MLB is about to make a million dollars off an iPhone app

I have major issues with this sentence

"Stands to reason that if developers can make their app at least as functional and useful as At Bat, they too can make a million dollars."

Are they seriously saying this sells 130,000 copies at $9.99 because it's "functional and useful", with no support from the MLB brand?

That's like saying if I were as funny and insightful as Ashton Kutcher I would have 1M Twitter followers. That if my url shortener had the capabilities of bit.ly I could raise $10M.

There's more to an idea than just having one - you have to do something with it. And there's more to a product than just building it - you have to get it into the market place, make it known, and find ways to distribute it.

Of course people will pay $9.99 for software! In fact, they are often willing to pay a lot more than that - as long as the value it provides them exceeds the price. (And the MLB app obviously does.)

Doesn't matter that it's for the iPhone.

If all you're selling is something that makes fart sounds, you might be happy with 99 cents. But if your software kicks ass and can save time/money/headaches and/or fix problems or help people make more money, 99 cents might be cutting yourself short.

Any information source as rich and as useful as this would be impossible for the indie iphone developer to obtain for a decent price or free. Apart from social networking based information which would be a very competative market on the iphone already.

I think the real money for the indie developer is in casual games.

Most applications from known sources sell pretty well. Especially if the user already uses the product, and this is simply an easier way to use the product. In this case, it is sports coverage. This is why most of the applications on the app store don't sell well. They are all random developers that don't really have a big name to consumers, so buying their application at $10 is a gamble that some just aren't willing to take.

Congrats to MLB!

So, what does this mean for the iPhone gold rush for indie developers?

Well, it'll take a perfect storm of loyal user base, deep and frequently updated data, a very useful and functional application, and a price point that the market is willing to bear because of the previous points.

In other words, good luck!

Quote: "even if you have to include exclusive live audio content from major sporting events around the country, it is possible to make an app that people will happily pay $9.99 for"

What an odd sentence.

This app is essentially a subscription. I paid for it last season and loved it. On opening day this season I opened it up just to find that it was disabled and I had to purchase it again this year. I didn't repurchase because I felt this was falsely advertised.