The Dark Side

Or is it though? Let me explain.

My original plan for the AXIØM apps

I wanted to plant my flag and basically say I offered:

1. reasonably-priced apps that were paid upfront

   • ie. NO ADS

2. ran everything on-device and offline as much as possible

The reality of the App Store

As soon as I actually started down this path I realized some major issues with my “flag”

1. Paid upfront means no one can try it out, given the resurgence in demos in the game-space and the totally reasonable expectation to see how, and even if, an app does what it purports this was a major bummer

2. I get no control on conversion ratio, this may sound like a nice-to-have but it’s absolutely critical

3. I was flat-out wrong, users may say they don’t want subscriptions and in-app purchases but the actual data shows they unequivocally do

For my part–I’m glad I figured out my mistake almost immediately.

On Abandoning my Principles

Actually I haven’t abandoned shit, because I got an angle.

In my day job helping promote the adult industry, I’ve been pioneering a rebrand and re-marketing around the term Lifetime pricing (NSFW) and we’ve found it to be incredibly successful, even in an era of reduced consumer spending.

Users do want to vote with their wallets around a one-time paid-up-front.

My upcoming App philosophy

Given that modern apps are:

1. Exponentially more complicated than even 10 years ago

2. Most are cloud-everything

3. Most have insane amounts of analytics in them

4. Most, even with in-app purchases, still have tonnes of Ads

I want to plant a new-new flag that is:

1. Low-cost monthly and/or yearly options

2. A lifetime option that is paid once that users can either engage with immediately, or upgrade to

3. Completely anonymous analytics

4. ZERO ADs

5. Feature updates for:

   • at least ensuring my apps function on new major OS versions

   • proper testing, tweaks, and new features that make sense in-between major versions

All this makes me feel a lot better about this upcoming shift:

• more people get to try the apps before they buy

• I get more insight into what is and isn’t working from a marketing perspective

• I get compensation which will fuel future features and new apps

To other app devs

Don’t make the same mistake I did. The world has shifted.