iPhone program development - is there money in this arena?

[Deja Q]

$0.99 apps sound for us, but is it worth the time and investment, what with being a student and all too?

But anything to generate money, I'm hip...

Thx!

[moggie]

1. For some people, yes

You may have to abandon all self-respect, though. See this story at macrumors.com about the "iFart Mobile" app, a fart noises toy which was at that time the biggest-selling app. Sales figures per day, with ranking:

12/14 - 841 units - #76 overall
12/15 - 1510 units - #39 overall
12/16 - 1797 units - #22 overall
12/17 - 2836 units - #15 overall
12/18 - 3086 units - #10 overall
12/19 - 3117 units - #9 overall
12/20 - 5497 units, - #4 overall

He's since revealed to us the most recent sales numbers for the last couple of days which includes the coveted #1 spot on the App Store's Top 100 sales.

12/21 - 9760 units, #2 overall
12/22 - 13274 units, #1 overall

After Apple's 30% cut, that means the iFart Mobile is generated $9198 in one day.

It's depressing to think, but in some ways he hit on the perfect app: needs hardly any development, and has very broad appeal (everybody farts, and a fart is the same in every language, so no difficult localisation is needed).

You don't need huge sales to cover the cost of becoming a registered developer. The value of your time is something only you can judge, but I'd say that the experience you gain will be worth it, and if you succeed in publishing some apps this could help you land a programming job later, even if they don't sell well.

Disclaimer: I haven't done any iPhone development myself. These days (outside my job) I only program to "scratch an itch", and so far my needs have been met by existing apps. I don't have time to write a program which does what 20 other programs do already.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Here is a niche one

though somebody is working on it already

An app for writing fiction on the I-PHONE.

Yep, I'd pay for it.

And yes I have bought a few repeated apps until I found the one that filled my needs EXACTLY... like the outliner that I use. Or the document management and writing.

Granted, at the cost of an app, average two bucks, I can afford to buy two or three to find the perfect one... for me.

[moggie]

3. What features would a fiction writing app need?

Not being a writer myself, I don't know how that would differ from a regular editor.

Don't you find writing lengthy stuff on the iPhone really unpleasant? The soft keyboard is ok, I suppose, especially in 3.0 (on my iPod Touch), but still... it's no substitute for a real keyboard and screen.

Niche apps for writers won't make anyone rich, because writers have no money, so they won't pay much. Now, niche apps for doctors, that's another matter... But games and toys are the way to make big money, sad to say.

(I'm currently resisting buying a 3G-S, because the cost is ridiculous, but I'm prone to retail therapy when I get depressed. The idea of financing it by writing software for it is quite appealing).

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. The app would have to have things like the following

location tracker where you can keep your notes on the location.

Characters, again place for notes, the fancier ones have things like the ability to add and remove the features you need, such as description, eye color, things like that.

A time line would be nice but falls in the pie in the sky category even for full function apps for either pc or mac

And of course a chapter editor with the ability to keep track of chapter order

Nice, and to a point necessary, an outlining tool

[Deja Q]

5. Compared to other smartphone PDAs, it's a genuine steal...

The HTC Touch Pro (aka AT&T Fuze) originally cost $699 on its own, has a 512MHz CPU, and 512MB flash RAM. Dunno about the iPhone CPU, but 32GB˜ of RAM for the same price, and might I say the iPhone feels a helluva lot faster than the Fuze (no turtlesoft Windows Mobile...) iphone has a larger screen, but the soft keyboard works -- the fuze having a real keyboard but whose screen is really teeny tiny...

The fuze is $499 now (or $200 with the contract incentive), but with even the 8GB iphone 3GS being the same, it's no contest. When it comes to computers, RAM is always the key. Microsoft should understand that - all they do is use too much of it, for the wrong reasons.

[Deja Q]

6. Financing via software

I too do 'retail therapy'. I'm also doing software development to build up skill... and I've a couple ideas that, sold separately, might work... if I can figure out the SDK and if people dig what I will be selling, of course...

And, as was said, even if it doesn't sell well, I'll be building up skills. I've done some programming recently and took to it rather quickly.

[alfredo]

7. Popularity of the platform means competition.

[alfredo]

8. At iTunes U they have a podcast on developing for the iPhone