Just over a week ago from today I sat down having hit a brick wall for app ideas. I decided that for some inspiration, I would look through the Top 100 apps. Inspired by the great value I could see in Craig's Ringtone apps I gave myself 1 hour to have a binary uploaded to apple. I was done in 20 minutes.
The goal of my app was to create a tool for people to annoy others. The end product was Sound Grenade, which is a really terrible app, one button turns a sound on or off, period. For 20 minutes work, I thought it would be interesting to take the ride. You can imagine my shock when I checked the App Store page on the first day to see 50 glowing reviews. 2 days later, another 50 reviews. 5 days later, Sound Grenade is in the top ten free apps almost everywhere in the world.
Yesterday I had over 100,000 downloads. 106,831 to be exact. Of an app that has one Button, and one picture.
So how did this happen? The iPhone is the coolest phone in the world, don't people who are cool have them? And logically, don't these cool iPhone users download other cool products. No. Apparently not. Apparently there are people called consumers that like to consume and they want crap like Sound Grenade.
The App Store is not like any other software market we've ever seen. If it could be compared to any other market, its like the Billboard Charts for Music. A good pop music producer can take someone with minimal talent, get them to sing some lyrics, and then run it through auto tune. Bam. Number one song. Thats all it takes with the App Store. Do some market research, work out that most of the people that download free apps are immature and seriously uncool (except you, dear reader, you aren't like the rest of them*). Then, wrap an average idea that you think will appeal to immature and uncool people with some average graphics, and boom, top 10 app. Like the pop market, its hit and miss, sometimes it will work sometimes it wont.
-High Gloss
If you would like to comment, email info@highglosssoftware.com
*unless you downloaded any two of iPint, Fart for Free, Sound Grenade, in which case you are definitely immature and uncool
