There is another formula that will generate cash for the app developer: “Develop Apps For Others That Are Willing To Pay.” Problem with this formula, is that getting involved with a dreamer (the guy that is totally convinced his app will make millions) has karmic consequences. Yes, he’s a grown up. Yes, if you don’t take his money someone else will. But, do you want the karma?
Develop Apps For Others That Need Them
The secret for success in this type of app development is this: If your customer has a problem for which the app in question can be an answer, then the app will succeed. Good friends of mine runs Samadhi Tank. Glenn and Lee (the aforementioned friends) have arguably the best floatation tank on the market. If you factor in post sales support then I believe they win hands down. They treat their customers the way I wish all the business I purchased from would treat me. One of the problems that Glenn and Lee have is “how do we make sure our customers are giving the tanks the maintenance required to keep them in tip-top healthy working order.” We are working on an app that will (hopefully) help solve this problem. They do not need to sell a million of these apps to make money. They will make money through decreased costs of support service. We can charge a fair price for development of an app we know will not sell well in the app stores with a totally clear conscience. Why? Because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt our client (Samadhi Tank) is getting value for their investment.
But I Heard The App Store Was A Lottery
Yes, the app store is a lottery. But in the case of Samadhi Tank, they have “won” the minute the app is done and their customers get better support — at a reduced cost to Samadhi.
Also, the app store is a lottery. Which means, why not throw a dollar on midnight every now and then. Yeah, the odds are against it coming up. But, if it does you get paid great odds.
So yeah, in addition to creating apps for customers that need them, we have apps we are developing because we believe in their ability to capture the interest of the marketplace. These ventures are not our bread and butter. But they keep a little sparkle in the day. I won’t be checking the Samadhi Tank downloads counter every day. But, you can bet I’ll be taking a peek at our horse in the race.