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>This was Marco and other iOS developers' mistake. How so? Instapaper is literally one developer; isn't it better to be a market leader on one platform than to

by pflats 14y ago

>This was Marco and other iOS developers' mistake. How so? Instapaper is literally one developer; isn't it better to be a market leader on one platform than to spread yourself across two platforms and dilute both applications? It sounds like once the right team approached him (one that he trusted the quality and business ethics of, and he knew their work) he cut a deal for an Android version. To me, that seems like an optimal use of limited resources.

ajross 14y ago
The guess here: http://www.quora.com/Instapaper/How-much-money-does-Instapaper-make http://www.quora.com/Instapaper/How-much-money-does-Instapap... Is that Instapaper nets somewhere in the $1-2M range. I'd hardly call that "limited resources." The ability to staff up and/or outsource work effectively is an important skill for a business. You don't get a do-over just because you want to do all the work yourself.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  That source says that that money is over the apps lifetime. So divide that by 4 (?) and its starting to become more limited. EDIT to include the quote (the low end of the scale starts to make things quite tight by my guestimating): >>> TL;DR: Final estimate is somewhere between 0.15% to 0.60% of the iOS market, netting it somewhere between $875k to $2.3m for the duration of its existence (not yearly)<<<
freetybasil 14y ago
Instapaper is a place, time AND device shifting service for content. Its market leader position on one or two devices was made more precarious by not branching out as soon as possible to as many devices as possible. Marco's personal inclination was to support only platforms that he himself used—that's why he built a free service into Instapaper for the Kindle platform while ignoring the Android platform. I initially had an iPhone and an iPad, on which I owned the Instapaper client, then upgraded to an Android phone. I promptly switched to another service with support for my platform.
huggyface 14y ago
All fair points, but history demonstrated that Marco was doing much more than making a rational business decision. I would say that he suffered under the delusion that his blog posts would change the market (let's call it the Gruber Complex). Instead of rationally understanding and analyzing the market he spit venom and conjecture against Android, under the seemingly bizarre notion that it would halt its rise.

by pflats 14y ago

ajross 14y ago

The guess here: http://www.quora.com/Instapaper/How-much-money-does-Instapaper-make http://www.quora.com/Instapaper/How-much-money-does-Instapap... Is that Instapaper nets somewhere in the $1-2M range. I'd hardly call that "limited resources." The ability to staff up and/or outsource work effectively is an important skill for a business. You don't get a do-over just because you want to do all the work yourself.

lostlogin 14y ago
That source says that that money is over the apps lifetime. So divide that by 4 (?) and its starting to become more limited. EDIT to include the quote (the low end of the scale starts to make things quite tight by my guestimating): >>> TL;DR: Final estimate is somewhere between 0.15% to 0.60% of the iOS market, netting it somewhere between $875k to $2.3m for the duration of its existence (not yearly)<<<

freetybasil 14y ago

Instapaper is a place, time AND device shifting service for content. Its market leader position on one or two devices was made more precarious by not branching out as soon as possible to as many devices as possible. Marco's personal inclination was to support only platforms that he himself used—that's why he built a free service into Instapaper for the Kindle platform while ignoring the Android platform. I initially had an iPhone and an iPad, on which I owned the Instapaper client, then upgraded to an Android phone. I promptly switched to another service with support for my platform.

huggyface 14y ago

All fair points, but history demonstrated that Marco was doing much more than making a rational business decision. I would say that he suffered under the delusion that his blog posts would change the market (let's call it the Gruber Complex). Instead of rationally understanding and analyzing the market he spit venom and conjecture against Android, under the seemingly bizarre notion that it would halt its rise.