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by alooPotato
5584 days ago
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> - Build apps fast and be agile; don't focus on one app for months on end without launching. MVP and get real-world feedback. In general I believe the whole lean/MVP thing, but I wonder about its applicability in the app store. Launching without a fully baked product may hamstring you for a while if you get bad reviews/ratings upfront. Also, by having a great product from the start, you may be able to get ranked higher because you get free exposure in the "new" lists. If you have a barebones product, aren't you essentially wasting the free exposure you get for being a new app (that you won't get when you update)? |
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Example: When I launched Brocabulary two years ago, I thought it would be a good idea to have a "free week" promotion. Results: 150+ reviews permanently attached to the rating that are far from representative of the current product. And a good chunk of those reviews are (justly) not so hot.
Ratings and reviews are killer on the App Store. Bad, edge-case experiences only really hurt you on the web if they're by a famous blogger or the like. On the App Store, you get a bad review because someone didn't read the description that says the app doesn't work on older generation iPod Touches without microphones and it's stuck there forever. It's just what comes with the territory.
Never launch a bad product, but there are many articles and examples that point out why it isn't a fantastic idea to build on an unproven idea for months. Just like on the web, you should go for a well-executed MVP with steady improvement. Maybe a little more than you might on the web, but the idea still applies.
Plus, with each update, you get a chance to reset your public reviews and ratings (after you hit a certain limit, Apple will display the average score only for that version). I wish the author had overlayed his update releases on the graph, as I bet that many of those spikes come from them.
Ejemplo: Path. Their launch product was pretty minimal, but just useable enough. They've released solid update after update adding new features. Now, it helps that they've got some players backing them and probably got Apple's attention ahead of time, but I think it's still a strategy worth looking at.
Ejemplo: Rdio. I've been an Rdio subscriber since when they launched last summer, and their iPhone app wasn't so great when it first came out. It worked, but all it could really do was play songs. Month after month a new update came out that added new, much-needed features. Hell, they only hit 1.0 a few weeks ago and it's obvious that all the iterations have amounted to a solid app.