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The bottom 80% of apps split just 3% of the revenue. From http://www.fastcompany.com/1792313/striking-it-rich-in-the-app-store-for-developers-its-more-casino-t

The bottom 80% of apps split just 3% of the revenue. From http://www.fastcompany.com/1792313/striking-it-rich-in-the-app-store-for-developers-its-more-casino-than-gold-mine http://www.fastcompany.com/1792313/striking-it-rich-in-the-a... Developer Daniel Markham calls iPhone development “App Store Roulette,” and Andy Finnell of the software studio Fortunate Bear cautions against hoping for App Store success. “You’re betting a lot of this on luck, and the odds are stacked against you," Finnell says. "You’d have better odds playing slots at a casino.” Indeed, as much as app development has been called a gold rush, there is an equally loud theory that it operates more like a casino. “The closest thing I’ve seen to a ‘business model’ for marketing iPhone apps is to advertise like crazy until you get into the top 50,” says David Barnard of AppCubby. “Once you’re there, the top 50 list will start generating its own buzz...But that’s not a business model, that’s like rolling the dice at a casino.”

comedian 15y ago
Do you truly believe this? Do I really have to explain the difference between a casino and the app store?
- StavrosK 15y ago
  No, one is a place where you bet lots of money and hope you get a large enough return, but usually lose it all, and the other has free drinks.
  - comedian 15y ago
    No wonder you lost all your money. some people like you "hope" while successful people make things happen. Don't blame the system for your failures just because you're not good enough.
    - mdonahoe 15y ago
      Are you an actual comedian? Or is your username your only joke?
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
comedian 15y ago
Now that I think about it, Android has 3X (or whatever) the market share of iOS, and no one seems to be making a ton of money from Android (except Google), the future for Android developers is pretty grim if you ask me.
- ootachi 15y ago
  10 seconds was all it took to refute your claim: http://www.intomobile.com/2010/12/03/angry-birds-android-1-million-ad-revenue/ http://www.intomobile.com/2010/12/03/angry-birds-android-1-m...
  - sixtofour 15y ago
    Ah. I'm going to get my son up early tomorrow, talk him out of college and in to Android development. Or basketball star, I'm not sure which.
    - mqqq 15y ago
      College is still useful. Basketball is a real longshot.
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      Times like these, I wish I could vote you "Insightful"
    - enobrev 15y ago
      It can be argued that your son could do quite well as a developer without a college degree and without having to be a star.
      - sixtofour 15y ago
        Not to disagree with you, but ... It astounds me that there are still jobs for developers. I'm not talking about SV stars, I mean the hundreds of thousands of programmers writing CRUD apps around the country. That is eminently moveable, and if the stereotypical code quality of the stereotypical foreign outsourcing shop is sub par, it's not because they don't have the same brains as we do, it's merely because a) they haven't caught up with us yet (they will), and b) they haven't captured that work as primary developers yet, they're still learning to take that work by being (at the moment) sub contractors. Japan after World War II, for example, broke into the market by making "cheap plastic crap" and motorcycles. Then better plastic crap and small cars (remember the Honda 600?). Then really good plastic crap and really good cars, and now that pie is divided among many more people around the world, including "our" pie. Why will software be any different? It takes no resources except a brain, a computer and a connection. The whole world has the same quality of brains and computers as we, and their connection quality is often much better and cheaper than ours.
chapel 15y ago
The gold rush moniker is really apt when used to describe the app store. Mainly because only a few, very few ended up rich, while most did not. The people that made the most, were the ones providing for the miners, and again, Apple and people making tools for people to make apps are making a killing, while only a few app makers are making anything substantial.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
felipemnoa 15y ago
It is the same with other industries: Music, Movies, Theater, etc. Nothing is for sure. Not sure why we are singling the AppStore. There have been $100 million (USA) movies that have flopped. Most ventures will flop and only a few will take all the revenue/income in any industry.
- dagw 15y ago
  There have been $100 million (USA) movies that have flopped. The one difference is that a lot of people still made good money on that flop.
sskates 15y ago
It's not as if creating a webapp is a more certain path to success. I'm certain that the bottom 80% of webapps split less than 1% of the revenue. Is there any platform out there where you're guaranteed to make money just by showing up?
danssig 15y ago
I don't really like this attitude. It strikes me as a built-to-flip style of business. I'm personally not planning to get rich from one app, but rather I want to create a bunch of apps that serve various markets. Hopefully, at some point, I will capture enough market that I can quit my day job. But I don't expect any of my apps to ever be top 50 anything. Rather I'm hoping they're each one of 10 (first page) that come up when you search for a specific task.
jonhendry 15y ago
"The bottom 80% of apps split just 3% of the revenue." I doubt it's any different with software sold at Best Buy or Target or Amazon. I doubt that it has ever been much different.

comedian 15y ago

Do you truly believe this? Do I really have to explain the difference between a casino and the app store?

StavrosK 15y ago
No, one is a place where you bet lots of money and hope you get a large enough return, but usually lose it all, and the other has free drinks.
- comedian 15y ago
  No wonder you lost all your money. some people like you "hope" while successful people make things happen. Don't blame the system for your failures just because you're not good enough.
  - mdonahoe 15y ago
    Are you an actual comedian? Or is your username your only joke?
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]

comedian 15y ago

Now that I think about it, Android has 3X (or whatever) the market share of iOS, and no one seems to be making a ton of money from Android (except Google), the future for Android developers is pretty grim if you ask me.

ootachi 15y ago
10 seconds was all it took to refute your claim: http://www.intomobile.com/2010/12/03/angry-birds-android-1-million-ad-revenue/ http://www.intomobile.com/2010/12/03/angry-birds-android-1-m...
- sixtofour 15y ago
  Ah. I'm going to get my son up early tomorrow, talk him out of college and in to Android development. Or basketball star, I'm not sure which.
  - mqqq 15y ago
    College is still useful. Basketball is a real longshot.
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Times like these, I wish I could vote you "Insightful"
  - enobrev 15y ago
    It can be argued that your son could do quite well as a developer without a college degree and without having to be a star.
    - sixtofour 15y ago
      Not to disagree with you, but ... It astounds me that there are still jobs for developers. I'm not talking about SV stars, I mean the hundreds of thousands of programmers writing CRUD apps around the country. That is eminently moveable, and if the stereotypical code quality of the stereotypical foreign outsourcing shop is sub par, it's not because they don't have the same brains as we do, it's merely because a) they haven't caught up with us yet (they will), and b) they haven't captured that work as primary developers yet, they're still learning to take that work by being (at the moment) sub contractors. Japan after World War II, for example, broke into the market by making "cheap plastic crap" and motorcycles. Then better plastic crap and small cars (remember the Honda 600?). Then really good plastic crap and really good cars, and now that pie is divided among many more people around the world, including "our" pie. Why will software be any different? It takes no resources except a brain, a computer and a connection. The whole world has the same quality of brains and computers as we, and their connection quality is often much better and cheaper than ours.

chapel 15y ago

The gold rush moniker is really apt when used to describe the app store. Mainly because only a few, very few ended up rich, while most did not. The people that made the most, were the ones providing for the miners, and again, Apple and people making tools for people to make apps are making a killing, while only a few app makers are making anything substantial.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

felipemnoa 15y ago

It is the same with other industries: Music, Movies, Theater, etc. Nothing is for sure. Not sure why we are singling the AppStore. There have been $100 million (USA) movies that have flopped. Most ventures will flop and only a few will take all the revenue/income in any industry.

dagw 15y ago
There have been $100 million (USA) movies that have flopped. The one difference is that a lot of people still made good money on that flop.

sskates 15y ago

It's not as if creating a webapp is a more certain path to success. I'm certain that the bottom 80% of webapps split less than 1% of the revenue. Is there any platform out there where you're guaranteed to make money just by showing up?

danssig 15y ago

I don't really like this attitude. It strikes me as a built-to-flip style of business. I'm personally not planning to get rich from one app, but rather I want to create a bunch of apps that serve various markets. Hopefully, at some point, I will capture enough market that I can quit my day job. But I don't expect any of my apps to ever be top 50 anything. Rather I'm hoping they're each one of 10 (first page) that come up when you search for a specific task.

jonhendry 15y ago

"The bottom 80% of apps split just 3% of the revenue." I doubt it's any different with software sold at Best Buy or Target or Amazon. I doubt that it has ever been much different.