Attic is a very unique idea – something that’s hard to achieve in the music controller/player market. Do you have any tips or insight into how you came up with the idea, and how other developers can brainstorm and select ideas effectively?
When iPhone OS 3.0 came out, I spent a lot of time looking into the new additions to the SDK. I looked into a bunch of the new APIs like the maps and mail composition. The music API was appealing because the data was there. People have music on their iPhones. With something like maps, you need your own map information. I initially made a simple application to explore not only the music API but the mult-touch gestures and the shake notifications. That application turned into something similar to the photo flicking apps on the app store where you can throw around and rotate album covers. Writing that application helped me learn a lot in many different areas. I then set my mind on creating something that could be a worth while application. I watched the Apple developer videos on the ingredients of a good iPhone application. I knew Apple had already made a great player for your entire collection so I knew I had to make the application achieve a specific goal. After looking further into the API, I came up with the concept of Attic. My product definition statement read as such: easy to use application to find albums in your library that aren’t played often. For people like me that like to listen to entire albums at a time, this concept was exciting.
Attic had a great launch, and gained coverage from a number of different news outlets and blogs. How did you handle promotion around the launch, and which methods (or links from certain sites) brought you the greatest interest and sales?
The launch was crazy. I released the application on March 1st. I stayed up all night just to make sure everything went smoothly. I sent out press releases with promo codes to a list of blog sites that morning. I started to see a bunch of mentions on Twitter and I knew something organic was happening. I was surprised how fast it was too. John Gruber picked up on the application and linked to it on his site. That brought tons of traffic. I never sent a press release to him either. In retrospect, I wasn’t aware of how fast people picked up on the application.
Attic was produced as a collaboration with Taptivate. I wondered how this process worked, and why you chose to work together. Which different aspects of the application were each of you responsible for?
I had Attic at a point where I could have released it to customers, but I wasn’t happy with how everything worked. I saw Taptivate had a hit with Postman and then Voices so it made sense to reach out to them to see what they could bring to the table in any regard. They helped change the way the application functioned in a way I had imagined but never realized until they came along.
How important do you feel App Store ratings are, and what can developers do to aim for a high rating?
Ratings have some role in whether customers will purchase the application. How much is hard to tell. Who knows if the majority of customers even read the description or just look at the screenshots. A few things developers can do to get higher ratings is to educate customers better before and even after they purchase the application. A higher price can mean higher reviews too because customers are more likely to inform themselves of the product before purchasing. If they know what the application does before they purchase it, you’ll more likely meet their expectations. Application bugs are obvious reasons for getting lower ratings too.
If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring iPhone app developers, what would it be?
I would suggest that if you want to make a profit as a developer (and who doesn’t), you have to look at the application development as a business. Coding the application is half the battle. You need to invest in developing a product. Figuring out what customers want and creating awareness for the application is something that needs a lot of consideration. Find people that can help achieve your goals. There are so many business models you can consider now too. The iPhone landscape is always changing so you have to work quickly and adapt.