mobile-apps, business-planI am a programmer, and I’ve developed a website and an app that I’m confident could be a success. The problem is how I position it in the market, ie my overall strategy for release including pricing etc.
I’ve got many options and that’s half the problem, what do I choose? What time frame? Free to start off with then premium accounts or just free indefinitely with ad revenue?
Who would typically be in the role that decides this? I know it’s my responsibility but who (in a larger established company) makes these decisions?
First off, most of this answer to a slightly related question applies to you as well, so I invite you to read it.
Many of your questions are of the type that only you can answer, and the only way to answer them is to talk to your prospects and customers. There are no magical unicorns to find, nor is there any pixie dust that you can sprinkle on a site to make it sell.
Generally speaking, though, people don’t buy features; they buy benefits, answers, and solutions to problems they actually have. Find out what those are, and where users go looking for solutions, and you’ll already have most of what you need for a good strategy laid out before you.
Free works very well if done right, so yes: a trial period is a must if your app involves anything recurring, else a freemium model withh premium features or consumables as IAPs are reportedly the way to go in the App Store ecosystem.
Avoid ads imho: users associate high price with value, and free with ads as worthless; they slow things down and clutter screen real estate; and they scream of “we track you,” which privacy concerned users may take issue with.
In a more established business, the role in charge of collecting this type of information usually is the head of marketing. And the people in charge of making the calls based on that information would usually be the heads of marketing, sales, and product development together (or the CEO).
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