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How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

nathanbarry.com

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Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#71

Post by awj »

nathanbarry wrote: post #40
newobj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally get it. I'm very happy for him, and I'm fully aware of why I only made $190 :) As the parent of an autistic child, I'm really happy that app authors like this can disrupt entrenched and overpriced industries and make tech like this available to a lot more people. Someone will eventually compete with him too (App Stores totally grease the wheels for competition) and then consumers will benefit even more.

If it makes you feel any better I wrote another simple app and have only made $15 from it.

Pretty much the same here. Then again I'm targeting cross-stitchers (pretty small market) and went with iAd over any form of payment. All things considered the fact that it's made any money at all is kind of astonishing.

Was a bit of a letdown to figure out that Apple had sent me a check at one point and I didn't notice it until two months later.

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#72

Post by ThomPete »

brador wrote: post #66
wallflower wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not a crap-app story per se, but I and many other developers I know have made all of our money from client work, not a dollar from the app store. Since we manage the provisioning etc. for the client and walk them through the initial paperwork, no one ever knows who built the (admittedly sometimes faddy) app. We do build our own apps but just for fun and personal use.

Serious question, if I outsource my app idea to be made elsewhere through a freelanceer or agency, should I be worried? How would I protect myself here? NDA?

I outsourced my app http://finaltouchapp.com

Its so simply anyone with a little programming flair could do it.

It's never a real problem. People most of the times, don't see what you see. Worry less get more done.

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#73

Post by jamesbritt »

qq66 wrote: post #56
DeusExMachina wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask you why, being an experienced developer with an autistic child that know the actual state of the industry, you overlooked this opportunity? It's a genuine question, because I do it all the times as well and then, when I realize it to late, I wonder why I didn't think about it in the first place. I would like to know if there is a pattern or something.

Spotting commercial opportunities is its own skill. Any experienced programmer could have made the v1 of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc... but figuring out that people need that is nontrivial.

Is that how it works, or do lots of people build lots of things, and when a tiny handful of them go big the creators are retroactivley deemed prescient?

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#75

Post by nupark2 »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #53
nupark2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind -- $20k over 10 months is a pretty low return on the investment involved in an application. Perhaps the revenue will trend upwards ... but if we put our team on an application like this and only saw $20k in revenue in 10 months , we'd be out of business.

You're mixing up development time with sales time. Your team would probably bang this out in a few weeks and then move on to another app. In the meantime, the app would be selling in the store not costing you developer resources.

I'm not mixing them up. $20k over 10 months would barely cover the development and support costs.

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#76

Post by rythie »

He's actually disrupting the market for the $7000+ device, I wonder how many the $7000+ people sell, presumably he could take most/all of their sales + a load on top who couldn't afford it in the first place.

I assume at this point the $7000+ device people think they have some better features that make it worthwhile and are reluctant to do their own iPad app. (Innovators Dilemma).

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#77

Post by [deleted] »

jamesbritt wrote: post #73
qq66 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotting commercial opportunities is its own skill. Any experienced programmer could have made the v1 of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc... but figuring out that people need that is nontrivial.

Is that how it works, or do lots of people build lots of things, and when a tiny handful of them go big the creators are retroactivley deemed prescient?

[deleted]

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#78

Post by ja27 »

qq66 wrote: post #56
DeusExMachina wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask you why, being an experienced developer with an autistic child that know the actual state of the industry, you overlooked this opportunity? It's a genuine question, because I do it all the times as well and then, when I realize it to late, I wonder why I didn't think about it in the first place. I would like to know if there is a pattern or something.

Spotting commercial opportunities is its own skill. Any experienced programmer could have made the v1 of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc... but figuring out that people need that is nontrivial.

And getting what you built into the hands of the people that need it is nontrivial and I'd argue it's the hardest part.

Re: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code

#79

Post by prawn »

kirubakaran wrote: post #19
newobj wrote: post #17

Reminds me, I should write my own story of how I made $190 on the App Store while exercising 15 years of coding experience.

He made something people want. That trumps programming excellence.

And I almost fell off my chair that it wasn't a fart app - nice to see someone put in real effort, create something useful to an under-served segment and see success from that.
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