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Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by hugh3 on Sunday May 09, 2010 @12:26PM (#1332276)
Really? What about the longer term? I'm pretty confident that in 2015 you'll still be able to make money by writing apps for iPods, iPhones et cetera; I'm not so confident about facebook games.
Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by mattmaroon on Sunday May 09, 2010 @01:47PM (#1332467)
My confidence goes the other way. Facebook has a strong financial incentive to ensure developers can make money as it will probably be the basis of their financial success.

Apple's is much less, they make far more off the hardware than the apps, and recent past has shown that developers will develop for the phones even with little chance of making any real money. Apple promotes apps only because they sell hardware, much the way they do with songs on the iPod. They don't care about monetizing them directly, they use them for vendor lock-in.

People are bemoaning changes in the Facebook platform that already exist in iTunes. Apple forces you to give them 30%, Facebook at the worst will do the same. Apple forces even major companies to play by the rules, ditto Facebook. If anything Facebook's are still far less onerous and restrictive.

Facebook's viral spread mechanisms appear to be weakening, but they're still leagues beyond Apple's. Distribution is the #1 problem with the Apple platform and why the real money is in Facebook. Even after the proposed changes FB will still crush them there.

Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by wheels on Sunday May 09, 2010 @01:01PM (#1332348)
That's the wrong question. The question is not, "Will you be able to make money on the iPad?", it's "Will anyone ever make a couple hundred million per year (like Zynga has on Facebook) on the iPad?" In that sense, Facebook is the clear winner.
Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by mattmaroon on Sunday May 09, 2010 @03:12PM (#1332674)
It's not just the black swans either, it's the averages. You're a 1 in 100,000 success on the iPhone if you make a million bucks total. You're not even a 1 in 100,000 success on Facebook if you make that much per month.
Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by hugh3 on Sunday May 09, 2010 @01:14PM (#1332388)
Has Zynga really made a couple of hundred million a year? Have they even been going for a year?

I don't see any reason why nobody could make a couple of hundred million a year on iPod/iPad/iPhone apps, especially as the huge existing installed base of iPods (over 260 million sold) will probably eventually churn into app-capable devices like the current iPod Touch.

Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by wheels on Sunday May 09, 2010 @01:26PM (#1332416)
Founded 3 years ago:

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/zynga

Estimated to have made ~$270 million last year:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/03/zynga-revenue/

Re:Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up by mattmaroon on Sunday May 09, 2010 @03:10PM (#1332670)
It's kind of humorous to me that someone who doesn't even know about Zynga can express an opinion on this topic.