Sales over 100K, what app are you develop?

[Zerker]

Hello

I got this idea to start coding apps for maemo from that news lately that some kid in the UK made over 1 mill with some iphone application sales.

Is there really so big money in this? Any1 here who made over 100K at least?
What apps do you think worth to develop from scratch? How big is the competition?

I think it might be a good idea giving up my php development for this cause cellphones are more popular than computers nowaday. Lately I had 3 big webpage projects which were developed through months but all failed :*

[symbianyucca]

Hello

I got this idea to start coding apps for maemo from that news lately that some kid in the UK made over 1 mill with some iphone application sales.

Is there really so big money in this? Any1 here who made over 100K at least?
What apps do you think worth to develop from scratch? How big is the competition?

I think it might be a good idea giving up my php development for this cause cellphones are more popular than computers nowaday. Lately I had 3 big webpage projects which were developed through months but all failed :*

I would think that if somebody has an idea of an application that would be great seller and is not on the market, would not really give the ideas away, at least if they would be here, The Forum Nokia Developer discussion board, since they would be developers, and probably working on implementing the diea already.

Thus, the point in my point of view, is to think a bit out of box, see what is not there yet, and what would be really useful or otherwise something that people would want to use.

[Zerker]

By just running through the appstore some puzzle the highest value from the recommended apps around 4$

It can be really frustrating developing apps when they have so many free open source alternatives.

[symbianyucca]

Let me quote wired.com: "As for the average cost of apps in each store, RIM’s apps were the priciest at an average of $8.26 for apps, followed closely by Windows Mobile’s, priced at $7 on average. Apps sold by Nokia, Apple, Google and Palm all came out in roughly the same average price range ($2.50 – $3.60)."

Basically you can sell with higher price, but then you do need to give value for the extra price, so depending on what you do, users will vote with their money whether you got the price point right.

[petrib]

Most apps don't even earn back their development costs. Some do, and some even generate a profit, but most don't, I bet:

http://furbo.org/2008/12/09/ring-tone-apps/


As to maemo: the device penetration is minuscule (I have a hard time believing that even if one counts all maemo based devices throughout history - from the modemless internet tablets up to the N900 -, the that the total reaches even 1 million devices). Not much of a market yet. MeeGo based devices will in all likelihood change that (if Nokia sticks to their plans, and do not start to further hedge their bets with Windows Mobile or Android), but Nokia hasn't even announced a single MeeGo model yet, and before they do and sell a few million, it'll be a good while, still.

[Zerker]

"Both developers and designers cost somewhere between $150-200 per hour. For a three man month project, let’s say that’s about $80K in development costs. To break even, we have to sell over 115K units."

150$/h developers that's quite interesting, I doubt this would be near to USA average and if they can pay some other developers less like 8$/hr for indians they will do it.
I was looking to make apps as an individual and profit from it alone. If you freelance you know that most of the online freelancers put up a hourly rate like 50/60$ per hour to their profile but if you check their work history you will see that they work for as less as 5$s/hr just to get work ...

[symbianyucca]

the 150-200 propably includes side costs as well, the hourly salary is just part of what employees do cost. I'm not certain in USA, but at least in Finland the side costs without counting the equipment & workspace etc. will be at least the same as the actual hourly salary.

[intellsys]

I developed my first Nokia application in 2003, since then there was not a single month when direct sales covered the costs, but until 2008 the publicity created by our apps was good enough to bring us important external (outsourcing) contracts. And we were very profitable.

The downside of this business model is that you have little time to improve and maintain your apps.

In 2008 I decided to invest in a big project, more than 18 months work, and since its release we lost money every month. I am sure it will finally become profitable, but it takes time.

So my advice is: make sure you have the money to live on for at least 12 months before you start. And try to make a real business plan.

Is there really so big money in this? Any1 here who made over 100K at least?
What apps do you think worth to develop from scratch? How big is the competition?

There is no big money, but there is potential. I doubt anyone made 100K without spending at least 10x100K, exept one or two luky cases or imported sucess stories from other fields or platforms. Competition is big in numbers, but poor in quality.

And I think this is Nokia's greatest weekness at the moment and the greatest threat for its future, the quality of developers. And the fact that the very few they have (good ones and probably the most loyal) will leave soon if things do not change.

[vladest]

And I think this is Nokia's greatest weekness at the moment and the greatest threat for its future, the quality of developers. And the fact that the very few they have (good ones and probably the most loyal) will leave soon if things do not change.

Agreed with every word
If thing will not be changed in the nearest future, I'll leave Symbian platform and will try something else. So no reason to purchase new Symbian/MeeGo couse I c
ant make any profit on it

[michalsgeva]

When you develop an app - do you develop for one platform, or a number of platforms in parallel ? Developing on a number of platforms might be more expensive but can grow your potential audience.

[tamhanna]

Hi,
even though I am far away from the threshold you have set, maybe the data revealed at Nokia World 2010 could help you take a more targeted stab:
http://tamss60.tamoggemon.com/2010/1...with-ovi-data/