A big complaint from iPhone developers recently has stemmed from the fact that Apple wouldn’t release download stats for developers to know how well their app is doing among others.  I guess the complaints have been heard loud and clear as Apple is finally reporting daily download stats to registered developers.

According to Mac Rumors, the stat reporting is now available via iTunes Connect.  This comes after Apple had originally posted download numbers publicly but quickly removed the data once it became clear that you could easily estimate a particular developer’s revenue based on his or her download totals.  Reasonable concern indeed, but it left developers in the dark otherwise. 

With the extreme competition among developers, stat reporting is more important than ever.  If it were me, the lack of knowing the reach of my apps would almost force me stop all together.  How can you find the proper price point without knowing how popular your app has become.  If you’ve got it overpriced, the stats would be reflective.  On the other hand, if you’re apps are among the most popular, you may need to adjust your pricing to up your revenue. 

Larger developers must have already had access to their download stats, as Sega’s president said that he expected they would sell 1 million downloads for Super Monkey Ball in no time flat.  Large development companies most likely have special reporting for more complex apps and games, as they spend way more time, effort, and money on development overall.  Apple may even have special development circumstances with industry giants such as Facebook, Sega, AOL, and more to aid in their distribution, though it’s not really fair to other developers.  I guess we’ll really never know how it all works, but at least developers can see how well their efforts have paid off.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 8:01 pm under Commercial Software, Free Software, Games, iPhone.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Justin Montgomery.