If your v1 doesn't suck
you waited too long.
This can be a hard pill to swallow for developers - especially when you've poured your heart and soul into a concept and you want it to be PERFECT. But it won't be! It shouldn't be! This is not to say "push your untested beta out the door", but more to say "get something out there, worry about the details later".
Updates exist for a reason, and the updating methods brought to you by the app-store are among the most painless for developers and users alike. Some ideas have a finite half-life, and to avoid either being beaten to the punch or passed over completely, sometimes you need to take your app public before it's as polished as you'd like it to be. This leads nicely into #2...
Scrap
the features!
Though it can seem counter-intuitive at times, adding more functionality to your app can often have an inverse relationship to quality. One of the easiest ways to save yourself a lot of headache as a developer, is to do one thing really, really well.
Figure out what the core function of your app is, and focus in on that. This can make for a tough sell to clients who think the only way to get their app on top is to feature-cram, so it's good to have an example to show them. A great example of this concept is the app "Things" - a to-do list utility. The core function is so dead simple: making a list, but the beauty is in the simplicity and elegance. It shows how you can get away with charging $9.99 for an app and still sell millions of downloads. "Things" is also a great example of how you can extend your app after you get a solid core concept.
Find the meaning
of true synergy.
Whoaaaa cliché... we know. This is a term well over-used in the realm of business collaboration. But how can you use synergy to make an app that sells? The secret is in niche markets.
Chances are you don't know a lot about african swallows. Or maybe you do. But let's assume you don't. You are not the most qualified person to build "Guide to African Swallows for iPhone". However, when you pair up with Sir Wallace "Swally" Radford, Britain's topmost authority on the subject, you can now use your powers of coding with Swally's ridiculously far-reaching knowledge of swallows to produce an app that will be recognized by people in the aviary field as the best in its genre. And that app, my friends, costs $19.99
Learn more about african swallows
The competition is tougher in the crap market.
Let's face it, for every Fruit Ninja, there's a Veggie Samurai. And a couple weeks after that, there's Melon Chop Lite (don't look for this one in the app store). These games are a great place to pack in iAds, and you might even make a few bucks if you're quick enough. But remember, a hundred other people are riding that exact same thought train, and there's only room at the station for one or two.
However, there's always room at the top. If you're not the first, you can still be the best. "Tweetie" was not the first twitter app for iPhone.
