[josephlord]

I'm still learning mobile (iOS) development having got back to software development last year although I've been doing Rails contract work for much of the time. I released my first real experiment http://itunes.com/apps/fastlists (yes it's another lists app but it is currently free, with no ads and has a couple of useful features making it especially useful for reusable lists for shopping, packing etc. The design is functional rather than beautiful).

I'm currently adding some in-app purchase options to test the reactions of the users.

My current idea is to offer the following options: (price tiers equate to $1 or local equivalents I think)

1) No-ads (tier 1 price)

2) Privacy - No anonymous usage collection.(tier 1 price)

3) Raise item limit (by 100 to 200 items) (tier 1 price)

4) Unlimited items (tier 3 price)

5) Everything including future in-app features (tier 5)

For me option 5 is important because I hate feeling I will need to keep paying bit by bit for something. It will include everything that doesn't need server side support and expense. I actually hope most customers choose this, the other items are there largely to justify the pricing of this item.

Ads and anonymous usage monitoring will come in releases after the purchases have become available and for ads I will probably make the first month of use add free to try and get the user stuck in. I may also add some alternate skins as in-app purchases too later although that is lower priority than using the iOS 6 social framework as a way to try to get users promoting the app for me by sharing lists.

There is currently no item limit so I will allow users with more than 50 current items to have their initial limit be 50 higher than the current level.

At the moment this is just a small scale test because I haven't done any promotion for the app yet so the current numbers of users is small although the reviews are currently very good (4.5* average in US and UK) (despite a usability issue leading someone not to work out how to reorder items and give it only 3*- but I'll add some help in the release after next).

To become self sustaining as an independent developer I'm expecting to need to keep a small suite of apps ticking over. Some will be more ambitious than this although others may be even simpler with different unique features or niche target markets.

My wife is in employed work so the time flexibility of being independent is important to cover childcare around school hours than making massive money in the short term so I can take some time to build (knowledge and users)

Any thoughts on the pricing model? Or the app?

[japhyr]

2) Privacy - No anonymous usage collection.(tier 1 price)

I have not installed your app, but I am curious. How obvious is it to users that their usage is being "collected"?

Also, I would be really curious to hear how your pricing scheme works out. Please make a post when you have enough data to report on it.

You said you recently got back into software development. What were you doing in the mean time, and how long were you away from it?

[josephlord]

At the moment no data is collected and I won't start until after the (non-free) opt out is in place. The only current data collection is that I've set it up to offer to send an email in a number of error conditions and even if selected the user will get to see and edit the email before it gets sent. The error email is certainly in the version currently in review by Apple but for some fatal errors it may even be I the released version although I haven't received any error emails yet.

The data that I currently plan to collect includes device type and software version, number of items in use, purchases they have made. I also plan try to analyse the extent to whether people are making use do nested lists or if that is an unnecessary complication. I may also log frequency of use and how much some particular features are used.

I do not intend to collect the contents of the lists or any personally identifiable information although I will create a unique ID for each device so that I can track usage over time.

I was a Product Planning Manager for Sony's TVs in Europe for about 4 years. I was working closely with engineers and in a technical area but was also working closely with the marketing teams and my main role was really business development. At first working with cable operators in Across Europe to get them on board with offering their services directly on the TV without using a STB (using a CI module which Digital TVs in Europe must support). Later it involved satellite and for the last 2 years it was mostly working with the channel owners and other content players to get them onto Sony's IP platform.

It was interesting and I enjoyed it but there was too much travel (a week in Tokyo 3 times a year plus probably 2 trips to Europe every month). It also started to feel slightly hopeless, even the dominant player in the TV business (Samsung) is barely making money and Sony isn't the leanest most nimble company and hadn't made a profit in TV for a number of years.