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He's clearly not delivering enough value then, or he's not focusing on a large enough target audience. He's probably also not charging enough. Every single app
by charlesdm 11y ago
He's clearly not delivering enough value then, or he's not focusing on a large enough target audience. He's probably also not charging enough. Every single app that I've built has easily grossed >$30-50k each in less than 6 months after launch without having to do significant marketing. And we're talking apps built in <30 days.
The app store has a massive audience; you need to focus on large enough target groups. How many people use RSS apps these days?
Now that I think about it.. I should probably write an ebook on building profitable apps from a developer point of view.
- pc86 11y agoYou're probably better off writing an ebook on how to write an ebook building these apps.
- billconan 11y agoI'm curious about your apps. Could you provide some links. Thanks
- charlesdm 11y agoSee comment above
- billconan 11y agoHow do you detect a profitable market before writing those apps?
- charlesdm 11y agoYou don't look for profitable markets, you look for groups of users. Groups of people within a certain segment will generate revenue; then it just depends on how you differentiate and how much of the searches on the App Store you can capture. A random example: there are 1.6 billion muslims on the planet. Some of those will own smartphones. Most of those read the Quran. Meaning, some of those will look on the App Store for a Quran app. If you build a good Quran app, you'll be making money. It could be $50k a year, $100k or $500k; that I don't know. But you'll be making money. Also, don't forget, even though my apps have never been featured, Apple does actively look for good apps. That can help significantly if you build something nice. But you still need to target a large enough group of people.
- dsaravel 11y agoBased on that rationale, how did you come up with another app of yours: Flix? I mean, how did you figure out to create a $10 app to stream Netflix? What market would do that rather than use a browser?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- herval 11y agoWhen did you build/release those apps? Were they all iOS? Do they keep generating any sort of revenue after 6 months? Any specific niches/categories you had better/worse results?
- charlesdm 11y agoHonestly; I've made money on most platforms. I've launched Android, Windows, iOS and Mac apps. As long as people are using the platform, it doesn't really matter. Smaller platforms (such as windows phone) have the advantage of less competition. I know a guy who was making $40k a month from a Palm Twitter app a few years ago. Example: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ventrilode/id486115720 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ventrilode/id486115720. That's an app I launched 4 years ago. It brought in hundreds of thousands and took me 2 months to develop + the occasional bugfixes and small updates. Probably 3 months of work over a 4 year period. > Do they keep generating any sort of revenue after 6 months? Depends on the app. In most cases, it's not worth investing an additional 2 months developing/improving an app if you can build it 1 month. Launch an MVP and see if it sells. You can always improve it then. But once you have an MVP ready, it usually doesn't take much more time to "finish" the feature set of an app. That's what great about apps; as a project they can be "finished". Some apps sell for years, others only last 6-12 months. Also, for some apps the money comes in fast, for others it's slower but they will last longer. You just have need to find a target user group of significant size. The app I linked above integrates with a system that, a few years ago and at the time, had around 10m daily active users. It's a niche communication system. That means a subset of those users will automatically search for your app if you get it to pop up for the expected search keywords ("app store seo"). You're tapping into that user group without having to spend a dime on marketing. Find a user group with lots of users - people will buy your app.
- Eridrus 11y ago> Example: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ventrilode/id486115720 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ventrilode/id486115720. That's an app I launched 4 years ago. It brought in hundreds of thousands and took me 2 months to develop + the occasional bugfixes and small updates. Probably 3 months of work over a 4 year period. That seems like a free app atm, how did you monetize it?
- iyn 11y agoI'd be interested in such ebook. Can you/somebody recommend good sources for learning this kind of thing (building/marketing profitable apps)?
- charlesdm 11y agoPersonal experiences mostly. Can I add you to a mailing list if/when I launch something? I might consider putting something together.
- Hates_ 11y agoI'd be interested in being added to that list too :)
- morgante 11y agoPlease add me to such a list. me@morgante.net
- traeregan 11y ago+1 trae@hdinteractive.com
- iyn 11y agoSure, feel free to add me to your mailing list (mail in my profile). Thanks!
- alashley 11y agoAdd me as well: connecteddeveloper@yahoo.com
- lugg 11y agoemail in profile, add please, thanks.
- charlesdm 11y agoThe about section on your profile is empty :)
- xiaoma 11y agoOther than your time, how much did you spend on making the apps? (e.g. graphic assets, marketing, etc)