Experiences with some app promotion strategies

Buy my thingIn the dim and distant past, while in a moment of neglecting my PhD to work on the very first version of Loopy (which is now currently one of the most popular music apps on the iPad!), I had grand visions of an almost totally passive income, making apps. I love the creative initial product development process and, with naive optimism, I pictured pumping apps out and then sitting back and watching the money roll on in. Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek had me enthusiastically lifestyle-designing and dreaming of all my free moneys.

I bet I’m not the only one, but of course reality struck and we realised that the App Store aint that kind of beast. Like any other product, an app needs to be actively presented to the world on a regular basis, and needs to be nurtured to keep it fresh and relevant.

I say “we” because at this point, my partner Katherine joined me after this particular revelation, and became A Tasty Pixel’s part-time marketing director and PR strategist — it’s taken two of us to keep A Tasty Pixel’s wheels turning smoothly, and we still have a lot to learn.

I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on some of the lessons we’ve learned in the past year, in which we’ve released a relatively successful travel planning and travel assistant app, The Cartographer, a very successful live looping app, Loopy, and its big brother Loopy HD, and tried a bunch of promotion strategies, some successful, some not, and some that haven’t yet run their course.

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Loopy HD is here!

Loopy HD is here!

Loopy hd inset1I’m very pleased to announce that Loopy HD has arrived! A Tasty Pixel HQ has been a-buzz with activity these last few months, and we have a solid iPad live looper with top-notch features to show for it.

Loopy HD takes Loopy, doubles the number of tracks to fill up that big iPad display (6, 9 or 12 tracks), adds a beautiful big control panel with more session controls, and brings an even more polished audio engine and spot-on time accuracy.

We’ve got huge plans for this app and it’s just going to keep getting better. Right around the corner is MIDI support, so you can control the app with a pedal, and sync the tempo with other devices and other apps, over the network or even on the same device. Fun!

App store

If you already own Loopy, Loopy HD will be on sale for $3.99 for a few days, so you don’t have to pay full price. We’ll also be giving away some promo codes from our Facebook page, so join us over there if you’re interested.

We’ve already given away some promo codes on our newsletter, but we do this from time to time, so subscribe if you’d like to nab one the next time.

Loopy has been updated too! Version 2.1 includes all of the improvements to the audio and timing engines from Loopy HD, as well as a smaller version of Loopy HD’s control panel. There’s a number of new features, as well, like count-in muting and unmuting, the ability to turn off track sync, and zip file support.

Thanks, Steve.

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On Loopy, and the iPad

Update: Loopy HD is released!

Loopy hd iconIf you’ve been aware of the goings-on at camp A Tasty Pixel lately, you’ll be aware that Loopy HD is on its way.

This is the iPad-friendly version of Loopy, and it’ll be available on October 6.

In advance of the happy occasion, I thought I’d outline our Master Plan.

Once Loopy HD is out, there’ll be two versions of Loopy:

  • Loopy will remain at its low $2.99 price point, and will remain iPhone only.
  • Loopy HD will be available at a more iPad-esque price point, $7.99, and is targeted specifically at iPad users. However, Loopy HD will actually be a Universal app, so that iPad users can also use the app on their iPhone without having to purchase the app again.

Loopy HD will take advantage of that nice big screen, and will have a configurable number of tracks — 6, 9 or 12.

To cater for existing iPad owners who have already bought a copy of Loopy, Loopy HD will be available at a dramatically reduced price for launch, so you won’t have to pay full price — we’ll let you know via an in-app message from Loopy (and the usual channels) when it’s available.

Until then, I’m getting back to work!

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