Getting your app to be discovered amongst a galaxy of options out there in the mobile 'appspace' is rapidly becoming the key to success or failure for new services (as well as for existing brands).
One of the key decisions developers, entrepreneurs and companies alike need to make is whether their app should be free or whether it should be premium.
There are good reasons to go down either path. Consumers love free apps, so if you are looking principally for volume of downloads, it is the way to go.However, there is no such thing as a free lunch -someone, somewhere down the line has to pay. Step in 'freemium models', allowing 'free-sounding' apps to actually generate revenues at some point.
App Store Discoverability rests on four cardinal points:
1. App Reviews
2. App Rankings
3. App Analytics
4. App Discoverability Services
You can find more detail as well as some great examples in Chapter 11 of my book.
The key message is that you can significantly increase the odds of becoming a popular app by understanding the dynamics of how App Stores work. To avoid getting lost in this murky world of App Stores, developers should never lose sight of their prime objective: to get the wider public to discover, examine and download your app. This means experimenting with different approaches, and tracking the impact of these different tactics on app downloads over a period of time.
