Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#1

Post by martythemaniak » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:07 PM UTC

I have a little Android app (http://phonalyzr.com to see the bar chart) which displays graphs of a user's call history. Today I got a 5-star rating from a user who posted:

"I used this to show my GF that her bar chart block towered over my band. It got me laid that minute. Not kidding"

It reminded me of a this classic Jamie Zawinski blog post: http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html

"So I said, narrow the focus. Your "use case" should be, there's a 22 year old college student living in the dorms. How will this software get him laid?"

That was never MY use-case (my use-case being - I wonder if my call lengths follow a gausssian distribution?), but that post made me smile.

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#2

Post by maxklein » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:25 PM UTC

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#3

Post by levirosol » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:31 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #2

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

of course it's possible. Is that sustainable for your average single app? probably not.

However, with 15 some odd phones releasing in the near future, if you're doing mobile development, you have to be putting more focus on Android.

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#4

Post by martythemaniak » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:32 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #2

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

Being Canadian, I can't put up paid apps (yet), so I don't know.

It's also a hard question to answer, because it depends on app popularity, price, complexity of the app, etc. For my next project, I am planning to roll over iPhone and Android nearly simultaneously, so I look forward to answering that question in a blog post, at least in a relative way.

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#5

Post by maxklein » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:33 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #4

maxklein wrote: post #2

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

Being Canadian, I can't put up paid apps (yet), so I don't know. It's also a hard question to answer, because it depends on app popularity, price, complexity of the app, etc. For my next project, I am planning to roll over iPhone and Android nearly simultaneously, so I look forward to answering that question in a blog post, at least in a relative way.

You mean only U.S developers can sell apps in the android store?

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#6

Post by maxklein » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:35 PM UTC

levirosol wrote: post #3

maxklein wrote: post #2

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

of course it's possible. Is that sustainable for your average single app? probably not. However, with 15 some odd phones releasing in the near future, if you're doing mobile development, you have to be putting more focus on Android.

It's not really so smart to go into a market right at the start of the bump, because the values at the very start will be way off the charts compared to when it is a stable store.

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#7

Post by fiaz » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:35 PM UTC

If the app helped him get laid with some random chick (not his girlfriend), then I think that would definitely be a killer app.

Still happy for the bugger!

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#8

Post by martythemaniak » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:36 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #5

martythemaniak wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Canadian, I can't put up paid apps (yet), so I don't know. It's also a hard question to answer, because it depends on app popularity, price, complexity of the app, etc. For my next project, I am planning to roll over iPhone and Android nearly simultaneously, so I look forward to answering that question in a blog post, at least in a relative way.

You mean only U.S developers can sell apps in the android store?

I just checked - currently you can sell apps from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, UK and US. From what I've read, the local carriers play a large role in where paid apps are available.

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#9

Post by fjabre » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:37 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #4

maxklein wrote: post #2

How are android sales? Is it possible make about $500 a month with android on average?

Being Canadian, I can't put up paid apps (yet), so I don't know. It's also a hard question to answer, because it depends on app popularity, price, complexity of the app, etc. For my next project, I am planning to roll over iPhone and Android nearly simultaneously, so I look forward to answering that question in a blog post, at least in a relative way.

I'm not sure this app is possible on the iPhone. Apple doesn't allow access to call history, favorites and what not..

At least that's how it was last year when I 'used' to do iPhone dev..

Re: Tell HN: My app got someone laid

#10

Post by ryandvm » Thu, Nov 12, 2009, 8:41 PM UTC

That was actually a trick by 22 year-old Zawinski to get the rest of the world writing software that would get him laid.