Droid X

Creating and developing a top grossing iPhone, iPad, or Android app is not easy. Or is it? Not to take anything from the developers at Rovio Mobile or the now iconic iPhone app “Angry Birds” but who every would have that that pissed off birds being shot out of a slingshot at incredulous pigs would turn into a multi-million dollar app and more? The developers created an app based on their unique idea (story line) providing unique graphics and game play in a simple to grasp app that is becoming a household name. Here are 5 ideas on how to create a top grossing iPhone app:

1) Uniqueness- Although there are almost 500,000 iPhone, iPad, and Android apps for sale there is still plenty of room for your top grossing app. One sure fire way to create an app that sells is to come up with a unique, fresh, different app that provides entertainment or solves a problem. Sounds easy, but it is not. A few tips on how to do this, use your imagination, go with what you know (hobbies, sports, work, etc), find an app niche that has not yet been exploited, be creative. A final word on uniqueness, developing an app that chronicles your Grandmother’s farts, while unique is not gonna do it, so don’t go there.

2) Social influence- The world has turned social and there is plenty of room for exploiting the social movement with apps. Twitter, Faebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, Quora, and the many other social sites offer API’s to use their social network in your new app idea. Take advantage of this and see what gap exists with information from these social networks. One caveat, do your competitive research to ensure you are not duplicating another app.

3) Build your app for all platforms- Once you have your app idea, be it for the iPhone, iPad, or Android I suggest you develop it for all platforms to maximize your revenue potential. If you do not have the talent in one development style, seek another developer you may be able to barter with for like services. The more platforms your app is for sale, the more potential you have for profit.

4) Build a feature rich app- Pick your app genera and do competitive research to see what certain targeted apps have feature wise. Then up the ante and add better, newer, or increased features and functionality that the competitors do not currently offer. This would make your app better than the competition and potentially make your app better seller.

5) Build continuing content- One of my favorite app models is the continuing content model. This app development model is directly related to community building. The idea is to have a long range vision with your app in the early stages. You do not have to know everything, but have a concept that will allow you to offer 4 to 6 updates, easily for your sanity, over a period of 2 to 6 months after initial launch. You can market this to your customers from the very beginning and potentially hook customers due to the offer of free increased content. A classic example is the iPhone app Pocket God. The developers at Bolt Creative are on episode #36 and probably never dreamed in the beginning that Pocket God would become this popular nor their community as involved. This is probably one of the most underused methods to develop a top grossing app, but one that works because people love FREE stuff.

These 5 ideas may work alone or in combination with each other. Be creative and see if you can create a top grossing iPhone, iPad or Android app. If you have any specific app marketing questions please leave me a comment and I will do my very best to answer your questions. Thanks for reading my blog. MV

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