This may be a dumb question, but do Pre-Order numbers turn into Units once the app is launched? Or does Apple keep these separate?
The reason I ask is that I had a number of pre-orders for my app and then on the day of launch, the number of Units was not nearly as high for that day (less than an hour period between launch and midnight). Shouldn't the Pre-Orders immediately download, thus converting to Units?
Thanks
Pre-orders are only converted to purchased unit counts if the user ignores the option to decline the (24hr) pending auto-purchase.
iTunes will not charge users right away for the item. Instead, they will receive an email confirmation when the item is released. They aren't charged for their purchase until they download, where some may be eager and some let the timer do it for them, meaning the count doesn't necessarily occur same day as release.
Note that while they are not charged for the entire item when pre-ordered, they still might see a charge. If any portion of the item is already available for download, iTunes treats the pre-order like a purchase and charges them for the currently available content, which they then have access to. Music albums are examples of this.
Also keep in mind that users can cancel pre-orders, refunds have their own influence and timing, and again, iTunes doesn't charge until the item is released & downloaded, so technically they haven't purchased anything, meaning there are no units to be counted as purchased.
Pre-orders are only converted to purchased unit counts if the user ignores the option to decline the (24hr) pending auto-purchase.
iTunes will not charge users right away for the item. Instead, they will receive an email confirmation when the item is released. They aren't charged for their purchase until they download, where some may be eager and some let the timer do it for them, meaning the count doesn't necessarily occur same day as release.
Note that while they are not charged for the entire item when pre-ordered, they still might see a charge. If any portion of the item is already available for download, iTunes treats the pre-order like a purchase and charges them for the currently available content, which they then have access to. Music albums are examples of this.
Also keep in mind that users can cancel pre-orders, refunds have their own influence and timing, and again, iTunes doesn't charge until the item is released & downloaded, so technically they haven't purchased anything, meaning there are no units to be counted as purchased.
