5 ms·

> He was selling this list Can someone explain the value of such a list, am I missing something? Don't get me wrong, your project is neat and I enjoyed looking

> He was selling this list Can someone explain the value of such a list, am I missing something? Don't get me wrong, your project is neat and I enjoyed looking through it, but I don't understand how anyone would try to sell this or pay money for this.

nemomarx 5y ago
I guess it could be "here are apps that people need enough to pay for, but have complaints about" in order to develop alternatives? Maybe these are apps with bad user interfaces or some other issue and it's a list of low hanging fruit ideas?
- m463 5y ago
  I've never bought an app that was one-star, but over time many of the really useful apps I used were sold and did one-star kinds of things. One app kept track of my car info (vin, insurance, mileage, fillups) and was useful. But one day it was sold - uploaded my data and put it behind a login.
  - thr0w__4w4y 5y ago
    "[but] did one-star kinds of things." That is a great line (seriously). I will probably end up working that phrase into something at one point, which is why I have this post bookmarked, so I can "hat tip to m463 on HN" when I do. P.S. Do you remember the name of that auto app? Name and shame! ;-)
    - m463 5y ago
      it was gas cubby. Another app I had that got worse was camscanner - a scanner app that would take a picture of a document and create a .pdf out of it. It was sold to tencent. The "privacy policy" - when you could access it (broken links) was written in broken english that basically said it did anything it wanted with your .pdf files. The kinds of documents I would image to .pdf were extremely sensitive personal documents - think w2, documents with SSN, etc... At least apple notes eventually added a version of camera to .pdf (though it wasn't obvious how to use it when it came out)
      - MKinley 5y ago
        Camscanner was one of my favourite apps! I had even paid for the pro version back before it sold. Then when it sold that actually meant nothing, and now I have a "pro" app that is useless essentially. If anyone has good alternative suggestions I'm open, I haven't tried to look as I don't use it much anymore.
        brunno 5y ago
        Microsoft Office Lens is free and really good. You can also do it natively now in iOS Files app and Android's Google Drive.
        MKinley 5y ago
        OK thanks! I will try those out!
visox 5y ago
well not sure if there is money in it, like said i cant tell if that guy with that list managed to sell anything :D I dont think i will put on a pay wall, i will rather try to build a community.
moksly 5y ago
The default assumption for many people will be that something which sells, but has a low rating, is a business opportunity. The real business opportunity is the sale of the list of course. It’s sort of like selling shovels to and booze to gold diggers.
- visox 5y ago
  ha, hope you are not correct because i wont sell my list :)
- jensvdh 5y ago
  More like selling a map of gold veins to a gold digger in this instance.
bricemo 5y ago
The strategy is to take one of these apps and build a better version of it. The market demand is there, validated through purchases. But the market is unsatisfied with the current solution. So if you can build a better solution then you have a well defined valuable product
jamestimmins 5y ago
As an app developer, I spend a lot of time trying to find the right opportunities for apps to build. I'd happily spend $50 to cut down research time by a few hours.
- stirfish 5y ago
  Do you ever develop apps to solve problems you personally have?
  - deadmutex 5y ago
    I remember a story on Startup Podcast (by Gimlet media) about an atheist who looked at top 100 apps, and realized that there was an opportunity to build a better Bible app. So, sometimes market research is very valuable. This risk you have for "solving problems you personally have" is that you can end up trying to build infra tooling like new databases.
    - stirfish 5y ago
      >sometimes market research is very valuable. I agree! I didn't intent to discount market research. >This risk you have for "solving problems you personally have" is that you can end up trying to build infra tooling like new databases. ...which is great and should be encouraged, if it's enjoyable! I was thinking more along the lines of an app store ratings scraper
  - jamestimmins 5y ago
    Yeah but I got tired of making things nobody else used lol
- visox 5y ago
  thx i keep it free for now
pegas1 5y ago
Learn marketing from these guys who can sell mediocre product. Also, some might sell because their App resembles something popular so some users buy by mistake. Then make sure, it does not parasitise on your app!
Qwertious 5y ago
If it's worth planning your business around, it's worth paying $5 for.
- visox 5y ago
  nah i keep the list for free :)
speedplane 5y ago
> Can someone explain the value of such a list, am I missing something? You can glean information about your competitors’ usage and advertising, which can help you optimize your own app’s advertising spend.

nemomarx 5y ago

I guess it could be "here are apps that people need enough to pay for, but have complaints about" in order to develop alternatives? Maybe these are apps with bad user interfaces or some other issue and it's a list of low hanging fruit ideas?

m463 5y ago
I've never bought an app that was one-star, but over time many of the really useful apps I used were sold and did one-star kinds of things. One app kept track of my car info (vin, insurance, mileage, fillups) and was useful. But one day it was sold - uploaded my data and put it behind a login.
- thr0w__4w4y 5y ago
  "[but] did one-star kinds of things." That is a great line (seriously). I will probably end up working that phrase into something at one point, which is why I have this post bookmarked, so I can "hat tip to m463 on HN" when I do. P.S. Do you remember the name of that auto app? Name and shame! ;-)
  - m463 5y ago
    it was gas cubby. Another app I had that got worse was camscanner - a scanner app that would take a picture of a document and create a .pdf out of it. It was sold to tencent. The "privacy policy" - when you could access it (broken links) was written in broken english that basically said it did anything it wanted with your .pdf files. The kinds of documents I would image to .pdf were extremely sensitive personal documents - think w2, documents with SSN, etc... At least apple notes eventually added a version of camera to .pdf (though it wasn't obvious how to use it when it came out)
    - MKinley 5y ago
      Camscanner was one of my favourite apps! I had even paid for the pro version back before it sold. Then when it sold that actually meant nothing, and now I have a "pro" app that is useless essentially. If anyone has good alternative suggestions I'm open, I haven't tried to look as I don't use it much anymore.
      - brunno 5y ago
        Microsoft Office Lens is free and really good. You can also do it natively now in iOS Files app and Android's Google Drive.
        MKinley 5y ago
        OK thanks! I will try those out!

visox 5y ago

well not sure if there is money in it, like said i cant tell if that guy with that list managed to sell anything :D I dont think i will put on a pay wall, i will rather try to build a community.

moksly 5y ago

The default assumption for many people will be that something which sells, but has a low rating, is a business opportunity. The real business opportunity is the sale of the list of course. It’s sort of like selling shovels to and booze to gold diggers.

visox 5y ago
ha, hope you are not correct because i wont sell my list :)
jensvdh 5y ago
More like selling a map of gold veins to a gold digger in this instance.

bricemo 5y ago

The strategy is to take one of these apps and build a better version of it. The market demand is there, validated through purchases. But the market is unsatisfied with the current solution. So if you can build a better solution then you have a well defined valuable product

jamestimmins 5y ago

As an app developer, I spend a lot of time trying to find the right opportunities for apps to build. I'd happily spend $50 to cut down research time by a few hours.

stirfish 5y ago
Do you ever develop apps to solve problems you personally have?
- deadmutex 5y ago
  I remember a story on Startup Podcast (by Gimlet media) about an atheist who looked at top 100 apps, and realized that there was an opportunity to build a better Bible app. So, sometimes market research is very valuable. This risk you have for "solving problems you personally have" is that you can end up trying to build infra tooling like new databases.
  - stirfish 5y ago
    >sometimes market research is very valuable. I agree! I didn't intent to discount market research. >This risk you have for "solving problems you personally have" is that you can end up trying to build infra tooling like new databases. ...which is great and should be encouraged, if it's enjoyable! I was thinking more along the lines of an app store ratings scraper
- jamestimmins 5y ago
  Yeah but I got tired of making things nobody else used lol
visox 5y ago
thx i keep it free for now

pegas1 5y ago

Learn marketing from these guys who can sell mediocre product. Also, some might sell because their App resembles something popular so some users buy by mistake. Then make sure, it does not parasitise on your app!

Qwertious 5y ago

If it's worth planning your business around, it's worth paying $5 for.

visox 5y ago
nah i keep the list for free :)

speedplane 5y ago

> Can someone explain the value of such a list, am I missing something? You can glean information about your competitors’ usage and advertising, which can help you optimize your own app’s advertising spend.