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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

#91

Post by nathanbarry »

cwbrandsma wrote: post #86
orky56 wrote: post #9

I have a similar non-technical background (UX/design) and was curious how you were able to not get frustrated and outsource the development work rather than doing it yourself. If I was in the same position, I would get too restless and want it built right away. Any advice on how you got through that situation? Thanks.

From experience...it also helps to have some patient programmer friends around to help (I'm one of the developers that helped Nathan build the app). :)

So true. I recommend every get themselves some smart, patient friends. Makes all the difference.

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

#93

Post by nathanbarry »

evoltix wrote: post #60

Great job. Although, I'm particularly interested in how you made the decision to quit your full-time job and create a startup based on one-time sales? Is there a service behind this startup?

There isn't a service behind the startup. You're right that one-time sales is the ideal model, but I haven't thought of a great way to do recurring revenue.

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

#94

Post by pkamb »

nathanbarry wrote: post #89
pkamb wrote: post #80

Very inspiring. Do you use AdWords or any other forms of advertising? What percentage of your sales are to people you contact personally?

I contact Speech Language Pathologists personally, and it is their clients that purchase the application. Maybe 20% come from personal contacts in some way. No, I haven't used AdWords yet.

The rest primarily coming in from natural Google ranking + the app store pages then?

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

#95

Post by abuzzooz »

brador wrote: post #55
watmough wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My HP-41C has made maybe $5 so far. ROFL! edit: Just adding the name in case anyone wants to buy it; Calc41C. The source is up on github.com/watmough

You may laugh, but this is exactly the type of story we need to hear more about to balance the super hype around apps. Yeah, you could hit gold, but with a random roll you're much more likely to fire a dud. Anyone else with a crap-app story?

But of course my good sir.

My awesome puzzler fetched me a whopping $55.

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

#96

Post by nathanbarry »

pkamb wrote: post #94
nathanbarry wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I contact Speech Language Pathologists personally, and it is their clients that purchase the application. Maybe 20% come from personal contacts in some way. No, I haven't used AdWords yet.

The rest primarily coming in from natural Google ranking + the app store pages then?

A lot from reviews that have been written on different industry sites and blogs. Also the Facebook page has 500+ fans.

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

#97

Post by hrabago »

brador wrote: post #55
watmough wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My HP-41C has made maybe $5 so far. ROFL! edit: Just adding the name in case anyone wants to buy it; Calc41C. The source is up on github.com/watmough

You may laugh, but this is exactly the type of story we need to hear more about to balance the super hype around apps. Yeah, you could hit gold, but with a random roll you're much more likely to fire a dud. Anyone else with a crap-app story?

Wow, you all are making me feel slightly better about the apps I've published.

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

#98

Post by billpatrianakos »

A lot of people will focus on the money and come away wondering if they can make a quick buck too. Hopefully people don't miss the point. You made a cool app for a really niche market that had a huge need for this inexpensive tool. And you helped some people really needed it. Kudos, man.

You learned to code for iOS, helped people in need, and made a buck off it. Awesome.

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

#99

Post by daemin »

rythie wrote: post #76

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).

I think that the price paid for a $7000+ device is that they're buying the whole package, hardware, software, AND support as a whole package. So that when there's a problem there's one person that they need to contact to get it resolved (in the ideal case).

I'm sure the author could go that way, buying iPads or other Android tablets (if the software gets ported), package up they software, make it auto boot, etc and form it into a complete package. The price then wouldn't be just the app, but the tablet, installation costs, and future support as well.

It would be cheaper, but not by the same order of magnitude that the app is cheaper than the $7000+ device.

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