Show HN: 8 million downloads after one year on the App Store

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5289684

by ronyeh • 13 years ago

18 17 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Tiny Piano recently reached its 8 millionth download. Here's my analysis & experience with indie iOS development/marketing.

http://blog.squarepoet.com/post/44099054060/one-year-on-the-app-store

ronyeh9• 13 years ago

http://blog.squarepoet.com/post/44099054060/one-year-on-the-...

rex_gsd4• 13 years ago

Congratulations!

ronyeh9• 13 years ago

Thanks! Feel free to ask me any questions. Happy to respond.

rex_gsd4• 13 years ago

I remember seeing your original blog post when the iPad commercial featured a piano and heard about the extra traction you received from that.

One thing I've learnt over and over with launching new apps is there are always unexpected hurdles that you'd never have thought about when you first started writing the software.

What are some you've run into, perhaps like IP for the songs in the app? Is it a difficult legal process to get a melody for a popular song into the app?

t0• 13 years ago

How did you get your first few thousand? It seems like once you're on the charts the growth can explode.

ronyeh9• 13 years ago

These days, I don't think there is a guarantee of anything, even if you have a few thousand downloads. Even with the initial downloads, my app languished on the store until I introduced iPad support, added more song packs, and improved the keywords.

I think the biggest thing was the simple and catchy name, and a decent looking icon. This will help you get the random users who search for "piano" on the App Store. Of course, being a free app helps. People will download pretty much anything that's free. :-)

fab1012• 13 years ago

Great job. And thanks for the inspiration. I realize that I will have to fail a multiple times before something great happens.

Q: Would you mind me asking what is your revenue model and how much success you have seen with all the streams ?

By the way, I downloaded your app a few days after the commercial aired, and my kid absolutely loves it. Thanks again.

ronyeh9• 13 years ago

You definitely don't have to fail before you succeed. But if it happens, just accept it, learn something, and move on.

Do you have it on the iPod or iPad? On the iPad, you'll see a banner ad that spans the bottom of the display. That generates about half of the revenue. The other half comes from In-App Purchases of song packs ($0.99 each, or $2.99 for a full unlock). And about $40 a day comes from LinkShare commissions, which happens when someone links out from my app to an iTunes song, and buys it.

fab1012• 13 years ago

Thanks for your reply. I agree with you and I meant that failures are not really that bad, and mostly help you to learn from mistakes.

Also, what's next for Tiny Piano ? How do you plan to keep it simple and yet add features to keep it relevant for new and old users - both ?

scottchin• 13 years ago

Congratulations! And thanks for writing this post. I find these types of post from developers extremely insightful and inspiring.

I particularly found your experience with improving Chinese SEO very interesting.

Keep up the good work!

ronyeh9• 13 years ago

Thanks for reading! I remember reading a lot about other developers when I started out, so I just want to make sure I give back. Plus, it's a bit of free marketing for my apps. :-)

Show HN: 8 million downloads after one year on the App Store

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