My Android development income report
kreci.net
kreci.net
The courage to go through this, and the lack of ego in selecting the products is quite inspiring for me. I think people like you should be our real heros, not the people who constantly write comments for upvotes and write fluffy articles about startups.
Like I always say: making money on the internet is not hard! If you want to make money on the net, there are many many ways to do so. But most people are out there trying to do stuff that will impress hacker news users. Just keep your mouth shut, make money and forget about all the critics here.
There are many, many people who really just care about being lauded by their peers. These are people that are trying to insert themselves into a startupy group of people. They are more interested in the social than in the money. The ones interested in the money are not writing idle comments about various unimportant stuff.
Kreci is doing it right. He has found ways to make money, he keeps finding new ways and every month his income keeps growing. Is that not what this game is all about?
I'd put the bar a bit higher and say, ok, you've found the way, now make something really impressive instead of a series of knock-offs of 0 utility apps.
The virtual drums and the wp stats apps are more like it.
For him, it's much more useful than a VIM clone for android. Your definition of useful is not the same as most of the worlds definition.
1. being of use or service; serving some purpose; advantageous, helpful, or of good effect: a useful member of society.
2. of practical use, as for doing work; producing material results; supplying common needs: the useful arts; useful work.
Seems to me that his definition is spot on.
Just because we don't deem them useful here doesn't mean there aren't people who do find them useful.
this logic only works out if you approach things myopically.
do you think drug dealers provide a useful commodity? they're certainly making a lot of money.
the apps described take advantage of some neurological disposition to gimmicks / novelty - it's not a given that the world is a better place because of them.
(And yes, I do think drug dealers provide value. It's a service, people want it. In any other context, we'd be writing articles about how a perceptive entrepreneur rose up from a simple upbringing to rolling in cash, it's just that we look down upon the product.)
There's a pretty decent sibling of mine who's dead. You may want to turn showdead on temporarily.
> ... it's just that we look down upon the product.
that's an amusing misdirection. it's actually more about the lives ruined and suffering experienced by way of the product.
> What is your definition of wealth? Paul Graham says, and I tend to agree with him, that wealth is "things people want". If people want these apps (or drugs), then the apps (and drugs) create wealth.
wealth is control over other people. having lots of money in a capitalist system is a proxy for being able to control lots of other people in this system.
taking advantage of neurological hooks (chemical in the case of drugs, or sensual in the case of advertising / apps / etc) is certainly one way to gain controller over others (by the proxy of money).
i suppose if your concerns are entirely contained within the bounds of playing that game (very much the case for many entrepreneurial types) there's no motivation to challenge its definition of "value".
This is an 'amusing misdirection,' to use your own words, about you forcing your own morality on others. There are plenty of people that use drugs without ruining their lives, no need to get high and mighty about it.
> wealth is control over other people.
Hey man, I'm an anarchist. I understand exactly what you're saying. But regardless of my own personal thoughts on the subject, that's not the way that this country is set up.
As I said over here[1], it's just that we're talking about two different things. Within capitalism, kreci is creating value. If you'd like to discuss a different system, then you need to tell everyone that you're talking about something else. When on a forum about startups, I assume people are discussing the current system by default.
By definition, if someone is willing to pay money for something, it's worth _their_ time, which is the whole point of making products.
We preach "Making something that a customer finds valuable. MVP and iterate. Get lots of feedback to build something the customer wants." So kreci builds something people want.
> ust as AIDS or cancer research is more "useful" than penis pills or breast enhancement surgery regardless of profitability
This is where the main discrepancy comes in. You guys are talking about two different things: 'value' within a capitalist framework and 'nobility' within your particular moral one. Neither one is necessarily 'better', but that's the core difference.
I think this is something that is confused all the time, even by people who realize the distinction. It is something I (and I suspect others) find hard to keep track of without actively thinking about it.
As the web matures, I think we'll look back and realize that this is an era where the problem space looks like a tree: a trunk has sprung up of problems that we're solving, and then we're going to the highest levels of difficulty, branching out. Eventually, more will start doing what some people (like kreci) are just starting to do: working on easier problems. There's a whole world out there of things that we can easily be doing to help people with their day. They may not be 'noble', but even fart apps have their place in people's lives.
Numerous fortunes have been made from pornography, professional wrestling, and soap operas. We'd do well to remember that.
Is that so?
Wow.
References please, and don't pull your punches. Then, for an encore go search for those cases where I've done my utmost to get HN'ers stuff launched and helped them with goods, time, funds, traffic and whatever else I've got to give.
What would you rather have, my unvarnished opinion or do you think it would be helpful if I fawned over what I essentially perceive to be a bunch of fart apps?
"Nor could he ever wean himself from the notion, which is perhaps especially an American notion, that success and virtue are the same thing."
For all we know, Kreci already has an amazing and interesting project he's working on, but it takes small android apps to fuel him time to work on it.
1) He has found a formula that works. Never change a winning team; follow the course until it fails.
2) The useless apps get more than 10x the number of downloads(from the apps he has shown).
3) Utility apps would generally require being paid for if they are to make as much money as a 'useless' app. He is currently living in Poland, so this is not an option available to him.
His marketing is great, I'm sure if that gets applied to a real blockbuster he'll clean up, and make quite a bit more than a few grand. Of course making a serious app with real utility is going to be a lot more work so in the end it might work out to these being still 'easier money'.
As for him living in Poland and not being able to put his apps in the 'paid' section, that's a really nasty thing and should be remedied asap. The playing field is definitely not level in this respect.
Thank you.
I'm not going to get into blowing smoke up your ass or tell you that you should be saving the world. Remember, there are three types of apps: useful, popular, and money-making. Unless you are independently wealthy, #3 is a must-have: the others are optional.
Now -- take what you've learned with these apps and figure out where the next level is.
On a side note, I've found that the best projects to launch are projects that turn other programmers off -- much less likely to have competition there and much more likely to find a need to fill. "Programmers don't like it" is quickly moving up my list of tags for a successful startup. It's probably around #4 or so now.
Totally awesome. Very well done.
My best apps in the Market do some stuff that takes a lot of work and talent to complete, and those are the things that have the least amount of competition and make the most money.
There are developers looking to make a business of the Android Market, and there are some that just want a quick buck. Do something hard to avoid the quick-buckers in my opinion.
Such as? Just curious to know if the things that turn me off are the same things that turn other programmers off as well.
However it tells a lot about this market. I mean the newly found smart phone market. People run to buy and download totally meaningless apps most of which could have been done (and probably has been done) on other smart phone platforms (or plain j2me) at least 5 years ago. But this is just a small market disturbance, now as iphone opened the eyes of a lot of people that these gadgets are not merely (or mainly...) phones they download every stupid app. But this will go away soon.
Actually it's a bit sad to see that market is more favorable to some "cool" simple apps rather to useful, but more complex.
Cheers
But I understand it is totally your call.
Some services also support dynamic allocation between multiple ad networks. This is useful if you want a higher-paying ad network to serve ads most of the time, and defer to other networks if an ad is not available. Mobclix supports this, as well as the AdWhirl library.
It can't be Mobclix, because it's extremely unlikely that he already got October's payment.
I like to hear stories like these. I have been gaining a strong interest in Android Development and these stories make me think that maybe I can be semi-successful at it as well. I don't expect to make loads of cash, not even close to what you're making, but even a little bit makes me feel good.
We started last year with Android, and we are making around $2000/month (1M downloads in total) with really simple applications. The majority of the revenue comes from ads, but more and more paid apps revenue is higher!
So an app that gets 200,000 downloads on Android, might get 2,000,000 downloads on iPhone. (These numbers are roughly based on actual figures for my apps, like Brain Tuner [a simple game I created], which are available on both iOS and Android.)
Even if the CPM stays the same, revenue would be 10x because there are about 10x the impressions.
Thanks Kreci, you inspire me
Apps that have some greater utility might be more popular.
Thanks.
also, i'd love to see an ad implementation that would ask "Did you clicked the ad on purpose? YES NO" before opening the browser. ha!
Too bad he didn't mention what ad network he's using. I'm getting ready to launch my game/app (http://developingthedream.blogspot.com/) in the next few months and I'm going into it with no expectations.
Good to hear i may gain a bit of extra cash from this project. I'm using mobclix and it was really easy to integrate into my app. However, I don't like that the view doesn't auto resize or fill the parent.