sgtmattbaker
Newbie
I've considered learning the specifics of Android development, but the more I have thought about it the more discouraged I've become (not even including the possible income tax complications in this thread).
The most popular applications sold on the market are games. The games section also happens to be overloaded with completely free games. Many of the games available in the market aren't crappily made either; for example, all three Angry Birds titles are available for free (having ads in a game doesn't make it not free, just slightly more obtrusive) on the market. These free games aren't something you would throw together in a couple weekends, I'd imagine a game like Angry Birds (artwork, sounds, level design, programming, etc.) would amount to more than a few months worth of dedicated work for a single entrepreneurial minded developer.
Now what if you do something other than a game? Other app categories are flooded with free applications as well. For anything that has a mainstream use, which is where the money is, there is likely to be a comparable application on the market for free already. If you make an app that does something out of the ordinary, you may be able to sell some, but you aren't going to make any real money unless you're targeting a pretty big group of consumers.
I haven't looked long enough to find profitability reports of current apps, but this is from last year: STATS: The ten best money-making Android apps of 2010 so far Eurodroid
While it seems like there have been numerous stories of people becoming millionaires from successful iPhone applications, the best Android had to offer last year was 24,000 downloads at $2.99 a piece. If that number of downloads was the same every two months for a year, then that would be about $430,560 a year (in the US that will end up being more like $200,000 when you've paid Uncle Sam). However, Robo Defense was number #1. As of last year, that amount was the best case scenario.
There are surely countless examples of apps that are made that get a handful and downloads and then are buried by the giant wave of free apps. How many hours will someone spend to make a game like Robo Defense with no guarantee that anyone will download it, or let alone see it in the market? In some cases, you might have just been better off going with the minimum wage fast food job for the number of hours you spent on a given app.
Even more, who are you to try and compete with the likes of large corporations with money to burn? They could easily make your competing app free for a few months just to make sure you didn't get any money from it.
I feel that a large issue is that Android users just don't seem willing to buy that much. If there is something that solves a major issue inherent in the OS (say for example the onscreen keyboard barely works) then someone may pay a couple dollars for a third party solution. For anything else though, I don't feel like most users buy apps that often. I've had an Android phone for many months and I don't think I've spent more than $5 total (one application was definitely worth it though: a math problem alarm clock). The first reason is that I don't want to be tied to a particular platform and the second reason is that there is already so much for free I have had no reason to.
If anyone has anything to say that would make the situation a little more hopeful then please speak up. I don't own anything Apple related so it isn't even possible to write anything for the iPhone (they make you use Xcode) and if I felt like the Android market had some potential I wouldn't mind trying it out.
This is a little off-topic, but if you made an app could you price it at 50 cents, or have the mobile stores set the lowest monetary price at 99 cents?
The most popular applications sold on the market are games. The games section also happens to be overloaded with completely free games. Many of the games available in the market aren't crappily made either; for example, all three Angry Birds titles are available for free (having ads in a game doesn't make it not free, just slightly more obtrusive) on the market. These free games aren't something you would throw together in a couple weekends, I'd imagine a game like Angry Birds (artwork, sounds, level design, programming, etc.) would amount to more than a few months worth of dedicated work for a single entrepreneurial minded developer.
Now what if you do something other than a game? Other app categories are flooded with free applications as well. For anything that has a mainstream use, which is where the money is, there is likely to be a comparable application on the market for free already. If you make an app that does something out of the ordinary, you may be able to sell some, but you aren't going to make any real money unless you're targeting a pretty big group of consumers.
I haven't looked long enough to find profitability reports of current apps, but this is from last year: STATS: The ten best money-making Android apps of 2010 so far Eurodroid
While it seems like there have been numerous stories of people becoming millionaires from successful iPhone applications, the best Android had to offer last year was 24,000 downloads at $2.99 a piece. If that number of downloads was the same every two months for a year, then that would be about $430,560 a year (in the US that will end up being more like $200,000 when you've paid Uncle Sam). However, Robo Defense was number #1. As of last year, that amount was the best case scenario.
There are surely countless examples of apps that are made that get a handful and downloads and then are buried by the giant wave of free apps. How many hours will someone spend to make a game like Robo Defense with no guarantee that anyone will download it, or let alone see it in the market? In some cases, you might have just been better off going with the minimum wage fast food job for the number of hours you spent on a given app.
Even more, who are you to try and compete with the likes of large corporations with money to burn? They could easily make your competing app free for a few months just to make sure you didn't get any money from it.
I feel that a large issue is that Android users just don't seem willing to buy that much. If there is something that solves a major issue inherent in the OS (say for example the onscreen keyboard barely works) then someone may pay a couple dollars for a third party solution. For anything else though, I don't feel like most users buy apps that often. I've had an Android phone for many months and I don't think I've spent more than $5 total (one application was definitely worth it though: a math problem alarm clock). The first reason is that I don't want to be tied to a particular platform and the second reason is that there is already so much for free I have had no reason to.
If anyone has anything to say that would make the situation a little more hopeful then please speak up. I don't own anything Apple related so it isn't even possible to write anything for the iPhone (they make you use Xcode) and if I felt like the Android market had some potential I wouldn't mind trying it out.
This is a little off-topic, but if you made an app could you price it at 50 cents, or have the mobile stores set the lowest monetary price at 99 cents?
