Apple App Store has close to 400,000 iPhone applications and still counting. The competition is fierce in the store and that’s why it has become imperative for an iPhone developer to aggressively promote his/her iPhone application or he/she stands the chance of losing out to the competition. You may have created a brilliant application but still the world needs to hear about it. iPhone developers often ask. “What is the best way for app promotion?” To be honest- there is no best way for app marketing. An iphone developer has to employ multiple application promotion techniques to create the buzz for his application and to stimulate downloads. Simply putting your app on the App Store will not do the trick.

So, if you are an iPhone developer who has created a wonderful iPhone, iPad or iPod application and are looking for app marketing tips then here are a few highly effective ways which can make your application commercially successful and a chartbuster-

• App Name- Keep your iPhone application name catchy. And it should relate with the major functionality of the app. Make sure that you choose a name that is easy to remember.
• Press Releases- Write a good press release explaining all the features of your iPhone application and send it to online press release directories.
• Optimize for Search Engines- An iPhone developer must also optimize the app description to make it more search engine friendly. Select popular and relevant keywords and then use it in your app description. You can also optimize the content of your website or blog with these keywords.
• Videos- Shoot a video of your iPhone application running on a device. Make sure that the video and sound quality is good. Now post these videos into various social media channels like YouTube, FaceBook etc.
• Website- Create a sleek website where your app is explained in detail with images, videos etc. Ensure that your website URL is included in every promotion material.
• Blog- Create a blog and tell your readers about your app. You can also use it later to blog about any updates to your iPhone application.
• App Reviews- iPhone developers often underestimate the power of app reviews. However, experts say that a review by a popular website can truly do wonders to the popularity of your application. There are many websites where you can send your app for review. Make a list of popular app review websites and send a detailed description including your app’s utility, features, website URL if any and promo codes.
• Contests- You can also run a contest to create buzz for your app. You can run contests where first 100 users downloading your app will get prizes. Or you can come up with any other idea which will lure users to download your app.
• Social Media- Create fan pages and channels in various social media websites like Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook etc.
• Forums- There are many forums exclusively dedicated to apps or many websites which have threads on iPhone applications. You can subtly discuss about app in those forums. But do take care not to directly endorse your application.
• In-app advertising- Adverts within an app offer high levels of engagement. There are several ad networks that provide in-app marketing options wherein you can target your audience based on age, gender, location, operating system and handset. Try out these networks.
• Paid search marketing – iPhone developers can also use paid search marketing networks like Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Live Search. Your ad should link to the iTunes from where the app can be downloaded.
• Add new features to your iPhone application- Updating your application with new features will not only make it better but will also provide you with opportunities to promote it.

Above all, it is important for iPhone developers to understand that an almost perfect app promotion plan will fall short if the app is lackluster and bug-ridden. A unique and well-designed, practical app well supported by a well-planned and executed app marketing plan would surely increase the prospects of your app getting continued advantage in the market.

Do you know Apple’s iTunes store has touched six figure milestone in approved apps? Apple iTunes store has now approved 500,000 iPhone, iPad and iPod apps. To celebrate the event, 148apps, Chomp and Chillingo — have issued an infographic, which is reproduced below. So, Apple lovers, scroll down and enjoy today’s app store landscape.

Source- http://www.facebook.com/500kapps

The latest Distimo publication has revealed some interesting insghts for iPhone app developers. The study finds that, within two months of the launch of the Mac App Store, the top 300 Mac apps are already generating half the revenue generated by top 300 iPad apps. Moreover, the average selling price of the top 300 applications is seven times higher in the Mac Store ($11.21) than on the iPhone ($1.57). The average selling price is around three times higher than on the iPad ($4.19).

The Mac App Store has 2,225 apps in comparison to 8,099 apps for iPad roughly two months post-launch.

The Mac App Store has 646 games in this store accounting for 29% of total apps, and 39% of the most popular apps are games. Only 12% of the applications are free in the Mac App Store.

Source- Distimo

Welcome to App Store on Twitter! Follow us to discover new apps, get exclusive offers, and share with friends. #appstore is the first tweet on App Store account.

Yes, going against the popular perception of not engaging much with social media and using other methods to track iPhone applications, Apple’s App Store has launched its twitter account for the iOS and Mac App Store today. Apple is expected to promote its featured applications from iPhone developers through this account.
The new account with handle name @AppStore was launched a few hours ago and is a verified account which signals its authenticity. At the time of writing the story, it has already crossed over 78,000 followers. The twitter account for app store is sure to get more popular in the coming days. Apple’s other twitter account for iTunes has over 680,000 followers and the app store account is also expected to generate similar following.

The second tweet on the account reads as- Motivation. Full-body workouts. On-demand instruction. It’s all available on Nike Training Club. http://tw.appstore.com/4zo #appstore promoting Nike’s Training Club app

Apple will use this social media property to promote popular apps, hot deals on apps as well as connect with the smartphone users worldwide. The bio of the account reads- Follow us for official App Store tweets including our featured apps, exclusive offers, and more. And this explain the importance of this twitter account for iOS developers. The company is expected to use this twitter account very much the way it uses Facebook to pitch for newly released and popular featured apps on its store and generate more downloads.

In what could be music to ears for iPhone developers, a survey Kelton Research for Sybase, Inc., reveals that majority of IT managers are planning to implement new mobile applications and consider successfully managing mobile enterprise applications as their top priority. The survey was conducted among 250 IT managers from US and UK. The result means increased business for iPhone application developers as iPhone has strong penetration in these markets.

Important findings from the survey are-

• 90 percent of managers surveyed said that they are planning to implement new applications and nearly 50 percent believe that successfully managing apps will be their top priority.
• 82 percent of IT managers believe that hosting more mobile applications in the cloud would be useful.

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• 90 percent IT managers are planning to introduce new applications this year, with nearly 21 percent considering introducing 20 or more applications.
• 56 percent surveyed consider customizing company information for mobility an important part of business.
• 50 percent say demand for adoption of new applications has been driven by employees.

Dan Ortega, senior director product marketing, Sybase said “The proliferation of new devices, coupled with the vast expansion of mobile applications used by consumers has paved the road for mobility solutions to enter the enterprise at the worker, workgroup, and workflow levels. Given all this, we expect 2011 to be the year of the transformation of the enterprise.”

“As evidenced by this survey, IT managers will be faced with greater complexities and requirements across the entire enterprise mobility framework, which is where a leading mobile solutions provider like Sybase can take an entire industry to the next level” he adds.

A report released by Market Analytics Firm Distimo says that iPhone app developers now earn as much as 49 per cent of their revenues from in-app purchases across free and paid applications. The revenues from both iPhone and iPad have doubled in the survey period between June and December. The report also states that Apple’s app store has doubled its inventory from last year while Google has added six times to its last year inventory.

As per the report, during December 2010, the top 300 free apps in the United States were downloaded 3 million times per day. On the other hand, paid applications were downloaded 350,000 times in the same period.

Apple has doubled its inventory of third party application with nearly 300,000 applications in its store. Android’s inventory increased to 130,000 applications whereas Nokia and BlackBerry increased their stocks by 25,000 and 18,000 apps this year.

Analysts believe that, with penetration of smartphone increasing and companies finding apps as a vital tool for brand promotion, in-app purchases are going to improve significantly in the coming years and form a major part of iPhone app developer’s revenue.

A newly released research report by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee Results says that more and more customers are using mobile phone apps for retail shopping. The study was undertaken among 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-retail websites in the U.S.

Some of the findings of the report includes:

• Shoppers are using phones to access retailer’s website- As per the survey, 33% of respondents have used their mobile phones to access retailer’s website or app while 26% respondents have indicated their plan to do so. Kevin Ertell, vice president at ForeSee Results and author of the report says “It looks like more than half of all shoppers will soon be using their mobile phones for retail purposes,” said. “Any retailer not actively working to develop, measure, and refine its mobile experience is leaving money on the table for competitors” he further adds.

• Buying via mobile phones has increased- 11% of the shoppers reported have bought a product from their phones during the survey period. It is a massive jump compared to only 2% last year.

The survey also highlighted that shoppers use their handsets for a variety of tasks including price comparison, product comparison and to read product reviews. However, the report also threw a challenge to iPhone app developers as it reports that shoppers are more satisfied with traditional websites than mobile apps and sites.

Source- ForeSee Results

iPhone apps grew the most in 2010 in terms of the absolute number of applications in the United States, says the latest yearly report by app store analytics firm Distimo. The report covers Apple App Store for iPad and iPhone, Google Android Market, BlackBerry App World, Palm App Catalog, Nokia Ovi Store, Windows Marketplace for Mobile (6.x), and Windows Phone 7 Marketplace for the year 2010. Some of the findings of the report include-

• Apple grew the most last year in terms of the absolute number of apps in the United States, Android and BlackBerry showed more growth in terms of percentages.
• The top 300 free applications had more than 3 million downloads every day in December 2010, while just 350,000 paid applications were downloaded each day. The high download figures are leading developers to switch to alternative monetization methods.
• The revenue share generated by in-app purchases from the most grossing free applications more than doubled for both the iPhone and iPad. However, the revenue share generated by in-app purchases from free applications is lower on iPad at 15% in comparison to iPhone at 34%.
• An observation of 100 most popular applications from various app stores reveals that the average price of apps has declined.

Recent figures from eBay reveal that iPhone apps are very popular among consumers of eBay. As per the website, global sales on mobile devices have tripled to $2bn, with UK being the leading international market. There has been more than 30 million mobile app downloads in over 190 countries across the globe with iPhone apps dominating the market. Over 15 million people have downloaded eBay’s iPhone app since its initial release in 2008. eBay also sells apps of other smartphones in its auction site.

The online auction site said that popularity of its apps for devices like iPhone has established that consumers “increasingly want to be able to shop anytime, anyplace, anywhere”.

The website also found that mobile users in UK have been quick to adop to “m-commerce” with more and more Britons preferring to shop through eBay app. According to the website, every two seconds, a purchase is made via eBay app in the UK.

The Telegraph reports Clare Gilmartin, vice-president of eBay Europe, as saying: “It’s staggering to think that $2bn-worth of sales has been generated through a platform that didn’t exist a couple of years ago, and on a device that didn’t exist three years ago.”

The rise in app sales and iPhone apps leading it will certainly be a good news for iPhone app developers who were concerned by the meteoric rise of Android and reports of consumers preferring it over iPhone.

Seesmic is one of the famous Twitter clients available on all the platforms. Now, for the first time they released, Seesmic on iPhone platform.

This app has four spaces on each screen. Each space could either be your Twitter Timeline, Facebook wall, Twitter Lists, Twitter Search or Twitter Trending. This makes the app more unique than any other app in AppStore and it come for free.

Seesmic for iPhone is a bit late to party but comes loaded with the best of features. Any social media enthusiast can completely rely on this one app, if he / she is on move and have no access to their PC.

Basically, spaces made difference in this app.The users can get access to Twitter search results and Lists, which are major features of Twitter right now. And yeah! you can ‘Like’ you friends status right away.

You can find more details / manual to use Seesmic for iPhone here.