I wouldn't throw in the towel yet . . .

Try to approach him like this . . .

Let's launch, get paying customers, track how they are using the app . . . both to start generating revenue and validate that the app will provide value before adding more features, getting patents, etc . . . then use that revenue for advertising, patents, new features, etc . . .

Just explain that 6 months is a large chunk of time and you don't want to invest more time until you have paid signups and can see how they are using the app/get feedback from paid users as to what they need/want.

Good luck.