Tweet Marker bootstrap
Tweet Marker is getting big. I couldn't be more excited that Twitterrific 4.3 is now shipping with syncing across Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Users love it and many are rediscovering Twitterrific or becoming new customers just because of this feature.... Read MoreAugust 13, 2011 01:23 PM
Direct download as a bargaining chip
In the closing paragraph of my Mac App Store follow-up post, I suggested that eventually most developers will exclusively distribute through the App Store. John Brayton, the developer of CloudPull for Google Docs backup, called this out on Twitter: "Good... Read MoreJune 26, 2011 09:52 AM
Focusing on the wrong things
Great post from Garrett Dimon, on his biggest mistake building the bug-tracker Sifter: "I got bogged down watching our bottom-line even though we've always been comfortably profitable. I worried about preventing fraud even though the only instance we ever encountered... Read MoreJune 22, 2011 02:43 PM
Mac App Store follow-up
I've been sitting on this post for a while. First the good news: Clipstart is in the Mac App Store. Overall I was very happy with the response and glad to have a new way for customers to find the... Read MoreJune 21, 2011 11:22 AM
Carousel
Don Draper, from the season 1 finale of Mad Men (YouTube, skip if you plan to watch the whole series): "This device isn't a spaceship; it's a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where... Read MoreJune 15, 2011 03:37 PM
Acorn 3
On a recent Core Intuition, Daniel and I talked about version numbers and the message you send by going to 2.0 or 3.0. The version is as much about marketing as it is about technically tracking the release. I can... Read MoreApril 18, 2011 09:43 AM
Where Apple went wrong with free apps
John Gruber has a solid summary of the issues around in-app purchase. Regarding the closed platform: "iOS isn't and never was an open computer system. It's a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox... Read MoreMarch 8, 2011 12:49 PM
App Store 30% cut
The Mac App Store launched! Like many developers I spent the day taking it out for a spin, thinking about whether this changes everything, and trying to ignore the fact that my app Clipstart isn't in the store on day... Read MoreJanuary 9, 2011 12:47 PM
Holiday bundles and no-brainer promotions
Two new bundles were announced this week: The Indie Mac Gift Pack (6 great Mac apps for $60) and the Fusion Ads Holiday Bundle (an assortment of web design-related apps, icons, and more for $79). I love apps in both... Read MoreDecember 17, 2010 03:31 PM
Faster support response times
In an interview with Kevin Hoctor on episode 5 of the iDeveloper Live podcast, Scotty referenced my comment from Core Intuition that customers are so used to terrible support that they don't mind a few days or even a week... Read MoreDecember 13, 2010 09:06 AM
$1 apps won't dominate the Mac App Store
Marco Arment wrote an interesting piece on the Mac App Store shortly after it was announced. I was nodding my head in agreement for much of it, until I got to this part: "And if the Mac App Store is... Read MoreDecember 3, 2010 03:02 PM
Free 1-star reviews
Before I released Tweet Library, I talked to everyone who would listen about the price. Several people suggested I go with a free app, but use in-app purchase to upgrade to the full version. Two apps that handle this well... Read MoreOctober 15, 2010 09:29 AM
Tweet Library 1.0
If you purchased, tweeted, blogged about, rated, or mentioned Tweet Library: thank you. I've been very happy to see how well it is being received. I built this app because I wanted to do more with Twitter, but I didn't... Read MoreOctober 9, 2010 09:47 AM
Interruption and collaboration
Jason Fried, from a recent interview: "Interruption and collaboration are different things." If you haven't listened to a Jason Fried talk recently, this one covers a lot of good stuff. I also like episode 19 of their podcast, which is... Read MoreAugust 30, 2010 05:47 AM
Congratulations, you're a manager
The sort of odd "best of both worlds" balance in my different projects at VitalSource and as a solo shop is that I love working with a team, and I also love working alone. I mean really alone, doing the... Read MoreAugust 8, 2010 02:09 PM
$10 iPad apps
I'm fascinated with App Store pricing. There's just so much interesting stuff going on: 99-cent apps and the race to the bottom. Users expecting apps to be cheaper because the device is smaller. The high-end successes like OmniGraffle. Sales and... Read MoreJune 24, 2010 12:39 AM
Fast customer support
Three years ago I wrote the following about customer support: "Most people who buy Mac software from independent developers know that it's only 1-5 people behind the company. We can't compete with the Microsofts and Adobes of the world on... Read MoreMarch 30, 2010 10:18 AM
Unrealized projects
Seth Godin on an exhibit for Tim Burton: "Here's the guy who's responsible for some of the most breathtaking movies of his generation, and the real surprise is this: almost every year over the last thirty, he worked on one... Read MoreJanuary 18, 2010 09:35 AM
Apple promotions survey
I was chatting with some developers the other night about giving away software to Apple employees. If you're not familiar with the practice, it's fairly common to give free or discounted licenses to Apple employees as a gesture of goodwill... Read MoreJanuary 6, 2010 09:17 AM
Indie payment processing
This story about PayPal screwing over a Mac indie business should be a real concern to anyone relying on PayPal. These kind of things come up from time to time, often with frozen accounts because too much money was suddenly... Read MoreDecember 28, 2009 11:27 AM
iPhone giveaway wrap-up
I was reminded by Nick Bonatsakis on Twitter that I never wrote about how giving away the iPhone worked out. The short answer is: pretty well! The longer answer follows. I've conducted 3 giveaways for Riverfold Software now: Nintendo Wii,... Read MoreDecember 23, 2009 01:52 PM
Worthless apps
I like this article on Mobile Orchard about the relationship between price and ratings: "Customers with some skin in the game carry a psychological pressure to feel that they've been wise in their purchases; they'll tend to over emphasize their... Read MoreDecember 10, 2009 09:17 AM
Feedback about lost sales
Great post by Jason Cohen on why you need feedback about the real reason people aren't buying your product: "You need to talk with the people who were interested enough to find your website, read your marketing copy, download your... Read MoreSeptember 21, 2009 05:05 PM
Better is the best marketing
Gus Mueller, in response to a post from Joel Spolsky: "If no one is buying your app then you've either got a dud and you need to focus on something else, or you need to improve your app so it's... Read MoreSeptember 3, 2009 08:29 AM
Go without food
For the last couple of years, I've been squeezing work out of every free moment I have to build Clipstart and Wii Transfer, and every six months or so I'm just completely burned out and need to take a break.... Read MoreAugust 30, 2009 09:53 AM
Wii Transfer survey
Yesterday I sent out a newsletter to all my Wii Transfer customers. You can see the text of the newsletter here. I wasn't sure how effective this would be, but I immediately got a bunch of responses to the survey,... Read MoreJuly 30, 2009 11:01 AM
FastScripts 2.4
What I like most about the FastScripts 2.4 release is that Daniel was willing to completely change the product evaluation terms to give new life to the product and get it out to more users. "I have been thinking for... Read MoreJune 28, 2009 09:10 AM
Rogue Amoeba at Macworld
Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba on exhibiting at Macworld 2010: "I'm delighted to be able to plant a flag and say that in 2010, Rogue Amoeba will again be exhibiting at Macworld. We still believe in Macworld and all that... Read MoreJune 5, 2009 12:43 PM
Introducing Clipstart
Last week I looked at the SVN log for my application in development and realized that I had started it exactly 1 year ago. While I wasn't actively working on it every day or week during that time, that's still... Read MoreMay 4, 2009 09:58 PM
MacHeist, roofing, and making it up on volume
I wasn't going to write about MacHeist this year, but after a hail storm damaged nearly every roof in our neighborhood, I noticed something kind of obvious: there are a lot of business that make it up on volume. This... Read MoreApril 14, 2009 08:44 PM
Software product myth
Rob Walling has a good post about all the expenses it's easy to overlook when starting a software business. The most insightful line is this: "The point of The Software Product Myth is that at some point you are going... Read MoreJanuary 24, 2009 02:47 PM
Get Rich Slowly
I started reading the Get Rich Slowly blog last year and it has quickly become one of my favorites. Don't let the name fool you — it's really just about practical advice for paying off debt, keeping a budget, and... Read MoreJanuary 8, 2009 02:12 PM
Follow-up on family packs
In October I blogged about and then launched a "family pack" purchase option for Wii Transfer. $39 for 5 licenses vs. $19 for 1. The results are in, and they are unspectacular. 2.6% of orders were family pack purchases. At... Read MoreJanuary 7, 2009 10:04 PM
The 99-cent message
Forget the developer perspective for a minute. Even as a user I find the race-to-the-bottom iPhone price drops completely maddening. I've bought apps for $5 and $10, and now many of those prices have either been cut in half or... Read MoreDecember 12, 2008 10:15 PM
Family packs
I rolled out "family pack" pricing for Wii Transfer over the weekend. I had to make changes to my custom PayPal integration scripts to support it, and I also modified the product page to use a simplified checkout (no standalone... Read MoreOctober 27, 2008 11:02 PM
Campaign Monitor
Last month, on the 7th episode of Core Intuition, we talked about promotion. In particular I had good things to say about Campaign Monitor, and the folks who built it heard the episode and wanted to ask a set of... Read MoreOctober 15, 2008 11:54 PM
NDA and overnight optimism
Last week I blogged about my experience with a late Amazon order, commenting that I was a happy customer again after they apologized. Even after being mistreated, customers will forgive everything if only the company does the right thing in... Read MoreOctober 1, 2008 01:55 PM
Ship it, software and newsletter
I've been meaning to link to this post by Justin Williams on shipping his Today app quickly: "I'm a big fan of foundation releases. In other words, release the bare minimum you possibly can to constitute a 1.0 and then... Read MoreSeptember 26, 2008 08:41 AM
Almost-right Amazon response
I placed an order on Amazon last week and chose Amazon Prime overnight shipping, something I do pretty often. The package was late. Even on Saturday, when the package was nowhere near Texas, the Amazon order page still showed estimated... Read MoreSeptember 25, 2008 04:59 PM
Wii Transfer 2.6 and August
As I mention on the next Core Intuition, which I'm currently finishing editing and should be out tomorrow, Wii Transfer 2.6 was very well received. I put out a 2.6.1 tonight to address Mii problems for some customers, and with... Read MoreSeptember 2, 2008 09:59 PM
Wii Transfer serial numbers
The search phrase "wii transfer serial numbers" (or "wii transfer serials") is consistently one of the top referrers from Google to this blog, usually pointing to my post about the first 75 days. I figure I get enough traffic that... Read MoreApril 23, 2008 08:57 AM
MacLife write-up and Wii Transfer beta
Wii Transfer has a full-page mini-tutorial in the May edition of MacLife magazine, as part of a section on connecting your Mac to video game consoles. I finally picked up a copy last night. It was certainly a nice... Read MoreApril 20, 2008 12:29 AM
New and old posts about NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire is free (congrats again Brent!) and reaction is coming in from other indie developers. Rory Prior: "It's hard to compete with a product that's as well known and frankly as good as NNW, it's damn near impossible to compete... Read MoreJanuary 11, 2008 01:29 PM
MacSanta 2007 in time for Christmas
Wii Transfer's featured day for MacSanta starts at midnight tonight, but I've already rolled out the coupon code. Because I'm still using simple PayPal "Buy Now" buttons, I hacked together a little custom coupon field just for MacSanta (based on... Read MoreDecember 19, 2007 05:23 PM
Wrapping up the Wii Giveaway
After sitting on a shelf in my office for 2 months, unopened and unloved, I finally shipped off the Nintendo Wii today to the lucky winner. I was initially worried because he didn't respond until well into the second... Read MoreDecember 18, 2007 11:41 PM
Holiday Wii Giveaway and Twitter
A few months ago I was in Target and they had some Wiis in stock, so on an impulse I bought one. I've owned a Wii since launch day, but I had this idea to give one away for Christmas... Read MoreDecember 4, 2007 11:18 PM
Wii Transfer on macZOT
After I shipped Wii Transfer 2.5 I decided to start spending a little time promoting the product. Every month or so I'll do some small thing to improve sales. Last month that was a press release, followed by the ad... Read MoreOctober 17, 2007 09:01 AM
