awolf

Disagree. There's nothing wrong with driving for enjoyment or to accomplish enjoyment.

What if you're only going to potentially piss of a percentage of a percent of your users? In the OP's case this seems to be the case.

I understand your perspective, but: the OP stated that he only sold the app for .99 cents before making it free during the summer. So 2 of 7 months before becoming free. But apps usually get at least 10x more downloads when free. So to calculate what percentage of his user base might be affected by the additions of ads when they have already paid: 2 / (2 + (10 * 5)) = 3.8% of his user base. That's his historical user base, not his retained user that is still using the app. OP's estimate for user retention is 3%. The number of his total users that will be affected is: 3% of 3.8%. 0.11%. If this app was downloaded 10,000 times since launch we are talking about 11 people - half of which have already posted their negative reviews to iTunes and the other half... doesn't really care either way.

As an app developer myself, I do care about my users. If a significant number of people will be negatively affected by a change I'm considering, I simply won't do it. It's just about where you draw the line. Is your stance that if even one person is affected in this way then it is unacceptable to make the business decision to shift to ads?

Yup, but it's definitely close enough - especially contrasted against the OP's chosen approach of doing no targeting whatsoever.

Also, iCloud's NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore gives us NSUserDefault-like data storage that syncs across the user's iCloud account (iOS 5 and up required). This makes the firstLaunchData approximation very near to perfect.

>I don’t have analytics in Timer since I’ve had a hard time finding a good analytics provider that doesn’t do shady things with the data they collect

Check out Parse. They aren't an analytics provider. They provide a generic backend API that you can use with your apps to store and fetch whatever data you desire. For the number of user's you're probably working with, and the number of events you'll want to log, you will most likely stay under their 1,000,000 free requests per month (and if you don't, the $200/mo expense will probably be acceptable to you given your app's monthly revenue).

>If Apple provided a reliable way to determine who had already paid, I would have just automatically disabled ads for people who had paid.

Two things here: first, you should have only shown the adds to new users. That would have been the safest play to avoid backlash from existing users. Second, this is why it's a great idea to track "firstLaunchDate" in the NSUserDefaults in 1.0 versions of your future apps. With that single piece of information you would have been able to target exactly who sees the adds and who doesn't.

Edit: I wanted to add I think you might be making a mistake backing down at this point. It seems that all of the problems you mention in this post relate to some small (yet vocal) percentage of your existing users being upset with the recent changes. That's a temporary problem, and probably not that big of a deal at this point since you've already absorbed the majority of the backlash you're going to get. If you think the changes you made in your latest version are the right direction for your product in the long run, then I'd stay the course.

> I can nearly eliminate cholesterol in mice

"Cholesterol" is an organic compound that is essential for life. What exactly do you mean you can nearly eliminate it in mice?

This post gives terrible advice for those in the Ongoing Medical Conditions category. For most pre-existing conditions there's very little chance of getting approved for any of the plans they recommend. A bit surprising coming from a company that should apparently know what they're talking about.

As an independent software developer with Type 1 Diabetes, COBRA from my previous employer is my only option. Fortunately, California extends the national 18 month maximum duration to 36 months. Unfortunately, my COBRA will run out 4 months before 2014, so I'll need to figure something out before then.

Expected behavior with the iPhone 5: ~10-15% better battery life.

You've ruled-out the known spotty LTE switching/searching issue, I'd perform these additional experiments:

1) Disable iCloud sync entirely for a day. In iOS5 there used to be a bunch of battery life problems caused by devices getting caught in an endless loop of pointless background syncing. Maybe you're still hitting something like that.

2) Turn of location services for a day. Maybe you've got something like Find My Friends taking up too much juice?

3) Turn of email "push" for a day. Maybe you've got too many email accounts?

Failing that, maybe you've got a dud? Take it to the Apple store and they can look at your device energy usage logs. They'll most likely tell you to do a fresh iOS install suspecting a software issue.. but in the end they might just switch you to a new device.

It doesn't seem like a software issue to me, so I'd guess no fix will come aside from LTE coverage improving in your area.

It's just the cold hard facts of where the state of cellular radio technology is today. It's pretty amazing as is that the iPhone 5 can be so much thinner, lighter, support a larger hi-res screen, be twice as fast, and support LTE. The spotty LTE issue is just one of those compromises that I don't think much can be done about.

Your issue is a known issue with LTE. In spotty areas the phone keeps switching from LTE to 4G, and then when in 4G searches for LTE. The searching process, which requires powering separate radios for each protocol, is expensive power-wise. If you keep bouncing in and out of LTE this is bound to happen.

I did not realize that the author was from the company named Heyzap. When they used it as an example of a good name, I scoffed and then hit the back button. That name is one of the worst out there. I don't know why in particular but it annoys the hell out of me every time I see it.

I’m the creator of this app.

I wanted to add a huge thank you to the HN community. On Sunday I posted this Ask HN requesting feedback on version 1.0 of my landing page:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4652652

The feeback I got was invaluable showing me the numerous ways that I was muddling my message and missing the mark. The improvements I made took my landing page looking like this:

http://cl.ly/image/2s0S0O3z0j1G

To what you see above.

Thanks again Hacker News!

Just my opinions here:

>Is this the behavior that HN's vote ring detector is trying to discourage?

I hope so. It's great and all that you have 10 people to vote up an article as soon as its posted... but I don't. Shouldn't the content be voted up based on its own merits vs. how many people you know? An instant 10 votes is a huge unfair advantage.

> if so, it's too bad, because quality content like robertjmoore's last three posts is getting lost

If the problem is the content getting "lost" because you guys are voting up the articles... then stop doing that. If the content is vote-worthy it will get votes.

Additional comment: sure, I get that this wasn't clear to you guys... but come on. On some level you can see how this would be unfair- right?

Thanks you, Open Sans is a beaut and it feels more "adventurous" than Helvetica.

On it, thanks!

Thanks, you're dead-on with all of your points.

You're surrounded by scenic, interesting, and happening places and don't know it. Wanderous helps you discover and explore these places by guiding you to them and showing you what's there.

The target user is travelers and locals alike. I think I'd prefer to appeal to local (read: everyday) users over travelers. I'll have to think about this one.

Which is better for the landing page: this colorful screen shot that makes user's ask.. what're all those goodies? vs. a detailed screenshot showing a New Expedition being created? I went with this in hopes of it being more alluring and visually appealing. The Expedition creation screen looks a bit boring and less appealing but would help convey the concept.

> I think that your efforts are spent much better focusing on figuring out the marketing for your app within the app store itself.

> figure out a way to get as many blogs/news sources to cover your app release as possible

I totally agree on both of these points. However, I feel like creating, and iterating the message on this landing is time spent focusing on the app store marketing I'll end up using as well as time spent improving my pitch to journalists. Case in point: this is my first attempt at pitching the concept of Wanderous and, over the past hour reading everyone's comments, I've learned that it was pretty much a failure. This is a good thing. An amazingly good thing. Because if this was the pitch I started sending to journalists the concept would not be communicated clearly and my promotion efforts would flop.

When I say "gem" or "point of interest" people are thinking "single restaurant" or "single attraction" The key part of my pitch that I'm screwing up is that Wanderous is about neighborhoods or simple scenic areas in general. The POIs are algorithmically determined by high densities of shared photo geotags and other social activity.

So for example, there are 100 POIs in San Francisco. One of these hundred is called "Nob Hill" and happens to be 1 block from Granite Rock Climbing Gym... but Granite Rock Climbing Gym doesn't rank in the top 10 most popular sub-places in my Nob Hill POI (eclipsed by Grace Cathedral and other famous/notable buildings). But that area is quite scenic and worth visiting (according to Wanderous).

Thanks Fleitz. I missed links on the Logo+title+screenshot. I'll definitely get them in there for when the app because available on the store.

The spots are not necessarily restaurant specific. The points of interest are closer to encompassing whole neighborhoods rather than a single restaurant. It's really just about where the hotspots are in a given location. Some are chosen due to a cluster or restaurants, but others may be chosen simply because its a scenic are where lots of photos are taken and shared. Your comment definitely shows me that I need to convey this somehow. Thanks again!

Good call on an A/B testing framework. I'll definitely investigate that.

Thanks, I'm glad the treasure map phrasing resonated. I'd love to make the page match that theme a bit more closely, but I unfortunately didn't come up with the treasure map concept for describing my app until after submitting it to the app store. I don't want the feel of the landing page to stray too much from the app's.

>>Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got

Absolutely not! It's my job to be clear and based on your comment and other, I'm obviously falling short.

>>What is a "gem"? Who are the people that decide whether a place is a gem or not?

The "little gem" thing is a figure of speech but I see now that it could be confusing in the context of pitching a brand new product.

Wanderous has defined 8,000+ Points of Interest algorithmically by analyzing social and photo sharing geotags to determine where the destinations worth visiting in our world. Users are encouraged to explore places they wouldn't go otherwise by creating walking or driving tours between one or more of these destinations.

Love the treasure map idea but it's a bit outside of my skill level/budget for right now.

Thanks for the comment!

Thank you for this dreadsword. Based on your feedback as well as others I definitely need to do a better job explaining the concept.

>When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences...

Whenever you feel like exploring in a new city, or your own city, you can use Wanderous to create a walking or driving route between one or more points of interest. Wanderous's POIs have been created based on by social and photo sharing hotspots so the destinations are novel yet enjoyable.

Thanks for the feedback!

Yah, the email popup is just placeholder until Wednesday since I can't link to the App Store page until its live. Once it's live I'll just flip it over to the App Store.

I'm working on getting a Press page together with a full set of screen shots. My thinking was to keep this page sparse with a prominent App Store button. Since everyone knows you can see screenshots on the App Store, this might increase the number of users who click through. I'll definitely think about what you said though... I don't want people to lose interest and hit "back" rather than clicking through.

What.. is it? I'm not sure how it relates to my app. Seems to be a teaser for a movie coming out in 2013. Do you just mean the feeling you get from it?

Clickable: http://wanderousapp.com

Great comment, thanks for making it. There's nothing like having a domain expert explain the tradeoffs using specifics.

A while back I wrote a reusable class that draws a single button using three overlapping CAGradientLayers each .5 pixels larger than the next layer drawn on top of it. With this arrangement I can then specify top and bottom values for the "outer gradient", "inner gradient" and "body gradient" producing beautiful buttons that are 100% adjustable in code. Since 80% of my skills lie in the development realm vs. the design realm this class has been insanely useful for me across multiple projects.

But obviously not efficient. If I wanted to refactor my class to still have the three levels of run-time rendered gradients along with rounded corners, what would be the most efficient method?

Uh sure. In that case, go ahead and just substitute every occurrence of "average consumers" with "all consumers" in what I said above. Though I'd be over-generalizing it would still pretty much true.

I didn't say that just because a person is not a programmer that they are unable to think for themselves. A vast majority of people are completely out of the loop when it comes technology and have learned to rely on the judgement of others who are more informed when it comes to technology purchasing decisions. This isn't "mindless" or inability to think for themselves, in fact it's the smartest decision most people can make. We all do it when outside our fields of expertise.

There a ton of extremely competent people that are technologically clueless. To believe otherwise is bubble thinking.

I think you're kidding yourself.

People wanting choice might be why us nerds choose Android but it is not why the average the consumer does. The average consumer does not know better either way whether they would prefer iOS, Android, or other.. they just need a new phone because their old one broke and "hmm I guess this one looks ok". The average consumer gets an Android phone because they walk into a carrier store needing a new phone and ultimately end up going with the option that earns the salespeople the largest commission. And this average consumer I'm describing accounts for 95% of the market.

This effect largely doesn't apply to tablet consumers.

Google makes 99% of its money from ads, and it has pretty much always been that way.

They're definitely an ad company.

From my perspective that amounts to an enormous cut. I understand that you guys are attempting to mitigate the not-getting-paid risk, but I've been able to do that on my own by choosing good clients. My feedback would be:

1) find a way to disclose the details of how this works for developers on the landing page or on a linked FAQ. I'm simply not going to "Get Started" if I think crucial details are being withheld from me. The pitch put me on the defensive from step 1 which is not a good place to start.

2) Think about adding tiering to your pricing. 10% could make sense for freelances who are just getting started and need to establish themselves with some initial portfolio work but I don't think it makes sense for higher paid freelancers who would otherwise still consider using your platform to find new and interesting projects.

On a positive: the layout and design of this landing page are very well done. The page is very easy to scan and the draw to the call to action button is palpable without feeling salesy or un-balanced.

Take a deep breath. I didn't say they deserve zero of my precious money. I said I didn't want them taking a percentage.

Also, it's more of a problem of not being upfront. I suspect based on their wording that they take a percentage but there is no clarification on that unless I advance in their sign-up process by pressing "Get Started". I don't want to get started before I know what I'm getting started for...