Notices

travla, thanks for your kind words! We always try to write our apps in a cross plattform manner to ensure maximum portability in either in Qt (like MouthPot) or in C++ and OpenGL ES like Sphyro 3D:
http://store.ovi.com/search?q=sphyro+3d

so if we publish a new app we can port it to Maemo quite easily since we already have the framework in place.

One interesting thing of Maemo is that there are only a little number of apps on Ovi Store so at least you get exposure for your app), but on ther other hand there are not so much N900s around so even if the app is free the number of daily downloads goes down after a couple of days/weeks.
And Maemo users tend to not buy apps and it is very easy to pirate them (no copy protection, the install file is simply a .deb).
So hoping to write a large app and make money from it on Maemo is hopeless. This is probably the explanation why there are so commercial few apps for Maemo.

Some stats about MouthPot downloads yesterday: Top #4 in free application on Ovi Store Maemo, num downloads: 1090, of which 77% N900, 23% Symbian.
On Symbian it's harder to get exposure since there are 10 thousands of apps, but if you get in the featured apps section or top 20-30 downloads you can make very high numbers.
Our Tron Legacy Door Code Unlocker Screensaver (only for Symbian touch)

http://store.ovi.com/content/99490

made around 14k of free downloads in a single day (it was in the featured apps on the Ovi Store front page). That is very impressive.

But even on symbian if you switch from free to paid then the number of purchases rarely goes over a few per day, so it seems like the free / paid download rate is about a few hundred : 1.
Even on Apple App Store and even worse on Android.
I have the feeling that the firms that run the app store do not tell us the truth that users are after all not buying so many apps after all like they make us believe (that writing apps is lucrative etc ).
Of course a few lucky developers can make nice sums but it's more or less like playing casino.
Often the stupied stuff earns the most cash while complex apps which took time to develop are ignored by users.

Another way to make money is putting an annoying banner in the app and require the user to have an internet connection. But not everyone has a cellular connection all the time and often it is costly.
So several developer make 2 versions: the free version with banner and the paid version without.
The problem with advertising supported apps is that you need to make quite a few numbers of daily pageviews per day. advertising firms pay you $3 per 1000 pageviews.
Since many apps get utilized only a few times to make 1000 pageviews per day you need 500-1000 downloads per day of your app. This is unsustainable on Maemo since the number of N900s around is limited. Even on Symbian it is hard to achieve those numbers over a longer period, therefore sometimes it is better to make 3 sales at $1 per day rather than having a free advertising supported app. Of course the opposite could be true too, but you need to be very lucky

yeah, why doesn't this app open up GPS and tags where you are, calculates the time it takes for you to get home and let the tap run for you to get a nice hot bath when you get home... and while we're at it, why does the calculator app not play my MP3's???

Anyhow, I think you are looking for a different app than this one, that doesn't make this one useless...

On the other hand, funny idea for an app using your N900 as a voice transformer.

Thanks synca for your words!
Yes users are hard to satisfy. If you write a piece of software there will always be users criticizing it, saying it is useless or crap if you don't add feature x,y and z. We are used to such commentaries
Despite MouthPot being useless it is top fre download #3 in the apps section and yesterday made about 1200 downloads (India #1, UK #2, Italy #3, Germany #4)
MouthPot is simply an entertaining app, often children like to play with it and even adults can have their share of laughs with it. If it were completely useless we would not do >1000 free downloads per day right now.

Yes we could add the voice pitch shifter and recorder to MouthPot but it takes time and both the free downloads or paid downloads will not increase significantly by doing so. So we are currently not very motivated to do so. Those that criticize the most are those that can code the least and in no way would give away their work for free. Or perhaps we will see a MouthPot open source clone with 100 features next month ? maxximuscool, anyone ?

Unfortunately the modern society expect everything for free and everything must be perfect. Especially software must be free (or gets pirated) because since it's an immaterial thing it cannot cost much.
People bought lots of $500 phones but are too stingy to buy a $1 app. But if you make it available for free then the download rate increases a few hundred fold. The worst store seems the Android Market, lots of new and expensive phones but very few app purchasers. Apple's app store is not a panacea either (for the average developer), since your app goes under in the ocean despite 100M iOS devices around.
Ovi Store on Symbian is IMHO currently quite attractive since the number of apps is much smaller, yet the userbase is huge. But how knows how the situation develops now that Nokia is committed to make WP7 their main platform.

My kids (ages 3, 5 & 7) love MouthPot, and I don't mind it either. I had downloaded Sphyro Lite when it first came out on Ovi Store, I didn't realise you were the same developer. Anyway, $2.00 isn't much for a game like Sphyro 3D, so I've just bought it. I wish you guys every success, it's nice to hear from the devs on T.M.O.

could somebody please upload the deb for me
I am in sudan a blocked country and i am sick and tired of bloody proxies
Come on guys this a free app
BOOO to racial discrimination

Have you tried The Onion Router (TOR)?

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/M...ea-applet-tor/

the problem with the onion router method is that HAM doesn't use it (or see it .. i don't know) and even changing the vpn to hotspotshield doesn't help ... i've tried a whole lot of methods to get to the nokia repos but to no avail .. any ideas??