When it comes to ad-supported apps, i wonder what is the critical mass required to make something "profitable". While the aggregation businesses make a ton of money from the thousands of devs using their services, are the devs really going to see any significant benefits ?
I guess then again, it depends on how you define "profitable", but would love to hear some real numbers and what it takes to get there with that model. On May 23, 11:43 am, Dave <[email protected]> wrote: > On May 22, 12:53 am, JP <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > On May 21, 10:47 am, Shane Isbell <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > One company I worked for had a mantra: "Provide the best quality you can > > > to > > > every profitable customer." You've got a free app, so if this guy doesn't > > > use your app, it doesn't cost you anything. > > > By the standard of profitability, my guess is there would be about a > > couple dozen apps and a fistful of games. > > Not sure how this is going to get sorted out in the future. It takes a > > good effort by anyone to develop and maintain meaningful apps that > > never see the play to cover the cost, at least measured at > > professional rates. In particular niche apps like public > > transportation trackers have hardly any commercial potential. I > > suspect that even prominent apps like Layar (just pulling one out of > > the hat) don't play in much; they basically burn through venture > > capital and hope they can get profitable somehow before they run out > > of funds. > > Add "customers" like the above, and it doesn't seem to make sense to > > set up shop in the mobile space, at least in indie app development, or > > am I missing something? > > I'm approaching this from the real earnings potential. With the > public transportation tracker, I would develop it as open source in > case I get hit by a beer truck. The answer to the negative user would > be modify the code to remove the ads if they don't like it. > > Then, say it's a subway app -- I would visit or call businesses near > each subway stop, show them the app and explain your ad can be here > and here's how: Show them sites.google.com and have them establish a > web presence (if they don't have one already that's mobile enabled) > and suggest establishing an AdWords account. They can easily maintain > the site themselves (think daily specials for a cafe) and you can add > them to your portfolio to demonstrate to the next business. In > exchange, I would request free ad space for my services on their site. > Or, barter for anything -- free food! > > Google's latest offerings are only limited by the imagination. > > Davehttp://thesmithden.com > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Android Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.
