Is there an iPhone Gold Rush?
By Emily Price
Almost everyone has probably wished at some point they could make a million dollars quick, and sit back and relax. It looks like some people, even in this bad economy, are finding ways to make that dream turn into a reality- by creating iPhone applications.
One such iPhone developer, Ethan Nicholas was able to make $800,000 in just five months by creating the iPhone game iShoot. Nicholas decided to create the game after learning that his employer has decided to do away with employee bonuses for the year. Nicholas needed a way to simply pay the bills, so he used his programming skills to create the iPhone game iShoot, which made him a killing starting day one.
The first day iShoot was on the market the $4.99 app brought in close to $100 in profits for the developer, with the second day topping $2,000. Over just a five-month span of time Nicolas was able to make a whopping $800,000 off the application, a pretty tidy sum of cash for something that was meant to be just a side project.
For every really successful iPhone application out there, there are another twenty probably that only sell a few downloads (if even that) and sit on the app store shelves getting dusty- but it is really interesting to see the unique applications that have become so amazingly successful.
The iPhone app store itself has only been open since July of last year, less than a year, but quite a few people are making a living (in many cases a pretty nice one) on creating things for it. Mobile applications (both for the iPhone and otherwise) are quickly becoming a source of viable income for people, with some universities even creating classes dedicated to nothing but creating applications for the iPhone.
What sorts of applications would you like to see people create for the iPhone? Do you think the iPhone “Gold Rush” is coming to an end, or is it just beginning?
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on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
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April 5th, 2009
I hope it’s not coming to an end, my app comes out on Tuesday, called Twavel ;)
Srsly, though, iPhone gaming kinda reminds me of NES games, currently. And I think in a few years, they will be much more robust. And there are a lot of lame-ass non-game apps, but the store is less than 1 year old. I think it has a very strong future because there are just countless ideas out there can be still be done on it, and location-based, social marketing is also in it’s infancy.
Also, the 3.0 OS and the forthcoming hardware integration sounds promising. Lots of potential for applications.
Here’s to the future of the iPhone and mobile apps!
April 5th, 2009
If your app was there on day one, then you would have some significant first mover advantages. Now everyone is getting on the boat and it will be hard sharing all those apps on the limited real estate of the app store. That being said, with the 3.0 software coming out, it is a clean slate. Can you make an app that takes advantage of something that can only be done now that 3.0 will be coming out? When creating your app, be sure to think about how users will share or tell their friends about the new app. With a nod to the actual Gold Rush in our earlier history, it wasn’t necessarily those that went looking for gold that got rich, but those who open up shop and sold the picks and the shovels.
April 5th, 2009
Good points James. With so much competition now, it is getting harder to create a “hit”. Having said that, with an expanded user base, the spoils are potentially bigger, so perhaps there are some opportunities.
May 1st, 2009
Wow! Husband left hardware/software job 20 years ago to make a living in real estate. I think I want him to go back to software development! Well, not really, but creating an app on the side might be a good idea!