Guest Post: The App Star Awards: because once in the App Store it is already too late

Joshua Schnell | Wed, Nov 18, 2009

Guest post by Ouriel Ohayon, co founder of Appsfire.com

Finding your way in the App store as a user and as a developer is not a easy task.

A few months ago we created Appsfire, a service to find apps via your peers (eg our VIP here), because we felt that something else was necessary to help users discover relevant apps and developers get their apps discovered in an efficient way. We all can agree that the App store is a wonderful ecosystem but that it is painful to browse and search. It is a great repository for the top 100 apps of the moment but that means that tens of thousands are not enjoying really the Apple juice.

A contest to spice up your launch

Lots of great apps need to be discovered. And what many app developers miss is the importance of marketing rightly their app before they reach the app store. This is why we created the App Star Awards, the first contest for apps that have not yet been included in iTunes.

appstarawards

The idea is to spotlight great apps that have not been released but that are close to. The idea is simple, submit a simple 30 sec video demo of your app (here a few tips on how to make one) and we ll pick with the help of a super prestigious jury the 3 best that we ll be showcased on stage at LeWeb conference (the largest web conference in Europe) and who will win a symbolic prize of $1500 cash + a free ad campaign (including on MacGasm a partner of this contest). Thanks to SFR/Applistore for their support in that respect

The importance of app marketing

The importance of marketing (more precisely pre-app store marketing) is under estimated. If as much effort was invested in marketing as in the development of the app, a lot more developers would be happy. The problem is that this is a not a easy thing to do. Even for top companies discovering that the marketing rules of an App store are not the same that they know on the web, because the marketing channels are so fragmented (not mentioning the fact that the App store has no marketing channel).

The App star awards is one of the vehicle Appsfire is launching to help developers getting noticed, before they even start. We have more vehicles like our iPhone widget (eg here), or iTunes link shortener getap.ps with a unique sales conversion tracking ability (used already by top apps like getap.ps/metroparis) Soon, Appsfire will release more vehicles. But we had to start somewhere. So far 160 developers have pre-registered to the awards and if you are interested in joining do so now.

Don’t be afraid to reveal your baby before the launch. This recipe works for some of the best apps and is working daily on the web. So why not for you?

Finding great apps with friends

Personally i love the iPhone and i love to see this energy growing around it. Most of the iPhone apps that i love have been suggested to me via people that i know or trust (i will save you the typical evernote/facebook/tweetie/google/….)

For example i am a big jazz fan (play the piano) and i found a version of the RealBook (the jazz bible for musician) which is perfect, iRealBook (iTunes link on getap.ps/fW). I also like a lot Mouthoff (getap.ps/MouthOff) that i discovered on YouTube. I also like AudioBoo a new service to publish voice recording easily and when i first started i really liked TheThumb to train myself on the iPhone keyboard

Now if you want to see all my apps go to myAp.ps/Ouriel

We believe one of the key element to find apps has to do with your digital/real life social graph. This is not the only one, But this is definitely an important one. Having the ability to generate buzz before and during your app launch is as important as the app itself. And there is no buzz without music: so here is our Rap Star.