This is the first serious blog that we are writing since we quit our full time jobs and started to create the MoneyBag app in the start of 2012 with a vision to create a simple but beautiful finance manager for Mac which can help people understand Money better.
Getting into the Mac App Store
After months of hard work we submitted the app for review in the Mac App Store in the first week of December 2012. After 10 days of waiting for review the app was taken up for review and very quickly was made available for the store on 20th Dec 2012.
It was one of the most happiest moments of our lives since it was our first app to be submitted to the mac app store. But never did we know that what we thought the happiest moment of our lives would be totally eclipsed by more happy news coming from the app sales in Mac App Store.
Holiday Sale of App in Mac App Store
The app was ready to go on 20th Dec and it was slowly gaining traction among the users. We decided to give the app at a huge discount in a Holiday Sale from 21st Dec to New Year. This Holiday sale totally changed the momentum of the app and it started to climb the charts like anything in almost all countries.
The New Year Miracle
We woke up to the surprise of of our lives on Jan 1 2013 when we saw MoneyBag as the #1 Top Paid app in almost 20+ countries (We could check only those. There could have been more.) including UK, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Romania, Singapore and the list goes on. In US we were # 3 behind Quicken and iBank, the two software?s we greatly respect.
We were in the Top 10 Overall Paid Apps in Mac App Store of so many countries that we lost count. This image of use next to none other than the Mountain Lion itself is picture that we would not forget for life and framed it 
in our new office.
We sold more apps in those three days than all the apps we sold the earlier year.
What we did
We did nothing other than to create an awesome finance application for the Mac. It was just the first version and we could never include all features like companion apps, bank integrations etc (which we are working on now) but we did what we choose to do with great love and attention to detail.
We ensured that everything was simplified to the maximum possible extent to ensure that users can start using the app without a manual or tutorial. Our vision was to create a simple but super efficient app which can help users understand finances with a framework that can easily evolve over time and we did just that.
What we did not (or rather could not) do
Being two independent developers having our own families with small babies to support and working full time on MoneyBag app for almost a year means we never had time to do any pre-launch promotion or advertisements or sponsorships. We simply could not afford any of them. We just believed that submitting a nice and simple app which does what it promises would definitely be accepted by the people. And you know what it was !
?
The Magic of the Mac App Store
The Mac App Store experience itself was unique to both of us. We have worked with many app stores in the past but the sheer robustness of the store stunned us. The kind of reach it had and the amount of configuration it allowed in terms of meta-data simply was awesome. We could schedule discounts or sales and could track the impact each event had on our sales soon after in the iTunes Connect site and the awesome iPhone app.
Within a day Mac App Store had taken us to almost all countries in every corner of the earth. On the first day we got a review from a user in Sao Tome and Principe and We haven?t heard about the country all our life.
Graph between our competitor top paid rankings vs moneybag you can see a (flying rocket ) spike reaching the top chart immediately after? launch
Power of People
Where moneybag stands now, is all because of power of people, people who loved it said to their friends and families. The App reached the top paid? without a press coverage, press release, advertisements, without apple featuring our app in front page ( we hope that moment will come soon )? In the end only thing we can all say is People People People, Customers Customers Customers, We loved them and they loves us back more than we did. All the customers has been so understanding and helped us a lot. Everyday we are getting so many emails from our lovable customers. Thanks for the love.
When we launched app with no huge customer base, friends or family people who could give us a review or rate for us immediately after launch to get traction, we went out there with the product and apple MacAppStore took it to every nook and corner of the world and people started sharing it with their friends and families.
Secret for Success
There is not even a single rule that we followed by book, We?re just enthusiastic about what we do, we went with intrusion, passion in app making? not in money making (as we always say money is a by product of a happy product and not our primary goal). Last but not least Trust Customers and Thanks to everyone in the world who loved us and trusted two little developers.
We don?t have anything to say but one BIG thing ? WE LOVE YOU
For those who are thinking about jumping into full time jobs, the words that inspired us to quit our jobs are from Jobs
?Stay hungry, stay foolish.?
With Lots of Love and Regards ? George and Suresh (Creators of MoneyBag)
Source: http://moneybagapp.com/blog/miracle-of-the-mac-app-store/
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