Over and over again I read posts and hear from developers who need access to iTunes data through an API.

Of all the websites and products Apple has released, The iTunes Connect portal is probably the worst of the worst. From look, to navigation, to functionality, it does not represent what we know Apple to be.

Developers need access to data. Not only does this include iTunes Connect sales reports, but ALL iTunes data.

We need access to:

• Product Details
• Reviews
• Ratings
• Rankings
• Sales Reports

And not just for iPhone and iPad apps. Content providers need this information for everything including Music and Videos.

Well, here it is. We built it!

We needed this information for our mobile application analytics product AppClix, so we made it a public iTunes Web Service API that developers can use. We also wrapped Apple’s JSON affiliate API into XML for those that need it.

Now with a simple API call, you can get today’s sales data. You can easily see your ratings in every country. Easily access information about developers, applications, content ratings and more.

We are currently in Beta and are looking for users. While some of this API will be free, other method calls will be fee based.

Here are some Available REST Methods we offer:

getProductDetails

• All iTunes data fields including links to small and large icon.
• Current ratings
• Number of reviews

getProductRankings
Returns top rankings for application

getProductReviews
Returns review data including user, rating, version and details

getProductRatings
Returns rating for current version, and overall, by country

getStoresByCountry
Returns the iTunes store country codes to be used in other calls

getDailySalesReport
Returns the iTunes Connect sales report for an account for a specific date range. Optionally filter by specific application id and other parameters.
Optionally specify currency code to return revenue figures in consistent single currency.

getWeeklySalesReport
Returns same as daily report, but aggregated weekly.

searchProducts
Searches for products and returns the same data as the getProductDetails call for each result.

getSellerDetails
Returns info for specific developer or publisher. Optionally includes ids of all products, or full product details.

getProductsBySeller
Returns all products for a single seller

getRelatedProducts
Returns the products that iTunes considers related. Could be from other sellers.

getCurrencyExchangeRates
Returns a simple list of exchange rates based on 1 US dollar. Currency codes match up with Sales reporting codes.

getMediaTypes
Returns a list of the iTunes Store Media Types to be used in searches

getEntityTypes
Returns a list of the iTunes Store Entity Types to be used in searches

Visit http://www.itunesapis.com for more information or to sign up for our beta.

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Well it looks like Apple really will be releasing the iPad on April 3rd. As many of you already know, they announced through a mass email that they will be accepting iPad app submissions to be included in the “Grand Opening” of the iPad App Store.

In order to be eligible, the app must be built with the latest Beta version, SDK 3.2 beta 5. Apps must also be uploaded to iTunes Connect by March 27 @ 5pm PST.

Apple will then review the app on a real iPad we assume, and let you know if it is ready. I’m sure they will allow some back and forth over the following week to let developers fix issues that could not be seen in the simulator.

While it will be exciting to have the App Store live when the iPad ships, many of us wanted them to hold off for a short while so we could test on the real thing. Looks like that’s not happening.

At least 99% of us are in the same position. We all have to assume the simulator is fairly accurate and see what happens. The other 1% have access to real iPads under some crazy restrictions.

Would-be testers of the tablet-style computer, due to be released Apr. 3, must promise to keep it isolated in a room with blacked-out windows, according to four people familiar with the more than 10-page pact that bars partners from disclosing information about the iPad.

To ensure that it can’t be removed, the iPad must also remain tethered to a fixed object, said the people, who asked not to be named because their plans for the iPad have not been made public. Apple (AAPL) won’t send out an iPad until potential partners send photographic evidence that they’ve complied.

So we’re scrambling to finish the first app being developed by my other software company, Millennium Studios, to take advantage of the grand opening. Should be real interesting…

At the same time, we want to get an app in the store so we can quickly begin collecting data for AppClix. We added some iPad specific features, and hopefully they will work as well on the real thing as they do in the simulator.

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Check it out… Our test app sold 12 units yesterday, yet we had 145 new users…

Now we all know that no one buys an iPhone app and then use it. Even if they don’t open it right away, you can be sure they will at some point soon.

The only explanation for why we sold 12 units, and there were 145 new users is that it was cracked and is being downloaded. That’s hundreds of pirated copies being used every day!

While AppClix and the other iPhone app analytics vendors have built in ways to detect pirated copies, they rarely work very long. Hackers are able to make it appear that it is a legitimate copy. If we know how to detect piracy, then they know we know. It’s that simple.

So what’s the solution?? It’s obvious. Apple knows which phones are authorized to use the app. Simply give us a way to find out if is legit.

I would say to put it into the SDK, but if you put it in the app, then the hackers will crack it.

Another solution might be give us a way to download the handset ids of the purchasers,. The problem here is that the same app can be used by up to 5 phones in the same account.

So here’s the simple solution:

Give us a web service where we can send the App Id and the handset id and tell us if it is legit! It’s that simple!

We can then have our apps check once in a while and shut down if not legit. This is not that complicated. If they don’t want to share the handset ids for privacy reasons, then give us some scrambled string. Do Something!

We could even build it into our analytics libraries and use some kind of rolling codes to make it even harder. If my app contacts my server for legitimate reasons, I would build it in there so the data is not returned properly if it is not a legit handset.

If the app will not run without contacting your service for data, then hackers can’t remove or change that functionality!

It’s not that we are losing money so much. These people are not buying the app anyway. It’s that it is COSTING US MONEY!

We are paying extra for bandwidth and servers, and our analytics are thrown off by these incorrect numbers.

When we release our iPad apps, it will be even worse. They will use more bandwidth, and will hopefully be more expensive apps.

Why won’t Apple fix this? Any developer over there could set up a web service in hours that can provide this info.

I’m done ranting… Let’s all call on Apple to solve this issue already.

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For the last 6 months we have been changing the direction of Mobilytics. We have recently entered AppClix into beta, which we consider to be the ULTIMATE mobile application analytics and reporting solution available. With that change we are expanding our blog to include posts and news on all mobile analytics, not just mobile web related. Over the next few days we will be putting up a number of posts we have written recently that have been waiting in the queue.

While developing AppClix, we have done extensive research and testing of our competitors applications. In order to really understand these products, we also developed a number of iPhone applications through another company of mine called Millennium Studios. We are currently developing Blackberry App World and Android Market apps and are looking for beta testers in those areas as well.

Four of these apps are now in the iTunes store and are producing invaluable data for our development and testing. Stay tuned for more posts about AppClix and some detailed analysis of the mobile app analytics Landscape.

AppClix is not just an application analytics solution like Flurry, Pinch Media, Localytics, MobClix and others. (Yes, as usual we are not afraid to link to the competition.)

AppClix is a complete analytics solution that includes detailed sales reporting, and campaign tracking. Some of the features we have that others don’t are:

• Automatic download of iTunes reports from iTunes Connect for complete sales analysis and reporting
• Click through tracking with conversion for in app and mobile web ads. We also support traditional web ads which we believe will be huge for iPad application marketing.
• Reporting on Reviews and Rankings of apps across mutiple app stores in every country available.
• reporting on how price affects conversions and downloads
• reporting on how changes to descriptions affect sales
• reporting on how ranking and review affect sales
• reporting on referrers when purchases are made from web sites.

These features do NOT require the installation of our library in the mobile application. Signup is instant and reporting is available immediately.

As for our Analytics, we also offer quite a few metrics and features again not available in others.

• Additional metrics such as
• conversion rate
• trial to paid upgrade rates
• update rates that show what percentage of users update to new versions and from what version they updated.
• days from last use to new version update
• Simple OpenFeint integration – We have created a simple OpenFeint service that simply drops into the OpenFeint library for instant analytics integration using same syntax and formats as existing OpenFeint code. For those of you who don’t know about OpenFeint, it is a great community, leaderboard, achievement and application cross promotion solution for iPhone games and apps. We have tried a few solutions, but the OpenFeint community is the largest and has the most robust solution.
• Real Time Analytics! – Yes, this is possible. We are currently using the Amazon EC2 infrastructure for 95% of our solution and can easily scale to accomodate real time stats. While some of the summary data is updated hourly, event and user data is immediately available. Through our testing, we have been amazed at the lag time some vendors are providing. Data in our Pinch Media integration into the DoodleCopter app has not been updated since February 27^th! Yes, 11 days!

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They finally put up a note about this, and we will be commenting in additional post shortly.

• Lastly, AppClix is also available in a dedicated and customer installed solution. Yes, you can purchase AppClix and install on your own servers. No need to compile a third party dependency int your precious apps. (Google AppLoop for reasons why). AppClix is avilable as a complete Amaon EC2 paid AMI so you don’t even need your own hardware. More on this to come.

We’re excited about the new blog and AppClix. We look forward to our reader’s feedback, and the continued growth of this market.

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