we thought that once the first few sales disappeared then the app would be lost forever but surprisingly people still seem to find it occasionally and after one positive review there were three sales in a week! The numbers aren't great but the quality of future apps will certainly improve as will our understanding of a target market. If we can build up a small portfolio of apps it should end up as reasonable pocket money for my son.
The net app is ready to submit, we have taken a different approach including choosing content which is aimed at different target market so it will be interesting to see how thing work out next time.
We are also making a youtube video to see if that has any impact and are looking at having it translated into other languages. This would mean that we end up at least on the first page once in each country which we missed out on before. At the current sales rates we could end up losing money on the app but I am sure the knowledge gained will be valuable.
Here are some real figures for the smallest of app developers.
My son is 16 and has been learning to code for a year or more. He is competent in Java so we decided to try out developing an iphone app. I bought him a used macbook on ebay for $500, the sdk license for $99 and a book on iphone programming $30.
He spent a couple of hours a day over the summer learning objective c and gradually put together the app. I can draw well and have done a lot of graphics work on the computer so my input was to do the design side of the app.
The app is called
"how to catch flies"
We had numerous ideas but chose one with a simple format which he was able to code. It required a series of consecutive pages with text and diagrams, an embedded video, and a counter to record the number of flies caught (along with a reminder to wash your hands).
We had a mini disaster just as we finished, the hard disk died suddenly losing everything. It was a minor hassle to replace and he was able to recode the whole thing from scratch in less than a day.
Eventually we submitted it to Apple, it was passed by them first time round. The app was priced at 99 cents and the release date was set to 4th October but there was some problem with details outstanding on the contract which took a further 2 days to sort out. Critically, the release date remained, this meant that by the time it was fully released into the app store in the evening of 6th October it was on page 5 of the new releases.
So the bit you have all been waiting for are the sales figures.
6th october 2 sales
7th October 2 sales
8th October 0 sales
9th October 0 sales
It is NOT a great idea for an app but still it is of some use to anyone who has ever been irritated by a fly and can't bring themselves to kill it which must be more than 4 people out of the entire iphone ownership. Even if we had been on the front page on 4th October, a ten fold increase would not have made much of a difference.
So that is the reality for the smallest of developers for an average app. There is a growing black hole at the bottom of the app store for apps that disappear off the radar and are never found because of the sheer number of apps being produced.
It has not put us off though. My son is already starting on his next app, which is a game and I will put together some more apps using the same source code. It is unlikely to make a fortune but a dozen apps selling a few a day is a reasonable income for someone his age.
Here are some real figures for the smallest of app developers.
My son is 16 and has been learning to code for a year or more. He is competent in Java so we decided to try out developing an iphone app. I bought him a used macbook on ebay for $500, the sdk license for $99 and a book on iphone programming $30.
He spent a couple of hours a day over the summer learning objective c and gradually put together the app. I can draw well and have done a lot of graphics work on the computer so my input was to do the design side of the app.
The app is called
"how to catch flies"
We had numerous ideas but chose one with a simple format which he was able to code. It required a series of consecutive pages with text and diagrams, an embedded video, and a counter to record the number of flies caught (along with a reminder to wash your hands).
We had a mini disaster just as we finished, the hard disk died suddenly losing everything. It was a minor hassle to replace and he was able to recode the whole thing from scratch in less than a day.
Eventually we submitted it to Apple, it was passed by them first time round. The app was priced at 99 cents and the release date was set to 4th October but there was some problem with details outstanding on the contract which took a further 2 days to sort out. Critically, the release date remained, this meant that by the time it was fully released into the app store in the evening of 6th October it was on page 5 of the new releases.
So the bit you have all been waiting for are the sales figures.
6th october 2 sales
7th October 2 sales
8th October 0 sales
9th October 0 sales
It is NOT a great idea for an app but still it is of some use to anyone who has ever been irritated by a fly and can't bring themselves to kill it which must be more than 4 people out of the entire iphone ownership. Even if we had been on the front page on 4th October, a ten fold increase would not have made much of a difference.
So that is the reality for the smallest of developers for an average app. There is a growing black hole at the bottom of the app store for apps that disappear off the radar and are never found because of the sheer number of apps being produced.
It has not put us off though. My son is already starting on his next app, which is a game and I will put together some more apps using the same source code. It is unlikely to make a fortune but a dozen apps selling a few a day is a reasonable income for someone his age.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by roger.
how to catch flies
week 1 4 sales
week 2 2 sales
week 3 0 sales
week 4 1 sale
week 5 0 sales
week 6 0 sales
week 7 3 sales
we thought that once the first few sales disappeared then the app would be lost forever but surprisingly people still seem to find it occasionally and after one positive review there were three sales in a week! The numbers aren't great but the quality of future apps will certainly improve as will our understanding of a target market. If we can build up a small portfolio of apps it should end up as reasonable pocket money for my son.
The net app is ready to submit, we have taken a different approach including choosing content which is aimed at different target market so it will be interesting to see how thing work out next time.
We are also making a youtube video to see if that has any impact and are looking at having it translated into other languages. This would mean that we end up at least on the first page once in each country which we missed out on before. At the current sales rates we could end up losing money on the app but I am sure the knowledge gained will be valuable.
some real figures
My son is 16 and has been learning to code for a year or more. He is competent in Java so we decided to try out developing an iphone app. I bought him a used macbook on ebay for $500, the sdk license for $99 and a book on iphone programming $30.
He spent a couple of hours a day over the summer learning objective c and gradually put together the app. I can draw well and have done a lot of graphics work on the computer so my input was to do the design side of the app.
The app is called
"how to catch flies"
We had numerous ideas but chose one with a simple format which he was able to code. It required a series of consecutive pages with text and diagrams, an embedded video, and a counter to record the number of flies caught (along with a reminder to wash your hands).
We had a mini disaster just as we finished, the hard disk died suddenly losing everything. It was a minor hassle to replace and he was able to recode the whole thing from scratch in less than a day.
Eventually we submitted it to Apple, it was passed by them first time round. The app was priced at 99 cents and the release date was set to 4th October but there was some problem with details outstanding on the contract which took a further 2 days to sort out. Critically, the release date remained, this meant that by the time it was fully released into the app store in the evening of 6th October it was on page 5 of the new releases.
So the bit you have all been waiting for are the sales figures.
6th october 2 sales
7th October 2 sales
8th October 0 sales
9th October 0 sales
It is NOT a great idea for an app but still it is of some use to anyone who has ever been irritated by a fly and can't bring themselves to kill it which must be more than 4 people out of the entire iphone ownership. Even if we had been on the front page on 4th October, a ten fold increase would not have made much of a difference.
So that is the reality for the smallest of developers for an average app. There is a growing black hole at the bottom of the app store for apps that disappear off the radar and are never found because of the sheer number of apps being produced.
It has not put us off though. My son is already starting on his next app, which is a game and I will put together some more apps using the same source code. It is unlikely to make a fortune but a dozen apps selling a few a day is a reasonable income for someone his age.
some real figures
My son is 16 and has been learning to code for a year or more. He is competent in Java so we decided to try out developing an iphone app. I bought him a used macbook on ebay for $500, the sdk license for $99 and a book on iphone programming $30.
He spent a couple of hours a day over the summer learning objective c and gradually put together the app. I can draw well and have done a lot of graphics work on the computer so my input was to do the design side of the app.
The app is called
"how to catch flies"
We had numerous ideas but chose one with a simple format which he was able to code. It required a series of consecutive pages with text and diagrams, an embedded video, and a counter to record the number of flies caught (along with a reminder to wash your hands).
We had a mini disaster just as we finished, the hard disk died suddenly losing everything. It was a minor hassle to replace and he was able to recode the whole thing from scratch in less than a day.
Eventually we submitted it to Apple, it was passed by them first time round. The app was priced at 99 cents and the release date was set to 4th October but there was some problem with details outstanding on the contract which took a further 2 days to sort out. Critically, the release date remained, this meant that by the time it was fully released into the app store in the evening of 6th October it was on page 5 of the new releases.
So the bit you have all been waiting for are the sales figures.
6th october 2 sales
7th October 2 sales
8th October 0 sales
9th October 0 sales
It is NOT a great idea for an app but still it is of some use to anyone who has ever been irritated by a fly and can't bring themselves to kill it which must be more than 4 people out of the entire iphone ownership. Even if we had been on the front page on 4th October, a ten fold increase would not have made much of a difference.
So that is the reality for the smallest of developers for an average app. There is a growing black hole at the bottom of the app store for apps that disappear off the radar and are never found because of the sheer number of apps being produced.
It has not put us off though. My son is already starting on his next app, which is a game and I will put together some more apps using the same source code. It is unlikely to make a fortune but a dozen apps selling a few a day is a reasonable income for someone his age.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by roger.
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