Locavore’s first month in the App Store
It’s been a little over a month since Locavore launched and I wanted to share some of the progress so far. I like this tradition of iPhone app developers opening up their numbers to the public, and I hope / believe that it’s more about transparency and the curiosity of a new market than it is bragging.
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LocavoreAll in all, the app has done a lot better than I had expected it to do in the first month. We have gotten some good press both on big food blogs and on technology blogs. The height of our popularity has come from being featured in the iTunes App Store for about 3 days, which led to rising in the ranks to number 65 on the Top 100 Paid Apps list at one point. Needless to say I felt pretty lucky to have made it that high when there are over 30,000 apps in the store.
New users per day
To give a bit of context to the chart, the biggest day sold almost 1,000 apps. The last few days on the chart hover between 50-70 new apps a day. All together, I’ve sold a bit over 5,000 apps, and made about $12,000 after Apple takes out their 30% cut.
As you can see, even the best press wasn’t as effective as being blessed by the Apple Marketing team. Not sure what that means in terms of how to best market apps… basically, it leaves all of us at the unbeatable first law of marketing and promotion: build something interesting.
Another interesting metric is to see how many people total use the app each day. In other words, do people continue to use the app even after they’ve bought it?
Total unique users per day
So, while not everyone uses the app every day, there does seem to be a general trend going up. Hopefully as the spring and summer seasons continue, people will continue to find the app useful when going to the market. I think this is the true test of a useful app, because if others are anything like me, I’ve got a very low purchase-to-continued-usage ratio for iPhone apps. Some apps even get deleted within 5 minutes of being purchased.
Next month
I’m still hard at work on the next major version of the app, which will include integration with Facebook Connect, and an ability to share what local foods you’re eating in your neighborhood… this will make it possible to see what your particular markets are selling at this exact moment, in a more precise manner than is currently possible. And it will also let you see other peoples’ faces, which I think is one of the most valuable features that social technology gives to us. In the end, this is all about connecting with other people, right?
Other people sharing their sales data
Let me know (via comments or by @enjoy_locavore‘ing me on Twitter) if there’s any other data you’d like to see.
A few other good reports of early iPhone app sales:
- Tap Tap Tap (follow-up) (thanks for inspiring the format of this post!)
- Sudoku Grab
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] has published their sales data for the first month of Locovore, their produce awareness application for the iPhone. It looks like if you can score a modest sales [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Thank you so much both for the app and the post. I’m working on my own iPhone app and debating the pros and cons of free versus paid and what price to charge. Your numbers are very helpful.
On a related note, I find Locavore to be one of the more useful apps on the iPhone. Sounds like you have some good features coming, too. Knowing who’s got the best late-season strawberries and reviews of local sellers would be fantastic to see.
Again, please keep up the great work!
April 24th, 2009 at 11:02 am
[...] 11:02 am on April 24, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply Tags: mobile (136), software (145) Sales data from the Locavore iPhone App. Getting featured by Apple is the ticket. ยง [...]
April 24th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Very nice app… good work.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I liked your iphone app and approach to community. I am one of the partners of blogcatalog. We are redeveloping a site that we bought a few months ago and near a launch with the new design – it is halfhourmeals.com. It will build upon our “community” approach. Would love to talk with you about developing an iPhone for this site and maybe others. Email or call me (703-307-2213). Regards John
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
[...] proponents of buying local when possible and just spied some curious data about 5,500 iPhone users buying a $3 Locavore app (created by a Slashfood friend) in a mere month. It tells iPhone addicts [...]
June 17th, 2009 at 1:28 am
[...] http://enjoymentland.com/2009/04/21/locavores-first-month-in-the-app-store/ [...]
August 4th, 2009 at 4:48 am
[...] is taking an “open data” policy towards his latest project, Locavore the iPhone app, by revealing the first month’s stats. Locavore is a great app that helps you eat locally by showing you what produce is in season near [...]
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:14 pm
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May 11th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
[...] fruits and vegetables it’s telling you about are. Do I need that? Not sure. But apparently almost 5,700 people downloaded Locavore in its first month. (Readers: Do you have it? Do you like it? Let me know in [...]