> I think it's a good time to point out that the most successful people ... were the ones who sold food, lodgings, supplies, and other needs to the prospectors
Indeed, my most successful side project to date targeted developers & designers rather than end-users.
>mobile apps now that all the ones that matter have already been made //
Reminds me of the people in the late 1800s saying everything that had been discovered in physics had already been discovered.
I suspect you'll find that the supporting suppliers in the gold rush made more than a very large percent of prospectors but that the top prospectors still managed to come out on top?
Indie development is somewhere between a crapshoot and a sucker's market. The costs are too high and the rewards are at best uncertain and at worst paltry to nonexistent.
I think it's a good time to point out that the most successful people during the California Gold Rush weren't prospectors - they were the ones who sold food, lodgings, supplies, and other needs to the prospectors, who worked their asses off just to make ends meet.