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The Mac App Store Won’t Make You Rich

bloomberg.com

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

#11

Post by bdcravens »

coldtea wrote: post #3

This confuses getting to the top (which depending on the algorithm could just need a small initial spark aroudn your app) with staying at the top. Apps that stay at the top for weeks on end make lots of money -- up to several millions per year. As for the App Store, just like ANY OTHER marketplace, it won't make you rich in itself, just for appearing there and "putting the work"...

> Apps that stay at the top for weeks on end make lots of money -- up to several millions per year.

Paid Mac apps, no. The article is about the Mac App Store, not iOS. Even among iOS, however, the most successful apps are free ones with a viral incentive to do in-app purchases.

Most of the top apps have an external influence. 4 of the top 10 come out of Apple. Look at top games on Mac - most of them are major publishers. Even "independent" apps had a following outside of the Mac App Store, like 1Password.

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

#13

Post by PirateDave »

chx wrote: post #6
coldtea wrote: post #3

This confuses getting to the top (which depending on the algorithm could just need a small initial spark aroudn your app) with staying at the top. Apps that stay at the top for weeks on end make lots of money -- up to several millions per year. As for the App Store, just like ANY OTHER marketplace, it won't make you rich in itself, just for appearing there and "putting the work"...

> Apps that stay at the top for weeks on end make lots of money -- up to several millions per year. The article claims the Mac App Store sales is measured in thousands for the top apps. Care to point to your sources which claim three magnitudes more?

I can back up his claim. I work for a large entertainment company that has a top 50 app, (in top grossing) and it consistently brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. When it was at its highest, around 15, it was bringing in about 400-500k per week.

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

#14

Post by allsystemsgo »

navait wrote: post #8
patmcguire wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Redacted, which peaked at No. 2 on the Mac App Store, sold 1,845 copies through May 19 and earned $6,600" That seems to be a low ceiling on success, no?

Maybe I just have low standards for success, but $220^H^H^H160/hour sounds pretty good to me. Also if it's sucessful on mac app store, a $2 version on iOS/android might be viable.

Well, you also have to take out Apple's cut (30%), plus taxes.

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

#15

Post by xienze »

patmcguire wrote: post #4
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.

"Redacted, which peaked at No. 2 on the Mac App Store, sold 1,845 copies through May 19 and earned $6,600" That seems to be a low ceiling on success, no?

That's not bad for a passive income stream, and for only having spent 30 hours on it.

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

#16

Post by danso »

Anyone else reluctant to buy through the Mac App store because of the perceived lack of uptake? For example, I've been a longtime owner of a Transmit license...it's worked for years now. If I don't keep up with OS X releases, I can still download past binaries and use the key (within a limit...for example, Transmit 3 owners were required to upgrade to 4.x). But what if the developer decides that it's not worth maintaining the binary on Transmit? Do you get a license key for the App store purchase? From my perception, once you buy into the App store, you're bound to its limited upgrade routine. This has bitten me plenty of times on iOS, where the developer doesn't feel like keeping up with iOS upgrades, leaving you with broken apps with no ability to get them working again. I'm not talking about fly-by-night developers, but AAA developers like Capcom.

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

#17

Post by suby »

bdcravens wrote: post #9
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.

I seriously doubt you could design, develop, prep, submit app, and market for 30 hours and have anything that anyone would download for free, let alone pay $5 for. The sheer volume of users doesn't obviate the fact that there's a minimum level of quality for discoverability to kick in.

30 hours is the amount of time the author of Redacted claims to have spent developing the app.

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

#18

Post by [deleted] »

bdcravens wrote: post #9
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.

I seriously doubt you could design, develop, prep, submit app, and market for 30 hours and have anything that anyone would download for free, let alone pay $5 for. The sheer volume of users doesn't obviate the fact that there's a minimum level of quality for discoverability to kick in.

[deleted]

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

#20

Post by xienze »

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.

People are also forgetting that the time spent writing an app in your free time is "fun", or should be. I program in my free time for fun, getting paid after the fact is gravy. Getting paid $6600 for 30 hours of fun time (or so he says) is awesome.
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