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What does this say? I mean, it's nice that he made a popular app and a ton of money, but there is nothing to learn here. It was either raw luck or a stupid popu

What does this say? I mean, it's nice that he made a popular app and a ton of money, but there is nothing to learn here. It was either raw luck or a stupid populace or both that made this happen. There's no insight in to the design of a well made and genuinely entertaining or interesting application here, just a gimmick app that somehow made it big. It's discouraging to read things like this, because the implied moral is "any stupid idea you come up with has a chance of making it big". But if that's true, then why bother taking your time to design good applications? Why strive for excellence when some random gimmick app is just as likely to make money?

gyardley 16y ago
It reminds you that when your small ideas require proportionately small efforts, you might as well do them and see what happens. Too many people inappropriately shrug off their smaller thoughts as not worth doing, because they're not going to 'change the world' or some other low-probability outcome.
- phillco 16y ago
  I noticed this a lot when I tried blogging a couple of summers ago. The articles I thought would be hits bombed, and the stupid ones I wrote just for fun [1] ended up being huge successes. Inevitably, I just resigned myself to the fact that I don't know what'll be successful, and the only way to find out if something will work is to do it. [1] http://phillipcohen.net/articles/simcity/ http://phillipcohen.net/articles/simcity/ (got like 30,000 hits)
  - j_baker 16y ago
    I've noticed the same thing with comments on HN. More often than not, it's the silly one-liner that gets voted up rather than the thoughtful, introspective, and deep comment. I suppose human attention is always the biggest force you have to contend with.
marshray 16y ago
What does it mean? Perhaps iPhone users really are that desperate?
cabalamat 16y ago
Surely the moral is "it's hard to tell in advance which ideas will be successful, so the more of them you execute, the more success you will have"?
tomjen3 16y ago
>But if that's true, then why bother taking your time to design good applications? Why strive for excellence when some random gimmick app is just as likely to make money? You are making the error of assuming something isn't true because you don't like the conclusion. And indeed, except for whatever personal joy you experience, there is no reason to strive for excellence.

gyardley 16y ago

It reminds you that when your small ideas require proportionately small efforts, you might as well do them and see what happens. Too many people inappropriately shrug off their smaller thoughts as not worth doing, because they're not going to 'change the world' or some other low-probability outcome.

phillco 16y ago
I noticed this a lot when I tried blogging a couple of summers ago. The articles I thought would be hits bombed, and the stupid ones I wrote just for fun [1] ended up being huge successes. Inevitably, I just resigned myself to the fact that I don't know what'll be successful, and the only way to find out if something will work is to do it. [1] http://phillipcohen.net/articles/simcity/ http://phillipcohen.net/articles/simcity/ (got like 30,000 hits)
- j_baker 16y ago
  I've noticed the same thing with comments on HN. More often than not, it's the silly one-liner that gets voted up rather than the thoughtful, introspective, and deep comment. I suppose human attention is always the biggest force you have to contend with.

marshray 16y ago

What does it mean? Perhaps iPhone users really are that desperate?

cabalamat 16y ago

Surely the moral is "it's hard to tell in advance which ideas will be successful, so the more of them you execute, the more success you will have"?

tomjen3 16y ago

>But if that's true, then why bother taking your time to design good applications? Why strive for excellence when some random gimmick app is just as likely to make money? You are making the error of assuming something isn't true because you don't like the conclusion. And indeed, except for whatever personal joy you experience, there is no reason to strive for excellence.