Holding an app after approval - does it show up in New?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by MelissaMarie, May 4, 2012.

  1. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    A few questions. When I've researched I could only find old examples, and when I've tried it with our apps I'm not sure if I'm just not looking in the correct place.

    When your app is approved and held for developer release, when it IS released, is it shown in New Apps? Does the amount of time you hold it had a different We had a game that, after being held for 6 weeks, come out and someone who was not involved in development correctly cited the release date as the date it was approved (I could not reach this person to investigate further.)

    Any insight or experience from other developers? Has holding an app ever backfired severely, or been rewarded immensely?
     
  2. jDun1212

    jDun1212 Well-Known Member

    Feb 2, 2012
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    I wish someone would answer this, I'm really looking forward to hearing the answer!
     
  3. metalbean

    metalbean Well-Known Member

    Mar 18, 2012
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    I, too, am curious
     
  4. jDun1212

    jDun1212 Well-Known Member

    Feb 2, 2012
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    Very bad news as far as i can tell, unless apple has changed their ways.

    http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/21417/page/2

    But it pretty much says, once the game is approved its time in the New list starts ticking, even if you have not released it yet....

    Thats so dumb, and messes me up so much...
     
  5. MrBlue

    MrBlue Well-Known Member

    Sep 3, 2008
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    iPhone Developer
    That thread is old. The article linked by wilczarz is from 2009!!!

    The App Store screws up every now and then. Most of the time it works as expected, but sometimes it screws up and your app doesn't get on the new release list. It usually gets fixed after a while and starts working as intended again.
     
  6. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    So what I've gathered is that most of the time it will show up as new, but sometimes it won't? Not very comforting =/ but I guess that's the best answer out there. Hope this thread stays open, I'm sure the answer will change and people have studies.

    From reading that forum, they seem to come to a conclusion that the length of time it's held makes a difference, but my recent experience with our game counteracts this. Looking at AppAnnie data, we were never featured in New around our release date, but towards the top of overall paid games in GameCenter and Family games (the listings were not alphabetical.) Again, we held the game for 6 weeks, and were never listed in new on release. So it goes back to Mr Blue's quote, I guess sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. x.x

    We have another game coming out in June, I'll keep a close eye on the app charts for that one as the iPad version is approved and waiting for release, but the iPhone version is still waiting to be submitted. If anyone else would volunteer data (whether you hold or not, what the outcome is) it would be very appreciated. Thanks everyone!
     
  7. lolzappan

    lolzappan Well-Known Member

    Feb 7, 2012
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    From what I understand the app will show under New on the first day you release it but the effectiveness of new as I understand it is very limited anyway as it gets pushed down with all the other new apps launched on that day (and the next).
     
  8. Synaptic Wave

    Synaptic Wave Well-Known Member

    Mar 14, 2012
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    PR manager at Synaptic Wave
    Odessa, Ukraine
    Hi, I've found some threads on iPhoneDevSDK.
    This one says that the approval date is always the release date. So if you release an app a week after approval you don't get into New&Noteworthy section. The last message is from yesterday.

    Here someone says that everything's fine and someone proves that the bug has spoiled their promotion. Anyway, they've come to a weird technique. They say you should set release date to a date in distant future. And when you get approved you should change it immediately.

    I'm confused now :confused:
     
  9. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    Case Study

    Case Study Update: So looking at our App Annie data for our latest app, which was held about a week before developer release, the app was featured in new 2 days after it's release. The App (the tossing dead) was released on Tuesday May 1, and featured in new in both of its sub categories on Thursday.

    I've been hearing rumors that apple does editorial on Thursdays, perhaps this is a clue? Is New editorial at all?
     
  10. jDun1212

    jDun1212 Well-Known Member

    Feb 2, 2012
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    Could you speak more about the editorial that apple does on Thrusdays?
     
  11. MHille

    MHille Well-Known Member

    My experience

    I released JiggleSaw just over a week ago this is what I saw happening.

    As soon as the app review was complete the app appeared as released in the app manager on iTunes connect. I found that a little confusing, but I now think of it as meaning released to the store by apple. Remember at this point you can give out promo codes, so people can download it from the store.

    I didn't hold the app for very long (probably less than a day). When I found the app in the app store it was very close to the top of the just released lists. I could see it slowly falling down these lists by the hour, so I would assume the release date here was my release date to the store.

    JiggleSaw appeared in the new listing for family games and puzzle games in the Australian app store. Based on App Annie the Australian store was the only one to put JiggleSaw in the new listings like this. So I'm not sure if these lists are some how automatically made or put together by apple.

    As for "New & Noteworthy", like all the lists on the front page, it looks to be human generated by apple staff.

    And no JiggleSaw didn't make it to New & Noteworthy... yet.

    Matthew
     
  12. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    I've heard that Thursdays are when apple changes Staff Pics, New and Noteworthy, What's Hot and other categories. I know that apps are never approved over the weekend, so I have my suspicions that iTunes editorial staff do not work weekends either.
    Also, Thursday at 00:01am seems to be the time when big game apps launch. Maybe one was affected by the other - people started releasing them because thursday is editorial day?
     
  13. AppRocketeer

    AppRocketeer Active Member

    May 16, 2012
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    iOS App Marketers
    San Francisco, CA
    We did the marketing for RoboHero and it was held for about a week after it was approved and it was still featured in the New and Noteworthy sections of the main iTunes home page and in the main Games sections for the iPhone and iPad on Thursday.

    It does seem like many games are released on Thursdays, however that doesn't mean it's the best day to release your app. For example on Mobile Orchard they suggest releasing your game on Sunday and to steer clear of Thursdays- http://mobileorchard.com/best-time-to-launch-your-new-app-is-sunday/ (they have a very convincing chart and everything...)

    The benefit of releasing early is that you can get your community which you have been building (you did do your pre-release marketing and community building didn't you??) to download your app and rate it early. That gives you some great early exposure and reviews to show the Apple review team that you are have a solid app. It probably will help increase your chances of getting noticed by them!

    If you do get featured in the Thursday New and Noteworthy feature you've already got some history and reviews under your belt and are more likely to be downloaded by the end users as well when they see you already have high quality reviews too.

    Anyway, that's been our experience.
     
  14. Moonjump

    Moonjump Well-Known Member

    May 17, 2010
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    Game designer
    Lincoln, UK
    I have had updates approved on a Saturday, so there are people there.
     
  15. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    Saturday at what time? Cupertino is 9 hours behind UK time (I noticed your profile,) that may make a difference?
     
  16. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    That is a lovely chart, good research. We've been playing with release days, and these chats & charts definitely help.

    Can you explain a bit more about holding an app and previewing it? Do you mean that you release on sunday, get your arsenal of fans to play it and rate it, then when Apple picks New & Noteworthy they look at all those reviews & plays? Or is there some kind of trick, like giving out codes when it's approved but not released? Need a little clarification.

    We have a nice community with Techno Kitten, which really helped pre-release last year. Learn a little more with every game.
     
  17. Moonjump

    Moonjump Well-Known Member

    May 17, 2010
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    Game designer
    Lincoln, UK
    Saturday evening, so USA daytime.
     
  18. MelissaMarie

    MelissaMarie Member

    Mar 23, 2012
    22
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    PR & Marketing at Zaah, Social Media coordinator v
    New York, NY
    Oh well, kills my hypothesis. :)
     
  19. Moonjump

    Moonjump Well-Known Member

    May 17, 2010
    356
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    16
    Game designer
    Lincoln, UK
    It might not be all the time. Perhaps it is overtime in the run up to Christmas, or when a backlog build up.

    But I notice a lot of app updates appear on a Saturday. Updates don't often need holding back the same as new releases, so I wonder if a lot of them are Saturday updates?
     
  20. artcue

    artcue Well-Known Member

    Mar 30, 2011
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    Gamedeveloper, Co-Founder of Artcue
    Vienna, Austria
    A short question about giving out codes when an app is approved but not released: Is it possible to rate an app when you got a code for it, even if it is not released at that time?
    Thank you for any answer :)
     

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