Will iPhone App with future "Availability Date" show up in "New Releases" on that day?

I plan to submit my first iPhone game to the iPhone app store today. Like many people suggest, I want to set the "Availabili开发者_运维百科ty Date" to a date way in the future and change it later. But there are two different opinions on what to do once the app is approved:

A: Some people say, I have to quickly change the "Availability Date" to the date the app is approved by Apple right after I get the "app approved" mail. Otherwise it won't show up in the "New Releases" list.

B: Some people say, this is not necessary (or maybe no longer necessary). I can set the "Availability Date" to some date in the future (for example, next weekend). The app will be released on that day and will show up in the "New Releases" list on that day.

Who is right?

Changing "Availability Date" will make sure that the app is not available for sale until the date you specify, but the "New Releases" list is not driven by this date. Otherwise people could "game" the system by changing the "Availability Date" of their app to today's date each day, and always appear on that list.

I would say that the "New Releases" list seems to be of very limited value to developers. You can be pushed off the front page within a few minutes, by which time hardly anyone will find you just by browsing for new apps. Better to have a marketing strategy in place / good keywords / app reviews etc etc.

Phil

You should assume that Apple takes around 2 weeks to review and release your app. These days it seems to happen in a week or so. But I usually set it to a month into the future, because you can change it anytime.

Once Apple releases your app, your availability date is still in the future. This is good. Now if you plan to have any marketing push and publish a date for release, you should do it and set the availability date to the date you are marketing as the publish date. I don't do any marketing, so I just use the next Saturday morning. In any case, use a date that is at least one day into the future in Japan. Thats because that is where the sun rises first on a new date.

The app becomes available on each iTunes store at midnight for that store. Also allow 24 to 48 hours for the available app to propagate (for good measure). Starting at midnight in Japan gives your app the maximum time to be on the 'release date' page - in a manner of speaking.