Iddiction introduces Xplode so your app doesn’t get lost in the app stores

Iddiction is all about making it easier for the right people to discover your app or game. So the creator of the App-O-Day app promotion site is now launching Xplode, a new app discovery platform.

If it works, it will help developers and publishers get a lot more users for their apps and games without spending a ton on user acquisition. High marketing costs are starting to kill mobile startups, so Iddiction wants to come to the rescue.

Andrej Nabergoj, chief executive of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Iddiction, said that Xplode allows developers to get quality users for free by connecting their apps together into an app network. You can leverage the network to promote your new apps or re-engage existing users and create a following for your mobile brand. The public beta is now available today on iOS. Android is coming soon.

“When I ran Outfit7 (maker of the Talking Tom apps), I helped the company in growing our app network to over a billion downloads and becoming one of the App Store’s top developers,” Nabergoj said. “Although our approach worked well, the experience made me realize how difficult it is for most mobile app developers to be discovered.”

The Xplode app features a bunch of apps with an attractive user interface that Nabergoj describes as a responsive, “native design” for mobile. Iddiction says that developers can experience a 10 times boost in organic cross-app discovery, saving tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.

“We have been building Xplode for awhile,” Nabergoj said in an email. “It has been a passion of mine for a long time. Users enjoy discovering and downloading new apps (the average number of apps for an iOS user is around 80 according to some estimates), but the sad truth is that the majority of it is done via ads such as ugly banners and aggressive interstitials that yield next to zero user interest (and conversions). Even worse, they take away from the user experience. App discovery shouldn’t just be about ads.”

He added, “Since app discovery has been about ads, acquiring users has also become really expensive. Only bigger developers can afford to buy installs on Facebook. We want to provide a solution for any developer to start growing their user base without breaking the bank. We want to bring organic installs back, so we’ve made the Xplode platform free.”

For developers, Xplode offers granular analytics, simple drag-and-drop controls, real-time data, curation, branding, and alliances with other developers. The Xplode software development kit is open and allows developers to cross-promote with any other apps or companies.

About 100 developers participated in the companies private beta since last summer. Nabergoj said the company is working with larger developers who are looking for more effective ways to acquire new users by providing personalized recommendations to users. The results of the beta test have been promising, with more click-throughs than normal for developers.

Iddiction was founded in 2011 and has 25 employees. It raised $4 million from Signia Ventures, Comcast, Highland Capital Partners, IDG Ventures, and Felicis Ventures.

Introducing Xplode from Iddiction on Vimeo.