> At one point in June I even made it to #7 on the list of top paid news apps!!!
So being #7 for sales in a whole category on Apple's all store (famously the easier market in which to make money as compared to Android) means only $42 in sales? Are the economics of making apps really this tough?
Maybe that's why everyone just tries to make a game app? Is that the only way to make money?
Market is a big part of app success which is why we see games and companies with real budget making the $$ in the App Stores. Gotta market to those whales!
Furthermore, users expect a very high quality mobile app these days and often don't want to pay for features. Got a great app with a few amazing paid features? Expect some negative app reviews. Everyone, app developers included, expect amazing, free, mobile apps. It's unrealistic.
Also, looking at the list on my iPad, I‘m sure the top lists aren’t global. They seem local by country (and might even be personalized, but that would surprise me)
About a month and a half ago, I decided to make Dark Hacker News a paid app at $1.99. I felt at this point it had enough features and I've never had a paid app on the app store so I decided to just go for it!
In the first month and a half as a paid app, its been able to generate $42 in sales! I've never made money off of an app I've built so its been awesome to see those sales come in.
At one point in June I even made it to #7 on the list of top paid news apps!!! (I'm not exactly sure how the app store algorithm works, but hey I'll take it) Up to this point I really haven't done any marketing so I'm considering getting the word out there to see how it would impact sales.
All in all, it's been awesome to make my first real dollars as an Indie Developer!