I said I was going to go into silent mode regarding our sales, but so many people have asked me what happened through Christmas Day that I have decided to release stats just one more time.
We left off December 23rd with stats current from our release date on 12/12 through 12/22.
Everyone is curious about what happened next.
You may be shocked. I know I was when I saw the numbers.
After hitting 13274 units on 12/22, a number of stories broke out sharing that our iFart app had net us approximately $10K for that single day.
Do a Google news search and you'll see that we have been mentioned all over the place.
The story has gone international with coverage in Argentina, Canada, The U.K., Italy, Spain, Korea, Russia, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel and more.
The iFart Mobile video we posted on YouTube has been viewed 45,000 times as of this writing.
Even more interesting is a video review posted by a third party that has been viewed 48,000 times!
Twitter is alive with mentions of the application.
Anyway, back to the stats.
Here are the numbers I've revealed previously...
12/12 - 75 units - #70 entertainment
12/13 - 296 units - #16 entertainment
12/14 - 841 units - #76 overall, #8 entertainment
12/15 - 1510 units - #39 overall, #5 entertainment
12/16 - 1797 units - #22 overall, #3 entertainment
12/17 - 2836 units - #15 overall, #3 entertainment
12/18 - 3086 units - #10 overall, #3 entertainment
12/19 - 3117 units - #9 overall, #2 entertainment
12/20 - 5497 units, - #4 overall, #2 entertainment
12/21 - 9760 units - #2 overall, #1 entertainment
12/22 - 13274 units - #1 overall
12/23 was similar to the previous day. We sold 13,349 units.
I was pleased. I'll take that on any day.
But I had a hunch that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would be higher. How much higher was anyone's guess.
All I knew was that a lot of people would be getting iPhones and iPod Touch MP3 players on Christmas Day.
Christmas came a day early for us. On 12/24, my jaw hit the floor when I checked my stats.
We sold 19520 units, providing $13364 in net income after Apple takes their cut.
I now knew that Christmas Day would be bigger than I would have imagined.
I made sure I was sitting down before I checked my day-after-Christmas stats.
It was a good thing.
On Christmas Day, 38,927 people purchased iFart Mobile.
Thirty-eight thousand nine-hundred and twenty seven.
Wow.
Thats $27,249 net.
Again I say, wow.
So I want to say "thank you" to everyone who has purchased iFart, to everyone who has written about us, to those who have reviewed the application and to Apple for making our app available to the general public.
With Wal-mart entering into the iPhone marketplace on 12/28, the app store will have more customers than ever before. This is getting interesting.
December 27, 2008 3:08 PM
thanks joel
December 27, 2008 3:52 PM
How are you checking your stats? Apple closed the stats from 12/24-12/28, so I can't check our app stats until then.
December 27, 2008 4:10 PM
Quite astonishing sales that. The updated chart of your numbers can be seen at How to Reach the Top of App Store . I am sure you are looking for a more prosperous new year and wish you one !
December 27, 2008 6:27 PM
Apple has a backdoor just for fart apps. Seriously there's a link.. it's on Macrumors. https://itts.apple.com
December 27, 2008 9:54 PM
Hey Joel,
I've been using your postings to inspire and motivate others in our industry. Hats off to you man, now get back to working on the next big app, can't stop with only 1.
If you're open to sharing information on how one goes about launching an app of their own and the costs involved, inquiring minds would like to know. You have without a doubt proved it can be an explosive growth market. Kudos again.
Expect Success,
Shannon D. Denniston
December 27, 2008 11:46 PM
Dugg You!
http://digg.com/apple/iFart_Mobile_Set_Record_with_27_249_on_Christmas_Day#
December 28, 2008 1:02 AM
@ Shannon,
Keep in mind that this was the #1 app and only got there so easily because of the thousands of followers and subscribers Joel had already. These people would have helped spread the word and made up for a lot of his sales - also the publicity surrounding the release of his sales stats would have helped push sales even further.
There are thousands and thousands of paid applications in the Apple store now and most of them would only be making a few sales a day, if that. Considering a half decent app will cost anywhere from $500-$1,000 upwards to develop, you need to ask yourself whether it really is a wise investment of your time and money.
I think there are much easier ways to make money online.
December 28, 2008 5:17 AM
Hi Joel
Interesting results, thanks for publishing them
I have 2 questions
1. How do refunds work with iPhone Apps, and what is the refund rate like, especially on $1 apps?
2. Is there some way you can use this to build a list for promotion of a follow-on product or upsell?
December 28, 2008 10:29 AM
Joel
Stunning results.
Are you going to do a course or similar on how you marketed this to achieve such success?
Congrats
December 28, 2008 5:05 PM
This is inspiration enough to actually plan out my iPhone application ideas and find a programmer. I don't think they have as much universal appeal as iFart, but a certain type of person could get quite a bit of enjoyment out of them. :)
December 28, 2008 5:06 PM
Trent,
iFart wsa NOT a success because of my list and/or my following. The publicity was done largely independent of my mailing list. It was guerilla marketing, pure and simple.
Joel
December 28, 2008 11:08 PM
Joel,
Now that you've secured the number one spot, would you kindly remove the false reviews you placed on your competitors apps.
Thanks,
Sam
PS- We have proof and we'll go ahead and make a stink unless you change it. That includes your duplicate "helpful/unhelpful" votes.
December 29, 2008 7:08 AM
Joel,
Don't get me wrong. I am all for your success and think you've done a great job at getting that app to the number one position in such a short period of time. I just don't think it is as easy as everyone now seems to think so. You were in a much more favorable position to achieve the results you did than most other people.
I know you didn't do any mailings about your app however you did twitter about it a fair bit which reached out to all your twitter followers and subsequently all your facebook friends as well through your twitter feed. I saw quite a few tweets from you regarding the iFart both on Twitter and Facebook.
The release of your sales stats was also a wise move in terms of free publicity!
Once again a great job however I don't think you could argue that your results would not have been the same if you were just Joe Smith launching the same app.
All the best and hope you have a great 2009.
December 29, 2008 9:38 AM
I read on-line that people are complaining that the sounds for the ifart are not realistic enough. Are you interested in purchasing fart recordings? This is something too disgusting to be proud of, but I have been told that my farts are somewhat impressive. I only do them in the bathroom; I'm not just farting all over the place, but I could record some of my farts for use in the iFart app.
December 29, 2008 2:38 PM
Wow, that's really outstanding and Huge result Joel. Really big money in this recession era. Congrats for that Big Result!
Goonie
December 29, 2008 2:45 PM
Digg again.
http://digg.com/apple/iFart_app_for_the_iPhone_nets_developer_40_000_in_2_days
December 29, 2008 3:46 PM
I really need an ipod/itouch software developer partner! I have a ton of positive .com names and themes and graphics. Fun, quirky... I do own foofz.com, iforked.com, flatulencez.com ilovenerds.com pandabearz.com giraffez.com magicwandz.com princessez.com decreez.com Looking for someone who can develop fun apps!
December 29, 2008 4:42 PM
@ Jordon.
Hahaha, trying to sell your farts to Joel - now I've seen EVERYTHING.
@ Jonathan
It takes more than a quirky name and a.com to create an app that is going to be successful.
December 30, 2008 6:03 AM
Hi Joel, you deserve every cent of your sales. Time to enjoy the fruit of your own hard work...
December 30, 2008 5:37 PM
Joel, you somehow managed to time your app so beautifully - combining the peak of your app rankings with the Xmas sales bonanza. Well done!
FYI - I have some supporting sales figures from my own app in the Australian app store (ranked #2 overall), which shows a doubling of sales over Xmas, although there now appear to be some glitches with the app store.
http://ajnaware.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/is-the-app-store-broken/
December 31, 2008 7:58 AM
Joel: Thanks for this beneficial info. One question.... can you expand on your definition of guerilla marketing? It means different things to different people. Or maybe a full blog post is a good idea... Anyway, your openness has really helped me and I am sure others. Thanks!
January 1, 2009 1:52 PM
I have an app on the iTunes store called Gratitude Journal. I'm donating 10% of my revenues to charity. But it will take me a year to make what iFart makes in a day. So I challenge iFart to donate 10% of one day's revenues to charity. How about Christmas Day's takings?
Best of luck and thanks for publishing your numbers!
Carla
happytapper.com
January 2, 2009 4:54 AM
Well done Joel!
January 2, 2009 9:01 PM
Some pretty impressive numbers Joel. All the best in your future endeavors.
January 2, 2009 10:34 PM
Congrats. Apple takes their pretty penny of it!
I bet it will get even bigger over the next several weeks, and will probably continue to bring in a lot of extra cash over the years.
January 3, 2009 8:53 PM
I don't hold much hope for the future of the human race if this is the top seller at the app store.
January 3, 2009 9:21 PM
@ Carla,
I haven't seen them rushing to respond to your charity challenge.
Maybe they are too busy programming i-burp.
January 4, 2009 12:55 AM
Are you going to publish any more juicy updates on your sales?
January 5, 2009 3:15 PM
Carla:
Why not write an application that actually makes some money and give that 10% to charity, instead of a stupid challenge? It annoys me greatly when less successful people try to take other people's hard earned money by guilt tripping them into giving it to them or to someone/something else. For shame, Carla, for shame.
You should instead take a few lessons in how Joel got his application to where it is now and learn from them.
January 5, 2009 10:40 PM
Carla:
I have to echo what rb says: provide an app that first provides real value, advertise as part of the metadata if you wish that 10% of the profits goes to a charity, and if you do that, provide evidence that can be verified (lest people think you're scamming them: such things have happened before) and then sell that.
If your app has no real or perceived value (iFart Mobile: completely useless as a "Serious" productivity app, but as entertainment, well, it addresses a market, so it has perceived value, or actual real value in terms of providing a low-brow humor laugh) then you have no legitimate reason to expect people to buy/contribute, regardless of your stated intentions.
If you're not getting the sales you're looking for with your app, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does it do what it claims?
2. Is that what it needs to do, or do you need to do something different?
3. Is it rock solid reliable?
4. How many people really care to spend their time and effort using that app? What's in it for them?
5. Is it reasonably priced for the real or perceived value, or do you need to reduce the price to get volume to maximize revenue?
iFart Mobile (I'm sure even Joel will agree) is an inherently stupid app, but it's important to keep in mind the long history of humanity that he's taken advantage of: stupid sells! I see iFart Mobile as being a modern version of the pet rock from the 70's, which made that advertising professional a multimillionaire, and was about as valuable :P
January 28, 2009 10:32 PM
Congrats! That's some well earned moolah.
March 10, 2009 9:57 PM
Hi Joel, at some point, it may make sense for you to move to an enterprise platform for Fart delivery altogether. From what i'm reading, to keep your application Fresh, Methayne Enterprise Server (http://tiny.cc/gsg6g) is probably your only option. This was twittered today....
April 27, 2009 3:37 PM
Check out the best iFart commercial.
Here's the YouTube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoCycWRti64
July 23, 2009 4:27 AM
I wish i could make half of that, congrats and good job.
December 25, 2009 5:13 AM
awesome - keep rolling in the dough. Hope you passed your expectations for this year also.
Shaun T Insanity
January 1, 2010 1:52 PM
The google phone or android apps will be a huge competitor to the iphone.
February 25, 2010 1:59 AM
Hi can you tell me where I can go to get someone to turn my ideas into an app?
April 13, 2010 5:49 AM
Hi that's really outstanding and Huge result Joel. Really big money in this recession era. Congrats for that Big Result!