Realistically, is there still money in publishing mobile apps?

[marc100]

So I work in Mountain View and hang out with developers, many are iOS devs. They are all broke. Some of them have been making apps for over a year and none of them hit. They are middle aged men who are renting shared rooms very far away from Mt View to scrape by. Some are living in rooms on AirBNB and some are homeless and living in their cars.

<cue: Debbie Downer>

Had a conversation last night with an experienced app developer who told me that there is an ocean of new apps being uploaded everyday and you need millions of views on it just to register on anyones radar.

There are books like App Empire or starting an APP Business for Dummies, but I notice they are like 3 years old, and so much has changed since then.

My question is, is the market too crowded?
For a non developer like me it costs a lot of money to have an app done, its like buying a $2,000 lottery ticket each time you want to play.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[brandonrush]

Apps are like any other business. Most businesses never succeed and never get off the ground, just like most apps will do the same. The common theme is that most apps, just like most new businesses, won't provide value or a solution to a problem for their customers. Customers will then vote with their wallet and buy from someone who IS offering value.

The app market is currently huge, and it will stay huge. Money will be made in the industry.

What value are you giving to your customers with the app you are bringing to the market?

 

[throttleforward]

Why don't you approach the problem from the opposite direction? Instead of saying "what apps can I develop/what app might be cool enough to 'hit'", you start cold calling businesses in a particular niche and ask them what their problems are. Find a pain point, and create an app around that pain point. Then, instead of selling it one-off to a customer (or giving it away and selling adspace/inapp purchases) you can charge a monthly fee to those businesses, SaaS-style. In this way, you don't need millions of downloads.

See the Dane Maxwell Home Inspector video/podcast - someone did exactly this and is making thousands monthly off subscriptions (I believe it was an ipad app, to be carried around by home inspectors).

 

[marc100]

Great intelligent responses to this.
I was just seeing things like it was a "Goldrush" for the app market, and then seeing the other side with developers who are having a hard time selling their apps so wanted to get a fresh perspective. Thank you both

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[codo3500]

Unfortunately saying "I want to build an app" is a "Me Too!" kind of business approach. As the barrier for Entry has lowered (due to more app developers out there, and more resources on how to do it), competition has risen. An App is a platform to solve a need, if you're still solving a genuine need, then an App can still succeed. If you're just trying to copy-cat other ideas and don't have a Unique Selling Proposition, then like with any other business, you will fail.

 

[healthstatus]

If you have traffic, building an app to provide a service or solve a problem for that traffic is a profitable strategy. If you have no traffic and build an app and you plan is to hope it will be discovered on the app store, you should just buy lottery tickets.

 

[MattCour]

Codo's response was spot on.... I just made an intro post about building iOS games yesterday.. I'd be glad to give you some insight from a games perspective as far as metrics and marketing ideas..

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MattCour]

Hey these guys talking about adding value are really onto something =) It's a common recurring theme in every successful business.