Get rich quick developing apps?

[Mike39]

A couple of months ago, I decided I was going to build an iPhone application, soon, I found out that half of the forum was doing the same thing as me, it occurred to me that the barrier to entry to an app is little to none besides a couple grand or a basic knowledge of objective c, I am starting to think that while I'm sure there will still be people who get rich from developing apps, the golden days of releasing an app to the market and having it make a fortune without any advertising/marketing outside of the app store/Google play. What do you guys think, I know the guys building app currently will defend it like they are about to be pushed off of a cliff, but as well as them, what do the other guys and gals on here think about the app game, is it something worth putting time and money into or is the fastlane opportunity of app building quickly fading away? :smxF:

 

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[mayana]

I think it is sort of like anything else... as the barriers to entry go down, competition goes up. Is there still good money to be made? Of course, but it is that much harder.

That being said, if you've got the idea and the execution, it shouldn't be a reason not to do it.

 

[DeadPresident]

Yes it is getting competitive but I think it is the future. Everyone is getting smart phones, the mobile app industry is less than 4 years old and is growing annually in revenue. People have their smartphones with them 24/7. It is predicted that ppl will access the internet more frequently from their mobile device than their computers within the next couple years.

This trend is actually giving companies like facebook & Google problems.

They haven't found a good way to monetize their mobile platforms.

That being said, like with anything else, where there are problems there are opportunities...

 

[oddball]

I think it is sort of like anything else... as the barriers to entry go down, competition goes up. Is there still good money to be made? Of course, but it is that much harder.

That being said, if you've got the idea and the execution, it shouldn't be a reason not to do it.

I agree. I don't think you will see as many home run apps, and most of them will be from the big companies. I do think there is still money to be made in the app world though, it just won't be easy. I think another big opportunity will be TV apps. Soon all tv's will be internet TV and then apps on those will be big.

 

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[Mike39]

All good posts, I'm not against app development, I am probably still getting mine built, I am juts interested in everyone else's opinions! Thanks for the replies!

 

[Jake]

I agree. I don't think you will see as many home run apps, and most of them will be from the big companies. I do think there is still money to be made in the app world though, it just won't be easy. I think another big opportunity will be TV apps. Soon all tv's will be internet TV and then apps on those will be big.

Yup. You don't need to hit home runs to make it worth your time or to receive a good ROI. My goal is to earn income without having to keep my job. I don't need 1 million paid installs to do that. I'll worry about hitting the home run later and try to get on base first.

 

[PopEmersen]

I am starting to think that while I'm sure there will still be people who get rich from developing apps, the golden days of releasing an app to the market and having it make a fortune without any advertising/marketing outside of the app store/Google play.

I agree with this, its not just going to be release it and get rich. There will have to be a good portion of advertising/marketing outside the app store. I also think that this mobile app bubble is almost to the popping point, which is why I am trying to get mine out as soon as possible.

 

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[healthstatus]

I think the next big leap in apps is the integration of mediums, for instance if I am watching a baseball game on TV, the app would listen or monitor the game as well, and provide back story on the player hitting, stats on the team for this situation, where to buy his jersey, bat, shoes, and glove. It could be gamified by allowing you to guess the next pitch, the outcome of the play, trivia, etc. So I would have my phone or tablet in my lap watching the game on the screen on the wall, or even in person and getting all this extra information to enrich the experience. Any sporting event could be done with this, to a degree any television show or movie, books as well and on and on.


Right now, app development (for games/calculator/utility type apps) is like showing up for the 1849 gold rush in 1851.

 

[brob742]

Right now, app development (for games/calculator/utility type apps) is like showing up for the 1849 gold rush in 1851.

haha, classic...but, true. I was talking to a buddy of mine who really wants to build out a fitness app with me. While it could still be successful if executed properly, I started questioning whether it was violating Entry. I guess any clown with a few grand could sketch some stuff, get it to a developer and publish in app store.

 

[oddball]

Yup. You don't need to hit home runs to make it worth your time or to receive a good ROI. My goal is to earn income without having to keep my job. I don't need 1 million paid installs to do that. I'll worry about hitting the home run later and try to get on base first.

Same here, well I am trying to start a company and have several successful apps. I'd like to get 5-6 apps built with good cashflow and sell everything. As of now, I do not have a home run idea but I definitely feel I have 5-6 if not more solid app ideas. Although, you can still hit a home run in todays app world and one is all you need to become rich.

haha, classic...but, true. I was talking to a buddy of mine who really wants to build out a fitness app with me. While it could still be successful if executed properly, I started questioning whether it was violating Entry. I guess any clown with a few grand could sketch some stuff, get it to a developer and publish in app store.

I wanted to make a fitness app, problem is a lot of people already do (seems to be the trend in apps now). The thing with fitness is, how much can each app variant from the next. If you can find a good way to set yours apart, you can be successful. I saw a fitness app not to long ago that had a little twist on tracking your performance and it was pretty popular/successful. (can't remember what it was though)

 

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[Jake]

I wanted to make a fitness app, problem is a lot of people already do (seems to be the trend in apps now). The thing with fitness is, how much can each app variant from the next. If you can find a good way to set yours apart, you can be successful. I saw a fitness app not to long ago that had a little twist on tracking your performance and it was pretty popular/successful. (can't remember what it was though)

I see that as proven market demand. Figure out if you can make it better or cheaper. That's my thought process anyway.

Is there demand for this type of app? yes
Can I make it better in anyway? yes
Can I make it cheaper? yes..unless it's a .99 app

if you can check all the boxes I'd say proceed.

 

[Tarheelfan2009]

It is true that there isn't much of a barrier to publishing an app, but I would say 99% of people who do publish an app don't follow through with execution. Many of the people developing apps simply spend ZERO time on marketing or marketing analysis. Most developers seem to think if you have a great game it will become the next Angry Birds. They ignore market stats, ignore social media, ignore trends, and ignore their #1 priority--their customer, the user.

Those that do execute and realize their customer are rewarded. Even in a crowded marketplace you can succeed thanks to Apple's distribution strategy. Take for example Logos Quiz on the iOS App Store. It was developed by a 27 yr old one man team and was a simple and great idea. There were several other Logos Quiz-type game before he published his, he just executed better and as a result his game catapulted to the top of the charts and remained there for several weeks. The single thing I would contribute to the popularity of his game vs others was the fact that he allowed people to Tweet the question to their friends if they were stuck. This was the only logos quiz game to introduce this idea. Thanks to his attention to the customers need for social interaction, the game went viral quickly. Search #LogosQuiz on Twitter and see the thousands of results.

There are hundreds of stories like this. For now and probably for only a limited amount of time, people like me have the same platform, same barriers, and same chance of success in app publishing as a Fortune 500 corporation. It is the only instance I can think of where I can create something for under $1000 and have it sitting on a chart next to an app made by Disney without paying anything for marketing and just by paying attention to my customer. It won't be like this forever, but the opportunity is still there imo.

 

[JasonR]

With more people entering the app market, there will be more competition. I believe the opportunity is still there, but it won't be easy (nothing ever is). If you think you can get rich quick by making a quick cheap app, I believe you are mistaken.

 

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[LamboMP]

I found out that half of the forum was doing the same thing as me

Stop worrying about what other's are doing, and start worrying about yourself. Concentrate more on your own business, and less of other's and "all that competition".

Just frigging go for it man.

It also seems like you want a "get rich quick event". You need to fully commit yourself to the project, and take action every single day. It doesn't sound like your being faithful to the business.

 

[healthstatus]

I see that as proven market demand. Figure out if you can make it better or cheaper. That's my thought process anyway.

Is there demand for this type of app? yes
Can I make it better in anyway? yes
Can I make it cheaper? yes..unless it's a .99 app

if you can check all the boxes I'd say proceed.

Demand is the only appropriate thing in your list. What is really the most important is can I get my app in front of a regular stream of traffic that would be interested in it. If you can solve that piece of the puzzle you will have plenty of people buying it. If you think I will create an app and put it on the app store and that is my stream of traffic, you are dead wrong. My health app is not the best, definitely not the cheapest, but 20,000+ people every day see an ad for my app and it links directly to the buy page, that is how you sell apps.

 

[Mike39]

Stop worrying about what other's are doing, and start worrying about yourself. Concentrate more on your own business, and less of other's and "all that competition".

Just frigging go for it man.

It also seems like you want a "get rich quick event". You need to fully commit yourself to the project, and take action every single day. It doesn't sound like your being faithful to the business.

I don't want a get rich quick event, if I did, I would buy 2k worth of lottery tickets and hope for the best, what I do want is to take the most calculated risk possible, I don't want to jump blindly into something and just hope for the best, I am not the person who will bet all his money on red, no I would be the person to evaluate every possible detail of the roll so that I can maximize my possibility for success. And the only reason I ask for others peoples opinions is because you can get so caught up in what you think about your business and how it is going to be successful, that it might just seem a surefire failure in the future. As of now, I would rather be faithful to my future than faithful to my business, you need to keep in mind that you can't get too attached to you business or you may end up running yourself into the ground just to try and keep some dream business alive. Everything is a risk when starting a business, if I wasn't ready for risk I would go get a job caddying, but if I'm going to take a risk, I would much rather take a risk that has a 25% chance of failure than a risk that has an 85% chance of failure.

Like I have said in previous posts, I am still planning on developing the app, still figuring out some legal things at the moment

 

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[Mike39]

Demand is the only appropriate thing in your list. What is really the most important is can I get my app in front of a regular stream of traffic that would be interested in it. If you can solve that piece of the puzzle you will have plenty of people buying it. If you think I will create an app and put it on the app store and that is my stream of traffic, you are dead wrong. My health app is not the best, definitely not the cheapest, but 20,000+ people every day see an ad for my app and it links directly to the buy page, that is how you sell apps.

If there is one thing I need some quality advice on its app marketing, I agree that marketing your app is the key to success in today's market

 

[Rain]

If there is one thing I need some quality advice on its app marketing, I agree that marketing your app is the key to success in today's market

Marketing is the key to success in all markets, lol.

 

[Mike39]

Marketing is the key to success in all markets, lol.

What I mean by that is there was a time when you could get your app on app store, iTunes would feature it, and you would need to do very limited advertising outside of the appstore, now though, with so many apps being added daily, the chances of that happening are slim to none. Now the difference between the awesome successful apps and the awesome yet unsuccessful apps are to do with the amount of time, effort, and ingenuity, they app company puts into marketing their app outside of what was originally intended by apple, I had a feeling when I posted that someone was going to give me a smart response, should have clarified more

 

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[healthstatus]

What I mean by that is there was a time when you could get your app on app store, iTunes would feature it...

I had a feeling when I posted that someone was going to give me a smart response, should have clarified more

The same thing can be said about Facebook, Clickbank, Kindle books, and way back in the day, getting to be a featured website on Yahoo! Once you get to the point of Wow, people are making money doing this, it is really too late! You are much better off to have a following with the potential buyers of your app whether you do that with social, email, website or ????? Then drop an app that meets their need in front of them instead of trying the other way around of developing an app and then trying to find the audience.