Hi,
My answer to your subject is YES. However, you need to develop "the next angry birds"! The problem with mobile apps is they are fad driven. I recommend not quitting your day job until you have an app or two in the wild paying the bills J. The new market model where you can market STRAIGHT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS right from the comfort of your home is rather nice and supports your desire quite nicely. My opinion of windows phone 7 is that it at best will be a major alternative (an "also ran". One of those, "there is also."). The chances of its being a dominant force would require either android or iOS to fail spectacularly. My advice, develop platform neutral apps (mobile thin client tech) that target all tablet form factors and operation systems. That is my $0.02 hope it is of some use. James From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robert Muwanga Sent: 11 January 2012 09:11 To: Uganda Linux User Group Subject: [LUG] Freelance Mobile Device Development a good career? 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.
