same guy? http://meetinnovators.com/2007/09/06/khalid-shaikh-of-flyupload/ I am guessing this may be the same guy. If so as others have said he is just trying to pump the store with numbers to attract buyers.
To be honest, we need thousands of guys like this one. What they do, is bust their *ss creating a market for the iPhone. Come on guys ... do you think the App Store and iPhone are so popular because they are a great product? Partly. And mostly because everyone and his cousin is developing for the iPhone and spreading the word. Eventually, 800 or 8000 crappy titles will get him nowhere. This guy and thousands of others will suddenly leave the App Store, leaving a huge market for the rest of us, putting effort in developing polished games or software. I know I might sound stupid, but I have seen these practices way to many times, on way to many platforms. The REAL gold rush and money making opportunity will be in the App Store, once these guys will leave. And they always do. Patience ... just have patience. It always pays off.
They won't come. They came as long as there was the "mirage" of easy money. I am selling commercial games and software for aprox. 7 years. Developing crap will make some easy bucks on a short term. Making it on the long term and being rewarded handsomely, is something you can only achieve through hard work. My free advice: Invest time and patience to develop 1-2 good iPhone games. Listen to your users and polish them. Eventually, iPhone prices will go up to the $5 range. And at that price, you only sell if you have something viable. I am currently developing a 3D game (being betatested here on Touch Arcade). What will happen when there will be 5000 3D games with professional graphics, music, etc? Do you think you can come and compete with 800 iFlashLight apps? I have seen plenty of similar scenarios like this one. When the market will be filled with quality apps, they won't come back. Do you honestly think that guy is making hundreds of dollars a day? ---- What amazes me is that even if the code for 800 apps cameout of the thin air, just the amount spent uploading them on iTunesConnect is more than enough to develop 1 (ONE) quality product which you can sell for years.
I think not. Eventually, the price will go down to 69 cents. That's what Apple did to the music industry. It is their goal to push down the costs of content in order to promote sales of HARDWARE. That's it. HARDWARE. Apple makes most of its money from HARDWARE.
@monk666: You are right, from a point of view. And that *trick* did work for music. Because music is being sold on countless channels, and iTunes is an extra channel. I have also sold PC games I normally retail for $24.95, for as low as $0.75 ... but it was a one shot, high volume sale to some publishers. If I would have to work with that price as standard, I would be doing something else. Serious iPhone developers won't make it in a $0.99 market. I can tell you one thing. I have released a game on 2 mobile platforms. One of them is the iPhone. And it's the one that sells the worst number of copies. ---- Allowing 65.000 apps in the App Store wasn't a smart idea. They are not 65.000 songs. It's like trying to sell cars and hot-dogs, using the same marketing idea. One will fail.
I humbly disagree with you. The only way the scenario you've outlined above will work is if indie developers as a whole are removed from the AppStore and only big companies and publishers are left selling games. If that happens, then yes prices might stabilize at a higher point, with only quality apps being sold in the AppStore. But as long as anyone can develop and publish their own apps....you will always see someone willing to undercut prices....especially since right now a lot of people are making games in their spare time. It might not matter if they've only made $500 total from their app that they've created in a couple of hours....because that's $500 more than they had last week. This is a different situation than other platforms where people who get into the field are usually doing it as their full time job.
Try to look at one of his apps in the US store. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=298004712
Isn't this guy a terrorist in custody? Making iPhone apps in his spare time... lol Not sure if this has been posted in this thread yet... not going to read to find out...
Easy solution, great for Apple, developers and customers There is an easy solution to this problem. Apple should charge each developer $200 per app. Everyone wins. 1) only apps which are bound to make at least $200 in sales will appear in the app store, otherwise it's not worth the developers effort. 2) the customer wins, because there is a reduction of crap in the app store. It's easier to search for titles. 3) Developers win. There is less crap in the app store, meaning that customers can find your app easier. The only losers are people who develop crap apps, since they can no longer afford to play this game. As a developer, I'm all for this idea.
Bad idea. There is simply no guarantee an app will make back that $200 anymore, even if it is a high quality, polished app. If it never gets noticed it won't sell anything. Sure $200 is a drop in a bucket for a company but an indie developer coding in their spare time would see this as a significant barrier to entry. And there are, and will continue to be, many excellent apps made by such people.
Are you serious? I'm going to have to disagree here. If you can't sell enough copies of your app to make $200, then you probably shouldn't be trying to do it for a living. The whole point of raising the cost to $200 is that it *is* a more significant barrier to entry. That's honestly what's needed here to prevent all the crapware. If people want to just do it for a hobby and not try to make money...maybe they can have separate fees for free apps. Leave the cost at $99 for developing free apps, and raise the cost to $200 for developers of paid apps.
He's not talking about raising the cost from $99 to $200, he's suggesting charging $200 for every app submitted. I can only assume this is on top of the $99. I don't think it's fair on those just starting out to force them to pay $200 up front with no indication of how the sales for that app will turn out. Maybe they're just trying to gather a bit of pocket money for now but have dreams of doing it for a living later? It's easy for you and I to say we want a charge per app because we can afford to pay it and it would have significant benefits for us. But we must try to see the different perspectives of all involved.
Ah, ok my mistake...I misunderstood what he meant. But I still stand beside what I said. One of the side effects the AppStore had on people (besides the 99 cent economy) is every person that knows how to code thinking that they are going to be the next best developer, and that they are entitled to something. Sorry if that sounds a little harsh, but I am seeing an increasing amount of developers get bitter when their apps don't succeed the way they imagined. You can see their desperation in their posts here, and while I feel bad....I can't help but wonder what they were thinking? While it's good to follow dreams, you need to keep a level head on your shoulders as well. The rags to riches story is the exception not the rule...and I feel that a lot of developers get their hopes up too high, only to have it crushed. A higher barrier would hopefully make people think twice before getting in over their heads.
I tend to agree. There is junk on the store because it's free to put it up there. Even a $25 charge per paid app would help. If you don't think you can make $25, your app should be free.
Hmmm this is an interesting suggestion! My only concern is for apps that actually deserve to be in the app store but just aren't selling because they haven't been noticed. But then of course if they have been noticed after 60 days or whatever then maybe they never will be so they may as well not be there! And of course if such a policy came into effect (and was applied instantly store-wide) then quality apps would be much more likely to be noticed anyway. I like this idea
You are absolutely right There are far too many people chasing the gold at the end of the rainbow even though those times are far behind us now
