As an Android user, I am completely blown away by two things: #1 iPhones got this only in 2020, when Android had this since the first version, #2 iPhone owners are willing to spend $28 for a icon pack, a very nice one, but still an icon pack.
#2 A few thousands iPhone owners out of 900 millions willing to pay $28 for a icon pack. Not that mind blowing for me. Compare that to the billions of $ users spend on loot boxes. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-01-loot-boxes...
It's not an apt comparison. Loot boxes is gambling, which is something completely different.
As an Android user, I am completely blown away by two things: #1 iPhones got this only in 2020, when Android had this since the first version, #2 iPhone owners are willing to spend $28 for a icon pack, a very nice one, but still an icon pack.
Is the average iPhone owner willing to spend $28 on an icon pack? Probably not. Can you find 3626 iPhone owners willing to spend $28 on an icon pack? Sure you can. In fact I bet you can find 3626 Android owners willing to part with $28 too. The key to this success story is this: > Then, MKBHD happened.
Sure. He said it himself.
And went on to say:
> The market will decide a huge part of what comes after sharing something, so continually increase your odds by building, publishing, then repeating.
All the people here decrying everything he had done up until this point and proclaiming any degree of success is attributable only to luck is amazing. It's not the same as stumbling on a winning lotto ticking on the street (unless you have spent years scouring the streets looking for winning lotto tickets).
Is that a problem, though? A major component of success is in fact luck. Doing the right thing at just the right time, with enough prior planning and skill to be able to follow through if it takes off. If making a bunch of money somehow with few hurdles was reliably repeatable, everyone would start doing it. Until the market is saturated and then it stops being repeatable. First mover advantage ties into this here, a…
I have to disagree that a major component of success in business is luck, generally speaking. A successful business relies on having repeatable processes that generate profit. If one wants to talk about becoming a billionaire or growing a social media company to the level of IPO, then I concede that an above-average degree of luck is involved.
Alternatively, it seems like many successes are built off the back of virality.
> A successful business relies on having repeatable processes that generate profit
It can take luck to get the business off the ground though.
As an Android user, I am completely blown away by two things: #1 iPhones got this only in 2020, when Android had this since the first version, #2 iPhone owners are willing to spend $28 for a icon pack, a very nice one, but still an icon pack.
It's almost as ridiculous as people spending $100 on windows 10 licenses so they can change their desktop background.
It also slows down the launch of every app because you're launching an app to launch your app. The idea that people would pay money, do a bunch of extra work and make their device slower just to change the appearance of their home screen because a handful of people on social media popularize it blows my mind.
> The idea that people would pay money, do a bunch of extra work and make their device slower just to change the appearance of their home screen because a handful of people on social media popularize it blows my mind. I'm surprised you find that surprising because customisation isn't exactly a new phenomenon. I mean is it really any different to techies slapping stickers on their laptop? Or car enthusiasts modding th…
> I mean is it really any different to techies slapping stickers on their laptop? Or car enthusiasts modding their vehical?
Stickers take a trivial amount of effort and don't impair performance. Car mods take time and money, but often make things functionally better. The icon app takes time and money to setup and the only functional change is for the worse. I think the icons are just enough different/worse than most other customizations that it's reasonable to be surprised at their popularity.
totally understand you don't want to specify, but could you say what kind of product it was (ie mobile app, saas, udemy thing, crypto...etc)? just asking as someone curious about this type of thing
You're coming across as creepy right now dude. You don't need to know, stop pestering them.
I asked a single question and said I was just curious and didn't need specification lol.
Technically it's still not available to iPhone users. The actual method of changing the icons is a really nasty workaround that needs to be performed for each and every application . Instructions: https://icons.tr.af/how Don't get me wrong, I do love my iPhone, but this isn't something most people (myself included) will have the patience to do.
It also slows down the launch of every app because you're launching an app to launch your app. The idea that people would pay money, do a bunch of extra work and make their device slower just to change the appearance of their home screen because a handful of people on social media popularize it blows my mind.
It also removes context menus from app icons, reduced functionality on top of slower launch time.
Of course I check the comments here and theres the usual chorus of dismissals as "just luck." It's funny because anyone who actually believed that would never have created those icons 7 years ago. They would have never published them and they would have never stuck their neck out to promote them. In a way it seems like the best way to ensure that you never "get lucky" is to assume that it's all just luck in the first…
It is really just luck. For every OP with 6 figures in profit for their icon pack, there are a thousand more who dream of making $17 and will never see it. The reality of the world is that there are far more hardworking and talented people than there are successful people, and blindly toiling holding out hope of getting lucky might not be the best use of ones efforts. Imagine if OP never got the plug from the influencer. Would it be worth it to take time away from, say, working a full time job to make a grand total of $17 for all your efforts? Absolutely not, that is realizing a loss. Instead, people should be strategic about their efforts, and direct them toward whatever opportunities are available in your life that offer a return for little risk. Not busting ass and hoping luck will one day come in to pay you for all the labor you put in.
It also slows down the launch of every app because you're launching an app to launch your app. The idea that people would pay money, do a bunch of extra work and make their device slower just to change the appearance of their home screen because a handful of people on social media popularize it blows my mind.
> The idea that people would pay money, do a bunch of extra work and make their device slower just to change the appearance of their home screen because a handful of people on social media popularize it blows my mind. I'm surprised you find that surprising because customisation isn't exactly a new phenomenon. I mean is it really any different to techies slapping stickers on their laptop? Or car enthusiasts modding th…