As we approach the first anniversary of selling things on the iTunes App Store, I’d like to take the opportunity to look at where we’ve been and where we’d like to go. A lot of good things have happened since last July 11th, but there’s still much room for improvement.

Note: These words may be mine, but their origin is from conversations with hundreds of iPhone developers. Saying that there was a lot of discussion about the App Store in the bars around WWDC would be the understatement of the century. The length of this essay is proof.

As developers, we have a tendency to look at things that are “wrong” and complain. It’s also important to look at what’s been improved in the past year: it gives me hope that we’ll eventually see some of the suggestions I make in this essay.

Here are things that have helped us sell more product:

• Reviews only from people who have purchased the app.


• Promotion codes.


• Better categorization.


• A nationwide ad campaign.

Building the App Store using the iTunes infrastructure was a brilliant move on Apple’