The money was split with the developer, so they made $15K each. I'm assuming the 2-8 hours per week was 2-8 hours each. I didn't see where he said otherwise.
To me this looks similar to what you might make from many kinds of small app projects, but the App Store process seems to introduce so much additional risk.
To me that's the bottom line. The real problem with the "Gold Rush" stories is that they make it sound like you can create an app over a weekend and pull in $100k for it. What I got from this post is that writing an app for the app store is the same as starting up any other type of business.
Albeit with its own unique challenges (getting approved, managing the poor review process, marketing, etc...)
Not to mention that 15k over 6 months isn't something you can live on. Hypothetically yes they could "scale" and launch 5 equally successful apps but things never work out that way. I wouldn't be surprised if the author had other apps that are not nearly as successful.
Its like hearing from people who bought a lotto ticket and won $100. I recognize that these people have made their money back, but I'm really not interested in their story. Where's the > $100k iPhone app success stories?
Maybe my $100k target was too low to illustrate my point. I have yet to see a valuable killer iPhone app that Apple didn't write. Mail, Maps, and Safari could each on their own convince me to buy an iPhone. Trism? Some Polaroid sim? These are useless entertainment. Where are the VisiCalc's of this space? Apps where people stare dumbfounded at the screen and want to trample their neighbors to spend $200 on software.
What really bothers me about the "gold rush" stories is that they just aren't big enough. Some kid makes a game that nets $250k - basically enough to hire a couple people to help you make your next game before you go out of business. And to top it off, these are only the cream of the crop - most iPhone devs never recoup their investments. We aren't seeing real value being created here, just a few people capturing the spare change of the masses.
The modern smart phone is as close as we've gotten to a flying car... lets see something awesome already. I grew up thinking that software developers were like astronauts, not crop dusters.
(+1) But the problem isn't the discussion of the risks, rewards, success stories, or how all of it was navigated.
The problem is the sheer emphasis on iPhone apps over seemingly everything else. We all would be better off (developers and consumers) if there was more discussion around cross-platform mobile development. I know there is some of this, but not at the enthusiasm level you see with App Store discussions.
I don't see the emphasis as a problem. The iPhone is a market leader and market leaders tend to get a lot of attention. Why should developers waste their time on other platforms if they aren't interested in them or don't feel there is enough market to make a profit? I only knew C before I got an iPhone, but I was excited to learn to develop for it. I think a lot of others share that same excitement, thus the amount of stories and enthusiasm surrounding the device.
No one should do anything they really don't want to do. That's not what I'm saying. (And more power to everyone developing for iPhone, whether successfully or not.)
What I'm saying is that in the long run, this is a temporary state of things, and I personally feel we are better to move beyond it sooner than later. Geo-social apps are a great example that will benefit from better cross-platform support. And doing it in-browser, or some other compatible way, encourages more innovation faster than having to develop for n different proprietary platforms.
