I started iPhone development in October 2010. I was always intrigued by the idea of expressing my creativity through mobile apps. I gave myself a deadline of 7 days to complete my first iPhone game ABC Pop. The game actually took 8 days but the deadline helped me keep motivated. After that I was hooked on creating iPhone games. I developed 2 more games 123 Pop Kids and Color Pop and submitted to the app store. There are lot of things I learned during my iPhone game development experience and this post describes most of them.

App Description:

I consider the app description to be the ultimate sales pitch for your customers. It is very important to spend a considerable amount of time to write the description of your application. Do not include the phrases "Best app ever", "Must buy", "The only app you will ever buy" etc. In other words do not try to be a car salesman. Try to explain all the features provided by the app and what problems it solves. It is always a good idea to list all the features in the form of bullet points instead of the paragraph. This way the user can simply glance at the main points and get the idea of the app.    
 
Pricing:

App pricing is an important part of the app success. With $1.99 app considered to be an expensive app you should think twice about putting your app in the tier 2 or above. A good way to price your app is to look at the features you are providing or will be providing in the future and then set the price.

iAds:

I have received more success with iAds than actually putting the app up for a price. But this model might not be suitable for all applications. When placing iAds in your application, make sure the ads do not jeopardize the integrity of the app.

Credits:

I am not a graphic artist by any means and for that reason I always lean towards free clip art. The designer who provides artwork works hard on those graphics and make them available for the community for free. It is our obligation to give credit where necessary. The correct way of giving credit to the artist is providing their name or user name along with the link to the original content in the description of the app.

Periodic Updates:

Most of the iOS developers forget about the app after it has been published. The mentality around this laziness is dictated by the $0.99 price of the app. A common misunderstanding among developers is that why should I waste my time updating the app which only cost $0.99 cents.

Providing app updates give you an additional opportunity to communicate with your customers. It also allows your app to get additional customers by gaining more visibility during the update process. For my "ABC Pop" app, I provided at least 7 updates in a short span of 3-4 months and generated additional revenue from new customers.    

App Sneak Peak:

It is fun to hide the development of your new awesome app from your friends and relatives but I have experienced the contrary. I have always been interested in receiving priceless feedback from humans. This feedback allows me to make the app better before releasing it to the public.     

Listen to your Customers:

Don't think of your app as a throw away product! Think of it as a start up! Also, make it a first priority to listen to the feedback received by the customers and periodically update the app with the requested features.