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From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

calebhicks.com

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Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#21

Post by jkhowland »

mgkimsal wrote: post #15
tannerc wrote: post #8

Edit: being down voted because of an opinion? Hey, I want to middle school with Caleb! On a more related note: It's exciting to see others realize how simple and painless Apple has made iOS dev. It still takes logical chops and a keen eye to make something worthwhile, but the bridge between non-developer and developer is getting shorter and shorter. The new iOS 8 kits will shorten that gap even more. Still, as a deve…

"I'm a student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it will only be very high-caliber apps that survive" I may be bucking the 'everything will be mobile first/mobile only' mindset, but I see the 'successful' apps as those that fit in a larger ecosystem of functionality. For many users, the primary/only point of contact with a system may be the mobile app, but there will be other endpoints of the s…

I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game developers.

The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money.

I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of business that releases the apps. They need to consider marketing, pricing, launch strategies, and app store optimization. They need to maintain a relationship with their customers, and constantly ask what the customer wants. There is a lot more to a mobile company than the app, and I think the best companies (and their apps) are the ones that will survive.

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#22

Post by potatolicious »

generatestring wrote: post #9

After reading those recent financial/earnings from iOS game developers on HN, I'd be very wary of dropping 4,500$ for a 12 week course.

Mobile development is alive and well, it's just that the real successes are frontends to some service (see: Facebook, Grubhub, Uber, etc). Directly monetizing from app sales is mostly dead.

The demand for iOS devs right now is intense. A senior-level iOS dev can command ~$200K or more in the NYC area right now, I imagine the Bay Area to be similar.

Writing an app and selling it on the app store for ${LUDICROUS_SUM} has been a myth for a long time now, but you can still make your $4500 back very, very easily.

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#23

Post by tannerc »

jkhowland wrote: post #21
mgkimsal wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm a student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it will only be very high-caliber apps that survive" I may be bucking the 'everything will be mobile first/mobile only' mindset, but I see the 'successful' apps as those that fit in a larger ecosystem of functionality. For many users, the primary/only point of contact with a system may be the mobile app, but there will be other endpoints of the s…

I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game developers. The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money. I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of business that releases t…

I'm intrigued by your belief that simply releasing new paid versions of an app leads to more profit. Do you have any evidence that such an approach works?

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#24

Post by potatolicious »

mgkimsal wrote: post #15
tannerc wrote: post #8

Edit: being down voted because of an opinion? Hey, I want to middle school with Caleb! On a more related note: It's exciting to see others realize how simple and painless Apple has made iOS dev. It still takes logical chops and a keen eye to make something worthwhile, but the bridge between non-developer and developer is getting shorter and shorter. The new iOS 8 kits will shorten that gap even more. Still, as a deve…

"I'm a student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it will only be very high-caliber apps that survive" I may be bucking the 'everything will be mobile first/mobile only' mindset, but I see the 'successful' apps as those that fit in a larger ecosystem of functionality. For many users, the primary/only point of contact with a system may be the mobile app, but there will be other endpoints of the s…

I don't think it's about the supporting functionality. The caliber your app must be is a function of competition and commoditization.

Just like in the old desktop-PC software days, if you solve a problem important to your customers, and you're the only one around doing it, your software can be as bad and low quality as you want. You're the only game in town for people who need this particular problem solved.

If you however are providing a commodity product in a market filled with competitors, the "quality" of your app (in all the ways we measure quality: stability, responsiveness, design, aesthetics) matters a great deal.

So yeah, if you can own a niche you can get away with some pretty low-caliber development (see: Grubhub's app), but this tends to be temporary. Profitable niches find competitors quickly (see: Seamless, whose mobile app makes Grubhub's look like a child's crayon drawings, and who in the end won and bought Grubhub).

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#25

Post by calebhicks »

jkhowland wrote: post #21
mgkimsal wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm a student of thought that the marketplace is becoming so saturated it will only be very high-caliber apps that survive" I may be bucking the 'everything will be mobile first/mobile only' mindset, but I see the 'successful' apps as those that fit in a larger ecosystem of functionality. For many users, the primary/only point of contact with a system may be the mobile app, but there will be other endpoints of the s…

I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game developers. The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money. I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of business that releases t…

I love what Ben Thompson at Stratechery wrote on this.

Pleco: Building a Business, Not an App http://stratechery.com/2014/pleco-building-business-just-app...

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#26

Post by cageface »

tannerc wrote: post #8

Edit: being down voted because of an opinion? Hey, I want to middle school with Caleb! On a more related note: It's exciting to see others realize how simple and painless Apple has made iOS dev. It still takes logical chops and a keen eye to make something worthwhile, but the bridge between non-developer and developer is getting shorter and shorter. The new iOS 8 kits will shorten that gap even more. Still, as a deve…

As I haven't done any Android development, can anyone shed light on how similar the two processes are (iOS dev vs. Android)?

For the typical mobile app, which is really just a few listviews pulling data and images from some kind of web service, Android is significantly easier, IMO. Particularly now that Apple is pushing responsive design and the misery that is auto layout. Java is also easier to deal with than Objective-C. Swift may tip the balance back in Apple's favor but it's not really ready for prime time yet.

However, for anything that really has to push the hardware or interact in an intimate way with the camera or GPU or audio, iOS has much more mature and robust APIs for this and, of course, much less hardware fragmentation.

So essentially it depends a lot on what kind of app you're trying to write.

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#27

Post by jkhowland »

tannerc wrote: post #23
jkhowland wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game developers. The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money. I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of business that releases t…

I'm intrigued by your belief that simply releasing new paid versions of an app leads to more profit. Do you have any evidence that such an approach works?

It's a common method for indie Mac developers. Look at anything Panic does, or even someone like Daniel Jalkut with Mars Edit.

Re: From Non-Technical Junior High Teacher to iOS Developer

#28

Post by jkhowland »

tannerc wrote: post #23
jkhowland wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are exactly right. The indie devs speaking out are largely Game developers. The funny thing about the Unread story is that if he keeps on releasing new paid versions (like Tweetie 2 or Tweetbot 2) and then charges for them, he'll just have that much larger of a base to launch on, and will make more money. I believe it's not just about the caliber of apps, it's about the caliber of business that releases t…

I'm intrigued by your belief that simply releasing new paid versions of an app leads to more profit. Do you have any evidence that such an approach works?

I just remembered that Tower is releasing a V2 now as well.

I wish I had numbers on the effect of those V2 and V3 and even V4 releases.

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