
Evolving App Store Business Models - milen
https://david-smith.org/blog/2016/09/05/evolving-business-app-store-business-models/
======
sharkjacobs
I don't doubt that advertising and IAP are more successful monetization
strategies than selling your app, but if I got into indie app development it
would be because I wanted to make apps which I myself liked, respected, and
would want to use. That immediately precludes advertising and makes IAP very
challenging.

~~~
tobltobs
Then obviously you shouldn't do indie app development.

~~~
sharkjacobs
we have reached the same conclusion

------
archagon
I tend to have a visceral reaction when indie devs proclaim that paid software
is "over". (Which is not what David Smith is doing, but what a lot of
commentary in this genre tends to look like.) It's not that ads are
_inherently_ bad — podcast sponsorships, The Deck, and affiliate links tend to
be decent and respectful — but what kind of software future can we look
forward to if the only way to make money is to sell our UI real estate to the
highest bidder? There are many ethical lines that are all to easy to cross in
the pursuit of profit. This is the same path that has turned mobile games into
exploitative, IAP-driven casinos — and the web into a murky bog of autoplaying
videos and 10-second load times.

Here's my opinion: pay-once software will never disappear. Not now, not on an
infinite timescale. For things like Twitter clients or text editors, sure —
it'll be very difficult to sell your wares at a premium when there's so much
free competition. But certain pieces of software are just too unique to be
cloned. Nobody minds paying money for Model 15[1] because it's the only one of
its kind. Maybe instead of spending years and years working on a single
productivity app, we should focus on building stuff like _that_.

[1]:
[https://www.moogmusic.com/products/apps/model-15-app](https://www.moogmusic.com/products/apps/model-15-app)

~~~
scarface74
The age of consumer pay once software is dead and has been for awhile - aside
from non mobile games. Which software companies are actually still making real
money from consumers? I can only think of one - Microsoft - and even they have
moved to a subscription model. I'm a developer and if I didn't have an MSDN
license, I could probably get away with only free tools that MS provides and
open source software.

Adobe is still doing well, but they are also doing subscriptions and mostly
prosumers who are running businesses.

------
samfisher83
It kind of sucks people are unwilling to pay for software.

Maybe the free to play strategy is the way to go for consumer facing software.

~~~
ksec
I think one* of the reason is payment is hard. There are lots of people
without Credit Card ( Non-US specific ) and this makes paying requires a
little more friction.

Yes, I think IAP are only monetizing _some users_.

------
unabst
The key is to offer something in exchange for the ad view. Like in Sim City
and Abyssrium, they actually give you something. When it becomes a choice, it
becomes a willful transaction, and not only do users willingly and repeatedly
watch ads for you, they don't mind it.

Unlike streaming content, in a game it's easy to reward the player. In fact,
it's much easier than making the player pay for the game upfront, or pay for
the reward.

~~~
doublerebel
Can you describe this in more detail? I haven't seen this technique.

~~~
JaumeGreen
Concrete example.

In Tap my Katamari you only see ads when you choose to. You can watch an add
to double the money accumulated when you where away. From time to time the
king will come with gifts, cash or candy, but ocassionaly the reward will be
"watch an add for plenty of candy" or "watch an add to get money/tap for N
seconds".

This makes the person playing interested in watching the add, well, playing it
at least while doing other things.

------
pastullo
Thanks for sharing! Can you tell a bit more what ads (and ads networks) you
are using for monetization?

Do you plan to use subscription models in any of your apps?

~~~
oatmale
In the article the author mentions they're using admob

------
blahi
But HNers keep telling me that advertising is dead business model.

~~~
manicdee
Intrusive advertising is a dead business model. Advertising in iOS apps is
non-intrusive by design. Distracting, certainly, but you will not have videos
that pop over content and play automatically while you are in the middle of
reading the article.

~~~
prawn
_" Advertising in iOS apps is non-intrusive by design."_

Not sure what apps you're using, but in many ad-supported apps I use, the ads
are always visible or takeover the full screen between screens - both very
intrusive. There's one game my kids tried and they could barely go a minute
without accidentally hitting an ad with their palm while tapping with fingers.

