Yes, You can make a decent living from mobile apps. But you need to create something useful, or something that people can't live without. The app stores make the consumers absolute kings. Few people will pay for apps they've never tried. So initially you'll want to have as many people using your app as much as possible, and therefore you'll have little/no revenue at the start. I don't know how much in app ads pay, but you need at least 10,000 users to make some money (assuming they use the app regularly).
As for windows phone 7, I think it's a bit late - so it'll probably stay a small player for the near future, it's hard to beat a platform that's activating 700,0000 devices daily. I think though that there is no clear winner for most mobile services yet, I don't know a clear winner for mobile payments, maybe something like https://squareup.com/ if you can partner with a mobile money service. I think though, emphasis should be put on creating a useful app, not just another app for sharing cat pictures. Regards, Daniel. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robert Muwanga Sent: 11 January 2012 09:11 AM 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).
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