First, according to Chartboost, Wednesday is actually the most popular release day, because it’s the day right before Apple updates their featured lists on the iPhone and iPad App Stores. In reality, what’s happening is that developers are scheduling releases for midnight (0:00) on Thursday, and because apps get released at that time worldwide, which winds up being 11pm eastern in North America due to the Atlantic Time Zone, these apps start appearing on Wednesday.

But here’s the thing: that Thursday is actually a lousy day to be promoting apps.

First, there’s actually no spike in install rate on Thursday, despite it being the biggest day for hype – just see all the media sites that post weekly release lists every Wendesday, after all. In fact, traffic is at its worst on Thursday, being 7 percent below average in terms of impressions, and install rate is 3% below average, which is the worst of the week. This is despite cost per click cost bids increasing to 3% above average.

The big days for app downloads are the weekend: Friday upticks from Thursday up to average, Saturday is 7 percent above average, and Sunday is 4 percent above average. Real-world customers are downloading games on the weekend. Ad impressions increase during this Friday-Sunday period, too, from 2% on Friday, to 14% on Saturday, to 10% on Sunday, all above average. The bid prices do not necessarily increase all that much: 2% on Friday, 4% on Saturday, and 0% on Sunday.

Thus, Saturday might be the best day to promote an app: the increased costs are offset by dramatic increases in installs and impressions. Sunday may be the best bang for the buck, with mean and median bid prices, but the second-best impressions and install rate. Monday through Wednesday present value propositions as well: lower impression and installation rates are also offset by lower costs, and Chartboost says to developers that “you can capture a larger portion of that traffic than you would with the same bid later in the week.”

So developers and publishers looking to get the word out about their app need to beware. Thursday will be the big hype day because it’s when Apple refreshes their features, and releasing in time for that is not a bad move. And iOS gamers should still be excited for the day. But when it comes to promoting an app, it might be the worst day of them all. Chartboost has more insights available on their blog as to what this data could just mean.

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The spotlight feature is the new featured video ad. It’s meant to guarantee completed video views, and has special offers available at the end of the video so users can engage right away. For example, an ad for a company can offer incentives for liking their Facebook page immediately after watching the video. The standard display ads have been enhanced as well to use up more screen space and easier user engagement.

Daily Rewards are another major feature implemented through Tapjoy. This is something that apps have added to help promote users coming back on a regular basis. Now these can be implemented directly through Tapjoy, awarding in-game currency for coming back on consecutive days, for example.

On iOS, the OpenUDID system for tracking individual devices has been replaced with advertisingIdentifier, the tracking number introduced in iOS 6. This will ensure that Tapjoy ads are in compliance with the Apple terms of service, as in the future this will be necessary to serve targeted ads to users. However, this provides users with an easy way to opt out of ads without having to reach out to individual services like Tapjoy, and the anonymized device identifier should provide users with an additional layer of privacy.

These features come along with tweaks and improvements to impression and conversion tracking through Tapjoy. Version 9.0 of the SDK is available now for both iOS and Android. Users of the multiplatform frameworks Unity, Phonegap, and Adobe AIR will find plugins that support version 9.0 available now.

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App downloads were only up on a marginal basis from August, increasing to 4.07 million downloads of the top 200 ranked free iPhone apps in the US from 4.05 million. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story: downloads dipped before the iPhone 5 launch, and once it was released, the total number of downloads increased by 33 percent for the rest of the month. So October could prove to be a bigger boon for developers that released their apps with the iPhone 5′s continued rollout and the iPod touch 5th generation’s release, and November similarly with iPad Mini sales.

While the downloads were largely stagnant, app marketing costs took a downward turn as well. Fiksu’s cost per loyal user index indicates that the cost of acquiring a user who opens an app three or more times fell to $1.13 in September from $1.34 the month before. In fact, this is the lowest total since January 2012′s $1.14 total, and is just above the May 2011 amount of $1.10, after incentivized installs were banned by Apple. This price decrease should continue through October, as from September to November 2011, this CPLU went from $1.64 to $1.47 to $1.43.

In fact, this seems to show that there is a seasonal effect in app marketing costs: when a new iPhone comes out, the demand for new apps to use on the phone makes it easier to acquire new users who will return to the app. Fiksu also claims that one developer using their analytics saw an increase in organic downloads by 20% coupled with a revenue gain of 35%.

So far, it does appear that the iPhone 5′s release is having the kind of impact that Fiksu predicted it would have, with an increase an app downloads and decreases in marketing costs. For developers looking to strike it rich with their apps, this is the prime time to strike.

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Average revenue per conversion on W3i’s network between the two platforms was nearly equal at just under $0.90 in August 2012; in September 2012 the ARPC went up to $0.90 on Android and reached $1.10 on iOS; a device called the iPhone 5 may have helped those totals. While iOS ARPC costs are steadily increasing, Android totals spiked during the summer, and continued growing.

As well, what helps out is that Android offers more opportunities for marketers, and one big-name title is starting to take advantage of what W3i’s offering. Temple Run developers Imangi Studios has partnered up with W3i to bring its offerwall service to the app. Users can take part in incentivized downloads and offers to gain more coins in Temple Run. This way, Imangi drives additional revenue through driving downloads to other games, and those publishers gain the likelihood of more users through those that take advantage of offers.

Imangi has shown a proclivity for incentivized advertising before: Temple Run at one point was pulled from the App Store for letting users watch videos to receive coins. Changes in Apple policy caused the app to be removed, however with Android’s more lax approval process, incentivized installs and offerwalls like W3i and Tapjoy can thrive on Android. W3i is claiming that for Imangi, they could be making seven-figure revenue off of this deal, especially if the ARPC figures hold. Even for smaller developers, if it’s possible to launch on Android, this is more evidence suggesting that launching over there may not be the revenue wasteland that some perceive it to be.

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Yann Seznec is the founder and director of Lucky Frame, a three-man studio based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lucky Frame’s latest game is Bad Hotel, which hit the App Store in August 2012.

Releasing an app is actually rather relaxing, because no one cares.

Your app is one of 700,000 on the market. Even reaching the top 100 means your app has to approach the 99.99th percentile, which is fairly unlikely.

Once you’ve tempered your expectations (trust me, you won’t have a hit) and realised that your app won’t make you rich, you can relax. No one cares.

That said, no one releases an app without hoping that it will get some attention and downloads. So, here are three tips for releasing an app, based on the lessons we learned from our experience with Bad Hotel.

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Social media is often an enigma to developers looking to promote their apps. It’s a tool that can be incredibly powerful for getting more downloads and driving revenue, but just how to succeed with it is a mystery to many. Facebook integration, especially with the App Store, has been anticipated by developers as a way to help their games spread through social media, but these features won’t be doing all the work to make an app gain users through social media usage. However, David Murdico has written an interesting blog post for Supercool Creative entitled “5 Ways to Promote Mobile Apps and Games with Social Media” that covers many ways to best utilize social media to developers’ advantage.

Murdico first says that the idea with content should be to not try to explicitly ‘sell’ one’s app in every single social media dispatch, but to actually try to be interesting while also promoting the app as a secondary objective. Content has a greater chance to go viral when it is meant to be entertaining. It can also serve as a way to keep in users’ minds. Get a user to follow a Twitter account for a game, and it may remind them to play it when they see a post from that account they follow.

Next, when it comes to social media channels, Murdico recommends being proficient and consistent. Reach out through many channels. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, heck, there’s people on Google+ to reach out to. Then, once on there, find a consistent voice that matches well with the style of the app. If the app is comical in nature, then that should be reflected in the tone of social media posts. If it’s serious, then it should follow a similar tone. But most importantly, make sure it’s consistent.

Murdico preaches that interaction is important: when people respond to a post, respond back! This helps to build the connections necessary to get people to care about an app and share it.

Murdico comments that giveaways are a great way to build a loyal following, and to also help increase reach on social media, as users will often share news about giveaways and pay attention for the next one. The giveaways don’t have to be big, small prizes will do.

Finally, Murdico says that it should always be easy for people who want to download the promoted app to go and download it with one click. Have links handy when necessary. People on social media have short attention spans. Make sure that all this work promoting apps isn’t for naught!

While these tips are not guarantees to success, much like releasing an app, doing the right things can go a long way toward making it successful.

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So, what’s the upgrade market going to look like? Well, 74% of iPhone 4 owners, many of whom are just coming off of the end of their 2-year contracts from when it was released (at least in the USA), are planning on upgrading to the iPhone 5. 71% of iPhone 3GS owners are planning to upgrade, which could include those still happy with the device purchased in 2009, or those who jumped on it in the past couple years when it was a cheaper option. Even 64% of iPhone 4 S owners are planning to upgrade, so those looking to snatch up used iPhones might be able to find a year-old device at a good price. 38% of BlackBerry owners plan to switch, and 22% of Android users plan to switch. All in all, this could entail 10 million new iPhones being sold by the end of September, depending on Apple’s plans. While not all of these will be new users per se, there are benefits to those marketing their apps.

With users buying new phones and being anxious to use them, there will be more opportunities to advertise to users. Based on the launch of the iPhone 4S, Fiksu saw app downloads increase by 29%, due to what they call a “pent-up demand” for apps when a new phone releases. The best part is that the cost to acquire loyal users actually went down over this time by 10%. This may be a prime time for developers to market to users. People will want new apps for their new phones, and while Fiksu says that costs did spike at the launch of the iPhone 4S, there was a lift in downloads for even weeks afterward. Savvy marketing could lead to huge rewards, especially with the iPhone 5 being a brand new model, instead of a refresh of a previous year’s model, making it a potentially attractive option.

This means developers need to be ready. Their apps need to be ready for iOS 6. Any marketing plans should be fully formulated. This could be a golden opportunity to achieve app success.

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Fiksu has released its latest Indexes tracking how much it costs for brands to acquire loyal users, and how many downloads the top free iPhone apps are getting.

The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index tracks the average combined volume of the top 200 free iPhone apps. For July, the Index indicates that daily downloads decreased month-over-month by 5.6%, down to 4.37 million downloads from 4.63 million in June. The number has remained relatively stable after a drop from 6.35 million in February. This may be due to a residual after-effect of the holiday season, which saw steady increases after the launch of the iPhone 4S.

The Cost Per Loyal User Index tracks how much it costs “for brands who proactively market their apps” to acquire a “loyal user” – defined by a user that opens up an app 3 or more times. The July average increased by 7% to $1.54 after an average cost of $1.44 in June. This is the highest average cost in 2012, and the highest average since December 2011’s $1.81 figure.

Why are these numbers going in opposite directions? The average daily downloads may be due to people using their phones less after the holiday rush, which appeared to have an effect on downloads for 2 months. There’s also the possibility that some kind of change on Apple’s end with allowed methods for driving app installations affected the numbers. The Competitive Index charts out just the free iPhone download numbers, so while the 3rd generation iPad released in March, it seems unlikely that its release caused the massive drop, especially as holiday iPad sales also have to be factored in.

Interestingly, charting out the numbers shows that the two Indexes don’t have much correlation. For the past 9 months, as the Competitive Index increases, the Loyal User Index tends to decrease, but the correlation is very small, with many outliers in the data (the coefficient is -.1262, specifically), such as the July data where the Index decreased but costs went up. So each Index should best be taken individually.

It remains to see that with the next iPhone rumored to be announced in September or October, how each Index will react. Will free downloads spike again? If so, will it be easier to acquire loyal users? Time will tell, especially with so many external factors potentially impacting each Index.

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W3i places the onus for these increases on the big-name companies entering western markets, such as GREE and DeNA. With their desire to achieve the kind of success that they have had in the Japanese market, they’ve been pouring massive amounts of money into marketing to try and drive users to their apps, which has helped to drive up the price of advertising and other marketing tools.

As W3i points out, the challenge for smaller developers is that industry behemoths with deep pockets are essentially on a level playing field with them. While this means that small developers can have massive successes, the increasing difficulty in attracting new users makes having even modest successes that much more difficult, and much more expensive.

Alternative methods of app discovery are still relatively untested. Facebook’s App Center has yet to establish itself, being still new to the market. iOS 6′s feature to “Like’ apps on Facebook directly from the App Store could help with discovery, but that’s still months away.

These high costs may explain why PapayaMobile and 6waves are launching app traffic exchange programs to try and get games to acquire users without taking up valuable ad inventory on other services, thus driving the CPI down to more reasonable levels. A rising tide sinks all boats, and extremely high user acquisition costs could keep games from being a worthwhile investment for all but the biggest players, flops could prove to be extremely devastating, and the independent developers who helped to form the foundation of the mobile gaming market could be all but shut out entirely if costs aren’t brought down to more reasonable levels.

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This product is very similar to something PapayaMobile just launched on Android: AppFlood. While Papaya is trying to stick to just Android at the moment, 6waves’ system could have a leg up by being on iOS. However, the similarity of both products appears to be a targeted effort: they want to drive down the costs of user acquisition by essentially allowing developers to trade traffic for free when possible.

Driving the costs of user acquisition down may have positive benefits acrsoss the board. After all, if getting new users is expensive, then it gets harder to make money off of games. Lower costs mean that it’s easier to profit, and to get higher margins. For ad networks, this could tempt developers into implementing ads into their games where they may not have, if it can help bring new users into their game. More opportunities to sell ads means more room for inventory to be sold, which makes it easier for ad networks to then sell ad slots to clients.

Obviously, the benefit for users is that with an intelligent recommendation engine, they could find interesting new titles to play, and if developers don’t have to spend as much money on marketing, that could make games better.

Of course, the drawback isi that users may only be willing to tolerate so many advertisements, and if developers aren’t bringing in actual revenue with their advertisements, and possibly even sending users away, such programs could have minimal benefit. That is the question that WaveX will have to answer. Interested developers can sign up for WaveX at 6waves’ website.

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Kiip is trying to provide a new way for developers to make money off of advertising in a way that isn’t just a banner ad, and rewards players for playing their game. And they’re drawing serious investor interest as well.

What Kiip does is to essentially monetize in-game achievements. Sponsors can offer prizes for certain in-game achievements. For example, a brand could provide a free benefit, or an online retailer a valuable coupon, when an achievement is unlocked. The goal is to motivate players to keep playing to get these rewards for performing in-game actions, which will then lead to them interacting and possibly spending money with sponsors. Everyone wins, as users get more out of advertisements than just a blast of information at them, sponsors get possibly higher interaction rates, and developers possibly get higher engagement with their games while avoiding banner ads. Kiip currently claims to have over 400 titles using the service, with support for both iOS and Android.

This is a series B round of funding for Kiip, raising $11 million from various VC firms. Kiip been willing to spend money from the revenue it has generated in order to facilitate further development, as seen by its Build Fund, which used $100,000 to help create games that integrated Kiip. According to a report by PandoDaily, Brian Wong of Kiip has said that they will be running another fund to help make bring more projects that use Kiip to life.

Really, the long-term success of Kiip will be seen in if the service can draw in both more titles, and popular ones. Mobile gaming is a market where there is constant cycling of games due to the sheer number of developers releasing titles, but popular titles have a way of sticking around on the top charts. Kiip may need both to be in popular games as well as in numerous games to survive long-term.

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image via Flickr user puuikibeach

The rewards are great: Apple has already paid out $4 billion to app creators who have combined a smart app with good marketing. But, too often, sticker shock leads customers to ignore otherwise helpful apps. When developers choose the wrong price, more often than not it seems, they aim too high.

Consider your competition: According to 148Apps.biz’s breakdown of the App Store, free is by far the most popular price. $0.99 is the second most popular. Just 6% of all apps charge more than $5.

For nearly every type of app, you’ll be facing a free competitor. That is not to say the quality or features of the free app will be as good as yours, but the allure of free is so strong, it might not matter to customers.

What is pricing based on?
Although it can be tempting, smart pricing is not based on your development costs, number of hours coding, or company overhead. What to charge is mainly based on the value your customer places on it – the benefits they will receive from having it.

If your app saves time, for example, users will value that. Maybe it helps people do their jobs better or is just entertaining. The stronger the benefit, the more you can charge. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and see if the benefits your app provides are worth the price tag.

Also, make sure to think of pricing against other mobile apps, not other types of products. (After all, why does coffee or even bottled water cost more than a sophisticated piece of software?) These comparisons could lead to a price that is not based on the unique landscape of the App Store, where your app will go head-to-head with other competitors.

Maximizing your revenue
The goal for choosing your price is to maximize revenue. So, choosing a lower price is not saying you didn’t work hard enough on your app or you’re willing to settle for less. It’s a marketing tactic to get more people to buy your app to actually make more money than if you had a higher price.

Cutting your price can boost your total revenue even when done for a short time. A study by Distimo showed that, on average, App Store revenue increased by 22% during a limited-time sale (41% on the first day alone). They looked only at high grossing iPhone apps, but it shows the result that offering a discount can have.

It is important, they found, to offer a substantial discount such as cutting the price in half or the sale could have the opposite effect and decrease total revenue.

Boosting App Store visibility
Getting your app into the Top 100 is one of the most powerful ways to get seen by huge audiences. Since these rankings are based on popularity, picking a lower price can help you boost sales and climb the charts.

The alternative to keeping your price low is to spend more in advertising to get the same exposure you could get being in the Top 100. With the investment needed to do that, you could break even or come out ahead by lowering your price.

Free: the ultimate price
Sometimes, even charging $0.99 for an app can be too much. If you are looking to maximize the number of downloads and users, nothing beats free.

In fact, there are really only two prices that matter in the App Store: free and not free. It’s two different worlds in the eyes of the consumer.

Put another way, the difference between $1.99 and $0.99 is not that big. But the difference between $0.99 and free is huge.

That’s because the thinking someone does before downloading your free app is very different than deciding to buy your paid app. Downloading a free app does not take any thought on the part of the customer and they can act in an instant. Buying a app that is not free makes the customer stop and think “but do I really need it?”

The future of app pricing
With this in mind, what is the future of app pricing? More and more, top apps are moving away from the traditional paid app approach and finding more profitable ways to monetize.

Combine a free app with premium offerings such as more levels, advanced features, and virtual goods and you get “freemium” apps. You’ve put together the best of both the free and paid worlds: customers can download your app at no charge, try it risk-free, and use in-app purchasing to buy add-ons.

In the iOS gaming world, the majority of revenue is made this way. Flurry estimated that 65% of App Store revenue comes from freemium games – about $2 billion. The growing interest in this strategy is one reason Apple, Google, and now Amazon’s app stores all support in-app purchasing.

Creating a freemium game or app will require a new way of thinking. You’ll need to make the free experience high quality to hook and continually engage users. But you’ll also want to reserve some levels, features, or upgrades only for paying customers.

Now that games have proven the freemium model, however, it’s only a matter of time before more non-game developers find the best ways to profit with this strategy.

Paying the bills with ads
Another primary way that free apps can drive large profits is with advertising. eMarketer expects total US mobile advertising revenue to hit $2.61 billion this year, nearly double last year.

With many advertising choices available to developers, it has become easier to find more profitable solutions. Unlike in-app purchases, advertising can easily be inserted into most apps without needing a plan to offer something premium.

While many mobile users say they dislike ads, they are increasingly getting used to the trade-off and would rather have ads than have to pay. 54% of tablet users prefer free, ad-supported apps over paid ones, which is an increase over 40% a year ago according to the Online Publishers Association.

For advertising to generate significant income, the app needs to have a large number of users. This makes it ideal for apps that are free and have a broad appeal. Ads are not right for every type of app, but can be an attractive option so you don’t have to charge a high price for your app.

Downsides of low prices
This is not to say that all apps should have bargain-basement prices. Some would perform better at a premium cost. If your app has unique or advanced features, little competition from lower-priced apps, and an audience that is willing to pay, you could benefit from having a higher price tag.

Also, there are possible downsides to free and low-cost apps. You could get more negative reviews from customers who are less engaged and more customer support questions. Many free games still carry the stigma of being low quality or full of ads. Plus, you must find other ways to make money (if that is your goal), which may not be feasible for all types of apps.

However, many apps would benefit from giving a second thought before charging more than a dollar or two. You can often attract more customers at a lower price for larger revenues. And, with in-app purchases and advertising, there are real ways to make money from free apps.

What has your experience with app pricing been? Share your comments below.

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However, public accusations may not hold much water with Apple. For example, TopDealApps, which was highlighted by Pocket Gamer earlier this year for using users’ Apple accounts to drive installs, still runs a free game promotion service, and even still has its app on the App Store – the one alleged to drive users to download free games. If they are truly doing something illegitimate, then either Apple hasn’t caught on or they have modified their policies to be on the level with Apple. They could just not be caught, either.

Part of the problem appears to be that Apple remains especially silent on their intentions. Even in 2012, developers generally complain that Apple rejections are particularly vague, and as the gatekeeper, they can reject an app for any reason. A former senior engineer at Apple says that the team is generally understaffed and overworked. Thus, while it seems as if Apple is willing to shut down entire publishers solely for associating, even unknowingly, with promoters who use bots on a piecemeal basis, they could just not be caught by Apple in the rapids of the App Store, where more apps are pouring in on a regular basis.

VentureBeat points out Tapjoy as one particular company that’s had to have their strategies changed due to running afoul of Apple: where once incentivized installs could be used to get more in-game currency, and viewing ads could be used to get in-game advantages. In fact, watching videos to get more coins was a strategy that got Temple Run pulled from the App Store, but recently, games have started to use it again, one such example being Pinball Maniacs, which uses an identical mechanic.

However, where Apple shuts down app promoters, there is always a second choice, Android. Tapjoy continues to offer incentivized app installs on that OS. Mobage can offer games that use Mobacoins between apps, instead of be restrained to one app, which may be why they’re launching over there first. It may be harder to make money off of Android, but with Google’s far more lax restrictions, the potential for some of these illicit techniques to make their way over there is very high. Will bot tactics and using Google accounts fly with Google? Probably not, but app marketing is about the here and now, and adjusting on the fly to how the platform holders change direction. Developers should be wary of anyone who claims to get them into the top chart, because while they may be able to do it, it could be too good to be true.

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In particular, this needs to be contrasted with Facebook’s failure to make money off of mobile. It was a mentioned issue in their IPO filing as to why they could potentially fail. Their mobile app doesn’t display the advertisements displayed on the web, where Facebook makes a lot of its money, though they have experimented with promoted stories at the top of users’ feeds, similar to how promoted tweets appear in users’ timelines and when searching on Twitter.

Now, these ads don’t yet appear in third-party clients like Tweetbot, and this may be intentional, as Twitter’s API rules state that third-party apps that choose to display ads will share in some of the revenue (heading IV, section 1). However, Twitter has laid down an ominous warning that they will start enforcing these Rules of the Road more stringently, as seen in the LinkedIn crackdown. This may require developers to implement key changes into their apps that they might not want to, such as viewing Twitter’s “expanded tweets” that launched recently. These are tweets that contain expanded image or video content from certain sources, that can be viewed with the tweet when it is expanded in the user’s timeline.

Twitter mentions that they want all clients that use their API to support these expanded tweets in the name of a consistent user experience, but also in order to support the partners who utilize the Twitter Cards technology. After all, these content providers that use the technology will want them to be seen by as many eyeballs as possible, even third-party clients.

Twitter has warned third-party app developers to stay out of their territory in the past. While third-party applications built on the Twitter API helped grow the platform on mobile, and eventually became the first official Twitter app, now they want to be in control of the way users experience their service. The problem is, of course, that it might not always be a positive experience. The version 4.0 of the iPhone/iPod touch Twitter app was so unpopular on launch that Tweetbot ran a $0.99 sale because so many people jumped ship; they wanted to entice more switchovers. In a similar way, Facebook’s current app is so unpopular that they are reportedly rebuilding their iOS app from the ground up.

These changes should worry anyone using the Twitter API in a substantial way, especially those who are interested in third-party clients. Twitter wants to control the user experience, especially if it will mean more eyeballs interacting with the ads that give them revenue. At best, it’s more work for developers to comply with the API. At worst, it’s a reason to potentially not work with Twitter if they will rigidly define how users can potentially interact with an app.

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What this partnership is designed to help GameSalad developers maximize their potential revenue. What PlayHaven provides are services to help get the word out about in-app items and cross-promotion of games across other PlayHaven titles. For example, with this new partnership, GameSalad games can start appearing as pop ups in other PlayHaven apps, to help get the word out about titles that users may not have known about. Special sales and promotions on in-app purchases can be promoted in order to help drive sales of items. Rewards for frequent players can be provided, users can opt to have information collected so developers can reach out to them, and use analytics to find out how their players are using the game.

Interestingly, early tests of PlayHaven in GameSalad games were reportedly bringing in eCPMs of over 8 times what competing services. While the program maay not succeed to that degree on a larger scale, it could prove to be a significant boon for GameSalad and its users.

GameSalad has been readying their service for the rise of free to play gaming in the past year by adding in-app purchases for developers, and now they have a powerful new method for making money off of their apps, and one that can help increase exposure to their games as well thanks to the potential for cross-promotion. Having these kinds of high-profile tools could help increase the profile of GameSalad games and their creators, and give them a fair fight against the big players in mobile and free to play.

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The how-to goes from big picture advice to small details. For example, it even goes into the lighting to make fingers on an iPad screen look nicer,

“Immediately when you preview your first shots with a finger touching the screen, you’ll notice that the finger does not look too nice. Even if that is a finger of a beautiful young lady. You will have to setup your lighting in a way that the finger is in a shadow and apply some blurring effects to it in post-production.”

But don’t just take my word about how useful this how-to is. Go check it out for yourself on the Outline website, here.

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The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (daily download volumes of the top 200 free iPhone apps), dropped 4.9% to 4.23 million in April from March (4.45 million). This is after a high period in January and February (6.35 and 6.79 million respectively).

The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index, tracking the cost to obtain loyal users (users who open an app three or more times), increased 12.3% to $1.46 from $1.30 in March. The previous increase from February to March was minimal (a $0.01 increase).

Fiksu CEO, Micah Adler, sees no reason to be surprised at the downward trajectory in March and April,

“April’s continued downward trajectory of app downloads was expected, as no major events sparked discovery during the month. Additionally, app marketers continued to scale back their use of robotic install tactics in response to Apple’s policy on third-party marketing services.”

Although Fiksu did notice more aggressive advertising,

“…we observed more aggressive advertising spending as marketers moved out of the first quarter lull and began to seek new opportunities to compete for rank especially in the dynamic social networking and games categories, which experienced volatility during the month.”

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The infographic is filled with interesting information about the younger audiences of mobile devices. Not surprising, the highest usage task for children using tablets is playing games (at 77%). Other notable usage numbers include education (57%) and entertainment at restaurants and events (41%). Parents are also downloading apps specifically for their children (25% of parents).

The number of children using tablets is rising too. Numbers were taken between July and September of last year and October and December. Between those two periods, tablet usage in kids under 12 rose 7% from 61% to 70%. Parents even believe that tablet use is beneficial for their children. 77% believe they are beneficial and another 77% believe tablets help with creativity.

Educational use is also on the rise. There are now over 600 school districts implementing iPad programs. The infographics gives a quick look at some of the most popular educational apps. Most of those apps are free including Molecules and Today in History.

Take a look at the inforgraphic below. (Click on image for a larger view)

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AppStori is a community and funding platform for crowd funding resources for new apps. Current app projects already featured on the site range from games to health apps to politics. The AppStoris are set up quite similar to Kickstarter projects with tiers of rewards to pledgers, funding goals, developer blog, and comments.

Unlike Kickstarter, submitted apps go through a screening process with the AppStori Review Board. This system keeps scams and unwanted apps (porn, gambling, etc) from being posted on the site. The FAQ page explains all of the higher level requirements for creating an AppStori on the site.

Developers should understand that, like Kickstarter, AppStori takes a fee when a project has reached its funding goal. AppStori’s cut is slighty more than Kickstarter’s at 7% (Kickstarter takes 5%). Both sites use Amazon Payments which will take an additional fee of about 3%.

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The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index, which measures the volume of daily downloads of the Top 200 ranked free iPhone apps (U.S.), was down by almost two million downloads at 4.45 million. February had 6.35 million downloads and January had 6.79 million (a record high).

The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index, which tracks the cost of obtaining loyal users (users who open an app three times or more), remained steady between February and March. For March, the index was $1.30, slightly down from $1.31 in February. In January, it was cheaper at $1.14.

Fiksu CEO, Micah Adler, explained that the dip in downloads in March was to be expected,

“With the novelty factor of the iPhone 4S launch and the holidays well behind us, and no other events in March to spark discovery, March’s download dip was expected,”

He also believes a decline in robotic install tactics may be to blame,

“An unexpected contributing factor could be the decline in the use of robotic install tactics by app marketers responding to Apple’s new policy. The decline in competition and steady costs definitely presented app marketers with a ranking opportunity in March, driven largely through the cost-effective conversion of organic users into loyal users.”

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The team of judges are mobile experts from leading publications including our very own Jeff Scott, Founder and Editor in Chief of the 148Apps Network. Other judges include Sara Perez from TechCrunch, Ryan Kim from GigaOM, Laurent Gatignol from iPhon.fr, Mahmoud Hafez from AppAdvice, Jon Jordan from PocketGamer.biz, @Zee from TheNextWeb, and Orli Yakuel from Go2Web20.

The winner of the awards will receive a free ad campaign and the new iPad. Developers can preregister for the contest here. The contest should go live next month and entrants only need to submit a video demonstration of the app being submitted. Any developers planning on releasing apps at the end of May or after should definitely give the App Star Awards a shot.

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ZSpawl explains that this increase in iAd revenue may have to do with previous feelings about how Apple charged for both ad impressions and clicks.

“…advertisers no longer have to pay Apple for clicks on Ads, only for displaying them (also known as impressions). This has been a common complaint against iAds, and other banner middlemen…To some, this feels like being charged twice.”

Apple also lowered the price for advertisers to buy into the program to $100k from the previous $500k (and $1M even farther back). Previously Apple asked for a minimum of $1M, then $500k to place an ad on iAds. It seems the lowering of the minimum buy-in for an ad and the removal of paying for clicks is a way to quell the complaints about some of the iAd policies. And since advertisers are no longer paying for clicks, developer ZSprawl believes that the 10% revenue hike is because developers will now no longer be paid for clicks.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

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One small, and strange, tip was to release apps on Thursday. Apple picks featured apps that appear on that day. Being featured on the App Store is likely the best way to get an app discovered (and it’s free!).

Some advice was a bit vague and obvious like, “make a great app!” If apps are good enough to spread via word of mouth, they’re much easier to make money from. Adam Flanders of Glu Mobile explained that cost-per-install (CPI) needs to be measured in relation to lifetime value (LTV),

“If CPI is getting too expensive, the focus needs to move to engagement, retention, and monetization of your product to drive LTV up above CPI costs.”

Moving an app to Android is also a potential solution. Cost of user acquisition on Android has actually been dropping. But monetization is weaker on Android than it is on iOS; so it isn’t a perfect solution.

Sites like FreeAppADay and App-o-Day are also great ways to increase downloads of an app and bring down acquisition costs. FreeAppADay receives millions of users on a daily basis coming to download whatever app is free for the day.

Other strategies mentioned include cross-promotion, more intelligent targeting, and possible solutions from Apple.

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Fiksu’s App Store Competitive Index decreased by 6% in the month of February. That’s 6.35 million in February, down from 6.79 million in January (record high). The Fisku App Store Competitive Index measures the average daily download volume of the top 200 apps on iTunes Top Free iPhone app list.

Another of Fiksu’s indexes, the Cost per Loyal User Index, rose by 15% in February to $1.31 from January’s $1.14.

Fiksu analyzes these changes to be a result of new marketing campaigns in February after a period of their collective reduced spending in January. They also mention that the decline in overall app downloads may have been a result of Apple’s announcement on the 6th to crack down on robotic install tactics.

From Fiksu CEO, Micah Adler,

“…with plentiful volume at reasonable costs, our Indexes show that February presented another valuable opportunity for mobile marketers to acquire loyal app users.”

Click here for more information about Fiksu’s indexes. It explains the App Store Competitive Index, the Cost per Loyal User Index, and Fisku’s Analysis.

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There’s a new king of app category in terms of ad impressions, as games passed social networking apps to display the most ad impressions. Millennial Media credits Zynga and Rovio in particular as contributing largely to the growth of games’ ad impressions. However, music & entertainment apps doubled their share of impressions, which Millennial Media credits to tablets and more powerful hardware in smartphones.

What’s interesting about the tablet market is that the Kindle Fire apparently was growing at a rate around launch that slightly outpaced even the original iPad. Amazon’s cheap tablet might just be a huge player in the mobile ad market.

Video ads grew significantly in popularity, not just because of the transition of the advertising industry to mobile in general, but because video ads generate higher eCPM (Effective Cost per Thousand Impressions) for developers that deployed them. Millennial Media recommends that developers use these video ads in their apps more to generate more revenue, but as Apple policies in the last few months have outlawed incentivized video ad viewing (which is what got Temple Run pulled in November 2011), it remains to be seen how much developers will adopt these kinds of ads.

Curiously, they also recommend that they share user metadata with advertisers – a curious recommendation for developers to follow since apps that share personal data have been in the news lately. Developers may want to think before selling their users’ data.

What might be the most telling finding of their study was based on impressions: smartphones increased from 55% to 68% of impressions among devices, with feature phones (“dumb”phones) dropping from 31% to 14% year over year. Other devices, including tablets, increased from 14% to 15%. An underrated area of growth in the mobile industry is in the feature phone market, and their adoption of smartphones. Android appeared to fuel a lot of this growth, as Google’s OS grew from 30% to 47% of all mobile impressions, as iOS actually shrank from 41% to 33%. This does not mean that Apple’s market is shrinking – their incredibly profitable 2011 indicates otherwise – but that Android and the ability for manufacturers and carriers to deploy low-cost phones are fueling that growth for advertisers.

Of course, the thing to keep in mind when using advertising numbers to measure the market at large is that there is evidence that Android users prefer free apps, which feature ads more than paid ones. As such, advertising-based numbers may have a bias toward Android.

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