7 Lessons we learned from iOS development by PixoMobile cofounders: Robert Mao & Haitao Li

1. 7 lessons we learned
from iOS development
Robert Mao &Haitao Li
Co-Founders of PixoMobile
Seattle iOS Developers Meetup
9/25/13

2. Who we are
 Robert Mao: Co Founder of PixoMobile.
Former Microsoft Research guy, serial
entrepreneur, worked in China, Europe
and USA. (rob@pixomobile.com)
 HaitaoLi: Co Founder of PixoMobile.
Former Microsoft guy, developed Internet
Explorer, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
(haitao@pixomobile.com)

3. Our apps - PhotosPro
- Featured by Apple as “New & Noteworthy”
- Widely reported by media and review sites
- Peak download per day: 120K
- High daily active users
App link: http://pixomobile.com/photospro/

4. Our apps - Levitagram
- Reached #2 grossing photo app in US Store
- Remain on top chart since today
- Widely reported by media and review sites
App link: http://pixomobile.com/levitagram/

5. Our apps - PoshLight
- Our latest app in the AppStore
App link: http://pixomobile.com/poshlight/

6. Our apps - FaceCraft
- In review, coming soon…
App link: http://pixomobile.com/facecraft/

8. Most app developers‟ #1 headache…
“No one uses my
crappy little app !”

9. What we did it right
 Focus on data analytics
 Fast execution
 Not staying focused while staying focused

10. Data, data, data!
 App analytics
 Google Analytics
 Focus on the user retention
 User interaction path, is it as you
expected? Drop off rate?
 Real time analytics is very valuable
 Crashlytics
 You can‟t fix every bug
 AppAnnie
 Know your number, know your
competitors number even better
 Find hype vs reality

11. Fast, fast, fast!
 Fast iteration
 2 weeks development cycle
 Limit everything in 2 weeks, seriously!
 What if the goal is too big for 2 weeks?
 Cut features! K.I.S.S.
 Is it the right thing to do?! Cut the whole thing!
 Can you guys seriously FINISH EVERYTHING in 2 weeks?
 NO. : )
 YES. : )
 Lack of resource is your biggest advantage to compete with
big players
 Other things need to be fast
 Your code need to run fast
 Bug fix
 Customer support (User Voice)

12. Lesson #1 - Product
 Build something your users want to buy not just get interested
 Don‟t listen to your users (especially early
adopter, professionals) … observe them
 K.I.S.S - Don‟t add up features.
 Your idea is not original (enough)…
 AppAnnie data
 AppStore reviews

13. Lesson #2 - Naming
 Which of those app name sucks less?
 Photos Pro
 PhotosPro
 PhotosPro: Photos App Reinvented
 Levitagram: levitation photography for dummies.
 There are so many bad named apps in the store, include some „famous‟
apps
 Bad naming patterns
 Common words
 Single word
 Meaningless word

14. Lesson #2 - Naming
 Naming strategy
 Name after popular app or not?
 Unique + meaningful
 Do appstore search AND web search first
 Our naming process
 Brain storm 15~20 names (eliminate obviously bad names)
 Vote to eliminate to ~5 names (purely personal taste)
 Ask „experts‟ to decide for us from name candidates
 Our experts:
 Kids
 Female friends

15. Lesson #3 - Design
 Icons
 Are app icons important?
 YES, very important
 How much does it cost ?
 For us: $5 ~ $29
 Is it worth spending X dollars to ask someone design for it?
 NO. Unless you have a great designer friends/partner, or you have too much money to
spend
 Is it worth bidding on sites like 99 designs?
 No, you get what you paid for : )
 What makes a good App Icon?
 Unique
 Easy to remember
 Not ugly

16. Lesson #3 - Design
 App design
 K.I.S.S
 Try no to reinvent the wheel
 Try the best to follow standard UI guideline
 Our practice (may not work for everyone)
 Prototype with real code. Sketches only, no
mockup, all real code.
 Implement multiple designs and pick the best.
 Reuse the design (and also the code)
 Don‟t listen to „experts‟, „professionals‟ or even
„users‟, instead observe user behavior from
analytics
 Experiments and analytics on everything

17. Lesson #4 - Pricing
 Don‟t be afraid to ask users to pay
 Always think of building a paid app even you want it to be free.
 Benefits of not being free
 You can make money
 You can use „free promotion‟
 You can get free deals from promotion sites
 You can stay in top chart much longer
 0.99 vs 1.99 vs 2.99 vs …

18. Lesson #5 - Promotion
 Most paid promotion are useless
 Paid review sites
 Paid „expedited‟ review sites
 Small but focused app review sites can be 10X more effective than big name media (use
your time wisely)
 Don‟t promote it too early (or it‟s wasting time, money and resource)
 Some focused app promotion sites are extremely effective (however they are very
expensive!)
 But we get it all FREE!
 If you have a great app, they will come to you!
 Build long term relationship with partners

19. Lesson #6 - Growth
 Retention, engagement is the key to the growth
 Without retention, promotion won‟t get you the growth
 Design a product for growth
 Build the viral loop

20. Lesson #7 – User engagement
 Don‟t set the user expectation too high
 Always under promise and over deliver
 Your name, description and screenshots could make a
difference
 Review matters, esp. for paid apps
 Engage users from all channels
 User voice, email, facebook pages, instagram…

21. Bonus lesson
 Nothing happens as planned
“No one uses my
crappy little app !”

22. Thank you!
Visit http://PixoMobile.com for
our latest apps and updates!