While it’s been stated that the iPhone and iPod Touch are actually not easy to use (or perhaps more apt, not easy to design for), clearly they offer a paradigm that’s resonated with 60M+ consumers worldwide. There’s no shortage of apps on the App Store, with last official numbers reporting around 50,000 of them. Apple’s looking at 8,500 new applications and updates every week. That’s mucho apps.
The point is that in a crowded market, there needs to be a way to standout. Iconfactory, maker of the once firmly entrenched Twitterific desktop client, has done just that with its new game Ramp Champ. Ramp Champ is a case study in how to (re)define a market and it’s going to be a huge success. For a review of the game itself, check out Touch Arcade’s post.
iPhone Play
Many iPhone games simply don’t leverage the touch screen or accelerometer to full capacity or do so in a way that’s annoying. One of the reasons Flight Control, Paper Toss, and Harbor Master have been exceptionally popular is because they’ve allowed the finger to be the controller.
Ramp Champ leverages the increasingly popular “flick” interaction in a skeeball-like environment. Unlike in skeeball, there are moving targets but like it, rolling or in this case, flicking harder or softer allows the ball to go higher or lower.
Of course, Ramp Champ wouldn’t be Ramp Champ without its carnival-type music or incredible aesthetic. Mixing all of these elements together creates a stellar iPhone “play” experience.
In App Purchases
Because of the way the game was built, with each game of Ramp Champ feeling like its own level, the developers have made it easy to offer in app purchases. Ramp Champ launches with two in app purchases already available. I’ve talked to some game developers about this approach because continuing to spin out new levels for free versus offering in app purchases can really transform the economics of a business.
Now, this approach is somewhat untested on the iPhone platform. But it’s not everywhere else. Upgrades for new levels often require customers to open their wallets. By developing an app that essentially uses the same programming but changes the design and scenery to create a sense of levels or different games plus having in app purchases available at the launch of the game, the developers have set consumer expectations. The result is that the lifetime value of a Ramp Champ customer will be considerably higher than other popular games.
Virtual Goods
The stats show that keeping users engaged beyond a week is difficult. Ramp Champ’s in app purchases is one way they’ll keep people coming back. The other is incentive to perform and not just in the sense of breaking records but in collecting goods.
Anyone who grew up playing in arcades was likely once swept away by collecting tickets and redeeming them to get toys and trinkets that would cost much less if they were bought directly. Virtual goods are big business and Ramp Champ plays to that obsession by allowing users to redeem tickets won in games for virtual goods in the “Loot” area. Users can also collect trophies.
Because the Iconfactory is well, good at making icons, there are some very shiny objects in there, including the Twitterific mascot Ollie.
Conclusion
I’m sure you’ll read or see 58296 other posts about Ramp Champ today. But it’s as important to think about an app like this one strategically, as it is to laude it being fun, creative, and well-made.
I’ll get to those answers shortly but overall, I feel that there’s a gap when it comes to specific tools for those involved in product management and product strategy. For example, developers have 
I hope your product people are actively involved in user experience. They don’t need to be a formally trained or polished UX designer but they should help provide initial guidance and direction based on marketplace knowledge.
One thing you’ll find plenty of at startups are opinions. Everyone thinks they know the right set of features to build into a release. Everyone thinks they know the way the customer acquisition page should look. The reality is that without a way to substantiate instincts, there will be many debates with only the strongest or most important person winning. That comes at a cost to users and ensuring that the product is meeting their needs.
Historically, I used a spreadsheet to help manage my roadmap. There are still benefits to this approach but I’ve now migrated to using a wiki, which is what I showed Alex. The top part of the wiki includes columns for each release (with the estimated release dates). In the release columns are the major and minor stories and bugs for each release, with each element linking to the actual description and more details lower in the page. The last column includes a backlog of feature ideas.
Many product managers and product strategists won’t venture into this next area — tech tools — but it’s amazingly freeing to not have to rely on developers and engineers to help support and improve a product. Whether you actually use this software or work with your team to build out internal products to common problems and tasks, it’s critical to allow your more technical team members to not get bogged down with supporting internal staff or responding to the most basic of customer requests.
“Open mic for startups” — 
Tired of email overload? 
Companies create “cases,” which challenge students to submit solutions. An example could be Disney requesting a new ride that should be designed. Students have forty days to submit the best solution, at which point the companies evaluate and select a winner. The incentive for students is a small cash prize and consideration for employment. 
At iPhone Dev Camp D.C. — Leon Palm of 
Gmail became a viable alternative to Outlook-obsessed users when mail began to be stored locally (thank Google Gears!). With the recent 
For that last case, this point is not referring to the ability to use Google Gears and access or send mail (to the Outbox) while physically not connected to the Internet. Instead, it’s related to a little productivity trick — silencing the inbox from the day’s onslaught of new emails.
In the world of Outlook, Thunderbird, and other desktop email clients, this “problem” is overcome by a little flip of the “Work Offline” switch. Toggling that setting ensures no new emails arrive into the inbox, while at the same time being able to compose new messages and access the archive.
The target’s now been shifted again. This time to a company that seemed off limits even though it has, in many ways, had a much stronger grip and reign than the big bad Google and Microsoft. Apple has, after all, been the company that continually produces consumer electronics with the highest prices, with the least amount of ways to diagnose or repair its devices (i.e., Apple parts for Apple devices), and a penchant for locking consumers in to the proprietary Apple way (e.g., iTunes).
So, why, oh why, have they suddenly had an epiphany that their beloved Apple is, dare I write, the most evil of them all (at least, in their opinion)?
OK, that might not be fair. But having just left Windows and the PC world in the last several months, Vista was not only one of the most frustrating operating systems in terms of usability, it also was one of the worst performing. Everyday I’d deal with slower than molasses performance, hanging apps, or sluggish startups when moving from location to location. In fact, the main reason I left Windows, after not caring about Macs for the entirety of my adult life, was because I was tired of all the time I wasted rebooting my machine or waiting for it to start or restart.
The hardware and OS performance is nice but Mac software is what “Apple was so yesterday, back to Microsoft” converts are really going to miss. I do believe that Mac software actually makes you more productive. For example, there’s just nothing as well designed or as useful as Things, 1Password, or Tweetie on Windows. Believe me, I’ve tried everything. Even cross platform apps like Evernote are better on the Mac.
iPhone app developers are stuck on a number — $0.99. Do they like this number? No. They hate it. But they believe that it leads to the lands of the Top 100 and the promise of riches and glory. With around 200 – 400 new apps going into the App Store per day, betting on $0.99 is a huge gamble and one that can almost definitely ensure that developing on the iPhone platform is just a fun hobby.
While price is not the only factor, it is a factor. Price the app according to or in the range of comparable apps; comparables need not be direct competitors. If all apps are selling at $0.99, then unless yours absolutely destroys the competition, you probably can’t price it at $9.99. In that case, $1.99 or $2.99 are very reasonable price points and could make significant impacts on revenue. 
More and more web or desktop software have iPhone companions. In most cases, the iPhone apps are priced independently but will sync or complement the full app. These apps are almost always priced at or above $1.99. For example, check out Hog Bay Software’s 
Another benefit of not going $0.99 is that you will price yourself out of the customers you don’t want. Consider who your audience is and how, for example, a $9.99 app could ensure that you don’t get reviews from people that clearly don’t understand what your app is supposed to be doing. Talk with likely customers, use data from your customer development surveys, and look at the market to understand the non-$0.99 price that still makes purchasing your app fall into the 
