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The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

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Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#61

Post by vitd »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #47

As a user, I'm glad it's there as an easy updating mechanism for Apple apps and a store for handy utility apps, but there's not much of a place for a centralized app store on the desktop. Steam poaches the most lucrative category and makers of prominent professional apps don't need any help with digital distribution... what's left? I'd imagine that this hollowing out makes it advantageous for software that might bene…

I couldn't agree less. The MacOS app store has made it so much easier for me as a user. Apple might not be perfect, but to compare them to Steam? Just last week I had a problem with a Steam app and getting it resolved was farcical. Not to mention that literally every other time I launch Steam, it fails to see the network (even though all my other network apps are working just fine), and I have to quit and restart it. And when it does restart, just as I'm about to click "Play" on a game, a huge honking ad pops up in front of it. And never once has the ad been of any interest to me. Such a horrible user experience.

At this point I will avoid buying any more games from Steam if possible and just get them from the app store because it's so much easier and just works.

Back when I sold my own software, getting it noticed was nearly impossible. There were about 10 different websites you could submit it to that had lists of new apps (Version Tracker, Download.com, etc.), and eventually they all got more and more spammy until the point where users just stopped using them altogether. Something like an app store would have been a godsend!

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#63

Post by j_baker »

mickanio wrote: post #41

Great, you're #8 on the App Store for an app that allows you to blur photos... you're so excited that you're going to get rich... Leaves me thinking: Who cares what rank you are on the App Store, making an app that does basically very little (though useful) should NOT make you rich. I just think of something like Monument Valley - not a throwaway - tons of work - and it DID make them rich. Rightfully so. I guess I'd…

Hey, he worked on this app for a whole 30 hours. That's like 3/4 of a work week!

In all seriousness, when you figure it out, that's about $15/hr. I think a number of entrepreneurs would give their right arm to make that kind of money right at launch. And when you consider that he's probably going to be selling at least a few more copies of this, the money he'll make off of his time investment will grow.

In any event, I hope he didn't quit his day job to make a photo-blurring utility.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#64

Post by prawn »

marvel_boy wrote: post #12
navait wrote: post #2

Maybe not rich, but if 5000 people buy a $5 app that you spent 30 hours on, that's a pretty good ROI for your time.

An app in 30 hours? Believe me that this is not the usual time it takes to build an app !

Exactly. You can spend 30 hours just preparing screenshots in various languages and device sizes, preview video and so on.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#65

Post by ThomPete »

jakobegger wrote: post #60

The article makes some fundamental mistakes: 1) It talks about an app that reached #8 in "Top Paid". The more interesting list would be "Top Grossing" 2) It talks about a trivial app that was created with very little effort. While gimmick apps might work on iOS, people prefer to buy actually useful software on the Mac. The title is still somewhat true: It's unlikely you will become very rich by selling Mac Apps. But…

I don't think it's a mistake as my guess is he is comparing with with the iOS app store where this would mean fairly certain success.

I agree with the trivial app comment but I have a unique app which is doing pretty well. However compared to the iOS store it's not potentially self sustaining to be in the top once you get there.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#66

Post by brudgers »

deliver their developers $10 billion in annual revenue... Apple, which declined to comment for this story, said in January that annual revenue from its mobile apps rose 50 percent last year and helped create 627,000 U.S. jobs.

That distills down to about $15,000 per US job if the $10 billion doesn't go anywhere else in the world and before business expenses such as the $99.00 developer fee.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#67

Post by rbritton »

a2tech wrote: post #10

I think it's taking a long time for the Mac App Store to catch on-but I think it'll get there. When I find an app I want to buy I've gotten in the habit of checking the MAS to see if I can buy it there-I'd rather buy through the MAS and let Apple handle my credit card details and tracking of purchased software. Users are slow to change, and buying your software through a portal on your computer is a big change.

I tend to do the opposite. If I find something on the MAS, I usually check for a direct purchase so that the developer gets that additional 30%, I'm eligible for upgrade pricing, and I don't have to wait a week for bug fix updates.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#68

Post by vijayr »

jakobegger wrote: post #60

The article makes some fundamental mistakes: 1) It talks about an app that reached #8 in "Top Paid". The more interesting list would be "Top Grossing" 2) It talks about a trivial app that was created with very little effort. While gimmick apps might work on iOS, people prefer to buy actually useful software on the Mac. The title is still somewhat true: It's unlikely you will become very rich by selling Mac Apps. But…

One of your apps is to view Access DB on Macs. I'd have never guessed in a million years that people are still using Access, and that it is possible to build a business on top of it. Goes to show that all these rankings etc don't matter as much as we are led to believe.

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#69

Post by kranner »

jakobegger wrote: post #60

The article makes some fundamental mistakes: 1) It talks about an app that reached #8 in "Top Paid". The more interesting list would be "Top Grossing" 2) It talks about a trivial app that was created with very little effort. While gimmick apps might work on iOS, people prefer to buy actually useful software on the Mac. The title is still somewhat true: It's unlikely you will become very rich by selling Mac Apps. But…

The article also refers to Macs as PCs!

Re: The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

#70

Post by kranner »

j_baker wrote: post #63
mickanio wrote: post #41

Great, you're #8 on the App Store for an app that allows you to blur photos... you're so excited that you're going to get rich... Leaves me thinking: Who cares what rank you are on the App Store, making an app that does basically very little (though useful) should NOT make you rich. I just think of something like Monument Valley - not a throwaway - tons of work - and it DID make them rich. Rightfully so. I guess I'd…

Hey, he worked on this app for a whole 30 hours . That's like 3/4 of a work week! In all seriousness, when you figure it out, that's about $15/hr. I think a number of entrepreneurs would give their right arm to make that kind of money right at launch. And when you consider that he's probably going to be selling at least a few more copies of this, the money he'll make off of his time investment will grow. In any event…

He made $6600 for Redacted. The $450 figure is for Realmac's Clear.
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