Welcome to a free iTakeNotes

After long consideration and in depth analysis of the market, we have decided to make iTakeNotes a free App with no hidden costs and without any ads. 
We are starting a brand new era with more than 25,000 users after just a month and very positive feedback on our initiative from the public.

Now taking notes on your iPad will be free

There's a lot to say about it and I will come back in the following weeks on the various aspects of this decision.
But right now for those who still hesitate to put a penny in downloading a great meeting notes app for your iPad, well, save it because it's free!

Customer Service on the App Store

Even the most skilled ios developer knows that bugs will eventually come up. No matter how extensive your testing has been, you need to be extra careful about it.

In the real world, a bug can always be managed. A customer will call you and you'll end up dealing and solving the issue.
On the App Store, not a chance. You don't know the customers, they are Apple customers. And if they get a bug, they may end up firing a terrible review and that's bad.

Despite all efforts, there's always a bug somewhere

Three scenarios may show up:

Scenario 1 (likelihood: 70%) : they get angry and drop you App. Most people just stop using an app when they are not satisfied with it, this "fire and forget" behavior is not in the developer interest. You might never get the information on the bug and you will lose a customer forever.

Scenario 2 (likelihood: 20%) : they get angry and write a bad customer review. And that's bad. Because everyone knows that excellent reviews are fake (they come from your friends, your mom or whoever else) but bad ones are real.

A bad review will follow you for a long time

And a bad customer review is there for a while. The only way to get rid of it is to come up with a new version that hopefully corrects your bug.

Scénario 3 (likelihood: 10%): they still get angry but they are nice enough to send you a request to complain. And that's the best thing that can happen.

Now when you get the complaint through email (or facebook page or twitter...), answer right away with 3 elements:
- Acknowledge receipt of the message
- Say you are sorry
- Say you'll do your best to correct the issue.

Whatever happens, say you are sorry

Keep in touch with the customer to inform him/her of your corrections because correcting the bug and submitting to Apple may take a good month over all.

If the customer is really angry and has already dropped a bad review, you may want to pay him/her back (provided your app is not for free...). It doesn't sound very profitable but in such a case, some customers have corrected their review and that's completely worth it!

Finally make good use of those customers who took the time to write to you: ask them for the features they would want, the usage of your app they have. Apple will leave you any access to them, so take advantage of the situation!

Lessons from the AppGratis experience

For those who haven't been following French tech news, there's an interesting story going on between AppGratis and Apple.

Background

AppGratis has been founded back in 2009 when iphone apps were kicking up. As others business like AppShopper, AppGratis was giving an app for free to its followers for one day only. We all know those businesses have been very successful so far because they connect 2 needs: a customer need to get something valuable for free and an app developer need to get your app ranked and known to the market. When you know that there are 1,2 millions iphone apps and 300,000 ipad apps, there is definitely an issue to get market awareness.

Is there anything more important in the Tech news?

The Story

AppGratis developed its own iPhone app and recently its own iPad app. It's been ousted from the AppStore on April 7th with very little explanations from Apple, which was perceived as a scandal in France, the media picturing Apple as the bad guy vs. the French startup world. Even the Digital Economy Secretary of State, +FleurPellerin, made a public appearance at AppGratis business site to show support against the great injustice. AppGratis has now started an online petition  to get public support.


What Apple says

Apple stated that AppGratis's App has violated 2 AppStore rules:
"- 2.25 Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.
- 5.6 Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind."

Apple doesn't like App Store rules violations

AllthingsD believes that Apple are started cracking down AppGratis and similar apps because they say they were troubled that AppGratis was pushing a business model that appeared to favor developers with the financial means to pay for exposure. “The App Store is intended as a meritocracy,” a source familiar with Apple’s thinking told AllThingsD.

I believe that behind that beautiful thinking, Apple also protects its market: you want to promote your App, use Apple tools or get ready to live dangerously. As I stated earlier, App Store customers are Apple customers before being yours, so don't feel home and respect the rules.

What does that tell us?

It's going to be harder to "manipulate" rankings from within the AppStore but it doesn't mean paying for promotion is going to disappear, it's just going to happen on more traditional websites. 

I would add AppGratis and the likes are not going to be out of business because they are not on the App Store any longer. As AppGratis CEO +SimonDawlat stated it, this story is an incredible chance for them since they are getting almost free advertising. For sure. But it will not last forever and they are not alone on this market. That's why I believe AppGratis business model will probably evolve to market analysis.

AppGratis type firms future is in customer intelligence 

Think of it: they have thousands if not hundreds of thousands regular users. They can measure campaign success according to customers profiles, a very high value information for any app developer. If you've been using iTunes Connect, you know that this kind of information is just not available! The only thing you get from iTunes Connect is the number of App sold per country and that's it. Market analysis is pretty much what companies like AC Nielsen were doing in retail, only now we are on virtual retail.

Getting more customer insight is a real challenge, if these companies would understand the value they could bring they will securitize their market position for a long time without any need from Apple approval.

First days on the App Store

Provided you set your sales to all available App Stores, you are now "ready for sale".

What happens next?

Well in the first few days, you will be featured in the News section of the App Store, meaning you are sitting in the front page: everyone who opens its App Store app during that period will see your app. Result: if your app is good and you are not pricing it like a luxury item, YOU WILL SELL. And believe me numbers can be surprising.

Success is surprising in the first days

A lot of people will buy out of curiosity or just because your app looks good. Reality is that they buy it because you are visible.

An example on the French App Store

Think of you app as any store in the world: If you are sitting on Rodeo Drive or the Champs Elysées, thousands of people walking by a day, part of them will stop and some of them will buy. The more pass by, the more you sell, nothing more simple.

Provided you are damn sure that all the major bugs have been identified and corrected, my advise is to take advantage of those days to do 2 things:
- Communicate on every media available about your app being out, it will eventually help you be ranked
- Use viral marketing: Insert all the relevant "like" buttons (Facebook, LinkedIn, Tweeter..) so your new users can communicate on their incredible experience.

And get prepared. A few days, a week, maybe more?

Toutes les bonnes choses ont une fin, all good things have an end. One day you are out of the news and your sales will drop. And boy that hurts

That's how it feels when you are out of App Store News

As of March 2013, there are 1,2 millions of iPhone apps and 300,000 iPad apps and you will need to crawl your way out from red sea to blue sea and it can feel very long but don't despair: this blog will keep giving advise, so keep faith and keep posted!

iTunes Connect, the way to submit your App

If you have checked all the boxes regarding your app submission check list, you can now move on to submission.
Submission happens only through iTunes Connect. If you believe you can talk to Apple about your app in the process, forget about it. iTunes Connect is just a landing platform which will inform you of the following submission steps:

1) Prepare for upload
2) Waiting for Upload
3) Upload received
4) Waiting for review
5) In review
6) Processing for App Store
7) Ready for sale

Between "Waiting for review" and "In review", 15 days will pass in a complete silence, so be patient. And pray. Pray that your testing has been well done, otherwise you will have to retake the whole process from the start.

ios developers praying Apple divinity during submission

Apple will check that your app is compliant with the AppStore rules and that it works. And that's pretty much it. Review last on average a few hours, very frustrating when you think that nothing happened for 15 days while "waiting for review".

If your app is rejected, Apple will give you the reason why (the bug they found for example). I strongly suggest not to discuss your rejection, even if you feel it's unjustified.

Don't play too smart if your app gets rejected

In a world where the only relationship you will have with Apple is based on your app and half filled dialog boxes, it's better to keep it clean. Remember that Apple is the one calling the shots here. Even if customers will be terribly frustrated from not getting your app, all these customers are Apple customers. And Apple is not going to jeopardize its customer relationship for you.

So what can you do during those 15 days? Well for one thing you can create a facebook or google+ page, a tweeter account and start creating some awareness around your app. If your customer target is not too wide, you can also start creating some buzz.   If you have connections at Apple, it might help you get some interest but we didn't have any so it didn't take us very far.

And then, one day, you will receive the magic notification "Processing for AppStore" very quickly followed by "Ready for Sale". You're in baby and that's worth celebrating!

Celebrate when you get your "ready for sale" notification

Nonetheless don't forget that :

- You will need to go through the same process for EVERY evolution (which will be very stressful for bug resolution)
- It's only the beginning!

Will everything be free on the App Store?

Creating an app is a painful process, it takes long time and you would believe it deserves to get some reward and a price. One thing when you start thinking about pricing an App is that you can't escape having those wild billionaire dreams where all users will pick up your app and you'll end up purchasing a beautiful island somewhere.

All app developers share the same dream

Before approaching any fancy real estate agency and putting option on a Ferrari, you will need to pick up your pricing model. Choices aren't that large even if Apple pricing matrix offers up to 87 tiers.

Setting the starting price for your app seems to offer lot of flexibility. You can either:

Option#1: Go for an upfront price ($0.99 and above)
Option#2: Go for a freemium model ($0 and selling in-apps)
Option#3: Go for upfront + in-apps because you are very confident
Option#4: Go for free because fame is the reward you are looking for

Option #1: For some obscure reason, someone at Apple decided to make prices start at $0,99 and by doing so made completely useless about 70 tiers above $10. On iPhone, prices have already got down to $0.99 and as Richard Gaywood stated it, it looks that there is very little room for prices above that tier.
The iPad has been somewhat preserved from the cup of coffee syndrome but there are very few apps above the $5 tier. I see a few reasons to this deviation from the iphone apps price behavior:

- The iPad reaches a different kind of public than the iPhone (families, business people) who sound more able to pay for an app that's worth it
- There are less apps for iPad than iPhone and competition has not been as fierce as on the iPhone market

Overall I think there is a market on the iPad for the moment but looking at the way iPhone market has evolved I am pessimistic and Option#2 is likely to become the standard.

No escape from the freemium model?

Option #2: The freemium model will probably become a standard in the months to come. Most of the games have already gone that way and with increasing pressure on boosting downloads, going free seems the way to go (check out this incredible experience). With a broader customer base, In-Apps purchases make sense, provided that they come with a service.

There are however 3 limits to this model:
- Customer behavior may evolve with the increasing amount of junk apps around. They may become suspicious at free apps and may be willing to pay if they see a point in getting your app.
- What has value has a price, everyone knows there is no such thing as a free ride. They know that there is a price to pay at some point either with in Apps or with no maintenance.
- Customers are zappers: they get an app and for a large majority of them, they just forget about it after a few hours, making In-Apps just inapt.

So big question is: are we doomed? 

Unsustainable business model will bring everyone down

Everyone needs to make a living. There are less and less investors on App Store start ups and many developers are giving up because it's just not sustainable that everything goes for free. Price war is like nuclear war, at some point everyone loses. Even Apple will start to worry (at some point) because what makes iPhone and iPad competitive is the number of apps available. And with an unsustainable business model, who will develop apps?

Conclusion and I am asking Apple here: why not make possible a 30 days trial on every app? It will give customers more confidence in what they buy and developers a reason to compete!

It's not that hard to do and cannot be more complicated than the pricing matrix!

Screenshots on the App Store: how to choose them?

Screenshots have always been an important part of the purchasing process on the App Store. It is the only way for the App shopper to get an idea of what the app look like.

If you are familiar with reading patterns, you know that the average shopper will surf very quickly through your screenshots (15 seconds is the average time spent). In that case, what's critical is to get the shopper to stop by. Therefore catching his/her attention must be your only obsession.

If the shopper doesn't stop by, it's not a good screenshot

Also if you have updated your iPad to ios 6 (meaning you have at least an iPad 2), you also noticed that on the App Store screenshots now come first, making it more important to put up the best you have, especially the two first screenshots which will make a difference.

On iPad 1:

Text first, screenshots second with an iPad 1

And now on iPad 2 or above

The first 2 screenshots come first on ios 6

I have also noticed some app developers have put concept pictures instead of their real app screenshots which is something I don't recommend. The shopper is visiting your App Store site to get an idea of what your app is about, if he/she was looking for concept pictures, there's all he/she needs on the net. If the picture you put up is not about your app, forget it.

Instead focus either on real app screenshots OR contextual picture of your app i.e the user using your app in a particular situation (remember the umbrella principle). 

In either case, I recommend one important thing: tell a story! Tell what is happening when you use your app, it's the best way to attract their attention.

Your screenshots should tell a story

A user case scenario is a good way to tell a story. Here's what we have picked up:

1) Screenshot 1: Welcome screen

2) Screenshot 2: Setting up a meeting

3) Screenshot 3: Meeting notes being taken

4) Screenshot 4: A finalized meeting Report

5) Screenshot 5: The email ready to be sent with the attached meeting report

You can also add a few comments on your screenshots to help the user better understand what the screenshot is about (features and such).

Finally don't forget to update your screenshots when you have a new version available.

Best marketing pitch for ipad app : Are quotes any useful?

"Best meeting report iPad app ever"

"Meeting notes on iPad have never been that easy with iTakeNotes" 

"Best Meeting Minutes iPad App Award Winner"

Sounds familiar? If you've been shopping around the App Store, you've probably noticed that quotes are just everywhere.  I looked over in productivity apps, 5 out of 20 app pitches were starting with quotes.

Well, most of the App Store marketing specialists tell you that you need to give quotes because shoppers are looking for social proof. And putting quotes first is a good way to give shopper a virtual "certificate".

Shoppers want quotes to avoid bad surprises

The web is full of junk and so is the App Store even if Apple is checking who's showing up. We are all looking for a recommendation from someone, either customer reviews or "media" quotes.

Following the same phenomenon you have for restaurants or hotels, iPad and iPhones magazines both online and at the newsstand have appeared almost everywhere.

Why?

Because we don't want to spend money on something that's not worth it. But the issue I am not comfortable with is the same issue we find all over the web, from TripAdvisor to Amazon:

Fake reviews and fake quotes

Yes fake reviews are everywhere now

Yes there is a business of paying for reviews and getting supposedly independent reviews. I don't say that all reviewer sites and magazines are not sincere but there is a fair share of that market which is corrupted.

And it's going to be more and more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.  This is the reason why I believe that quotes are likely to become less and less effective unless you are able to quote a review from an unquestionable brand, which will be difficult to find.

Rather than presenting your app like if it was a broadway show, I would rather not use quotes unless they are really worth showing.

Instead refine your first sentence, the one that makes the difference, make it sounds true about your app: what does it bring to the user? What is the pay off? In conclusion I would say:

Be true, it will eventually pay off

Best marketing pitch for the App Store: choosing the right words

Most of App Store Marketers tell you to put up quotes at the start of your app pitch. But since you are writing your first pitch, you have no reviews yet and it's going to be just plain text.

As we stated in a previous post, most shoppers won't read your text, so you better say what you have to say really quick. But how should you structure your pitch? And which words should you use and which ones should you avoid?

How to structure your pitch?

- A first sentence that summarizes exactly what you app does and the added value it brings to the user. Remember the umbrella principle, your app main feature should be crystal clear. If you want a good indicator that it works: even a 10 year old must understand it.

- Put your app in its context, be concrete: in which case, should you use it? At work? At home? In a boat? Be precise.

Don't write a too long pitch: Be concise

- Then explore the various features of your app. The best way to do it is to follow the most common user case. Otherwise describe what makes your app truly different.

- Saving time, money or Willy is always good so don't forget to put upfront positive effects included in your app.

- Since most readers won't spend too much time reading, do not write long sentences, use short ones. And use them with bullets as often as possible, they are easier to catch when scrolling down a text.

Which words should you use? 

- Personalize as much as you can: avoid words such as "user", "individual" and so on. Prefer the "you".

- Avoid technical words, remember the ipad (or iphone) user is not an app developer.

- Some studies have shown that buyers respond more to some words than others. Words such as "new", "discover", "now", "instantly" etc. should be preferred wherever possible.

Some words can be confusing for the shopper

If you want to know more about persuasive words, I suggest you read this article from Jonathan Farrington's blog, a famous sales coach.

Best marketing pitch for the App Store : understanding reading patterns

The App Store requires you to write a presentation of your App, which is something you have probably seen a hundred times if you have surfed on the App Store with your iPad. This post will focus on some reading pattern issues that I found important to capture before getting into the "pitch" subject which I will review in a second post.

As of today, there are no real public studies about readers behavior on the App Store. The only way we can figure  how readers behave on the App Store is through how they read in real life and more specifically how they read on the web, something that has received a lot of attention in the past 15 years.

Let's start with facts from real life: People read on average 200 words per minute. Since there are between 15 and 20 words per line, the average person reads one line in 5 seconds. So if they get to your app description and knowing they can only read 3 lines without having to scroll down, they are likely to spend 15 seconds on your App description, yes, 15 seconds and that's it.

You have 15 seconds to get your audience interested

Not only they spend a very limited time on your description but eye tracking studies suggest that reading is not a smooth process: we read over the text, stop from times to times in a process called fixation. Then we move forward or backward (if we didn't understand for example).

Fixation is good in marketing because it increases the chances that the reader will remember.

But fixation depends on how long the word is (short words don't get much fixation) and its nature: if the word is a content word, there's 85% chances we will fix it, it it's a function word, there's 35% chances we will fix it.

Fixation is a reading process you'll be looking for

And it gets worse:

• Web studies have shown that people will scan the main sections of a page and make decisions in 3 seconds about staying or leaving.
• If they stay, meaning that they do scroll down your app, if their behavior is similar to web user behavior, they will read only 20% of your text, often focusing on a triangular area in the upper left corner. Eye tracking studies have shown that this reading behavior looks like an F shape, specifically on e-commerce sites.

F shape reading pattern

Now let's apply this behavior to the app store where you don't have as much choice as on an html page. Here are the most important part of your text before the user scrolls down:

This is what most customers read before they scroll 

and if he took the decision to scroll down and "read" the rest of the text:

This is what most customers read if they scroll down

I don't have an eye tracking device and I haven't try to check that this web reading pattern apply to all users (but I swear I will). Using an iPad to browse the App Store is something very new that is likely to evolve over time. Also the impact of screen captures is not taken into account.

Nonetheless until someone smarter than me with an eye tracking device challenge this theory (for which I will welcome any input), I suggest the following for App developers:

• Put the most important content first, in the opening sentences and paragraphs and get straight to the point: what is you App about?
• Make short sentences with content words
• Use bullets lists wherever you can

If you want more information about reading patterns, I encourage you to visit the following sites:
- Nielsen's research on web readers : Nielsen is one the eye tracking most recognized searchers and is the first one to have identified the F shape pattern
- The National Center for Children with Disabilities (yes) has a very good article on the subject that you can find here
- Apple studies that you will find if you work for one of these organizations  (and you can send me whatever you have)

What is the real impact of keywords on the app store?

You have a great app but how the millions of iPad users will now that it does exist? If they don't know, how can they find you on the app store? We developed a meeting report app, but how will user know that there is a meeting report app?

Two ways: either you are very visible on the app store, a probability that comes very close to winning the national lottery, either you have found the magic keywords.

If this happens to you with keywords, wake up, you're dreaming 

Magic keywords combine both a very high search by the users AND a very high ranking of your app in the search results. Needless to say that even Hogwarts best students won't find out the magic keywords for your app.

So here's my advise: find the right keywords for your app, don't spend too much time on it and most importantly try not to mess up that process.

Finding the best keywords for your app: take your app main feature with the umbrella principle in mind. It's raining outside, you need to go out, what are the first words that come to your mind? "rain", "wet", "umbrella" and so on.

For iTakeNotes, we came with meeting, meeting report, minutes, notes, conference,... Those words are close concepts to our app main features. And we did it in english, french, spanish...

Don't play keyword strategy too long

And that's enough. Seriously.

There are so many things to do to market your app, no need to spend more time on it. Think of it: you're not alone, thousand of smart developers are out there and came with the same ideas. If you are familiar with game theory, you will realize that keywords are just too basic marketing to help you differentiate your app.

But still don't mess up your keywords. On the app store there is no coming back i.e. once your keywords are set, you will not be able to change them unless you make a new app release.

There is no second chance for keywords on the App Store

Now a few useful links:
- How to deal with keywords on App Store: check out Noel Chenier article on its blog, very useful
- The most used keywords: very interesting article by Bryson Meunier on Searchengineland
- A very interesting slideshare on the subject can also be found here

What is the best design for an app icon?

If you picked your icon color right, what your app icon design should be?

Remember that your icon must tell something about your app main features. It must be in line with your target audience. That's the easy part.

Your app icon must give the user an idea of what's in there

Now designing an icon means drawing something. If you are good with Photoshop, google up some tutorial, otherwise get ready to spend around $40 to purchase an icon design software from the following list.
You can also buy directly ready to use icons or customize them through dedicated websites such as webiconset , seanau , symbolicons or the very cheap iconshelf (how can they be so cheap?)

Whether you are designing the icon yourself or you bought it out (believe me, there's no shame in that), there are 4 principles you should respect:

- The simpler the better: don't put too many things in your icon, it will ultimately be confusing: 3 objects is a maximum
- Use universal imagery that people will understand wherever they come from
- Avoid putting text in your icon: it's a waste of space and it's hard to read anyway
- Avoid gloss, when you load your icon, Apple automatically adds gloss

Keep it simple and universal

Also bear in mind general design principles also apply to the app world because the eye moves throughout a design from one element to the other just like the ear with music:

- The eye associates line positions and directions with concepts: horizontal lines are calm and quiet, vertical ones suggest potential for movement and diagonal lines suggest movement and vitality.

- Straight lines are associated with human creation and work, curbs with nature and emotions

- Use familiar schemes: the eye is naturally attracted by something that is both complex and familiar, in the App Store chaos, it's a good way to make a difference. Check out this excellent article on visual hierarchy from Joshua Johnson on the subject, a real eye opener

- A good design must always be "balanced": to avoid mistakes, I found useful to use the "rule of the thirds" to build good proportions in an icon

Thou shall not ignore design principles even on the App Store

There so much to say about design that we could discuss it forever. But our app check list is far from over, we now need to focus on keywords and marketing pitch.

What's the best color for an app icon?

An icon represents your app on the App Store. Just like walking in the street, some people will notice your store and stop by, some won't.
What does it take to catch the attention? Color? Suggestive draw? Link with the name? Preview of the graphical interface? All of that?

How to attract attention in the App Store?

Being an amateur, I don't have a definitive answer BUT I do have a few clues. Let's start with colors.

Studies have shown that people tend to associate colors with emotions: white is pure, cold or high tech since Steve Jobs decided so but it is a mourning color in Asia; red is associated with heat, passion and is the color the eye recognizes most quickly; black is associated with sophistication, power or underground (Anonymous for example); green is nature, environment, more generally associated with wisdom; yellow is the most attractive color for the eye, the most tiresome also, supposed to go with fun and used with black it's a strong teaser; purple is power but difficult to use; brown is both nature and strength; blue which is the most popular color especially for men often associated with trust. No wonder  why most brands use blue. And finally pink which is associated with romance and the favorite color for women (which I challenge since I won't bet on any guy dressed up in pink for a date).

Colors help you get noticed from the App crowd

Now what's the best color for an app icon on the App Store? Remember that the App Store is a grey world, so avoid grey of course but also black, at least for the background. 

Depending on the target you have, I suggest you choose the following:

For business, productivity or any category which is serious, I would pick blue, brown or white as favorites and handle with care the others. 

For health I would pick white and blue.

For everything around games, I'd go for more vivid colors like red, yellow, everything which catches the eye of young folks. 

If you've been clever, your graphical interface was already in line with your target and all you need is to duplicate.

You are still not sure? Well, make a test. Like for name get random people in line with you target audience and make them choose between several png colors for the same name and see how it goes. 

Make sure your color attracts the right target audience

To tell the truth, we didn't act this way since we were more or less in a rush. Our app icon has been designed after our graphical interface which was brown so we didn't get it completely wrong. But not having it right the first time is not that critical, you can change your icon with a new version, so there is always time to do things right.

If you want to explore some more about colors: 

Generic about colors:

- Kissmetrics blog

- Marketo Blog 

More specific about icons

- Mobile testing blog which has some very useful information

- Adrien Friggeri experience on the iphone

And if you need inspiration, check out AppStorm review of most gorgeous icons. They didn't pick iTakeNotes but we are forgiving.

Finding the right App name

Finding the right App name is everyone's obsession. There are plenty of theories around setting up brand names : it has to be positive, make reference to something people aspire to etc etc
Well would that be true then someone may explain to me why a pathetic name such as Google has been such a global success? Or Microsoft? Or Volskwagen? Or Lady Gaga?

Let's be serious: of course having a cool name is important, but if the product behind is crappy, it will be shortlived anyway. Like for people, a name, in the end, is just a name. Customers will ultimately decide if the product is worth it or not. And with virus marketing, you can bet they will make your promotion.

 That thing is cool with or without a name

OK but we still need a name, don't we? So how do we choose it? So here's my advice:

Remember the umbrella principle. The name must answer for your app main feature. Don't go look for exotic names, remember that the App Store is a very crowded place and for one category you pick there may be thousands of Apps, so don't go confusing too much the customer.

I also suggest you look for several names and not just one. In my case I came up with iTakeNotes, Minutes and a few others. Then make a quick check that they don't exist on the App Store. Once that's done, pick up a few people from various backgrounds who have no idea what you are working on and who could be interested in your App. That would rule out wife, husband, significant other, mom and dad and whoever would be too nice with you. 5 to 10 people is a good number for a "focus group" because that's what this is.

Then ask them what kind of app they would suppose each name is about. Once they are done, tell them about the concept and see how they react. Listen to what they say (even if it's sometime painful) and which one they would pick. If the whole process ends up without a name, try again.  

Reactions to name proposals can be disappointing

When you have finally picked up your name, I suggest you make a quick reservation of the web domain and why not for a change picking up yourname.app .

Now here are a few spoilers on the App Store:

-You can add a keyword to your app name in each language: say you have a name for a cooking app, you can add "Cool Recipes" in English and to whichever language you publish your app.
- Don't try cheating with the alphabet, so far it seems that only release dates or ranking have an importance on the positioning of your App.
- Apple prohibits the use iPad and iPhone names, so it seems.

If you want to check for more spoilers, I suggest you check out the following blogs:
- Noel Chenier's blog who has a great article on this subject
- Bogdan's thoughts on app name rejections
- Happi Papi on name changes

Apple Submission Check List

Now that you believe you're done with testing and your App is ready, you will proceed to the developer's holy temple, iTunes Connect. It is designed to give you access to all resources you need to manage your App.

Back when I thought iTakeNotes would be ready in no time, I registered on iTunes Connect right from the start and paid for my developer's license too early. I suggest you do that when your App is maturing, no need to rush.

Apple is very tight on registration so make sure all necessary company numbers are ready and that your company exists. In case you're an individual entrepreneur, I believe the process is a little easier.

Anyway don't even think about talking to anyone at Apple at this stage, the whole process is highly industrialized. You do as they say or you just won't access the millions of iPad users waiting for you.

Just do as Apple says

Once registration is done, you can proceed with your app. BUT... there are important things you need to have when you arrive at this stage:

- An App name
- An App icon appealing enough for the App Store in color and in design
- A list of keywords
- A 10 lines marketing pitch describing your app making good use of reading patterns
- 4 Screenshots of your app
- A fancy website with in depth explanations
- A demo video if you are good at it
- Email adresses for inquiries and customer support
- A price
- A banking account in case you end up doing revenues

Did we have all that when we came up on iTunes Connect? Well, partially. So we had to fill up the gaps ourselves. And since we believe in our guiding principle, "Do It Yourself" , we did everything ourselves.

Our upcoming posts will describe each of these items in details, one by one, yes we can!