I develop and sell my own Mac and iPhone apps and have built up a business over the past few years, and I've recently gone full-time on it. I'll mention this t

I develop and sell my own Mac and iPhone apps and have built up a business over the past few years, and I've recently gone full-time on it. I'll mention this to someone at a party and they take instant interest in the iPhone part. While the investment of time I've put into iPhone apps has been a very profitable one, it's not quite what you'd expect. Indie development virgins that I know seem to think that the app store is the ONLY feasible way to launch something you've developed on your own. And lots of people I've met who are web developers just want an iPhone app that launches their website or something because they think it'll magically make their website popular. The reality is if you publish something on ANY platform and get it in front of people and put a price on it, you'll make money. It's just that it's intimidating for people who have never published anything on their own. The App Store is certainly has some nice upsides. But the cool thing (and overwhelming thing for newbies) about publishing on normal platforms is that there are a LOT of variables you can control in how people actually find and buy your software. This lets you reach people who might not find you if there were only one big software directory.