
But depending on your requirement, pretty much everything you need can be achieved as a web app, with the correct coding behind it i.e. CACHE MANIFEST you could make the app function similar to the a native app, available offline and can be saved to any iOS device through the browser.
Give me a shout if you need more information.
Hope it helps
Gary
You could always try to make the app a little more "global"? Perhaps offer some free stuff for Joe Bloggs to use, but tucked away you have your real motive... that way you can get it released legitimately.
I've seen some real disasters in the app store that shouldn't have made it, and I'm sure Apples screening isn't as intense as we might think. (example: that flash light application, when pressing a sequence of buttons it would enable free tethering).
Best of luck!
Yup. You seem to have all the options laid out pretty clearly, and there's no other way to do it. Except developing for android, and just distributing the application freely and without arbitrary restrictions.
Sorry.
Ad-hoc distribution would give you about 90 days expiration time, i think, whereas enterprise would give you a year. Though gaining enterprise status in the eyes of apple is easier said than done.
Even if we were able and willing to pay $300 for the enterprise distribution model, Apple would likely not accept us as a company.
You don't have to be a company to apply for the enterprise account, you just need to be an organisation with a DUNS number.
I have a question for the iPhone Development community. I am currently building my first app, and on two of my views I have some buttons. Sales and Marketing have requested that these buttons do nothing and have the title of “Feature Available in Pro Version” or have a title of an application but when touched, an UIAlertView is displayed stating “Feature Available in Pro Version”.
First off, I think this is wrong from a user interface and experience. Secondly and more importantly, I think this will cause a denial when I finish the application and send the app in to the App Store for approval. I have look into the iOS Human Interface Guidelines and really can not find whether this will be an issue or not. I would like to tell Sale and Marketing that their request is stupid and will not get the application approved and they need to stick to their jobs and quit trying to play programmer.
Any comments would be greatly appreciate.
Quoting http://developer.apple.com/news/ios/appstoretips/
Only display the UI for what your "Lite" version will do. Grayed out menu commands, "more track/car choices" you can see but not select, etc. makes your "Lite" version feel more like a commercial than a product, and an annoying and ineffective one at that.
...
It's important to follow these simple rules not only to create a better user experience, but also because your app will be returned to you by the App Review Team for modification if it is found to have time limits, incomplete functionality, or disabled functionality.
Come up with some better options for your clients. They are not trying to "play programmer", they are trying to market their product. Also, try to mitigate the risk of the app being rejected by getting it in a submittable state as soon as possible, or at least make sure that you have a plan B for the things that you suspect might fail to get approved.
It sounds like you're just looking for a stick to beat your sales and marketing team with - there are quite a few apps out there in the wild that exhibit precisely this behaviour, painful though this might be to you. (The buttons do something after all - they show a dialog.)
That said, it's hard to recommend a more pleasant alternative without knowing more about your app. (Does it have the concept of "levels" for example? If so, you could replace the buttons with a nicer "purchase the full app to unlock additional levels" style message.)
I am pretty sure this never used to be allowed. If you show user interface elements they have to be fully functional. I don't know in which document or agreement this is stated, though.
It also may not cause your app to be rejected, at least not initially. The app may be removed from the store at a later date, though.
Apple has been known to quickly reject apps for non-functional or grayed-out buttons, especially if these non-functional UI elements are just to advertise Full or Pro versions in Lite apps.
Apple has also been known to approve apps with a non-functional button or two (happened to one of my apps, got a bug report several weeks after the app had become available in the App store), but this is probably due to oversight, and not a policy that anyone should count on.
If you want an advertisement for your Pro version, make it look and act like a standard in-app advertisement, and not a misleading UI element. Serving house ads, or mostly (99%) house ads is a widely done practice.
Does anyone know if there are rules against rating your own app in the app store? I would assume that most people would give their own app a 5 star rating if there were no rules - but maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone know for sure?
Sure you are a developer, but because Apple does not allow you to purchase free copies of your app and review, you are also a paying customer. And in Apple's customer user agreement, you are entitled to review anything you purchase.
It's probably not the most ethical thing, but just be aware that if you actually write a review, people can see what other reviews you have written and put two-and-two together to figure out that it's the developer writing reviews.
Most of the crApps out there do this using 50 different iTunes accounts and it's rather deceitful IMHO, at least on that scale.
Something like that would be covered in the User Agreement which is under NDA so it might be hard to get a definite answer.
I did read of a case where an App developer was banned for making fraudulent reviews and ratings which meant his 1600+ Apps were removed. Throughout the forums there were many accusations of other developers doing the exact same thing in a smaller scale that were never banned. So in a nut shell you can get banned for it, but it could be common practice amongst some App developers, just don't get caught.
Look at it this way: Either there's a lot of ratings, and a single rating by yourself won't make a big impact, or you're the only rating, and people will look at only a single rating and not think it's representative enough.
I don't think there's any advantages that outweigh the fact that it's bad form.