4 ms·

The iOS market isn't very lucrative anymore either for most devs. It's hard to get noticed these days if you're not one of the lucky few at the top. Increasing

The iOS market isn't very lucrative anymore either for most devs. It's hard to get noticed these days if you're not one of the lucky few at the top. Increasingly apps are just one aspect of some larger business and not a source of revenue themselves. In this world reach is what counts.

ido 12y ago
That's because a huge % of devs produce really bad apps (like all those clones of flappy bird and 2048). Like web apps in '99 we've had this media propagated "app millionaire" myth bringing in loads of bandwagon jumpers trying (and mostly failing) to make a quick buck. Of course it really depends on what you're making as you say, but I can tell you from personal experience as well as from a lot of other people I know in the industry that there is a certain class of apps (e.g. High priced, high quality niche games) that are fairly lucrative for independent developers like myself and for which all these huge amounts of people using lowest end android devices are of little to no consequence. If you're making "whatsapp" it's a different story.
- cageface 12y ago
  Sure there are still people making money but the successful indie dev is an increasingly endangered species and no longer plays a large enough role in the ecosystem to drive platform decisions. I say this as someone that would much rather see indie devs thrive.
kalleboo 12y ago
Even in the top 50, the paid app market on iOS is dire right now. All the money is in freemium.
- ido 12y ago
  Mobile expanded like crazy these past few years, so yes while you are right that f2p generates somewhere well above %90 of revenue the remainder is still a lot of money, most likely more than the whole paid market was before f2p dominated. For an independent dev trying to "just" make a good living that can be more than enough, even if it's utterly uninteresting to the zyngas and kings do the world.

ido 12y ago

That's because a huge % of devs produce really bad apps (like all those clones of flappy bird and 2048). Like web apps in '99 we've had this media propagated "app millionaire" myth bringing in loads of bandwagon jumpers trying (and mostly failing) to make a quick buck. Of course it really depends on what you're making as you say, but I can tell you from personal experience as well as from a lot of other people I know in the industry that there is a certain class of apps (e.g. High priced, high quality niche games) that are fairly lucrative for independent developers like myself and for which all these huge amounts of people using lowest end android devices are of little to no consequence. If you're making "whatsapp" it's a different story.

cageface 12y ago
Sure there are still people making money but the successful indie dev is an increasingly endangered species and no longer plays a large enough role in the ecosystem to drive platform decisions. I say this as someone that would much rather see indie devs thrive.

kalleboo 12y ago

Even in the top 50, the paid app market on iOS is dire right now. All the money is in freemium.

ido 12y ago
Mobile expanded like crazy these past few years, so yes while you are right that f2p generates somewhere well above %90 of revenue the remainder is still a lot of money, most likely more than the whole paid market was before f2p dominated. For an independent dev trying to "just" make a good living that can be more than enough, even if it's utterly uninteresting to the zyngas and kings do the world.