

Free app developed in 3 hours hits #1 and makes $20000. What we learned so far. - abstractwater
http://blog.burstly.com/2010/06/08/free-app-hits-1-and-makes-20000-what-we-learned-so-far/

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patio11
This is not a sarcastic question: who pays for advertising in iPhone apps?
(I've never held an iPhone long enough to see an ad, and I'm drawing blanks as
to who would pay $2 CPMs for mobile traffic.)

~~~
blantonl
It is a pretty diverse group. In 3 page refreshes on my mobile site, Google
has delivered a online radio ad, a mobile virus scanning ad, and a Gastric
ByPass Attorney Ad.

And, the CPM rates are huge, and people actually do click these ads (based on
my revenue numbers)

~~~
nl
Has anyone done any studies on the number of people who click on mobile ads by
mistake?

Based on my experience and observation of others it seems to occur fairly
regularly.

(Also, I know my 4yo clicks on in-game ads by mistake all the time on my iPod,
and I know I'm not the only parent who has discovered the miracle of
iPhone/iPod gaming for kids.)

~~~
dpcan
I wouldn't doubt that the majority of in-app ad clicks are kids. Sometimes I
just let my 3-yr-old play with my phone, and he thinks the farting app is
pretty funny, but he ALWAYS touches the ads.

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Groxx
The app mentioned: Air Horn by Sympaddico

App page: [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-horn-
free/id348184873?mt=...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-horn-
free/id348184873?mt=8) (tries to open iTunes, sorry! don't know a link that
doesn't do that)

Content link:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://blog.burstly.com/2010/06/08/free-
app-hits-1-and-makes-20000-what-we-learned-so-far/&hl=en&strip=1) (from
eperfa, give them points! <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1418841>)

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dmn001
website does not load. anyone have a reliable mirro?

~~~
eperfa
only the text-only version works, sorry

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://blog.burstly.com/2010/06/08/free-
app-hits-1-and-makes-20000-what-we-learned-so-far/&hl=en&strip=1)

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moolave
Takeaways: just keep going no matter what. It may take a while to reach that
goal, but someway somehow, you are going to make it.

~~~
axod
Also another takeaway would be that advertising revenue can work pretty well.

~~~
Timothee
I'm afraid that, for a significant number of developers, the takeaway will be:
"see, the app quality doesn't matter, it's a matter of luck! So I'd better
crank out a _lot_ of apps to have a better chance to win big".

~~~
axod
Definitely. That's what I would do if I was doing apps. Crank out as many low
quality novelty apps as you can. Make one a day for a year.

That's giving people what they want. For many, the whole point of an app-store
is to find fun novelty apps like light-sabers fun noise things, etc etc. It's
just a way of personalizing your phone like ringtones used to be. Something
'cool'/'lame' you can show your friends.

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sliverstorm
"Error establishing a database connection"

That's certainly a lesson I haven't heard before!

:)

edit: I was just teasing

