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About the Episode
What does your app need to have in order to be featured by Apple and Google Play? Well today’s guest shares the criteria that both app stores use when deciding which apps to promote. Also, listen to the part of the show where he shares how he managed to license his game to T-Mobile in order to save his company.
Petr Fodor is co-founder at Flow Studio.
Show Notes
Being Featured by Apple and Google Play
Petr shares what he knows of how Apple and Google choose an app. Apple’s criteria are amazingly like what any consumer would do if browsing through various apps to see if there is something interesting to download. Apple goes through 4 filtering systems, namely:
1) Icons – what icons catch the eye;
2) Screenshots – do they give an idea of the game or app by a mere glance at the screenshot;
3) Name of the app – the name must be unique and catchy; and
4) Description –the game must be easily understandable. From the criteria, it is easy to see that Apple looks for a game or app that has eye catching appeal and is easily understandable before it would even consider any other feature.
On the other hand, Google’s criteria need statistics. Google requires an app to have a rating of 4.0+ and has downloads of at least 10,000 to be considered for possible feature. Octagon, for example, another game Petr developed was featured by Google Play precisely because it met the criteria. Though Octagon, at its initial launch showed strong following, it started to falter 2 weeks after the launch date. It had impressive stats on Day 1 of the launch at 60% retention and the game was similar to a couple of highly popular games that already had a hardcore following. So the data showed it all – Octagon came up 3rd, good enough to get be featured. Petr sums it succinctly by saying, “everything should lead to Day 1 of the launch.”
Licensing a Game to T-Mobile to Save his Company
The first game Petr and his team ever developed cost 10,000 dollars in 2011 – a whopping big amount for a startup business. To top it all, they had no budget for salary. So from the word “go” they had to think of ways for the game to make money. Call it luck or great timing but Petr came through by coming up with the awesome idea that since they were selling the app, instead of going directly to consumers, why not get a partner. As luck would have it, T-mobile was opening a new portal of mobile apps. Petr offered the rights to his app, Power of Logic, to T-Mobile as an app they could use for 2 months. Petr agreed to basically reskin it, i.e, rebrand the game, change the game to T-Mobile’s colors, to any name it may want to give it, translate it to the local language and in return, T-Mobile will pay Petr and company x amount of money. This agreement between T-Mobile and Petr came through just in the nick of time to breathe new life to Petr’s Flow Studio and as they say, “the rest is history.”
What advice can you give to anyone looking to build an app?
“Focus on the product, be sure it is unique, no compromises on quality. Start small, a one-core feature is fine but make sure it is so polished that the experience is absolutely awesome.”
Show Mentions
Fav app: Pocket: (iTunes | Google Play)