Hello everybody, at the beginning of March myself and a few other indie developers decided to create an alliance in an attempt to emerge from the amount of spam apps that are overwhelming the App Store. Needless to say, we're continuously looking for more developers to join our cause. Here are some FAQs taken from our website: http://www.indieappsalliance.org/faq What is the Indie Apps Alliance? The Indie Apps Alliance (IAA) is a community of independent app developers dedicated to creating and delivering high-quality apps for various platforms, supporting and cross-promoting each other in order to make their work stand out from the mass of low-quality apps that are overwhelming the iTunes App Store. What platforms are supported by the Alliance? At the moment we are concentrated mainly on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform, but a future expansion to Android is very likely to happen. Why create an Alliance? As indie developers it has become very difficult to stand out from the hundreds of thousands of low-quality apps that are clogging up the App Store. Moreover, big corporations such as EA and Gameloft are getting most of the attention (and revenues) thanks to the huge marketing budgets at their disposal and their quality brand name. One main goal of the IAA is to create a recognized brand name that the public will come to know for its consistently high-quality apps and developers. How does the IAA work? What are the secrets of success for an app? Brand name, quality and marketing; with marketing being by far more important than the first two. The IAA will try to achieve success in all of these three areas. Brand name: all applications selected to be part of the IAA Network must prominently feature the IAA branding (name and logo) in their splash screen. After seeing this branding on several apps, people will come to associate the IAA brand name with quality, and they will be more likely to purchase an app that is part of the IAA Network, because they trust that the app will be of high quality. Quality: all apps approved by the IAA have to pass a strict quality review where, based on certain standard parameters, they are evaluated on appearance, usefulness, and tested for correct functionality. Buyers can thus be assured that any app that is included into the network will be of high quality. Marketing: this point is a little bit tricky. How do you give exposure to your app and not spend thousands of dollars in targeted reviews and advertisements? The IAA will give to its members several channels of exposure and distribution, including: * Press release to blogs and review websites: we will create and work with bloggers and website owners to create a monthly press release that will inform them of the latest apps added to the Alliance. * List of Apps: a web page where people can browse the apps that are part of the network, with the latest apps being shown on the home page. * The IAA Network: see this page (http://www.indieappsalliance.org/iaanetwork) for more information. Every app that passes the review process is required to implement the IAA Network to enable cross-promotion with other IAA developers and apps. * Promo codes give away drawings everyday! Developers can submit to the IAA a list of promo codes that will be distributed through our drawing system. More information are available here (http://www.indieappsalliance.org/content/iaa-promo-codes-faqs). Sounds very cool, but does it cost me anything to join the Alliance? No, becoming part of the Alliance is - and will always be - 100% free. We hope to receive financial support through donations, which you should really consider if you like what we're doing. How do I join the Alliance? The registration page will allow you to register as a member. Once registered you will be granted access to the forums and to the other features reserved to the IAA Members. Please ask me if you have any question.
Some updated statistics about our network: http://www.indieappsalliance.org/content/iaa-numbers-4-apps-14500-extra-sales
I love the idea and I really hope it takes off. I think it would be a great help for all those struggling indie developers and hopefully help rise/maintain the great standard of indie games we have on the app store at the moment. Be aware that you must keep strict and firm about letting apps and games through. Your whole brand is based on how good the apps and games you approve are. I wish you all the best Mad EDIT: What you would consider to be an indie app?
Uh, sorry I haven't checked this thread for a while. If you read in the IAA Requirements page, we consider an app indie if it's "created by an individual or a company that makes no more than 100,000 USD per year". We've been pretty strict in the type of apps that we allowed in the network, and sometimes it's hard to reject a few. But like you said, it's probably the key to make this thing to work.
In fact there's some interest into the project, just last week we had 5 apps joining our IAA Network. In within a few weeks they'll have implemented our platform APIs and they'll be generating impressions and sales. It's the feedback and the participation in the Community that is lacking a bit. But I have faith that in within a few months we'll be a strong Community with a strong network. Some ways to help us would be to join our Facebook page or Tweet about us. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/IAA/406106965759?ref=ts By the way, did anybody know that we have free daily contest for promo codes giveaway? http://www.indieappsalliance.org/node/436#promo http://www.indieappsalliance.org/node/473#promo
