I launched my iPhone app DecideGuide Chicago a little over a year ago. Until now the metrics App Developers had access to regarding their app and its usage was extremely limited. You could access high-level data like # of Downloads and In-App Sales, however key metrics like those related to views on the App Store and retention were sorely missed. As a guy that’s used to Google Analytics and the mountains of data and flexibility that it offers, I have been hoping that Apple would follow suit with a similar product for Apps…

It’s finally here, and it’s awesome.

The open Beta for App Analytics is now live and I’ve had a little time to tinker around with it. Apple is now providing key metrics like App Units Downloaded, App Store Views, In-App Purchases, Sessions and Sales. What I’m most excited about is that App Analytics actually gives you source data as well – the websites and campaigns that are driving referral traffic to your app. You can also now create custom campaign links and track the success of marketing campaigns, all through App Analytics.

As far the App Analytics interface, the “Overview” tab is very helpful – a high-level snapshot of app performance, including App Units by (Geographic) Territory. It feel quite a bit like the “Audience Overview” dashboard in Google Analytics.

The design of the interface feels like a scaled down version of Google Analytics, but Apple-fied: clean, minimalistic, but makes it very clear where all the data is being stored and how to get to it.

The data offered by App Analytics will likely be instrumental to marketers looking to develop and assess app marketing strategies, especially now that we’ll be able to access retention metrics, referral data, and campaign tracking.

I am very excited to see what kind of updates Apple has in store after getting developer feedback on the open beta.