Archive for May, 2011
Early Days Ad Revenue
iBorrow (IOU) Lite is an ad supported version of the iBorrow (IOU) app. I haven’t had that many downloads, but I still decided to take a gander at the ad revenue it’s generating. I never expected much, but the ads’ eCPM is truly terrible. I am currently using two ad networks, and here are the numbers:
AdNetwork 1:
Ad Requests: 323
Ad Impressions: 157
Clicks: 0
CTR: 0%
AdNetwork 2:
Ad Requests: 966
Ad Impressions: 778
Clicks: 2
CTR: 0.26%
My total revenue so far has been $0.18. This is not encouraging.
The Samsung Nexus S
I work full time as a mobile developer. In that capacity I was given a Samsung Nexus S yesterday to help me with my Android work. It replaces a cheap little Android that works about as well as a rock with buttons. So this is my first experience with a “real” Android phone, and I have to admit that there are lots of thing I like about it.
The Good
- Back Button
The Back button is awesome! No more putting soft Back buttons everywhere like on iPhone apps. And it doesn’t work just within an app, but also between apps. So if your apps kicks out to the YouTube app to display a video, and you hit the Back button, you go back to your app. I think this is the single best thing about the Android over the iPhone. - Notifications
Wow! Just swipe down from the top and see a list of notifications. Touch one and it brings you to the app. Marvelous. - Dynamic Themes
I know it’s a silly thing, but I really like the dynamic themes. - Widgets!
It took me a while to figure out how to install widgets, but I finally did it. I like ‘em!
The Bad
- Gmail Inbox
When I am viewing an email and there’s a little button at the top left that says “Inbox”, why does it not take me to the inbox? I touched that thing thirty seven times, and it didn’t work once. - Menus
There’s a dedicated menu button on the phone. I don’t like it. It means that I have to look two places to find the functionality I want, one of which is hidden. - Ugly Apps
I miss the nice iPhone apps. They are just so more functional and polished on the iPhone. - Inconsistencies?
I put a question mark because I’m not sure if it’s inconsistency or what. The problem I’m having is that I just get confused. I have to do a lot more figuring out than I ever had to do on my iPhone. - Lack of Polish
I guess this is to be expected of anyone whose company name doesn’t begin with “A” and end with “pple”. But the Android GUI just doesn’t look as nice and doesn’t feel as nice as the iPhone GUI.
That’s what I think after less than a day of use. We’ll see how I feel later!
App Approved!
My latest app has been approved! Now I’m just putting the finishing touches on the website, and I’ll be sending out some press releases soon. This is an exciting time that’s also filled with a little trepidation.
I’ve never been that strong at web design, and the page for my app on this site is severely lacking. On top of that, everyone talks about how important marketing is, but they always seem to start with the premise that you know people. I don’t know people. I know nobody. But I’m going to try to do some marketing anyway, and we’ll see how that goes.
iBorrow (IOU)
Available Soon!
Never lose track of the things or money that you’ve borrowed from others or that they’ve lent to you. This app lets you choose contacts or manually add people. Then you can track what you’ve lent to that person or borrowed. Adding dollar amounts is easy! Any number you enter is automatically converted to currency. If you return a something which is a currency, you can choose to pay back only a portion. Not only that, but you can do it in style, with four different themes to choose from.