Last year, I set to build an Internet speed testing app for OS X. Between a full-time job and summer vacations, it took me about 6 months to wrap up a 1.0 using the SpeedOfMe free-while-in-beta API. Speedster was born.

Speed tests are a tricky business. I wasn’t convinced that the app would work for everyone, so I made it free. I also capped the number of daily tests per user to not get my API key revoked, and added an in-app purchase to remove that limitation for good measure.

Shortly after submitting 1.0 for review, the app was rejected for violating section 2.9 of the review guidelines:

2.9 Apps that are “demo”, “trial”, or “test” versions will be rejected. Beta Apps may only be submitted through TestFlight and must follow the TestFlight guidelines

It seems like I wasn’t the only one sailing uncharted waters here. After a couple of back and forth, the app went live on February 1st. Here are some relevant numbers from the first month:

• Downloads: 14k.
• IAP: 212 units.
• Revenue: $620.
• API usage: 20k requests.
• Conversion: 1.5%.

Most of the revenue was generated during the first 2 weeks as the weekly average dropped from $285 to $23 by the end of the month.

On February 20th, I woke up to an email from SpeedOfMe announcing their pricing plans and prompting me to update my billing information.

SpeedOfMe API plans.

Uh-oh.

Going with the Pro plan as the only reasonable option, I projected cumulative revenue and costs for the next 12 months, as they taught me in business school:

Projected cumulative revenue/costs (purple/orange).

This did not bode well. Even an optimistic revenue projection wasn’t enough to offset the costs for more than 3 months. Without recurring revenue, Speedster would not be sustainable on the long run.

After 24 hours of hesitation, I pulled the trigger on the Speedster Hero IAP and replaced it with consumable tests packs in 1.1. Here’s how things went since:

Daily revenue between March 1st and May 12th. Total: $148.

Oops. Consumables aren’t popular outside of games for a reason. The app made a measly $148 since March 1st and the pricing tweaks I did in the course of the last two months did not move the needle.

Remember that projection graph from earlier? Now it looks like this:

Readjusted cumulative revenue and costs projection (purple and orange respectively).

Did these changes make things worse? Absolutely. Do I have a clue why? Maybe. Let’s look at some ★☆☆☆☆ reviews:

I would stay away from this. Says free but its more like test three times and you must buy it. --- Jatilq no ping and 3x per day? --- Ojaste Why pay for a speed test when there are dozens of websites that provide this for free? limit the free version to 3 daily tests? $4 for unlimited? I will use speedtest.net for free --- Legatony

The list goes on, but I will stop here. The gist of it is that the vast majority of users do not see enough value to justify paying for a consumable IAP.

With downloads hovering around a weekly average of 600, the prospects of a surge in revenue are bleak. Something’s gotta give.

Weekly downloads. Total as of May 12th: 21442.

In my last attempt to make this work, I am introducing some breaking changes in 2.0. Here’s an outline:

• The app will no longer be free.
• Users will be prompted to use their own SpeedOfMe API keys.
• Existing Hero customers will be grand-fathered until further notice.
• Test packs will remain as a secondary option for those who don’t want to manage their own API keys.

Will these changes net me a few more ★☆☆☆☆ reviews? I betcha. But at this point that is the least of my concerns.

To be continued.