Lingopal (blog)

After sales dropped right off in Japan following the OS 3.0 debacle, I was nervous whether we would ever be able to recover there. That #3 spot we held for so long was highly cherished.

Then something happened a couple of days ago. Our sales in Japan jumped over 1000% and we are now at #2. Curious (and very happy) I delved into the internet for a bit to find out what had caused this.

It was a review by a Japanese site called ipodtouchlab. All the literature about marketing iPhone apps recommends getting your app reviewed. There are plenty of outfits who do these (MacRumours, Ars Technica, iLounge, iPhone App Reviews.net, 148 Apps, AppVee, The iPhone Blog etc), but with over 50,000 apps in iTunes, it’s difficult getting their attention.

We’ve been reviewed in just a few (App Craver, Geek.com, iPhone in Canada, AppReview.com, The App Podcast and Just Another iPhone Blog), and some are understandably better than others. Just Another iPhone Blog for instance, is good. The reviewers look at the app in detail, question it and give an honest opinion. They also make use of video and use big, clear screen shots.

Just Another iPhone Blog.com - quality reviews

App Review.com, by comparison, are lazy. They simply drag all the text from the app’s iTunes page and give it a Good, Better or Best rating. There’s no other input at all. That they purport to have reviewed around 50% of all apps is meaningless when they do so little.

AppReview.com - lazy

It looks like iPod Touch Lab are one of the good guys. The review is decent in length, uses both video and screenshots, and most importantly of all, has a critical mass of readers who can act on what they have learnt in the review (I have a suspicion that a lot of these reviewers have a fairly low reader base).

iPod Touch Lab blog - screenshot of recent review

So, good news about Japan - thanks iPhoneTouchLab (@touch_lab on Twitter). It gives me a valid reason to revisit all those other review sites and press them again for a review.

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