Camera+ does $500k net sales in 2 months
taptaptap.com
taptaptap.com
This is similar to how most unregulated markets work. Consider restaurants. There are a handful of massive international chains, a small number of medium size chains and a huge number of mom & pop eateries, some of which do quite well (relatively speaking) and some of which just fail.
Final analysis: you won't get rich on apps unless you're either A) very lucky or B) efficiently create quality apps at good prices with good marketing. I'd hope that most people on HN would opt for B :-).
Having the pretty Lisa (http://mostlylisa.com) as spokesperson can't have hurt either (yeah, I'm cynical like that)
Particularly in the app store where there's no trial periods and customers are accustomed to taking a risk on low-priced apps. The app store just doesn't seem structured to make the "best" apps rise to the top, only the most popular.
I really like Andrew Johnson of TrailBehind, Inc. He's active on HN and succeeding in the competitive iPhone market.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1495153
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=835433 (iPhone Ask HN launch)
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1355093 (Android launch)
> For a counterpoint, my start-up (me, my fiancée, and my good friend) started an indie GPS app at the tail end of last summer. We worked hard, did many iterations, built up our userbase, and now we have several top grossing navigation apps, and we are piling up cash in the bank.
Their marketing machine is one multiplier, the quality of their apps is another.
Taptaptap, tapulous, and even HNers like Spreadsong prove that if you have a sound and stable functionality, a decent value proposition, and focus on presentation and polish almost to a certifiable degree, you can pretty much succeed on every outing.
The ones who doubt these companies' commitment to quality are the ones who, let's face it, are strictly in it for the "gold rush" and turn out bad product or blatant "me-too" knock-offs. People still make loads of money in the App Store, but there's a difference between "I'm going to get rich on fart apps" and "I aim to be rewarded for making the highest possible quality products I can for my chosen platform".
Actually it doesn't prove that. There might be countless apps with all the features you mention that are not successful.
Name 3. If there are countless apps fitting that, I'd love to see them. They should of course have the same quality, utility and polish, too. Not Glossy Fart-o-Rama +.
I mean, even the darling of iPhone app developer angst who constantly ranted publicly about pricing and poor sales, David Barnard of App Cubby, made over a quarter of a million dollars last year from ostensibly 3 mobile apps, _and_ signed a deal with Fram for a branded version of an existing apps (terms of deal undisclosed, of course).
There is money (sometimes millions) to be made in the app store and in mobile apps in general. You just have to have a good idea and execute to the same quality you would any other business you really want to succeed.
More power to taptaptap, though - they clearly have their market cornered. It is just sobering, because I personally would never have created that kind of app.
Psychologically, it seems to be a very interesting case. I guess iPhone people really buy into a fake reality and manage to live in it, more or less (that is now they feel like they have a sleek SLR camera). As long as money doesn't run out anyway.
I seem to have a similar reaction to all the Appleish design as the girl from "Pattern Recognition" has to the Micheline Man.