iDrill Moi

An update to iDrill Moi that brought in-app purchases was approved by Apple on Dec 21, 2009. Bundle Version 1.0 didn't stick and app didn't make it to front page. Was in review from 12/14 or just a week.

Noël

Noël is a remake of Triangle with a Christmas theme. I wanted to do Triangle as a Christmas app since I came up with triangle lines idea over a year ago. Last Christmas I was late, so it was released this Christmas season. Unfortunately, Apple was bitchy about Application Name in iTunesConnect not matching the name displayed on the iPhone (Application name in Info.plist) and rejected the app just for this reason two days into review on Dec. 10. So the app was late and approved on Dec. 17th when Apple being overwhelmed approved pretty much everything. By Christmas week it was buried under a pile of crap-ware not getting any sales like the rest of applications approved after the week of Dec. 10.

Fourteen

Fourteen is a re-release of Magiecom's 14 Puzzle under US label. It went into review the same day update to HexLines went in, i.e. Dec 8th. Reviewing brand new application took a bit longer then reviewing an update. Still Fourteen review took just 9 days (as opposed to 45+ days from Canadian side).

iSpell Inizio

By December App Store review process was overwhelmed prompting Apple to take itunesconnect down for Christmas week. Once November's "blanket rejections" didn't help Apple switched to approving apps left and right without much reviewing. iSpell Inizio in app-purchases were not tested, but the app was in review for just 8 days from Dec. 8th to Dec. 16th. By Christmas the app was buried behind crap-ware yielding worst initial two weeks sales ever.
Clearly, App Store is broken for both updates and new releases.

14 Puzzle FREE

Since iPhone applications were not selling past initial two weeks I decided to test different route - release apps for FREE, bug users with advertisement and provide in-app purchase to turn advertisement off. This is how 14 Puzzle FREE came about and was submitted on Dec. 08, 2009. At that time Apple was clearing up backlog and approving applications in hundreds after just a week in review, so on Wed Dec 16, 2009 14 Puzzle FREE went live.

Surprisingly enough, people do click on the ads and the first week 14 Puzzle FREE averaged about 10 clicks and $0.6 a day in ad sales on AdMob and 5 clicks and $0.4 a day in ad sales on Quattro, or $1 a day overall give or take. Around Christmas clicky picked up and in two weeks 14 Puzzle FREE sold $33 worth of ads clearing 600 and 1833 downloads. Out of those 2435 downloads, 4 people made in app activation by year end, making it 0.16% "click-thru" or way worse then 5+% CTR on AdMob.

That's all folks

As iSpell Casa came back from review I submitted updates adding in-app purchases to the rest iSpell House applications (but the most successful Russian) on Dec 8th. By December Apple have been approving apps without much testing (no in-app purchase receipts were logged on the server), so those three made thru review in exactly a week.

Also on Dec 8th I pretty much gave up and released all iCards Animals that I could release (with exception of English that got wrong bundle id). I am pretty much fed up with Apple. Until Apple makes releasing updates rewarding this is it, regardless that I have 5 language apps in the pipeline and updates for couple dozen apps already released. Ain't worth my time.

Welcome Android.

HexLines

Since setting "Version Number" in itunesconnect to 1.0 didn't work out I tried setting it to "1.0 gs" and released and update to HexLines that also fixed game saves.

Again releasing from US label was a breeze - update went in Dec. 08 and appeared on the App Store on Dec. 13. Unfortunately, release date didn't stick and update never made front page.

Münzwurf with in-app purchases

On Dec. 2 Münzwurf got two in-app purchases - Ancient and Historic coins. Nobody cared at least until the end of the year.

iSpell Me

On Dec 11 the rest of updates submitted on Oct 21st and rejected in bulk on Nov 19th finally made thru. For those updates that added in-app purchases that Apple have little knowledge how to test at least back in October - early November the review took 51 days or those updates are the second longest in review.

Surprisingly enough, on Oct 21st I submitted a bunch of similar apps that got rejected on Nov. 19th, resubmitted on Nov 20th and they made thru review on different dates: Dec 2nd, Dec 4th, Dec 8th and Dec. 11th.

iSpell House

Being pissed at Apple for Nov 19th "blanket rejectection" and still seeing updates appearing on the front page with "release date hack" I submitted an update to iSpell House on Nov. 20. By Dec 09 the app made it thru review. Bundle version didn't stick and app remained buried under pile of crap-ware.

iSpell Casa

The day after an update to iSpell Casa that Apple never tested got approved I submitted the new one fixing in-app purchase downloads. That was on Oct. 21. For almost a month Apple didn't even look at the app, rather on Nov. 19 "blanket rejected" iSpell Casa with other apps that similarly were pending review for 2+ weeks. The update was resubmitted next day - Nov 20. This time around Apple did test in-app purchases on Dec 07 and approved the app next day. All in all the update was in review for 48 days. With no incentives to release updates to apps buried behind a pile of crap-ware it is to be seen if there would be new updates to iSpell apart from the ones already in the pipeline.

9 days later iSpell Casa scored the first in app purchase and yet another 9 days later another one (both were for "Inizio"). On 12/24 there was another in app-purchase. This time for "Animali". All in all 3 in app-purchases from 3 different devices in 3 weeks on what seems to be 5 updates and 2 new purchases.

14 Puzzle (competition edition)

On Oct 15, 2009 Apple permitted in App purchases for free applications. Next day, i.e. Oct 16, 2009 I've submitted in-app purchase activation for "competition edition" of 14 Puzzle. 3 weeks later on Nov. 4th 2009 Apple send an email apologizing that in 3 weeks they didn't have time to look at my applications. In-app purchase receipts are logged on my server, so I could see when Apple is testing. Clearly around late Oct. - early Nov. Apple didn't have means to test in-app purchases, so they let some (early) applications in without testing and blocked review of the most. 14 Puzzle (competition edition) fate was to be blocked and be "blanket rejected" with other totally unrelated apps on Nov. 19, 2009.

After coming to their senses Apple finally let application in on Dec. 8, 2009 making 14 Puzzle (competition edition) the winner in "Magiecom app longest in the review" contest at 53 days in review.

Clearly word FREE is a key for freeloaders. Unlike 14 Puzzle FREE that cleared 602 and 1833 downloads in the first two weeks, 14 Puzzle competition edition being identical application did just 379 and 157 downloads before dropping to average 100/week for free application.

Eighteen

From the start my experience with Apple from Canadian side (as in Magiecom) was pretty bad (compared to Objectorium from US side). By the fall of 2009 I had enough of it and decided to eventually fold my relationship with Apple from Canada and move all Magiecom applications over to Objectorium.

Eighteen is US re-release of Magiecom's 18 Puzzle.

As expected releasing from US label was far better then releasing from Canadian. App went into review on Nov 20. and came out on Dec 7. Absolutely no "45 days in review" bullshit.

iDrill

Being overwhelmed Apple switched tactics by early December. Instead of "blanket rejecting" application pending for too long they started allowing applications referencing non-public APIs asking not to do it later on. iDrill Mí and iDrill Me was submitted for review on 10/21/09, got "blanket rejected" on 11/19/09, resubmitted on 11/20/09 and approved on 12/04/09. 44 days in review - not a record by 2009 standards. In-app purchases were tested by Apple on 12/02/09... hmm twice from two different devices.

iSpell Mé

An update to iSpell Mé adding in app-purchases of new lessons was submitted for review on 10/18/09. Apple didn't even look at the app, rather on Nov. 19 Apple "blanket rejected" iSpell Mé with other apps that similarly were pending review for over 2 weeks. (In-app purchase receipts are logged on my server, so I could see when Apple is testing. There was no receipts for iSpell Mé logged). The update was resubmitted next day - Nov 20. This time around Apple did test in-app purchases on Dec 01 and approved the app next day. All in all the update was in review for 45 days making it the second longest review process.

In a month there was no in-app purchases from iSpell Mé and just 2 updates. Is there a reason to release updates to apps buried under a pile of crap-ware?

18 Puzzle (competition edition)

After being stuck in review since late October finally on Nov. 30th an update to "18 Puzzle (competition edition)" made it to the App Store and allowed to activate full version from within the app. 45 days in review was only possible thanks to me rejecting and re-uploading the binary on Nov. 17th, thus saving the app from Apple "blanket rejection" by putting it at the end of review queue and giving Apple some time to come to their senses.

An update to FREE app doing about 100 downloads a week (in Nov. up from about 50 a week thru summer till November and 250 down to 100 a month back in the spring) didn't increase number of downloads and cleared about 235 updates first week, 73 - 2nd and 25/week there after).

Hex

Being pissed at Apple for rejecting Magiecom apps in bulk for bogus reason on Nov 19. I decided to game itunesconnect a bit and hopefully push an update to front page. Judging by updates that made it to front page after Apple closed release date loophole the trick is to fool itunesconnect to accept 1.0 as application version. Version Number is a text field after all that is unrelated to BundleVersion in Info.plist. So on Nov 20. an update to Hex bringing score panel went was submitted as Version 1.0 and as with all Objectorium apps (and unlike Magiecom apps against which Apple discriminates) made thru review in 7 days. Unfortunately, release date didn't stick and app never made it to front page again.

18 Puzzle 1.2

As a follow up to 14 Puzzle, on Nov. 5, 2009 I submitted an update to 18 Puzzle that Apple dragged thru approval for 20 days. Release date loophole is closed for sure, yet some manage to get to the front page still.

14 Puzzle 1.2

To test "release date hack" I released an update to 14 Puzzle early October 2009 (Oct. 15?) that got approved on Oct. 27, 2009. Luck would have it that right around the end of October 2009, Apple closed "release date loophole" that apparently everybody but me were using.

iSpell Casa

iSpell Casa was the test app for an update adding in-app purchases of new lessons. It was submitted for review on 9/28/09 and was hanging in review for 3 weeks. In-app purchase receipts are logged on my server, so I could see when Apple is testing. There was no receipts logged for iSpell Casa. Moreover, in-app purchases were broken, yet on Oct. 20, 2009 the update was approved.

iSpell House

New lesson "Things around the house" of English iSpell was released.

iSpell Casa

New lesson "Things around the house" of Spanish iSpell was released.

Светофор

Светофор is a game similar to Magic Cylinder and classic soviet puzzle. Unlike Magic Cylinder it was approved Mar. 29, 2009 or right around April when App Store become swamped with crap-ware. As a result it sold almost nothing past the first two weeks. Comparing to sales of Magic Cylinder it is quite obvious that App Store game was over right around April, 2009.

14 Puzzle 1.1

On Mar 22 14 Puzzle received first update mainly to be up to date with source tree. The app was buried so the update was pointless.

Amero

Amero was approved by Apple on Feb 24, 2009. Took couple rejection by Apple. Surprisingly enough rejections were for reasons. Apple used to debug my applications.

Magic Cylinder

Magic Cylinder went on sale on Feb 13, 2009 and was over single digits for two months or until April. By April the game was over - too many apps chasing the same dollar and all getting just about two weeks of miniscule sales.

Münzwurf 1.1

Being a dollar app Münzwurf remained over single digits for 4 months till Feb 2009. On Feb 11, 2009 Münzwurf received first update that included 2 new coins - Euro and Amero and went buried behind pile of other crap-ware in the App Store, i.e. went single digits. Clearly, App Store model provide no incentives to release updates.

iSpell Mé

New lesson "All about me" of Spanish iSpell was released.

18 Puzzle (competition edition)

Trying to boost 18 Puzzle sales I released "demo" version of 18 Puzzle pushing freeloaders to purchase full version every couple minutes. The app got approved Feb 9th, but the concept didn't work out at all. 238+493+198=929 downloads in February, 152+150+177+86=565 in March and ~250/mo there after didn't improve 18 Puzzle sales.

iCards

The rest of iCards Me (English and French) was released. Itunesconnect lists both as submitted on Jan 28, 2009, however iTunes properly lists release date as 02/04/2009.

iCards

Finally iCards are ready for sale. First to be released is "All about Me" in Spanish and German. Itunesconnect lists both as submitted on Jan 23, 2009, however iTunes properly lists release date as 01/28/2009.

iSpell Животные

Hoping that updates would improve sales on Jan. 12, 2009 I released updates to iSpell Животные and iSpell Animali. About 40% of purchases updated mostly within first week, but there was no improvements to sales whatsoever.