Date approved VS date of sale

bluebyu25bluebyu25 Member Posts: 500
edited December 2011 in iPhone and Android Publishing
So I've heard two different sides of the story. Do any of you know with certainty which is correct?

Example: An app gets approved tomorrow, December 10th. The dev has the sale date for December 11th.

I've heard that :

A) It's a mistake on the dev's part because now the app will NOT show up under new releases, because it was approved a day before the sale date (i.e. the sale date should've been set for the 10th).

B) That the dev is in the clear, the app WILL show up under new releases for December 11th.

Anybody have some clarity they would like to share? Are apps showing under new releases based on date of approval or date of sale?

Comments

  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    edited December 2011
    Solving the whole release date debacle is about as fun as picking your friend's nose. (apologies to those who enjoy nose picking :P)

    The general rule of thumb with release dates is, say you've submitted your app, and it's waiting for review, generally speaking, you want to set your date about 5-7 days in advance, given that's the amount of time it takes for Apple to review, and publish your app.

    Then, say if your app goes in review, and you want to keep the date you set, then just leave it at that, and don't touch it. Every time you hit the "save" button when updating your release date, it has to filter through apple's system, which can be very buggy at times, and takes awhile to set into their system.

    OR what some people do is just change the release date to the next day before they go to bed, so if it happens to go in review before you have a chance to go in and change it, at least you've done your part.

    Most of the time this works, and the release date you set is where it will show up on the list, but sometimes the app store is buggy, and even apps for release dates that have been correct (especially most recently) they end up showing lower in the list. i.e.: my game says it was released on December 1st, but for some reason it gets lumped into the November 29th or 30th pile.

    It's unfortunate to this day that it's still buggy, because I've noticed lately my apps are pushed down on the list, even though I took the liberty of making sure way ahead of time which release date I wanted.

    So basically, the rule of thumb is:

    Don't keep hitting the save button once you've set your release date, it will only reset the system over and over.

    Try to prepare your apps release date ahead of time, or go in every day into iTunes connect, and change the release date for the next day or so, in the event that it goes in review, you won't have to rush to change it.

    Good luck!

  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408
    when I submitted my last game for review, i sent the release date for a thursday 2 weeks ahead. it was approved on that monday, so i had 3 days to send out review copies and get a press release ready. when it went live, it showed up at the right time with the correct release date.

    i did not edit the release date once I submitted it.

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  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    I have had it happen now both ways. I waited later than I would have liked to update penguin Glides release date and now it doesn't seem to be updating everywhere properly. the itunes listing online shows a release dat of the 9th but it still sits down with the apps released on the 7th on the list.

    jon thats interesting I have always had it screw me if I didn't go back and reset the release date once it went into review. maybe thats what we need to do next time. We bumped our release up cause it came out way earlier than planned. I have done it last minute in the pst with not issues but this time around I think it got us.
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  • butterbeanbutterbean Member Posts: 4,315
    There is definitely some kind of bug in the app store release list right now, I had the same thing happen over a week ago on a release where it had the correct date, but it was lumped into the pile of older releases.
  • bluebyu25bluebyu25 Member Posts: 500
    Yup I just got hit with the "lumped with the old release" fun. It was like my app didn't even exist.
  • osucowboy18osucowboy18 Member Posts: 1,307
    I'm SO glad this is not just happening to me :) Unfortunately, se have't been as "lucky" as some of you have.

    We released our latest app, iPuzzler, to the App Store on December 8th (last Thursday). It was approved for sale on November 22nd, but we wanted to wait until the 8th to release it due to a marketing campaign we are doing. The problem is, when the 8th rolled around, iPuzzler was released to the App Store, but did not hit the New Releases page, which killed our sales :( Instead, at the bottom of iPuzzler's page on the App Store, it says the "Post Date" was November 22nd.

    In iTunes Connect under the main page for iPuzzler (the page where you can add a new version, manage Game Center, set up iAds from, etc.) it says the "Date Released" is November 22nd. However, if you hit the blue Rights and Pricing button on that page, it says the "Availability Date" is December 8th, which is what I set it to. So, if you still follow me, Apple is pulling the wrong date to use with the New Releases page.

    I called Apple Developer Support yesterday and was on the phone with them for over an hour (on hold most of the time while they investigated this issue) and they still couldn't give me an answer. They told me they were going to notify there internal team on Monday and take a look at it and they would call me back Monday afternoon with their findings.

    It is just so disappointing that iPuzzler didn't make it onto the New Releases page, which absolutely killed our sales the first day it was on the App Store. We've got some of the smartest people in the world over at Cupertino designing and testing these great devices, but they can't get a friggin date right! Hopefully this doesn't happen with the app we are planning to release this Thursday the 15th. Although, it shows the same pattern as iPuzzler did with respect to the "Date Released" vs. the "Availability Date" within iTunes Connect.

    Any tips on how to avoid the same from happening to our new app coming out on this Thursday (the 15th) would be much appreciated.

    - Alex
  • osucowboy18osucowboy18 Member Posts: 1,307
    edited December 2011
    Also, has this same thing happened to anyone else? From what I can tell, most people are just getting lumped in with other release dates? Has anyone had an app approved, but not released it for a few weeks and seen the same results we have?
  • osalzanoosalzano Member, PRO Posts: 136
    You have no idea how much this frustrates me :/
    I've planned everything in advance, set the release date to today when I submitted the binary, got it approved two days ago and guess the date that appeared on the App Store... 12/08/2011.
    Hope GS fix Android bugs ASAP. I don't want to be so dependent on the App Store.
    here's my game, Delicious Christmas for iPad: Lot of work to polish it for just a few sales.
    http://itunes.apple.com/app/delicious-christmas-hd/id485085545?mt=8

    Cheers,
    Oz.
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