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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

#111

Post by nathanbarry »

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…

Yes, I do need to work on search rankings. I've been giving out free copies to educators and speech language pathologists to get them familiar with it. I also have a free demo copy coming out in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for the advice.

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

#113

Post by [deleted] »

nupark2 wrote: post #75
MichaelApproved wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#114

Post by igrekel »

gaustin wrote: post #18
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same people who bought thousand-dollar boat anchors. At 199 it has a known customer base.

It's a $200 alternative to a $7,000 device. Seems like a bargain to me.

Especially if it changes the life of its user. It has tremendous value.

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

#115

Post by igrekel »

Torn wrote: post #10

What made you decide on the $199 price point? Additionally, do you think the $199 price point might it out of reach for a lot of people who would benefit from the app but who have tights budgets?

This is not the same kind of purchase a fart app, a coffee, a nice T-shirt you like or even a bigger TV, this application changes what its user is able to do, in that sense it is closer to the purchase of a car, or household appliances.

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

#116

Post by Providentian »

ja27 wrote: post #78
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.

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.

True. The reason why this went well for the developer is that he did direct sales to find early advocates, and didn't rely on an app store magic wand. Of course, that is possible with a $199 app, not so much with a $1.99 one.

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

#117

Post by 5hoom »

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?

Spent a few months making a (poorly conceived) "lifestyle" app, sold one copy to a user in Egypt.

Total profit -$98, Many lessons learned ;)

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

#118

Post by jawngee »

nathanbarry wrote: post #93
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.

In app picture pack/vocabulary expansion purchases? "New voices"?

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

#119

Post by fferen »

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 made a game in high school and sold it in the android app store along with a free trial version. The trial version got about 300 downloads and the paid version sold a whopping 3 copies.

Ah well, it was a learning experience. It now no longer works despite not having been changed at all; perhaps some new android version broke backwards compatibility, or the API I was using depended on some undocumented functionality.

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

#120

Post by brc »

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?

It's more about recognising when you're on to something, and when you're flogging a dead horse.

And being able to double-down quickly in the first instance, and trash-can it in the second.

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