Does an update to an app affect its ranking in the iTunes charts? If someone updates does it count as another sale? I'm wondering if the updates to games such as Doodle Jump and Angry Birds help keep them in the top 10.
on paper most would say updates do not equal more sales.. however, with the appstore.. this has not always been the case. the apps you speak of do sell more with updates.. why no clue. i guess, its better than EA who should fix there crap.. instead they just fix the bugs and call it a sequel.. EA you suck. fix the bluetooth, wifi in all your apps since iso4 broke em. chris.
Pretty sure updates have no effect on your chart position (99% positive). We are rank around ~500 overall and that does not change much (other then normal fluctuation) when we release a new update which usually nets us 60-80,000 updates on the first day.
Ok, thanks. I didn't think updates did affect sales but I find it amazing how Doodlejump can sell so many every day for so long. I guess when you take into account how many new iPhones sell per day (90,000 according to one site) there's always a flood of new customers and they will naturally tend to buy the top ten games.
It's been mentioned here before, but worth bringing up again. The brothers behind Doodle Jump are business savvy people. They do things that aren't necessarily visible to the rest of us to keep their game in the top 10. Having a great game also helps keeping it up there.
I believe that if an app gets an update, and people update their app, it keeps them in the top (whatever). Haven't you ever noticed like right before an app leaves top 10, 25, 50 they will shoot out quick updates like "bug fix" or something stupid like that. It usually means that they are trying to keep it in the top 50 (or whatever place they have). So yes, I think that downloading updates boots an app in the top free paid or grossing.
The only thing an update does is clear your app rating. The people who bother to update are usually the ones who liked the game, so on average your app rating goes up when you update. Also some blogs will write about / mention your app when you update, especially if it has been written about before. Almost every game that stays in the Top 100 is getting advertised in some way. Either by Apple or by the developer.
I don't have any experience with rankings, but... I was looking for my app in the app store sorted by Release Date. Since I released an update on July 9, I thought it would be there. But it still shows up with the original release date, June 28. I heard a rumor that you have to set your 'Availability Date' to the day that the app is approved by Apple, right after you get the email. This didn't work either. So I'm not sure how updates can help your exposure in the app store. I'm guessing not at all.
The release date used to get updated, but then certain developers started releasing fake updates every day so Apple changed it.
