AfterDawn: Tech news

59 percent of apps don't break even

Written by James Delahunty @ 09 May 2012 3:31 User comments (1)

59 percent of apps don't break even Not every app makes enough, not even close.
Stories like that of of the billion-dollar Instagram sale have put a lot of focus on the mobile app space. Research conducted by App Promo will probably dampen hopes for a lot of developers looking to become the next millionaires.

It found that more than 59 percent of apps do not generate enough revenue to break even. Only 12 percent of mobile app developers earn $50,000 or more for their apps, most of which have budgets around $30,000 for development, and also spend on average 14% of the revenue on marketing.

"With over a million applications in the market across platforms, app publishers are finding it increasingly challenging to cut through the noise and get their apps discovered and downloaded," the firm wrote in its white paper.

"Those developers that spend money and time on marketing outside of the app stores found the most success based on the revenue they had earned for their app. This core finding echoes what we believe as a leading app marketing and strategy firm, that in order to make an app a successful business you need to ensure that you have a budget and time allocated to marketing and promoting your app."

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1 user comment

110.5.2012 11:49

Ah the woes of over expectations. The original app didn't 'cost' much of anything to produce, really; in the whole scheme of things. But then like all music artists & all other modern creative persons since the 1900s, the greed urchins have clambered out of the wood work to over represent not only the artist, but the medium they've produced.

Upon bloating the apparent worth of said 'masterpiece', the new owner will inevitably try to convince another equally uneducated idiot that it's worth 'investing' in & try to x100 their initial investment. I.e., making a diamond out of my original turd torpedo analogy from forums previously visited.

Thus they complain that "it just won't/didn't break even", when in fact the damn thing made more money than god & the original artist/laborers probably just above minimum wage for their toil.

History is only a manner of perspective/semantics given from the perspective of the individual writing the book.

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