Reply to: IPhone Apps. Has anyone written any?

[Durbs]

Does the iPhone ecosystem support a "try for 30 days then pay £2.99 to continue using it" model?

There seem to be a lot of apps you have to pay for, but I rarely download them as I don't really trust the reviews system and if they don't do the job I want then it's a waste of money.

Not currently AFAIK (sure I heard a while back that this was maybe on the cards)

You'd have to either offer a free Lite version and a paid for Full version or offer a single app for free and then allow purchasing of 'premium' in-app content - seems most of the big money makers are using the latter model so looks like it works.

Know Apple were widely slated for not offering Demo functionality but as far as I can see, the 'Lite' versions ARE effectively demos.

[Freamon]

Does the iPhone ecosystem support a "try for 30 days then pay £2.99 to continue using it" model?

There seem to be a lot of apps you have to pay for, but I rarely download them as I don't really trust the reviews system and if they don't do the job I want then it's a waste of money.

[NickFitz]

Just need ideas that haven't been done yet.

One good point I saw recently is that there are a lot of things that have been done, but not done well: by creating an app that really raises the bar in terms of user experience you can gain users of existing products who are fed up with having to use something that is only just good enough.

This should not be interpreted as encouraging anybody to "make a better fart app"

[Durbs]

Has anyone released apps?
If so how many?
What sort of approximate income stream does it provide?
How much time has been invested for that return?

Yes, I have, one app for Plan B thats been in the store for ages as a freebie and i'm just about to release a major update to it which is hopefully going to make me some cash via in-app purchases. also working on my first game.

Many months of my spare time invested for a return of £0, BUT, I'm now pretty proficient at Obj-C and iPhone development as a whole so that now opens up more potential for future apps that I can charge for.

Just need ideas that haven't been done yet.

Really glad I went the native route rather than using something like mono or HTML5 web app as it tought me loads and it wouldn't be a big jump for me to develop for Mac desktop now.

[chef]

raising a dead thread I know but I'm now curious as to what the current state of play is with app development..

I have an idea and am looking into starting app development.

Has anyone released apps?
If so how many?
What sort of approximate income stream does it provide?
How much time has been invested for that return?

[Moscow Mule]

It isn't Flash as such; it allows Flash developers to compile their Flash apps to native iPhone code, but it doesn't use the Flash runtime. I suppose the poor lambs are scared of OpenGL ES and need Adobe to do all the nasty programming for them

Yup, I know what it does. It means theres going to be a lot more dross on the app store...

[Durbs]

Be prepared for an onslaught of flash in the coming months...

Lets just hope that Apple have plenty of ink for their app store DENIED stamp

[NickFitz]

Be prepared for an onslaught of flash in the coming months...

http://www.tipb.com/2010/03/24/flash...ches-april-12/

It isn't Flash as such; it allows Flash developers to compile their Flash apps to native iPhone code, but it doesn't use the Flash runtime. I suppose the poor lambs are scared of OpenGL ES and need Adobe to do all the nasty programming for them

[Moscow Mule]

Trouble is, you don't make any money selling the app as it isn't an app and it isn't in the App Store.

Be prepared for an onslaught of flash in the coming months...

http://www.tipb.com/2010/03/24/flash...ches-april-12/

[DimPrawn]

Looked into it for a recent project but the overhead of learning objective-c was too great. In the end we used http://www.jqtouch.com/ to deliver the web-app to the client, with a native-app feel

Trouble is, you don't make any money selling the app as it isn't an app and it isn't in the App Store.

[mbb]

Looked into it for a recent project but the overhead of learning objective-c was too great. In the end we used http://www.jqtouch.com/ to deliver the web-app to the client, with a native-app feel

[lxt04]

I was just interested if anyone, anyone outside of Dim, AtW, DA & myself actually had any proper business or real passive income stream of anything of any note. In this case IPhone Apps.

Actually, I contract as an iPhone developer. It's a reasonable day rate - nothing special, but better than what a lot of people with my experience and CV without the iPhone work are getting right now - and I get to build some nice apps for big brands and companies. Frustratingly, a lot of my work forms part of larger advertising campaigns that haven't run yet, so I'm not allowed to talk about them!

I also have a free, niche app on the store that I put up to satisfy the clients who demand app store experience. I used to work in e-learning, and developed iPhone apps internally for universities, so never had any reason to be on the app store until I started contracting.

I was trying to work out the rate on returns on IPhone Apps. To be only a few can be successful, some may break even and 99% must lose investment.

A rough figure that I use in the commercial world based on a number of sources is that any app that costs more than £40,000 to develop is almost certain to make a loss. In the world of the sole developer, the odds are even more against you.

[NickFitz]

Fair enough Nick. Fairplay. Respect.

Cheers MF

[MarillionFan]

Oh look, I'm in the French Wikipedia

And there's also more screenshots of Night Hunter covering every level, and an incomplete listing at MobyGames

Edit: ah, here's TRAZ for the PC

Fair enough Nick. Fairplay. Respect.

[NickFitz]

Give me some more links Gonz?

I thought I was talking to this wet behind the ears coder. www.nickfitz.co.uk?

Oh look, I'm in the French Wikipedia

And there's also more screenshots of Night Hunter covering every level, and an incomplete listing at MobyGames

Edit: ah, here's TRAZ for the PC