OTH it is strange that the article starts by saying "Plenty of iPhone programmers whine about their failure to strike it rich in the App Store, but Tap Tap Revenge developer Tapulous can’t complain."
It is true that many developers have said that most app store developers don't make much money. For example, a fairly successful developer (in http://www.newsweek.com/id/216788/page/2) said "We made enough to live, but not nearly as much as if we kept our jobs at a regular game company,". However, I'm guessing that very few people (if any) have "whined" about not becoming "rich"
There was a period of several months where seemingly every article about the app store included comments that the gold rush was over, piracy was rampant, it was impossible to rise above the noise, etc.
Why would they all point out the difficulty in getting attention, unless there was a real phenomenon wherein people expected that it would be easy?
And how else can we interpret implicit assumptions that it would be easy (or at least easier than in other markets) or that the rewards would be great (or at least greater than in other markets)?
Jeez! A big congratulations to the Tapulous team.
On a fairly related note: Here is a presentation by Jessica Kahn given to Stanford's iPhone development class. It's about the first year at Tapulous as an iPhone software shop.
"[Games] give fans a way to engage the music more interactively, turning them from listeners into participants, riding the social-networking wave better known as Web 2.0"
This has got to be the most strained definition of web 2.0 I have ever seen.
Generally a good story though, it just made me chuckle.
OTH it is strange that the article starts by saying "Plenty of iPhone programmers whine about their failure to strike it rich in the App Store, but Tap Tap Revenge developer Tapulous can’t complain."
It is true that many developers have said that most app store developers don't make much money. For example, a fairly successful developer (in http://www.newsweek.com/id/216788/page/2) said "We made enough to live, but not nearly as much as if we kept our jobs at a regular game company,". However, I'm guessing that very few people (if any) have "whined" about not becoming "rich"