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Ask HN: Mobile app developers making 100k+ on your app(s), how did you do it?

30 points by tagabek ↗ HN
In light of the recent salary threads, I would like to hear from mobile app developers that are making a nice living off of their apps. To be clear, I am looking for stories from indie developers/teams as opposed to large app companies.

8 comments

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pyamparala
Tagabek,

This is a very complicated question to answer for most app developers. We have been trying to discover the answer to this very question in the facebook group for app entrepreneurs and marketers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/appentrepreneurs/

One thing which has consistently stood out is that create an app which stands out. Learn marketing and build a network of apps. The finer details on app marketing are probably beyond the scope of this post.

cocoflunchy
I'd be more interested in hearing from people making 500$ to 5k$ a month on the app stores (particularly on Android). Is it easy to reach that level? Would you call it a good way of generating passive income? Or is it only a big spike in the beginning and then nothing if you don't market?
joeld42
It falls off very quickly, unless you have some mechanism to get people back into the app (updates, new content, etc..). Even big-name apps will fall off the charts very fast without work. There's nothing passive about it.

I don't think "marketing" is the right word, especially for a small/indie developer. You need to work to build a community around your app.

The gold rush is over, but if you build a nice thing and support it, people will find it.

zmitri
A couple things I've noticed with most app teams/indie developers:

1) Get it in early. Either on new apis, or new hardware. Apple tends to feature apps that feature their new apis nicely. One of the reasons Instagram was promoted to heavily was that it was released at the perfect time -- the iPhone 4 came out and had a fantastic camera. Instagram drove iPhone sales, so Apple did what they could to promote it even more. I also know someone who made a good, solid iPad app at release and now they make a lot of money off it without needing any real support.

2) Know someone at Apple Developer Relations and help get your app noticed. I've heard stories of seed funds and VCs having connections with the developer relations team at Apple. They can help put it on the front page, which will bring you a lot of downloads. It won't make you a king, but it's a big deal.

nanijoe
I have personally not heard of point 2 happening. If it does though, that would be a real shame
zmitri
It happens all the time.
hkarthik
It wouldn't surprise me if most of the folks making $100K+ on their apps are spending double or triple that for development across multiple apps to produce a hit.

This isn't all that different from other hit-driven industries like music or video games.

The exception may be in apps that serve a profitable niche and have little to no competition. But the problem there is it's difficult to stay on top when the marketplace is becoming crowded with fast followers. There are ways to defend against this, but it will involve building a brand outside of the App Store, which can take considerable investment.

idoh
Sort of going against the grain here, I've done two mobile apps that are doing well. I was able to grow them because I know Facebook virals really well, and we iterate like crazy, do lots of split testing, and they are in verticals that are sort of amenable to such things. No money spent on promotion of any kind either.