Wake up. The toast doesn’t have to burn, you can get it while it is golden brown.
Apple and Google boasts that their app stores offer zillions of apps for users to select from.
Who does this benefit? It benefits Apple and Google (and whoever else is in the distribution game that I’ve neglected to mention.)
You might think it benefits the users. Yes and no. Yes, there are many apps to choose from. That is good. But, that also means tons of garbage in addition to the cherries. If somehow the market filtered out the dogs, then users would have less garbage to sift through. But, at the moment, having a zillion apps is to the advantage of Google and Apple. Later when they see sales suffer because of decreased customer inclination to purchase brought about as a result of purchase regret, then Google (for sure) will institute some kind of “app rank” that will eliminate (or push to the bottom of the list) all the dogs.
And what about developers?
Well, do the math. One zillion apps vs. your brand new freshly created app. Your organic exposure to the market has dwindled.
If you are not in the Top 100 or Top 200, just forget it. Users won’t navigate down the list of apps forever.
App Store Price Range From Free to $1.99
Free, free, free — a discouraging number of dynamite apps are free. Discouraging to who? The app developer. Consumers are being trained to expect apps for free. Once upon a time software (desktop) sold for $29 and up (sometimes way up). And remember the $69 Nintendo games. Now it is free or 99 cents. Or, if you are in the high end of the market $1.99. Okay, it’s not quite that bad…. but close.
Getting people to fork over a $1 for an app is getting to be harder and harder. The sleaze bag, gimmick laden, trick you into god knows what “freemium” software is training people that there is a free lunch. Yes, the knife, fork, plate, and food costs extra — but, the lunch is free. Even if the consumer sees this freemium garbage for what it is, the damage is done. Consumers are being trained to expect it free.
Making an app requires dollars (tens of thousands of dollars in development or maybe hundreds of thousands). Breaking even given that kind of outlay can be tough at 99 cents a shot. And let’s not forget that 99 cents is actually 70 cents — in the new app store math.
Fortunately this is not in every niche. (See that word niche? Thinking in terms of niche market will become important.)
So Where Does This Leave Us
1) It is possible to succeed, but there are no guarantees of success. If you don’t pay attention and stay awake, there are guarantees of failure.
2) The app marketplace is changing. The nature of how one makes money in the app store will change — and it will change radically if you don’t watch. It’s like a grandma’s comment when seeing the kids on Thanksgiving: “My, my how you have grown. You’ve shot up a foot since I saw you last.” Mom and dad don’t experience the shock of sudden realization since they see the kids every day. If you don’t really watch, you will be shocked at the fundamental nature of the app stores in a couple years.
3) During the California gold rush (or any gold rush for that matter) it was the shovel salesmen, whores and saloon owners that made the real money. If you want to make money in app development — then develop apps for others that need them.