Where are the Mobile App “Nails Places” and “Dry Cleaners?”
Are there mobile-app equivalents of “nails places?” I’ll gladly accept the digital equivalent of “dry cleaners” and I suppose in a pinch “pizza franchises” as well.
If where you live is anything like my home base of Dallas, TX there are nails places, dry cleaners, and pizza franchises all over. Apparently those storefronts are making money and driving the economy forward in a thankless middle-class sort of way. At least I assume they’re making enough money to be going concerns.
Going well enough that a dozen or more employees are getting hourly, city services are being paid, landlords receiving rent, and bank loans being reimbursed. All the while the owners holding back enough for continuing onward. That is how it’s working, right?
Stiff-Arming MacBook and Aeron Liquidation
Assuming all of that’s correct I reflect on the overriding majority of mobile app development shops. Are they doing modestly well as my local nails places and dry cleaners?
Or are they living the dream but in reality continually hemorrhaging money trying to keep afloat while rapidly building user sign-up stats to at least justify acquisition by one of the handful of successful big guys? At best of course, by hitting the proverbial jackpot and going viral. I can guess the feeling of impending doom of MacBook and Aeron liquidation is motivational inspiration driving many teams.
It’s Great to Be the Top 25
I’m asking all of this because I’m still internalizing the stats recorded in this well publicized article from December 4th 2012:
Based on daily App Interrogator surveys, Canalys estimates that just 25 developers accounted for 50% of app revenue in the US in these stores during the first 20 days of November 2012. Between them, they made $60 million from paid-for downloads and in-app purchases over this period.
http://www.canalys.com/newsroom/top-25-us-developers-account-half-app-revenue
Awesome for those top 25 apps, but isn’t that a ton of dev groups not earning?
Lots of Poor Coders?
I freely admit I’m just a coder, and not a biz guy, so maybe there’s some subtle MBA stuff I can’t understand, but is making money in an app store just as binary as the zeros and ones I type into the computer all day? Mostly zeroes.
I feel like I’m the type that pays attention in class. Just as I keep my eyes open driving around town seeing nails places and dry cleaners I surf the net all day. My Google Reader is loaded with tech-related RSS news feeds that I skim and review.
Is app development a regular working job and a return on money or is far from a proper way to make a reliable living?
I’m Going to Go Have a Think on This
Dear reader please hit me up on Twitter if you have vibrant examples of this sort of mobile app business I ask about. I genuinely want to know. I’ll gladly write a follow up article sharing whatever I learn from all of you.
In the meantime I’m going to go have a coffee and rough in notes for my first iPhone game. Sure, I’ve got to give it a go like anyone else. After all I did answer “yes” when Pastor Andy recently asked, “Is it better to light a candle than curse the darkness?”
Have fun everybody!
I think that we’re merely a very small piece of the puzzle that is “business.” I wouldn’t classify our services as a necessity, but certainly as “common,” and maybe even as “required” where those professional MBA types are concerned while considering a proper and professional business model. The truth is though, while neglecting a proper mobile app may not be a smart business decision, it really isn’t necessary for any business to thrive.
Much like graphic design and marketing services, any smart business will employ both. Lets be honest though, while a logo is basically required and a business that’s not doing new business at all can hardly even be considered a business, there are plenty small shops out there getting by just fine with the cookie cutter logo design they put together themselves on vistaprint.com and selling themselves through word of mouth.
I’d call websites necessary, because while a business may grow through word of mouth, I believe people have quit asking for the relevant details in such conversations such as address, business hours, phone numbers, and such just assuming google will accommodate them when they’re ready. At the same time though, said website doesn’t need to be pretty, it just needs to be.
The key difference between a website and mobile app though is that when a business is without a website, they understand that asking themselves the questions “ok, how do I make this happen,” “where do I go,” or “who do I need to talk to?” are required of them. They can’t resolve the issue by settling on the idea “I don’t even know where to start with that” like they can with a mobile app.
As a mobile app isn’t yet fully expected of any given business, the process of starting and running a business hasn’t yet adopted the steps to acquire one into it’s basic routine. Because of that, the service remains a premium “upgrade” to those businesses that are more driven to grow and/or expand, much like graphic design and marketing services.
I don’t think that being a mobile app developer will be accepted by the general society as a recognized career until mobile apps mature into a requirement of the business model. At the same time however, that doesn’t mean that it’s not actually a legitimate career choice.
The success of a mobile app and the income revenue that it’s able to generate once it’s live is irrelevant to us as developers. The only thing that matters for us is the value of production and demand of the service for the choice to be viable for us. Consider websites, say you build a well functioning ecommerce store for a client, this is typically a pretty complicated endeavor and always a fantastic paycheck to you. You could have built the world’s best website though, and it could never make a dime in the real world because the company who hired you’s product is total garbage and never sells. The latter’s not your fault though and of no concern to you. You responded to a service request of which the demand for is going no where any time soon, did an excellent job, and got several solid paychecks for it.
So when considering the profitability of making mobile apps, don’t just think about the money they can generate (it’s likely not even your money it would be generating anyway), but also the income you generated for yourself just in building said app, and the demand going forward for you to continue offering such services.
The world’s full of stupid people, and as such app stores will be full of stupid and unprofitable apps. As long as those people are willing and continue to pay professionally to have their stupid apps produced though, as mobile developers we’re in pretty good shape.
Hopefully the idea of mobile apps will transition from the idea of a premium “upgrade” to that of a business requirement sometime in the very near future, but even if it doesn’t, life is looking pretty good to the mobile developer for a serious while longer.