How much can you really make developing mobile apps?

[YTavish141]

Wow, you just broke my spirit! I'm looking forward to become a mobile developer, before I was dreaming about Game Developing.....so I think this means I should go back to my old dream! Game Developing might not make that much as well, but Meh! Better that the statistics you gave! Thanks, good talk!

[bliingDynasty]

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[imegatrone]

Good, I like that you share this video, I wish success always How much can you really make developing mobile apps

[bundawartini]

Your Video Is Very Useful Sharing How much revenue can mobile apps developers expect? More on my blog post

[bitziomedia]

thanks for sharing!this would inspire all the aspiring mobile apps out there to try hard in building an interesting application and market it globally. by the way, here's a good news for all the aspiring mobile developers out there. Bitzio is looking for mobile developers to join their team!do you have the right skills, talent, and attitude for this lucrative career?be a part of bitzio!subscribe to my channel to learn more infos about what im saying. see you around!

[jmh5787]

I started working on a mapping android app in the fall of 2010 and came to the same conclusion. It takes lots of time to develop and it won't really return much of a profit. I thought your video was excellent.

[JacksWebb714]

Great video! I'm glad I found this channel. Everything you said is true, but people don't talk about this much. In the end it's not about software development. It doesn't matter how good you are, it's about marketing. If you don't do marketing right chances are pretty good you won't make much money. I look foreward to watching more of your vids for your honest perspective. Thank you!

[FrontCortex]

Angry Birds, now reportedly worth $1.2 BILLION!!

It's not just download numbers anymore!

[transformersloverjon]

This is why I have my eye on being a multi-platform program creator

[robertlam18]

How about freelance contract to help others build apps? Is this profitable ?

[RedFlagMobileDotCom]

500 characters seems like so much for a comment, but i am a long-winded loud-mouth as you can see-- so... not enough really. Sorry if i ran on too much there-- && lots less hoops to jump through for me to get off the ground with Android SDK, etc.

[RedFlagMobileDotCom]

Hey-- i could not agree more with the bottom line gist of your message here-- how to quantify basic development cost in terms of hard numbers, away from the sales hype. Not going to be any $100,000.00 developer jobs if the folks who pay the salary can't show a profit on the effort. I am no expert, but it kind of seems like the same thing as in the movie industry-- where some folks make blockbusters, but if divided by all the klunkers that have ever been made & growth factor is hard to gauge too

[Lifeofa1]

is your name oksana

[zanydeath]

Thanks for cutting through the nonsense regarding this market .

[jcroberts22]

Good video. I'd like to see how the stats have changed since this video was posted.

[TheInformalstyle]

I made about $16 in a year for my first app which took about 3 months to write.

[ObjectiveCPaduan]

@gregslife7 Great input, thanks.

[taurus1269]

Thanks for an intelligent analysis...very refreshing.

[gregslife7]

Here are my stats over my 6 months as a 14 year old developer:

Dodge the Blocks - Free - 1500 downloads

Stickman Parkour - $0.99 - 4000 downloads; only because I lucked out and it shows in the results for Stick Skater.

iKeepCharge - $0.99 - 50 downloads

iKeepCharge Lite - Free - 450 downloads Ads: $3.24

iPasswords Pro - Free - 500 downloads Ads: $5.13

Overall:

Free: about 1000 downloads before downloads slow.

Paid: don't expect much w/ out marketing.

Ads: next to nothing.

[lhyx1990]

@gregslife7 omg, 14 year old developer!!! i am 21 and only have 6 apps out.

[urinsan3]

@lhyx1990 I think he meant developing for 14 years lol

[ThaFooooosa]

@gregslife7 I'm going to start app developing, I have about 8 ideas, I would say 4/5 of them are great concepts. Is it really worth it? how do you market an iphone app? also, how do you stop jailbreak users from getting the paid app for free

reply would be great

well done! to get 6,500 downloads is amazing especially for a 14 yr old

[gregslife7]

@ThaFooooosa If you're passionate about it, it's worth it. I'd say just pick one idea to start with and follow through with that, then do the others later. Currently I have minimal marketing and I basically got super-lucky, so I'm not they guy to help you for that.

As for piracy, there's really no easy way to stop it (note: as one with a jailbroken iPod, I hate the generalization that jailbreak = piracy, but its nbd). But if there was an easy answer to stopping piracy all devs would be using it.

[ThaFooooosa]

@gregslife7 thanks for the speedy reply!Yeah i'm real passionate about it but I have only used adobe fireworks before, what programme did you use to create your apps? I'm thinking of using game salad, no code etc.When you make it compatible for iPhones how do you make it work with the1g iphone-3gs and 4-4s as they both have different resolutions,do you have to rebuild and reprogramme on a different canvas size?

Yeah i'm jailbroken too, but usually people just do it to steal apps :(

[gregslife7]

@ThaFooooosa the only official app for developing apps is Xcode, which is the only app I have experience with. For backwards-compatibility, you usually just build it for 3.0 and use only the features from 3.0 and lower. If you need to use new features you can check the iOS within the code body and disable features on older devices, but I only know how to on Xcode, I don't know anything about gamesalad. For the screen sizes, one build fits all. The images/text are just better quality for retina.

[ThaFooooosa]

@gregslife7 thanks for that

I think I'm going to use GameSalad as there is no code required, when there is a new iOS do you have to make a compatible version? don't understand how iOS effects it :S

how hard will it be to make a 3d-ish app, I dont actually mean it is 3d and 'pops' out of the screen but there is a 3rd dimension e.g. a sphere rather than a flat circle

How many hours did each app take? Cant believe ads pay you that little!

[gregslife7]

@ThaFooooosa You only have to make a compatable version if you are using a new feature in the iOS. For example if you wanted to incorporate iCloud into your app, you would make a new version that tests if the device is on iOS 5 and if so enable iCloud. If they are not you would disable it. An iOS 3 build will work on an iOS 5 device. The only compatibility issues that will occur happen if you try to use new features on an old device, which will make the app crash. In Xcode, you choose (CONT).

[gregslife7]

@ThaFooooosa (CONT.) an iOS version to "build for", and it will support that iOS version and all higher. Most apps build for 3.0, which is the highest an iPhone 2G/iPod touch 1G can go.

3D apps are generally difficult. I am pretty sure gamesalad doesn't support 3D; you should probably use something made for 3D like unity (unfortunately not "no code).

My first app took ~40 h, parkour took ~300 (with the updates), others ~50.

Ads pay nothing. Yesterday I got 1000 impressions, and only $0.67.

[BlkbeemerE46]

@gregslife7 nice so how much has this 14yr old made with these numbers just curious wish i was 14 again and could try what you are doing

[gregslife7]

@BlkbeemerE46 with those numbers, $2k (including 30% income tax) but now it's $4.5k (w/ tax). Again, I got VERY lucky with Stickman Parkour, so don't expect that to happen for anyone

[YTavish141]

@gregslife7 That is Brilliant! I'm 22 and a developer, haven't had that much product! Good Luck mate!

[CombustionPear]

@gregslife7 bullshit. Make normal apps and adds can generate you a fortune.

[gregslife7]

@CombustionPear Ok, make an app and tell me how much you make off ads. However, it's not as little as I originally thought though, as the lite version of Stickman Parkour, with 100,000 downloads has made ~$200 off ads.

[Alexmoghad]

I am in race too....this is the best business..i started with $100 , got an app made at quickappfactory , and sitting at home while my app sells at the appstore. Life is good!!

[itsbitu]

Merci bcp pour l'info! c'est ce que je voulais savoir.

Merci encore une fois :D

*

[Civatate0]

Awesome discussion. Thanks for sharing with us. I am a budding (board) game developer and I would really like to design an app but I'm not even a developer yet so I was wondering whether this is something i really want to start learning or not.

[testing4echo]

Thanks Loic.

[brandyrde]

Very objective View about opportunities in the mobile market thanks Loic

[alextoul]

Thanks uuu! Very nice thoughts!

[TheNTrumpet]

so the App Store is great but what about the android market? is it seeing the same growth? love the videos. keep up the good work.

[craigjones21]

Thanks Loic, it's refreshing to find a no-bullshit discussion about the profitability of mobile app development.

[loiclemeur]

@craigjones21 thanks, just sharing honest thoughts :)

[jonathanforell]

@loiclemeur ...Dont you think what separates people that make money developing and those that don't is the application of actual business principles?

[arno19888]

You should join the Facebook group "I'm French and my accent is so cute" !

Thanks Loic for this video.

[loiclemeur]

@arno19888 I hate stupid Facebook groups

[arno19888]

@loiclemeur Me too !

[DontPublicMe]

@loiclemeur

*LOL*

There's some MORE honesty for you, from this good Frenchman! 

[michalhantl]

I was wondering about this myself. Thanks for bringing this up and with extra honesty:)

[loiclemeur]

@michalhantl my pleasure