

Ask HN: What are the economics of making mobile apps? - Hisoka

Let's say you're a company like Mint.com, or even Facebook for instance. You develop an app for the iPhone and Android. Chances are you're not gonna recoup the costs of producing the app (paying programmers, man hours, etc) from the app revenue.. I don't use many mobile apps, but I assume the Facebook app is free??<p>So why do companies make mobile apps? is it to protect their "moat"(their actual website where the ads are displayed) so to speak? To appease their users so they won't use a competitor?
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coryl
You do it to increase the accessibility to your product. Facebook and Mint
don't want you going to other services, they profit because your data and
attention is with them. If they can take advantage of platforms like mobile to
engage you even more, than thats fantastic for their business and it increases
the switching cost of leaving them.

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abbasmehdi
Market forces and user demand.

