Striking It Rich: Is There An App For That?

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If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone talk about the people that made millions off Apple’s App store…I’d be a millionaire. This Newsweek article kinda puts it all into perspective.

Most apps take at least six months of full-time work and cost between $20,000 and $150,000 to develop, according to Forrester Research, which covers the tech industry. Apple rejects almost 60 percent of submissions at least once, often—according to programmers—with little more than infuriatingly vague or inconsistent explanations.
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They should go to the "Colorado Department of Internet Money" and wait their turn behind other YouTube video sensations, such as Laughing Baby, Dramatic Chipmunk, Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday, Afro Ninja, Sneezing Panda,Chris ("Leave Britney Alone!") Crocker, Tron Guy, the Star Wars Kid, and Numa Numa.

Note: I plagiarized that from Wikipedia. :)
 
Ehh, the iPhone app market is just too crowded right now. I think that you see more and more people going to other platforms. Now is a GREAT time to get into Windows phone development. The number of handsets is going to triple in 4 years according to independent market research I've seen.
 
the-one1 said:
They should go to the "Colorado Department of Internet Money" and wait their turn behind other YouTube video sensations, such as Laughing Baby, Dramatic Chipmunk, Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday, Afro Ninja, Sneezing Panda,Chris ("Leave Britney Alone!") Crocker, Tron Guy, the Star Wars Kid, and Numa Numa.

Note: I plagiarized that from Wikipedia. :)
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Which, coincidentally, got that from South Park. I'm assuming the Wiki-article referenced that?
 
the-one1 said:
They should go to the "Colorado Department of Internet Money" and wait their turn behind other YouTube video sensations, such as Laughing Baby, Dramatic Chipmunk, Tay "Chocolate Rain" Zonday, Afro Ninja, Sneezing Panda,Chris ("Leave Britney Alone!") Crocker, Tron Guy, the Star Wars Kid, and Numa Numa.

Note: I plagiarized that from Wikipedia. :)
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You forgot Butters, the Ghey Dancing Kid
 
too bad news articles always seem to suck... Why do apps cost 15-150k to produce? Is it purely labor or are there dev tools licensing that needs to be purchased?

To bad they didn't mention that... Would have explained a bit. App store isn't supposed to make millions. Those types of small apps never do. Look at all the shareware tools out there selling for $10.

If the main cost is labor, then the quoted costs while technically true doesn't really show a proper picture. Talk to almost any independent business person and they will tell you they earn .50 cents an hour. They work their asses off, many hours that if logged would be viewed just the same.
 
heatlesssun said:
Ehh, the iPhone app market is just too crowded right now. I think that you see more and more people going to other platforms. Now is a GREAT time to get into Windows phone development. The number of handsets is going to triple in 4 years according to independent market research I've seen.
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Frankly it's a great time to get into both as long as you have a unique idea. Flashlight and iFart don't mean crap. Another Chess/Checkers knockoff doesn't do you any good either.

Original ideas like Trism or iShoot can generate money in the short term but are not good revenue producers over the long term.

The problem is iPhone users are picky and constantly move from app to app and abandon some of them altogether later on. So you can make money quickly and hope you cover your expenses but then you have to design another app and hope the profits from the last one can carry you until your next 2 week wonder.

This is also why we're seeing the in-game purchases now. Companies are doing whatever they can to keep the revenue rolling when once their app is out of "Featured" and out of the Top 50 apps. Pocket God is one of my favorite "waste 2-3 minutes a day" apps and they updated yesterday. First thing they mention is a new in-game purchase. TapDefense did the same thing long ago...loved that app before the devs sold out for that crap.
 
How are they making money? Are people actually paying for that crap above what they pay for the phone and service? Guess that says a lot about the type of people that spend money on that type of stuff. No wonder the economy is like it is. /rant
 
Vermillion said:
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Original ideas like Trism or iShoot can generate money in the short term but are not good revenue producers over the long term.

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iShoot original? I don't think so. Just looking at the game play, it reminds me of this game I used to play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms_Armageddon

Trism: It looks original in it's game play though, so I'll give them that.
 
the-one1 said:
iShoot original? I don't think so. Just looking at the game play, it reminds me of this game I used to play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms_Armageddon

Trism: It looks original in it's game play though, so I'll give them that.
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You are correct poor wording on my part. iShoot is a clone of previous games but it was a clone that hadn't really been seen on iPhone yet. Much less as good as iShoot was especially with its multiplayer and ability to modify weapons.

Now there are tons of iShoot clones in the app store thus why iShoot just isn't generating money like it did when it was first released.
 
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