Release Notes

Today we take a moment to talk about all the cool things there are to do in Indianapolis when you visit for the conference this October, then we dive into our main topic: communicating with customers, and some of the problems we have in that regard. We discuss customers who don’t read App Store descriptions, […]

Today we continue our discussion of Charles’ analysis of the distribution of App Store revenue, and the implications that it holds for indie developers. We talk about making a living, setting expectations, and achieving goals. We also consider what advice we’d give to people wanting to go indie, and take a close look at what […]

It’s been widely known for some time that very few top apps take home most of the revenue in the App Store. There’s been some uncertainty, though, about exactly how few apps are involved. Today we talk about an analysis of the distribution of App Store revenue that Charles put together and the interesting response […]

If you’ve been a developer on the App Store for any length of time, you’ve probably faced the difficult decision of killing an app. Maybe it’s just not making as much money as you’d hoped. Maybe its codebase has, through neglect, gotten too old to bother updating. Whatever the reason, choosing to end-of-life an app […]

Today we continue our look back at 2014 and discuss our hopes for 2015. In this episode, we discuss professional accomplishments for the year, our companies’ financial results, and goals for 2015. Conference We’re planning a conference! Release Notes will be held October 21-23, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. If you would like to learn […]

It’s a new year, so we take a moment to pause and evaluate how things are going. We both reflect on our respective businesses, and review what when well, what could have gone better, and plans for the future. We also take a look at financials, and consider how we can keep our businesses growing […]

We continue our discussion with Rob Rhyne, concentrating this week on building apps for professionals. Rob shares his thoughts on pricing models, maximizing revenue, and selling to fewer higher-quality customers. Along the way, we compare the iOS and Mac markets, look at paths to becoming part of the “App Store middle class,” and the importance […]

The Apple Watch is coming, and independent developers need to decide how to prepare for it. We already gave our opinions on developing for the Apple Watch, but we wanted to get a slightly different perspective, so we brought in Rob Rhyne, managing partner with MartianCraft, to give us his thoughts. Rob shares what he […]

App Store development is full of risks, and one risk that eventually bites every developer is an App Store rejection. Today we talk about some recent high profile app rejections that have become public and consider how we should react when we (inevitably) face our own App Store rejection. Should we go public? Should we […]

WatchKit was recently announced to permit apps to be developed for the Apple Watch, so today we discuss what we got and what business opportunities might now be available to us. We discuss why Joe’s excited for the Apple Watch and Charles isn’t, business models for WatchKit apps, the difference between a hobbyist and business […]