Tag Archives: freeware

iPhone Shareware Model

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Remember Shareware?

Years ago I wrote technical analysis software, I first started by giving away the software for free and hoped that the screen asking for “donations if you like it” would allow me to make money, of course I received many more user questions than I received donations. Attempt two was to offer a free version and a paid version, free version had advertising and paid version removed the advertising.

I tried option three which limited the functionality of the free version, you could only track 10 stocks unless you paid, that worked marginally better. Probably would have been more successful if I tried limiting different functionality, such as less indicators etc.

I did not try option three which was to offer a free version and a paid version with additional functionality (today called the freemium method, free version and premium version), I just skipped to option four which was to just sell the software in the back of an industry magazine for technical analysis. This was a long time ago, I then moved on to option five and had to create my own advertising platform to provide ads which jump started my first online startup. Even though I began 10 years ago and started with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) the same business models apply today with iPhone applications.

Five options:

  • Free with Donations: Offer the application for free and message for donations;
  • Paid removes Advertising: Offer the application for free with advertising, and an option to pay and remove advertising;
  • Free with limited functionality: Offer the application with limits on the functionality, for example maybe it keeps a list of friends and their social networks but will only save 20 friends, the paid version saves unlimited friends;
  • Free with additional functionality: Offer the application for free and offer additional features only available in the paid version;
  • Paid Only: offer only a paid version, and
  • Free with Ads: Offer the application for free and make your revenue through the ad networs.

Many combinations exist, see the related article “Top 6 iPhone Application Advertising Networks for advertisement swapping, analytics and advertising revenue for your iPhone.

Top 6 iPhone Application Advertising Networks for Publishers

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iPhone App
Here is a list of iPhone Advertising networks, great ways to monetize an iPhone application – aka iphone app.

Application Advertising
The following have specific iPhone application advertising solutions for those that have created iPhone applications and wish to earn revenue by placing advertising in their iPhone application. Some of the following advertising networks are exclusively iPhone applications and others have programs for iPhone applications as well as other publisher solutions.

For Revenue:

  • Medialets : Insert ads into your application using easy to drop in Objects, also track your users interaction with your application, earn a CPM.
  • AdMob : Offers ads for your iPhone using Javascript” code. AdMob has been around for a while and has publisher solutions for mobile phones, not just iPhone applications.
  • PinchMedia : Offers ads and analytics for your iPhone application, exclusively for iPhone applications.

For Ad Swapping:

  • PurpleTalk : PurpleTalk allows you to join an advertising exchange with other iPhone developers. You earn advertising views of an advertisement for your application when you advertise others. You do not make money with these ads however it is a free way to increase the adoption of your own application.

For Analytics:

  • PinchMedia : Offers analytics for your iPhone application, exclusively for iPhone applications.

As iPhone’s become more popular by the day, and applications become more widely used your application may become a nice revenue generator. Many options exist.

if you have a new application you could use the PurpleTalk code to gain free exposure and hope to increase your application adoption. Once you have gained adoption and increased usage you could add the advertising code from one of the above iPhone Publisher Networks and start earning revenue from your inventory.