
How much can you really make developing mobile apps? - AndrewWarner
http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2010/08/how-much-can-you-really-make-developing-mobile-apps.html
======
muhfuhkuh
The problem with any industry (whether it's books, music, movies, restaurants,
web apps, mobile apps, consumer products) is that the ones at the low end of
the spectrum generally share the following attributes:

1) They are either of very low quality compared to others at the top, or are
complete garbage and are generally not worth buying at all

2) They are generic me-too rip-offs of existing popular brands or products

3) They try to fill a niche that doesn't readily need to be filled or isn't
well-understood

4) Lazy marketing/communication or, worse, "build it and they will come"
complacent genius attitude

There is a reason that companies like taptaptap can continue making _at least_
a half-million dollars in revenue on their apps consistently. You've got to
take a look at the mid-section of the app store rankings to get a feel for
what the real, unhyped apps are doing, and why they are successful.

What I mean is, take a look at the apps at #75 to #150 on the app store chart.
You get a good cross-section of apps in all categories _and_ price points.
Let's also remember that, if figures from past blog entries about app store
sales-to-rank correlations generally hold true from day to day, apps in that
mid-section are generally getting between 400 to 1000 sales a day. Link that
to a sales price of, say, 4.99, and you're looking at some serious money per
diem, even after Apple's cut.

That's where the true beauty of the "Gross sales" chart comes into use. It's
less of a popularity contest or crapshoot, because I've seen indie companies
with little to almost no brand relevance clinging to that mid-section rankings
for well over a year, and some of them are priced above 99 cents (in a few
instances, well above).

What it really boils down to is quality. If you don't have anything worth
selling, I guess no one will buy it. Furthermore, it's really hard to
determine if what you're doing is worth buying to the general iPhone or
Android smartphone user. Put another way, if you take everyone playing in your
space, would _you_ choose your work over the competition? If not, why not?
Because I can tell you this right now: Most, if not all, of the apps that have
ever kissed the top 10 rankings on the app store were made by 2-4 person teams
and took a few months of full-time work to complete. The ones that stick
around update _constantly_ or are established brands. There are some flash in
the pans that make it to the top but if you look closer, they are either
building hype elsewhere (such as with a free facebook or flash app) or fills a
niche in Utilities that heretofore haven't been well-served.

~~~
scrrr
4) Lazy marketing: Hm. What steps would you take to promote an iPhone (or
Android) app, assuming it's a well-made app that doesn't fall into the
categories 1) to 3)?

~~~
muhfuhkuh
This is where the test of true value comes into play, for both your app and
the person promoting your app (who could easily be the person who created it).

Here's some starters. Note that none of these cost anything really, unless you
outsource any part of this:

0) One little way I've seen some devs do it, and this isn't really true of
everyone, is they have a developer blog or diary with little snippets of code
or screenshots or balsamiq mockups or character sketches for games, to build
hype. I see streetwear clothing brands do this all the time, and it captures
the energy of the product before you even see the finished product.

1) Get active on boards and social groups that have alot of members that would
take their interests to their phone. If you're an automobile mile-per-gallon
(MPG) calculating app, frequent some hypermiling or green-car (or even general
automotive) blogs and forums, get active, and then tell the site admin that
you've got an app for that and that you'll promise them a promo code if they
can review it. Be prepared for all kinds of tricks back from them (especially
if the site is popular). If you want to make a deal (payola review, promotion,
etc.), go ahead and make it. You don't generally have to do much with the
smaller niche sites, though. A promo code will probably do it. You can also PM
one of the board moderators or senior members if they want to take a look at
the app as well. Could be worth it.

2) This doesn't really work with games (though it could, I guess), but if it's
not a game app, SEO your product website, per instructions on patio11's blog:
[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/07/17/seo-for-software-
compani...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/07/17/seo-for-software-companies/)

3) When it comes out, Facebook wall, tweet, prweb announce, etc the launch.
The usual stuff that $19.99 "e-marketing" ebooks tell you to do but you should
know from reading HN every day anyway :) That stuff's easy.

------
nicpottier
As someone who's had apps break the top 50 in the iPhone store (for a while,
Reflexion) and currently has a top 25 in its category in the Android store
(NewsRoom), I can say that the economics aren't fantastic.

On the iPhone the competition is fucking insane and it depends on a lot more
than just your product. First, yes, you need something that is amazing, better
than Reflexion for sure, but you also need to have the connections to get it
pushed at launch so you get in the top 25. Once there, if your app is
brilliant, then you will make bank, no doubt about it. But there's a lot of
if's there. You'll notice that the players doing well in the AppStore now
(repeatedly) are the ones that can leverage previous hits to catapult new
ones. To give you an idea of scale, the few days we were a top 25 game we were
making over $1k a day.

On Android, the money just isn't there yet. The culture so far doesn't seem to
encourage paid apps to the same extent as the iPhone. We've floated up and
down in popularity in the Paid Applications section and have done ok, but
nothing you can really base a business on. Somewhere around $3k/month I
believe.

The figures in the article using 'average' are way way off. My experience, as
well as what I've heard from others is that the 'average' paid app makes
nothing at all. Perhaps if you are in the top 5% then you are making a little
bit, but a pittance, and the top .1% is rolling in it. This is especially true
in the iPhone store, divide by 100 for the Android store.

It's a tough way to make money, no two ways about it.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
"if your app is brilliant"

Yeah, that's really the bottom line. Good stuff just finds it's way to the
top. Even good fart apps, or moron tests, or funny novelty camera effect
utils.

You can't polish a tur- umm bad idea. But you can polish a decent idea or a
quick, good idea into a performer. People are making a living on the app store
(some a really good living) and they don't even chart.

Wasn't there a guy doing a gardening app that was making 6 figures on his own
just by word-of-mouth? I don't think he charted except perhaps in his
category. I forgot his blog or app name but he sold in-app purchases to re-
energize his sales.

~~~
nicpottier
No I think you are simplifying it a bit.

Just because all the stuff making money is good (well not all, but most) does
not mean all good stuff makes money.

There are some really fantastic apps and games where people are making nothing
at all. The problem is it is too binary as it is, it just isn't very
predictable.

All the random articles you see on the web of people making good money ignores
the thousands upon thousands of people who aren't.

------
DanielBMarkham
For somebody who is so super-excited, those are some really dismal numbers to
be excited about. Frankly it looks like a sucker's game. You might be better
off playing the lottery. Trying to be a rock star.

~~~
uxp
I think that places like the AppStore and Android Market are good places to
extend an already viable product like The Weather Channel, Twitter, OKCupid,
Evernote and Facebook, to name a few off my head. At least for general
applications. But due to the quantity of already available free applications,
you'll need to aim for high quality applications that offer something unique.

Game developers on the other hand need to understand that the platform has a
market with a short attention span. Unless it's a port of an already
successful game like Doom or Final Fantasy, you're probably going to have to
be pushing out a new app every couple months to stay on top. It is too easy
for a consumer to get bored, and with a couple hundred thousand other free
games available, you'll quickly lose your users if your game is dull. Games
are where high quality unique applications can shine.

In the end, developing me-too rip-off applications will get you no where. It
may be a couple thousand a year, but that's not enough to do it full time.
There's a lot of hype for developers who wan't to make a lot of money real
quick with mobile applications, but it is no different than the
shareware/trialware application buzz from some years ago.

------
maxer
A cheap iphone apps contractor in Dublin will get €500/day

~~~
muhfuhkuh
Wow, that is unbelievable. So, I reckon they're making as much as physicians
in Ireland do, at least family doctors or internists.

