One possible answer: you can make more money and with lower risk.

edit: and quicker.

To play Steve Jobs's game I'd have to buy a Mac, an iPhone, a developer program license, and possibly an Apple Developer Connection membership. I'd also have to spend the time to learn Objective C and the iPhone environment. Together that's a substantial amount of time and money I'd have to make up for before I wind up ahead.

How is there lower risk?

If you already have an intel Mac and an iPhone or iPod touch, you're looking at only $99 for an individual developer license.

I didn't have a device, so add the price of an 8Gb iPod touch.

It seems you're overlooking the psychological factors at work in the app store. It's very, very easy to buy apps. This is so much easier than being noticed on the web-at-large.

For the same price as a Starbucks coffee, people will buy your app just to see what it's like. It's throwaway money, to them. The amount of marketing you'd have to do to get that response for shareware or trial-ware is much greater.

Despite my reservations, isn't it true with something like the App Store that you can make money literally while you sleep? Go to sleep, sell some software with precisely zero effort, wake up a little richer, without having to handle payment?

That is cool.

Just like you can with advertising on the web you mean?

Anyone with half a brain (and therefore with any money in their pocket) uses Ad Block Plus, don't they?

I don't understand advertising and I don't want to. Selling a useful piece of software seems much more classy and straightforward.

No they don't. Anyone with a brain sees advertising as a useful service to them. It's extremely lucrative also. Yes there's a very small subset of society which puts hands over ears and don't want to listen, maybe they also don't have a TV... but it's a minute percentage.

How do you find out about new products, gadgets, websites, things going on? Advertising. It might be blatent in your face advertising, or it might look to you to not be advertising, when in fact it is.

If you don't want to understand it, great! All the more cash for those that do :)

Also, if you think ad block plus actually stops you seeing all the numerous types of advertising on the web, you're quite mistaken.

I don't have a TV. What a waste of time.

I find out about new products and gadgets from sites like this. Is HN an advertising hub?

I never see pay-per-click text ads or banner ads, that's for sure. I also avoid webcock blogs, so I mostly steer clear of shameless "viral" marketing trying to subtly promote services and products.

You can take your ad money and keep it. You don't need to be condescending to me, especially when you can't spell common words like "blatant" correctly.

"Anyone with half a brain (and therefore with any money in their pocket) uses Ad Block Plus, don't they?

I don't understand advertising and I don't want to. Selling a useful piece of software seems much more classy and straightforward."

Your original response wasn't condescending at all?

"I never see pay-per-click text ads"

Sorry, but that's absolutely wrong. How do you know which links are paid for and which ones aren't?

How do you expect to sell anything to the average person (Who watches TV by the way), if you never watch TV? Apart from some shows being pretty interesting, other mainstream shows are a great way to gain insight into how things become popular.

Thanks, and I do enjoy the money :) If you want to make money, learn about advertising.

It's also really trivial to get past adblockplus, and show users adverts that they cannot block, or even better, offer people using adblockplus a degraded experience - for example refuse any support requests from adblockplus users, or just refuse entry to the site.

That's no different than any other consumer-focused software. Easier in that you don't have to setup a payment gateway, but you'll also be 26% less rich for that perk.

Because you can, er, "make $$$ fa$t", as the saying goes.