Did you know that it’s a popular myth that lightening cannot strike the same place twice? This post is all about how we hit lightning twice in the past two months.
It’s been over a year since Broken Thumbs Apps started developing iPhone apps (and I’m going to leave the review of that year to my next post).
In July we made a critical decision about Zombie Duck Hunt. It was not earning anywhere near our expectations and we weren’t getting enough feedback to improve the app. Because of this we came to the then difficult decision to make it free and to run a promotion behind it.
Luckily the good folks at Open Feint chose to promote Zombie Duck Hunt for us and the results were outstanding. Within days of the promotion we became the #1 Free App in the US. Since that promotion we have had over 2 million downloads.
But even better than that was the feedback we got. 5 out of 5 stars…. errr, well not exactly, more like 2 out of 5 stars. 
As a developer every app you make is like your child, but unlike having a real child we have no problem making changes to it. We make apps for others to enjoy and that was the great thing about getting those 2 out of 5 stars. It gave us the direction we needed. We then were able to come out with version 2.2, which included many of the bug/crash fixes people asked for. We also noticed our written reviews became very positive and our average rating rose to 3 out of 5 stars. Version 3.0 (currently in review by Apple) adds a whole new scene, more zombies, more guns and, after reading the reviews, our next update will include… a new shooting mechanism that does not depend on the accelerometer.
Last Thursday we then got our second lightning strike. Our Name That Movie Quizzle started skyrocketing up the UK Free Apps charts. We still are unsure exactly how it happened, but if any of you know, please let us know. As of today, Name That Movie Quizzle is THE #1 FREE APP IN THE UK. We are very happy to see this and once again reading over the reviews is so helpful to us in improving the app.
So why after a year are we getting so ‘lucky.’ It’s hardly luck but more of the results of a grueling year of difficult decisions, hard work, and working with great people. Honestly, I’m starting to feel lucky and, like they say, the third times a charm!
