iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [153]
You could let users try one level from your most popular application inside all your other applications. Or you could change what application trial you included in the next update for your application. Fresh content is always appreciated by users. Remember to have fun and always surprise and delight your users.
FIGURE 10.26
In-app marketing screen for iFlame
Many more people will download a free version of an application than pay for an application. In some cases you can make more money by giving away your application for free and adding in-app advertising to your application. You may wish to experiment with this by having a lite version of your paid app that has in-app advertising.
In-app advertising sites include:
AdMob. www.admobcom
AdWhirl. www.adwhirlcom
Competition
Users enjoy competition. You can take an application to a whole new level if you can add a healthy dose of competition to your applications. For example, a game could include a built-in high-score board that all application users can see. You could create an online high-score board as well, so that potential buyers can see the challenge and completion waiting for them once they purchase your app. Obviously, you could include contests and achievements in your application, among other ideas, to further expand its appeal.
Cross-Reference
See Chapter 7 for more about building competition into your game design.
Testing
Testing is not optional. It is a fundamental and critical requirement for all of your applications. Yes, you can create a new version of your application that fixes any issues in a previous version of your application. And yes, Apple will perform a cursory test and review your application; however, that is no excuse for not performing adequate testing on your own first.
You cannot afford to ship applications that do not function as advertised. Today's users are very vocal and outspoken about any frustrations caused by faulty applications. They will remember the issue, they will tell others, and they will move on to the next product. When applications cost less than a cup of coffee, you can only expect so much loyalty and patience from a customer. Also note that since all updates submitted to Apple must go through the full review cycle as well, this can lead to frustrated users if they have to wait for critical bug fixes.
In App Purchases
With iPhone OS 3.0, it became possible to include In App Purchases, like the one shown in Figure 10.27, in your application. This means that users can now buy new application content from right inside your application. If you have a game, you could include additional levels that users could purchase for $1.99. Or maybe your application has other themes and skins available for it for a small fee. There are an endless number of ideas for how you could use the store kit framework in your applications.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Application subscription—for example, monthly access to reverse phone number lookup database
Additional levels
Additional characters
Additional weapons
Additional character items
Additional application features—for example, the ability to access local music from the app
FIGURE 10.27
Application demonstrating In App Purchase
Payments for In App Purchases are handled via iTunes just the same as payments for application purchases. The developer picks the price, and 70 percent of the revenue goes to the developer. There are no credit card fees, and the developer is paid monthly.
Free applications remain free. This means that if your application is free, you cannot have In App Purchases. Apple was concerned that if it allowed In App Purchases in free apps, developers would be tempted to create a bunch of free software that wasn't really free and would not function until users purchased additional content for