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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

#101

Post by larrys »

Here's what I would do.

1) Get a copy of it in the hands of special ed departments at schools (for free). And the people who oversee the IEP's, counselors etc. You will then get referrals to sell the full priced product after people see a demo.

2) Lower the price of your product so it's a no brainer for parents.

Having the price so high is going to invite competition that will sell the same app at a lower price. While that can still happen with a lower price it is more likely at the price point you are at because people will be more motivated to compete (and anyway you will sell more at the lower price..)

3) Come up with a different name or buy onevoice.com. If the product is recommended you need people to be able to easily find your website. Not only don't you own the domain name onevoice.com but you don't come up (now) in any search results.

Edit: "search results" - as in when someone hears about it and they google it not the app store.

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

#103

Post by nathanbarry »

ajb wrote: post #100

So, why is it better than Proloqu2go? (My relatives have already bought that for their nonverbal son, so this we are unlikely to be a sale unless you're really convincing).

Ease of use is the big difference. OneVoice is very user friendly compared to all the other applications. Also it uses realistic looking icons rather than stick figure / cartoon drawings.

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

#105

Post by xelfer »

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?

I wrote an app to display traffic images for my local city - I followed all the correct avenues and got permission to use the images from local traffic authority. Part of our signed contract is that I'm not allowed to sell the application. I've had about 200,000 downloads and was number 1 on the Australian app store for a week.

There are people who don't seem to have followed any path to keep their applications and content legal (with the same app idea) and are selling theirs with the same content as mine, they seem to be on the app store with no repercussions. I guess I have that piece of mind that I won't get sued or asked to pull my app..

I've made about enough from my admob ads to pay off my developer subscription :)

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

#107

Post by adriand »

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?

I think that there's no question you have to do some things right to succeed, but many people do things right and fail, because ultimately, a lot of it is just pure luck.

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

#108

Post by yesbabyyes »

larrys wrote: post #101

Here's what I would do. 1) Get a copy of it in the hands of special ed departments at schools (for free). And the people who oversee the IEP's, counselors etc. You will then get referrals to sell the full priced product after people see a demo. 2) Lower the price of your product so it's a no brainer for parents. Having the price so high is going to invite competition that will sell the same app at a lower price. Whil…

He has http://onevoiceapp.com/ redirecting to his homepage. I agree that it would probably be a good idea to use the domain instead.

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

#109

Post by zackmorris »

Valien wrote: post #26
nathanbarry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dustin, those were good times. Glad to see you frequent HN. Hope everything is going well for you now.

Nathan, Great story and way to find a niche that was unserved. There are so many out there (niches that is) with archaic products/services that are begging for right person to come along and improve them. Good luck with the dedicated venture!

Cool to see other developers who were/are in Boise. I wish we had a way to find each other besides linkedin (and not get sucked into pitching/getting pitched a job)

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

#110

Post by nathanbarry »

zackmorris wrote: post #109
Valien wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nathan, Great story and way to find a niche that was unserved. There are so many out there (niches that is) with archaic products/services that are begging for right person to come along and improve them. Good luck with the dedicated venture!

Cool to see other developers who were/are in Boise. I wish we had a way to find each other besides linkedin (and not get sucked into pitching/getting pitched a job)

Email me (nathan@thinklegend.com). I know quite a few developers in Boise.
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