

Ask HN: Is Android profitable? - bbayer

I always read iOS success stories on HN and there are lots articles about Android fragmentation, lack of sales on Google Play and game studios which quits Android development due to above circumstances. 
I want to dive into mobile development and don't want to invest time and money for a platform which is not worth in short and long period. 
Development for Android is relatively easy. (standart PC with Java is enough for prototyping) But I have doubts about application profitability and making initial pitch.
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hcho
I have the impression that Android apps make money with ads rather than
purchases. It is possible to make money, just with different approaches.

The skills and experience you'd gain doing Android development is transferable
to iOS anyway. It won't be a total waste if things don't go to plan.

~~~
bbayer
Do you have real life information for CTR and CPC. I am asking because as an
Android user I have never clicked an ad before. If you don't have high end
phone clicking an ad consumes lots of resources.

~~~
hcho
No I don't have numbers in hand. I remember a few developers sharing their
numbers here, though. Maybe you can search.

------
sunspeck
See also: [http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/20/how-android-developers-
can-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/20/how-android-developers-can-thrive-
with-google-play/)

------
debacle
I remember reading a blog recently where the author actually had more ROI on
the webOS platform than Android.

