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Firefox with Leste (10)
to Maemo 7 / Leste by teroyk - 3 days ago - more...
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2009-03-10
, 16:16
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Posts: 1,418 |
Thanked: 1,541 times |
Joined on Feb 2008
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#2
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Well, the guy makes another color matching game, for $32k (!), then attempts to sell it for $5 apiece at the app store overcrowded by other similar products. He then complains that the game has not paid for itself. Hasn't he seen it coming?
Anyways, for anybody going to repeat his feat, a few pieces of advice:
1. Do not waste money on a project which has no clear and sure business strategy to make more money than you spend. I.e. p0rnosites and online gambling are a go, but $32k color matching games are not.
2. Do not expect that charging a really small price (i.e. $5) will make more people buy your product. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but it will not.
3. Do not expect that charging a really small price will prevent people from pirating your product. It will not.
4. Do not expect that offering a free demo version will make people buy your product. Mobile apps are downloaded and used casually, so once a person downloads and checks out your demo for a few minutes, it will be put away never to be used again.
5. Do not market through app stores, Apple's, Handango's, etc. Once your product enters an app store, it is lost among hundreds of other products, never to resurface again after the few first days. Meanwhile, you are being charged 30% rates. Marketing through your own web site and using a generic credit card processing company is just as effective (or more effective).
6. Create the buzz. Continue creating the buzz constantly. Update your product weekly. Keep a blog. Pester reviewers. As long as your product is in the news, people will come and buy it.
Anyways, for anybody going to repeat his feat, a few pieces of advice:
1. Do not waste money on a project which has no clear and sure business strategy to make more money than you spend. I.e. p0rnosites and online gambling are a go, but $32k color matching games are not.
2. Do not expect that charging a really small price (i.e. $5) will make more people buy your product. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but it will not.
3. Do not expect that charging a really small price will prevent people from pirating your product. It will not.
4. Do not expect that offering a free demo version will make people buy your product. Mobile apps are downloaded and used casually, so once a person downloads and checks out your demo for a few minutes, it will be put away never to be used again.
5. Do not market through app stores, Apple's, Handango's, etc. Once your product enters an app store, it is lost among hundreds of other products, never to resurface again after the few first days. Meanwhile, you are being charged 30% rates. Marketing through your own web site and using a generic credit card processing company is just as effective (or more effective).
6. Create the buzz. Continue creating the buzz constantly. Update your product weekly. Keep a blog. Pester reviewers. As long as your product is in the news, people will come and buy it.
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2009-03-10
, 16:47
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Posts: 3,397 |
Thanked: 1,212 times |
Joined on Jul 2008
@ Netherlands
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#3
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The App Store suffers from a quantity problem. The search engine sucks. Its very difficult to find the right application in there. And its mostly ****ing games.
7) Develop an application which is better than competition. Make sure it wins in compares. (Buzz.)
7) Develop an application which is better than competition. Make sure it wins in compares. (Buzz.)
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Goosfraba! All text written by allnameswereout is public domain unless stated otherwise. Thank you for sharing your output!
Goosfraba! All text written by allnameswereout is public domain unless stated otherwise. Thank you for sharing your output!
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2009-03-10
, 16:52
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Posts: 56 |
Thanked: 4 times |
Joined on Dec 2007
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#4
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Originally Posted by allnameswereout
Ans the maemo download site is better??
The App Store suffers from a quantity problem. The search engine sucks. Its very difficult to find the right application in there. And its mostly ****ing games.
It is comparing apples and oranges regrdless, limited number of open source/free apps for a device with a limited userbase to commerical apps on a commerically run store for a mass market device.
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2009-03-10
, 17:26
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Posts: 3,790 |
Thanked: 5,718 times |
Joined on Mar 2006
@ Vienna, Austria
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#5
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Originally Posted by s2k
It sure is. Anyway, I liked the numbers.
It is comparing apples and oranges
Originally Posted by s2k
... I still have to think about this. My assumption always was that because the number of devices sold is so different, even a very unsuccessful commercial jPhone app would have masses of downloads compared to a very popular, free Maemo-app. This, at least, seems to be wrong.
limited number of open source/free apps for a device with a limited userbase to commerical apps on a commerically run store for a mass market device.
Also, you have to take into account that while on the Apple-side the store-statistics pretty much cover all downloads for an application offered there, figures on downloads.maemo.org aren't necessarily complete. The *.deb could be floating around everywhere on the web, hosted by the author on a separate homepage or whatever, so the counter at maemo.org says something like "at least xxx copies
What do I make of all this? Nothing. It's nonsensical statistics. But at least now I know that publishing a good Maemo application has a potential of being more rewarding (in terms of ego, karma and such, not in terms of money) than publishing an average application for the jPhone.... which I didn't believe before.
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2009-03-10
, 17:28
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Posts: 4,783 |
Thanked: 1,253 times |
Joined on Aug 2007
@ norway
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#6
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no, but i pitty the android people, as the recent dev phone update allows the iphone people to go "told you so!"...
and when people first get that chance related to a apple product, they will never stop doing so...
and when people first get that chance related to a apple product, they will never stop doing so...
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2009-03-10
, 19:30
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Posts: 56 |
Thanked: 4 times |
Joined on Dec 2007
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#7
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Originally Posted by benny1967
And again it comes down to the open source mindset vs commercial. I develop the bulk of my software to pay bills and feed my family, not for a rewarding karma experience. To each their own. The Apple App Store is not a license to print money, some have managed to make it so but the majority wont, it comes down to making good software and promoting it like on any other platform.
It sure is. Anyway, I liked the numbers.
... I still have to think about this. My assumption always was that because the number of devices sold is so different, even a very unsuccessful commercial jPhone app would have masses of downloads compared to a very popular, free Maemo-app. This, at least, seems to be wrong.
Also, you have to take into account that while on the Apple-side the store-statistics pretty much cover all downloads for an application offered there, figures on downloads.maemo.org aren't necessarily complete. The *.deb could be floating around everywhere on the web, hosted by the author on a separate homepage or whatever, so the counter at maemo.org says something like "at least xxx copiessolddownloaded".
What do I make of all this? Nothing. It's nonsensical statistics. But at least now I know that publishing a good Maemo application has a potential of being more rewarding (in terms of ego, karma and such, not in terms of money) than publishing an average application for the jPhone.... which I didn't believe before.
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2009-03-10
, 21:39
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Posts: 3,397 |
Thanked: 1,212 times |
Joined on Jul 2008
@ Netherlands
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#8
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Not sure which one is better. I don't think such pissing contests are useful; I think its good to observe the good aspects of each other and learn from each other. IMO there are some nice applications in both. And quite some crap in both as well. Point is that finding software in the App Store is difficult. As a non-gamer I don't want to see games. But I cannot do this on either platform. There is also the jailbreak issue. Localisation is an issue too. Developers assume an applications is only meant for iPhone 3G. Or that all users are from USA. I'm quite unimpressed with the number of applications specially designed for my country whereas if I need to find software for Nokia N810 I visit this forum, use APT, or Gronmayer. Or Google. Either way, updating software on either platform is much more easier than on S60. Or MacOSX (except official Apple updates). I don't like that I cannot evaluate software from App Store. I do like that the App Store is finger-friendly. I like about Application Manager than I can control my APT repositories. On iPhone/iPod touch I must jailbreak and install Cydia to use APT. But, Cydia is finger-friendly. As you can read I see a lot of + and - on both sides.
Regarding commercial software. Commercial software is NOT the same as commercial/proprietary software. I, for one, very much welcome commercial open source software development. And proprietary software development for Maemo. But preferably either free/commercial open source software.
BTW, it is very childish to call names on a product. The product is called iPhone. Its confusing too. jPhone is Java phone is Android??
Regarding commercial software. Commercial software is NOT the same as commercial/proprietary software. I, for one, very much welcome commercial open source software development. And proprietary software development for Maemo. But preferably either free/commercial open source software.
BTW, it is very childish to call names on a product. The product is called iPhone. Its confusing too. jPhone is Java phone is Android??
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Goosfraba! All text written by allnameswereout is public domain unless stated otherwise. Thank you for sharing your output!
Goosfraba! All text written by allnameswereout is public domain unless stated otherwise. Thank you for sharing your output!
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2009-03-10
, 21:54
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Posts: 3,790 |
Thanked: 5,718 times |
Joined on Mar 2006
@ Vienna, Austria
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#9
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Originally Posted by s2k
I develop the bulk of my software to pay bills and feed my family, not for a rewarding karma experience. To each their own.
thank god i have a boring day job I hate wholeheartedly and can't write software at all, so it's my personal luxury to keep an illusion of a perfect free software world. I do see your point, though. And still... not being able to make money from Maemo apps the way you can from jPhone apps is not really because of the platform as such (sales figures aside). It's because there's no low-barrier infrastructure that lets you try and upload your (closed, non-free) software for sale. You'd need to do everything yourself, billing, legal questions, technical infrastructure, advertising,...
Just because Maemo is mostly open and free doesn't mean I as a Maemo user am not willing to pay for applications. (I even payed for my copy of Windows Vista and MS Office although I never use them - except to run software that Nokia is unable to provide for GNU/Linux, such as the software I need to update or backup my phone. I'm one of those people...)
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2009-03-10
, 23:18
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Moderator |
Posts: 7,109 |
Thanked: 8,820 times |
Joined on Oct 2007
@ Vancouver, BC, Canada
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#10
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Originally Posted by benny1967
You might be able to save some money by buying Codeweavers' Crossover Office and using it to install Windows-only apps. I've been amazed at how they've made it "just work". My wife needed IE6 & ActiveX to upload photos to the local photo printing shop, and so I used Crossover Office to install it; it runs flawlessly under Ubuntu. It also does MS Office very well, too. I got my copy free, during the Lame Duck Challenge last year, but even when it isn't free, it's only $40. And they have a free trial period to see if your software works.
(I even payed for my copy of Windows Vista and MS Office although I never use them - except to run software that Nokia is unable to provide for GNU/Linux, such as the software I need to update or backup my phone. I'm one of those people...)
And I must admit, I like seeing the big numbers beside my project on maemo.org...
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Please don't send me a private message, post to the appropriate thread.
Thank you all for your donations!
http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/...rutal-honesty/
I do know you cannot compare download stats from downloads.maemo.org to those of the thing store for more than 1 reason. But on the other hand... Wow! Only 131 copies sold worldwide in one whole month? If you're not into making money but get your kicks from high download stats, developing for the N8x0 might be the better path to go: less competition, more downloads for sure
(I picked a random application that I think is available for DL roughly one month: AlmostTI. 1680 downloads, 12x as many as the jPhone application. And it's a calculator!)