Hi guys, I have a question that has been plaguing my mind for a long time. I for a long time have envisioned living a 'work at home' life and doing the thing I love doing, that is, programming and software development. Unfortunately I don't do this at a professional level and manage to squeeze in a couple of hours from time to time between work. What I have been wanting to know how individuals manage to live and sustain this kind of lifestyle, and more interestingly, is it possible to do it while developing for mobile apps. In other words, is it possible to make a career and living out of mobile device development, particularly on Android (i'm not being biased just because I am on a Linux mailing list :-) ). The success of the iOS platform has in more ways than one proven that a steady stream of income can be acquired for budding developers as long as the idea is good and they maintain regular updates on their popular apps. Indeed one can argue that considering a lower standard of living for most of Africa, one can make a comfortable living making apps for this platform (as long as they can afford the initial hardware requirements). However, Android on the other hand is notorious (or so the media says) for having users search for equivalent free apps (or even torrenting paid apps) and therefore most app developers have to adopt a business model of issuing most apps for free with ads in place. Of course this business model is different and may not net in revenue as good as iOS apps.
So my question is: 1. Is Android mobile app development worth the effort as a source of income? (indeed there are those that do it for the love of software development and not necessarily for the profit but lets not include these individuals for now). 2. How can one make a sustainable living and career developing apps for the mobile platform (whether Android, iOS or even the new Windows Phone 7), especially when one wants to 'freelance' or 'work from home'? 3. What are your opinions on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7? Do you think it will kick off with a bang and spur rapid adoption or will it become just a very small niche or eventually fail? (This question I am hoping will strike an interesting debate).
_______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
