3 ms·

I'm kind of in the "so what" camp. Making mobile apps is a choice an individual, team or company undertakes. To then turn around and say these people are "suff

by skc 11y ago

I'm kind of in the "so what" camp. Making mobile apps is a choice an individual, team or company undertakes. To then turn around and say these people are "suffering" is daft. You're a dev, go make something else.

J_Darnley 11y ago
Yes. Reminds me of the story about a game dev trying to publish on mobile, failing, then blaming the customers for buying coffee. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151026/04132732631/ceo-mobile-company-blames-everyone-wanting-coffee-rather-than-his-game.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151026/04132732631/ceo-m... Mobile games are shit, "free", and casual.
- bigtunacan 11y ago
  Some are shit; but there are some real gems out there too. The real problem is with us developers. In the beginning of the app stores we were all charging reasonable rates, but as the number of apps increased there was a race to the bottom in pricing. Everyone kept lowering prices until everything was 99 cents and then after that free... This is of course in keeping with basic economics; when the supply is this high we approach marginal costs. In the app market marginal costs are zero. I agree with the overall view of the medium article that it is easier to make money on the web (again) these days. If you aren't already a mobile big fish developer then enterprise applications and contracting are the only ways to consistently stay in the green.
  - 20years 11y ago
    This I believe is where a lot of the problem is. It's hard to make money on free or .99 cents. Consumers are now used to free and cheap so I think it's going to be pretty hard to turn this trend around. App devs kind of brought this onto themselves by racing to the bottom.
Menge 11y ago
I don't think you need to worry about the suffering of current mobile app devs, I think these kinds of articles are more about shrinking the pipeline of new junior devs and devs transitioning in based on old information. Much of the bootcamp/training/etc programs work on presumptions that may not apply by graduation about gaps in the market that require less than average experience.
deleted 11y ago
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by skc 11y ago

J_Darnley 11y ago

Yes. Reminds me of the story about a game dev trying to publish on mobile, failing, then blaming the customers for buying coffee. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151026/04132732631/ceo-mobile-company-blames-everyone-wanting-coffee-rather-than-his-game.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151026/04132732631/ceo-m... Mobile games are shit, "free", and casual.

bigtunacan 11y ago
Some are shit; but there are some real gems out there too. The real problem is with us developers. In the beginning of the app stores we were all charging reasonable rates, but as the number of apps increased there was a race to the bottom in pricing. Everyone kept lowering prices until everything was 99 cents and then after that free... This is of course in keeping with basic economics; when the supply is this high we approach marginal costs. In the app market marginal costs are zero. I agree with the overall view of the medium article that it is easier to make money on the web (again) these days. If you aren't already a mobile big fish developer then enterprise applications and contracting are the only ways to consistently stay in the green.
- 20years 11y ago
  This I believe is where a lot of the problem is. It's hard to make money on free or .99 cents. Consumers are now used to free and cheap so I think it's going to be pretty hard to turn this trend around. App devs kind of brought this onto themselves by racing to the bottom.

Menge 11y ago

I don't think you need to worry about the suffering of current mobile app devs, I think these kinds of articles are more about shrinking the pipeline of new junior devs and devs transitioning in based on old information. Much of the bootcamp/training/etc programs work on presumptions that may not apply by graduation about gaps in the market that require less than average experience.

deleted 11y ago

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