As noted in a previous blog entry, I got my first iPhone app published for sale in the App Store a little under 3 weeks ago. Now that the first calendar month is complete (albeit not a full month), I'd like to share the results of the month's worth of endeavor.
According to the iTunes Connect site, iCoach has sold 28 copies in 19 days. Not bad considering I only used the app as an exercise towards learning the programming environment. In addition, in an effort to promote the application, I gave away 1045 copies of it.
Now for the breakdown:
| Date | Australia | Canada | Europe | Japan | UK | US | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 June | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 14 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 June | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
At this point, I decided I'd taken enough advantage of the new release placement that I'd promote the app by making it free for a few days. Here's the results of that exercise:
| Date | Australia | Canada | Europe | Japan | UK | US | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 June | 0 | 40 | 38 | 0 | 10 | 218 | 306 |
| 17 June | 15 | 13 | 53 | 13 | 17 | 156 | 267 |
| 18 June | 6 | 16 | 30 | 7 | 11 | 192 | 262 |
| 19 June | 6 | 5 | 33 | 3 | 7 | 86 | 140 |
| 20 June | 2 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 7 | 39 | 70 |
| Totals | 29 | 77 | 172 | 24 | 52 | 691 | 1045 |
Having given away over 1000 copies, and placing in the top 100 free Health and Fitness apps, I thought it was time to go back to a paid app. Here's the results since then:
| Date | Australia | Canada | Europe | Japan | UK | US | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 June | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 24 June | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 June | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 June | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 June | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 29 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 June | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
Overall paid results:
| App Store: | Australia | Canada | Europe | Japan | UK | US | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Before Promo | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
| Totals After Promo | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| Total Sales: | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 28 |
| Total Commissions: | AUD 1.52 | CAD 3.50 | EUR 1.92 | 0 | GBP 0.72 | USD 10.50 |
Personally, I consider these to be pretty decent stats, consistent with what other people have reported seeing with similar "projects". After currency conversions that works out to about $18.62 in commissions, meaning I've made about $0.60/hour based on the 30 hours I spent on the app. The app has been available for sale for 15 days, not including the days I gave it away for free, so I'm selling on average just short of two per day. More realistically, adjusting the outliers at the beginning, I'm selling more like 1.5 per day, based on the post-giveaway numbers. Still, I can live with that.
The only downside is that Apple only pays out a particular currency after you've reached USD 250.00 worth of it. My first one to reach that point is likely to be my US sales, but even at that rate, I won't be seeing any payments for a year.
With this incarnation of iCoach, I can live with that. I've got my next app in the works. This one's a game. And while I won't yet give specifics here (those will be available when it is released), I expect that with about a 40 hour week worth of work, I can have it ready to go into production. No fancy graphics or anything, but I figure my day job break-even point is 3000 copies at 99 cents. And my US paycheck point is 358 copies. Well, 343 copies based on what iCoach has already sold. Games tend to be good sellers, so with a week's worth of Apple review, I may have 15 good sale days in July. Assuming iCoach continues to sell 1 a day in the US, That leaves 312 copies of the game to sell in 15 days. That's only 21 a day. Should be doable for a game.
If I can get this sucker out this weekend, I may be able to actually get a check in August. Only time will tell on that one. I'll keep you updated with the results.
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