OS Requirement and Sales...

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by bravetarget, Nov 29, 2009.

  1. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    Anyone have any input to the subject? All my apps require 3.1.2, though, I didn't put any effort towards testing on an older version. It just occurred to me that people who may be interested in purchasing my apps won't have that privilege if they are not fully updated.

    Has anyone taken the step to make changes to OS requirements seen a boost in sales? or any effect at all?

    Under Construction
     
  2. pcmaster

    pcmaster Well-Known Member

    Nov 18, 2009
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    I'm a dev but don't have any apps out yet but I have been seeing this by my friends. Just about everyone upgrades to the major update. There is always a stubborn 10% that doesn't. And most of them upgrade when the update cost drops to $5. If they don't have enough money to upgrade they probably don't have enough to buy your app. I don't know about the minor updates though.
     
  3. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    Good observation, the poor demographic is not one I am interested in.

    I'm just wondering if that 10% that doesn't upgrade will be the ones that would boost my sales from 200 a day to 202 a day, you know? it makes a difference!
     
  4. pcmaster

    pcmaster Well-Known Member

    Nov 18, 2009
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    Yea I know. I talked about this on Twitter a while ago with imangi studios coder and he said the number of users not on 3.0 keeps dropping but once again I have not published any apps so I don't really know any of the stats
     
  5. DGH94

    DGH94 Well-Known Member

    Aug 13, 2009
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    Next to the Maiden
    Now it depends who your audience is. First off, let me say that I'm on my ipod, so typos will be everywhere. If your audience is to hardcore gamers, i would think that over 95% would've updated. But if your app is aimed towards all users, as yours is, i would think that roughly only 30-40% would hav upgraded. Remember, to people who only use there iDevice for music and a few simple apps, the upgrade would seem a waste of money. All in all, even if your app is the next Rolando, its best to have it available to the widest audience possible, and thatnincludes lower OS (2.2) and a low price (does no have to be 99 cents, but the lower, most likely the better).
    Hope this helped!
     
  6. mobile1up

    mobile1up Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    we use our highscore submission system to get feedback on device usage:
    for the month of 2009-11 (this month) - we use it only for marketing analysis.

    Code:
    Mobile 1UP : OS Versions (2009-11)
    
    iPhone OS v2.0		0.19%	100.00%
    iPhone OS v2.0.1	0.00%	99.81%
    iPhone OS v2.0.2	0.00%	99.81%
    iPhone OS v2.1		1.32%	99.81%
    iPhone OS v2.1.1	0.56%	98.49%
    iPhone OS v2.2		5.27%	97.93%
    iPhone OS v2.2.1	12.05%	92.66%
    iPhone OS v3.0		18.27%	80.60%
    iPhone OS v3.0.1	9.04%	62.34%
    iPhone OS v3.1		6.59%	53.30%
    iPhone OS v3.1.1	2.07%	46.70%
    iPhone OS v3.1.2	44.63%	44.63%
    this is an ongoing thing we have - and, if you look at the numbers; the second column shows the market usage; so, in order to penetrate 100% of the market - you need to support 2.0 or later. but honestly; since 97.93% are using 2.2 or later; you can probably ignore 2.0.x and 2.1.x versions.

    supporting only 3.1.2 is nasty - 44.63% of potential users.. this just shows that not everyone upgrades to the latest version.. i personally get upset when i see an app require an OS version it clearly doesn't need. it does not take much to set the minimum version supported in xcode.

    on a side note - 76% of these numbers are iphone, 24% are ipod touch.
     
  7. gekkota

    gekkota Well-Known Member

    Jul 17, 2008
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    I am glad to see this issue being addressed in the developers' forum. Your assumption that the reason people choose not to upgrade to OS 3.x because they are too "poor" is oh-so-flawed! There are numerous reasons people have chosen not to upgrade, and most have little to do with not wanting to pay the measly five bucks.

    As a working adult, I can easily afford to buy any upgrade or app I choose. I have not upgraded from OS 2.2.1 because forums--including the apple forums-- are filled with people complaining that once they have upgraded they cannot connect to wifi or frequently lose their connection. Without wifi, my Touch might as well be a paperweight. Should the next update address the wifi issue I would upgrade in a heartbeat.

    I think it is also important to keep in mind that the posters in the Touch Arcade forums are by no means representative of iPod Touch and iPhone owners in general. The demographic in this forum skews low. If your games/apps are not targeted toward 13-16 year-olds who consider themselves "hardcore gamers," you are eliminating a lot of potential customers if your app only supports the most recent OS.

    ^^ Finally...a voice of reason! ^^
    :)
     
  8. CommanderData

    CommanderData Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    Mobile1up's data backs up everything I have seen and read pretty well.

    If you target only the latest OS version, you are losing HALF of your potential sales audience merely because they cannot download or install your game even if they are interested in it. There are several games I would have bought day one if they didn't target OS 3.1+. I've kept my primary device on 3.0 for a long time for testing purposes.
     
  9. EssentialParadox

    EssentialParadox Well-Known Member

    Sep 21, 2009
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    The thing about OS 3.0 is that while it's free to update the iPhone, on the iPod touch the users have to PAY for the upgrade. But further to that, the upgrade offers things like Copy/Paste; MMS; Landscape mode - nothing that is really all that useful to iPod touch owners.

    Last stats I saw from Admob showed around 60-70% of iPod touch owners haven't made the 3.0 upgrade.

    Hopefully Apple makes it free to all iPod touch users in the next update, which is rumored to be happening. In which case 95% of them will upgrade within a few weeks and we can leave behind 2.x. Until then, I'd definitely support 2.2.1 as a minimum, or you're just losing half your audience.
     
  10. BlueSolarSoftware

    BlueSolarSoftware Well-Known Member

    Oct 9, 2009
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    iPhone Developer
    Austin
    Based on our data, you'd be losing half your sales.

    Try to target 2.2.1 because that's the second most common OS version. Our apps target 2.1. I'm not sure about this, but the people stuck on 2.1 are the people who bought first gen iPod Touches. That was only a year ago.
     
  11. TrueAxis

    TrueAxis Well-Known Member

    Sep 7, 2009
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    What a lot of iPod touch owners don't know is that Apple upgraded the GL drivers, which in turn gives better frame rates in firmware 3.1.

    A lot of 1st gen iPod users who complain about the new games not running as well as the higher end devices should really pay for the upgrade to 3.1... All games run faster on this newer firmware - certainly better than 2.21.
     
  12. mobile1up

    mobile1up Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    Technical Director
    Munich, Germany
    so; design your games to work fast on 2.2.1 as well.

    then the users with 3.1 should be a lot happier that their CPU isn't being pushed to the limit when they run your game. the problem with most developers is they say "oh, upgrade and it'll get better".. when the reality is you want to reach as many users as possibles - some wont upgrade.
     
  13. mobile1up

    mobile1up Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    Technical Director
    Munich, Germany
    your welcome :)

    i still have my "development" ipod touch on 2.0 and my 2nd generation on 2.1 - i have beta testers who test 2.2 and 3.x - my iphone 4g still runs 1.1.4 (jailbroken) :) hehe.. it probably doesn't even charge anymore.
     
  14. bravetarget

    bravetarget Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2009
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    Thanks so much for posting your data mobile1up.

    First thing I did after I read those results is implement the lowest possible requirement for our code, they were all sitting at 3.2.1.

    They changed a lot of the SDK from 2.2.1 to 3.0, and we wrote them according to 3.0 standards, so that's the lowest we can go. Either way, ~40% difference is huge!

    /highfive
     
  15. micah

    micah Well-Known Member

    Aug 24, 2009
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    game developer
    San Francisco
    Also, a lot of people have jailbroken devices and don't upgrade right away until there's a newer jailbreak tool out. And of the jailbreak users, a lot of them just won't upgrade for a really long time because it's a pain -- you lose all your cydia apps (and the data in them) and have to reinstall them. I think that's a really big reason why a lot of people don't upgrade promptly.
     
  16. zachattacksox

    zachattacksox Well-Known Member

    Jul 8, 2009
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    I wanted to buy the Steven Colbert app but it required 3.1.2. I am on 3.1 right now and i havent upgraded yet because my computer is so slow its almost unbearable. I do everything web based on my iphone, including writing this. The point is, some people may be in the same boat I am in right now and it might to target at least 3.0 and above if you can.

    And on a side note, I am only a teenage consumer so my $.02 my not be worth much.
     

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