Apps are already mass market and will become even more popular in the future – be it on the iPhone or any other device. Developers or developing companies of any size (so far) often find it difficult to make enough revenues from their app sales to build a sustainable business. As mentioned in an earlier post, in our opinion, there are two possible solutions to this problem: increase app sales or increase revenue per customer – ideally both. Since we constantly hear stories of developers that sell a few thousand copies (or more) per day and we also now the impressive amount of apps having been downloaded worldwide so far, our “way-to-go” seems to be the mass-approach. Produce a hit, make it in the top rankings, sell thousands of apps day after day and grow a profitable business – sounds about right, doesn’t it?

But is your app suited for the mass market? To answer this question you should ask yourself how many iPhone users would actually have an interest in your app and then adjust your expectations (and your approach) accordingly. In short, if you’re developing niche apps (a niche among all apps and within the specific category), don’t expect sales to skyrocket, but instead focus on your target group. Categories are not necessarily niches. Rather they consist of different niches. If you sell a cooking app you’re in the lifestyle category where you’ll compete with shopping apps and horoscope apps for a place in the top rankings.
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There has been quite some discussion (on our blog as well) about business models that work for app developers and the influence that In-App Purchase for free iPhone apps may have on these. Ever since Apple made this functionality available, not much has really happened or at least we haven’t heard of a major breakthrough so far. This might change with ngmoco and its recent release of Eliminate Pro.

ngmoco offers the program for free and asks the user to pay for additional ”power cells”, which can be used to power your battle suit. The price range? $0.99 to $39.99, depending on the amount of “power cells” you’re buying. The ratio behind this? Get the free version out to as many people as possible and then have them pay for additional goods they need to advance (more quickly) in the game – and when they are most prone to buy. This may lead to only a small percentage of players or buyers of the game to be responsible for the bulk of the revenues made from the game, but it seems clear that for games this model will probably work very well, as games have a way of getting people hooked on them, leading to impulse buying.
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How do you go about your business as a developer? Do you consider it a hobby or a profession? Do you do it just for the enjoyment you get out of it or because you are trying to make a living from it?

For many of you, the truth is probably somewhere in between. If you still have a “normal” day job, you consider it a hobby with the potential of earning some extra income, and developing something that people buy and use is rewarding in many ways, of course. Some of you may aim to become a full time iPhone app developer in the future but are not ready to take that step just yet. Of course, there are the pros amongst app developers that are either small (one or a few devs) or large companies and are all about growing their core business metrics.
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Have you put a lot of work or money or both into developing your app(s)?

This article on BusinessWeek describes how creating apps with basic functionality is becoming easier and more affordable, resulting in an enormous amount of apps being pushed out by small companies and individuals with little or no coding skills at all.

While we do not want to go into the pros and cons of using a service that helps you get your very own application within a day, we do see these types of services and the apps they produce picking up momentum, leading to an ever more increasing amount of apps, all distributed through one central channel (the App Stores). Surely, questions of quality and general product value should be raised, but the fact remains that almost each and every one of these “24-hour-apps” competes with your product in terms of taking up attention-space in the App Store and among users.
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apprupt was invited to an event of a very successful (iPhone) app development company on Friday. Among other interesting talks, a very interesting discussion evolved around the topic of app piracy. The managing director of the app development company mentioned that on average, 5-10% of their apps were being pirated. This correlates with other available numbers on app piracy, although in individual cases this number can be much higher, even up to 40 or 50 %. Interestingly, the company (offers paid and lite apps) is not too worried about app piracy. Why?
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