How are AppStore sales categorized?
Community Forums/General Help/How are AppStore sales categorized?
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| I'm trying to find out how the AppStore sales (and hence charts) work exactly. Hopefully some of you with apps on there already will find this an easy one. I'm trying to determine whether iPad and iPhone sales/charts are separate. From what I can tell, the sales figures are completely separate, so having high iPad sales doesn't increase your position in the AppStore for iPhones. If this is true, I can't really see any reason for creating a universal binary. I might just as well create separate editions for iPad and iPhone if they're not going to have an adverse effect on my sales figures and hence chart position. Is this the only categorization? Just iPad and everything else? Or are there any other ways in which the charts/sales are split? |
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| strangely Apple have renamed AppStore to Game Center on iOS 4.1 |
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| A Universal app has a single appid where as HD versions use a second appid. If iPad users typically own iPhones and can install Universal apps to both then surely sales of single appid should get counted on both charts. |
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| EdzUp: No its still called AppStore, Game Center is something else. |
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| If iPad users typically own iPhones and can install Universal apps to both then surely sales of single appid should get counted on both charts. That seems logical, and it was certainly my first thought too, but I see a lot of developers reporting that there is no advantage to creating a universal binary. They don't explicitly say that the charts are separate, but that's what I infer when read people saying "no advantage". I'd just like to be sure, because I can see advantages to making the iPad version separate (ie: using a completely different set of HD textures.) |
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| No its still called AppStore, Game Center is something else. Thats strange on my iPod I have GameCenter and AppStore and both of them when clicked come up with Game Center at the top. |
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| (ie: using a completely different set of HD textures.) But all the iOS devices are now technically HD! It is correct that Apple both provides a way to milk iPad owners and no financial barrier to restrain the practice. I suspect iPad users are use to the practice so it won't even cost you in goodwill. I do think it will cost you on the iPhone sales charts. |
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| EdzUp: On my iPhone 4 its two different apps I get when I click on either AppStore or GameCenter. |
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| But all the iOS devices are now technically HD! Yes, that's a good point, I suppose. I haven't bought one of the new 4th gen iTouches yet, but I do plan to. If the resolution and screen size prove to take sufficient advantage of the higher resolution textures, then you're right, it wouldn't make sense to use low res textures in either version. |
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| With universal apps, if the app is bought on an iPhone, or the iPhone app section of iTunes, the sale counts towards the iPhone charts. If it's bought on an iPad, or the iPad app section of iTunes, the sale counts towards the iPad chart. There are two benefits to universal apps as far as I can see - one you get the 'plus' sign next to the buy button to indicate a universal app, which may encourage people to buy your app over a non-universal one, and secondly a universal app can share game center players - e.g. players of the iPad version can be matchmaked with players of the iPhone version, and both share the same high score tables. Generally though, I'd say it's better to have two separate versions, mainly so you can set different price points, and track sales for each version. You can't do that with universal apps. |
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