Contrast · B2C · indie iPhone app studio
Ship a phone-first app that follows iPhone design rules and gets a top blogger's link
Founder calls the link a turning point; no numbers
Workedpr-launchpositioning-niche
What they did
Arrived a month after a first-mover mileage log with a Windows Phone-style UI. Built a native app that followed iOS interface paradigms for a phone-only use case (logging gas and mileage in the car). John Gruber linked to it on Daring Fireball in fall 2008; Gruber says he picked it because it was a phone-first idea that would make no sense on a Mac.
What happened
David calls the Daring Fireball link part of a turning point for his indie career.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Past, Present, and Future of Building on Apple — John Gruber, Daring Fireball“And you linking to my app in the fall of 2008, I think was, was in part a turning point.”
“we followed the iOS paradigms, and like, and I mean looking back, I don't ever feel like I have the best taste”
“And like a mileage tracker is exactly that sort of idea. That's what I remember hitting me about that app in 2008.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Contrast: Email the Apple evangelists shown on WWDC slides when your developer account stallsAn Apple evangelist phoned back; became a lasting contact
- Contrast: Buy a spare iPhone, jailbreak it, and study the 500 apps already out
- Contrast: Raise money from family with a written case for why the App Store is a dealFamily invested; business still running 17 years later
- Apple: Stop bundling your own apps and spin them off so outside developers can competeAbout a decade of few built-in apps; third-party apps like PageMaker credited with saving the Mac
- Apple: Hire developer evangelists and put their email addresses on conference slidesCredited with building the developer flywheel; WWDC 2008 sold out for the first time
- Apple: Allow only the TV remote for games to push a new way of playingGames suffered; controllers allowed 3-4 years later, too late for gaming
- Apple: Let every app sell subscriptions and take 15% after a subscriber's first yearHost says it drove the current App Store era; review fell from 7-14 days to 1-2
- Apple: Stop charging $129 for OS upgrades so everyone updates automaticallyEnabled automatic overnight updates; profits at record highs anyway
- Apple: Launch a $3,500 headset years early so apps are ready when cheap ones arriveHundreds of thousands sold; developer interest weak so far