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Tweetie 2.0
- Thread starter anjinha
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Most apps in the last month are going way past a few weeks for approval. Many are up to almost 2 months now.
I really hope he brings back the dark theme in a free future update. I plan on buying this but I just can't fathom why he would ditch his themes...
Disregarding all the upset people on this thread, I have an honest question.
Is it really a smart move for someone to quit their job to create an iPhone/iPod Touch app that they're charging a whopping $3 for? His app would have to sell 23,333 times in 365 days to earn him the average salary an American makes. With all the competition he has from tons of other apps, I doubt that's gonna happen.
Is it really a smart move for someone to quit their job to create an iPhone/iPod Touch app that they're charging a whopping $3 for? His app would have to sell 23,333 times in 365 days to earn him the average salary an American makes. With all the competition he has from tons of other apps, I doubt that's gonna happen.
His app is in the top 20 of the paid social networking apps, and has been for quite a while, do you have any idea how much those apps sell?
I might get this app just to see how much it has improved. Never was too much of a fan of Tweetie. There's many more twitter clients that are better.
Oh, and Go Tar Heels!
Oh, and Go Tar Heels!
Way more than 20,000/year. It's not unusual for an app to get 50,000 or more in a few days especially if it is featured.
I know, trillian for the iphone is going on almost 7 weeks now for the approval process and still not approved!!!
When BillMinder was featured on "What's Hot", we didn't sell anywhere NEAR 50k copies (at 99c). Tweetie has done much better though, obviously. It was in the top 10 for a while so I'm sure he's doing well.
When BillMinder was featured on "What's Hot", we didn't sell anywhere NEAR 50k copies (at 99c). Tweetie has done much better though, obviously. It was in the top 10 for a while so I'm sure he's doing well.
Yes, it depends on your potential audience size. Twitter and games are really hot right now. Unfortunately, conscientious bill payers are in the minority.
People have it sort of wrong.
He didn't QUIT his job to work on Tweetie. He quit his job to work on his own projects. Tweetie was written in like two weeks because he wasn't happy with other Twitter clients. He put it on the App Store for friends to use if they wanted. It sort of exploded and turned into a huge thing.
So, no he didn't quit his job at Apple to make tweetie. He quit his job to work on other things. Tweetie was created as a side project and just took off.
I don't think people quit their jobs to work on iPhone apps. I think anyone in their right mind would wait until their income is sustainable before quitting their job and working on iphone apps.
He didn't QUIT his job to work on Tweetie. He quit his job to work on his own projects. Tweetie was written in like two weeks because he wasn't happy with other Twitter clients. He put it on the App Store for friends to use if they wanted. It sort of exploded and turned into a huge thing.
So, no he didn't quit his job at Apple to make tweetie. He quit his job to work on other things. Tweetie was created as a side project and just took off.
I don't think people quit their jobs to work on iPhone apps. I think anyone in their right mind would wait until their income is sustainable before quitting their job and working on iphone apps.
You're wrong. There have been a few developers that have quit their jobs. Off the top of my head is the iShoot developer and the developer of Trism.
Re-read what I said. It makes a lot of sense.
I didn't say people never quit their jobs to work on iPhone apps. I said above that most would wait until their income is sustainable (as an app developer) before quitting their job and working on iphone apps.
I realize plenty of people have quit their jobs to work on iPhone apps. But a vast majority of them are making money that is sustainable. They make enough to live on. Anyone who quits their job to work on iPhone apps BEFORE it's sustainable is pretty stupid, especially in this economy.
A little confusing there. I think the overall point you guys have is that some people DO quit their jobs to make iPhone apps. Some don't. But like any business plan, you can't give up a steady income in a harsh economic environment for another non-guaranteed opportunity without opening yourself up to a lot of risk.
Of course, some people have been very successful regardless of the degree of risk they took.
Basically.
I love how of all the things I said in that post that the most unimportant part of what I said is what someone had an issue with.
Back to the original topic. Loren didn't quit his job to make Tweetie. He quit his job for other projects. Tweetie just happened. If you want proof of this, you can go download the iPhone Application Development program on iTunes U. He was a guest speaker for one of the Friday sessions and he talks about Tweetie for about 30 minutes. It's actually very entertaining.
Fair enough and while you're post is in relation to Tweetie, I don't think that the most unimportant part of your post is when people quit their jobs to develop full time to develop iPhone apps full-time. In a way it is more important so people understand that developers actually have to make money and free updates for life is not a realistic proposition which is endemic in this thread. Your whole post was interesting and it was all important.
If you meant it another way, then write it that way. I can't read your intent though a sentence that indicates the opposite.
As for Tweetie, regardless of whether it was something done on the side, I can assure it is now Loren's main source of revenue. Unless it is ad-based sooner or later all apps will need a paid upgrade. Eventually the well runs dry and a developer has to charge an upgrade price for all the work he puts in. Not eveyone is willing to pay for a Twitter app and I'm sure many, if not most, don't even know what Twitter is.
I don't begrudge an author, designer or programmer the ability to create revenue streams for themselves either via updates or new products.
It would be unfair to any app creator to not since there are no residual incomes on updates otherwise.
If you sell your app for 1.99 and then the next 10 years you grow that app every year - clearly the value goes beyond the 1.99. And the time, energy and resources involved warrant more than the profit made from 1.99 (or whatever the fee). A product tweak or enhancement, I don't think should be charged. But "full upgrades" or major improvements - or even a yearly refresh are certainly fair game.
After reading an article recently in the news - the MAJORITY of app developers aren't making much money after labor, marketing, etc. Much like TV, Film, Broadway, Sports, etc - there are loads of "players" but only a handful are "celebs" - aka have a HIT money-making application
It would be unfair to any app creator to not since there are no residual incomes on updates otherwise.
If you sell your app for 1.99 and then the next 10 years you grow that app every year - clearly the value goes beyond the 1.99. And the time, energy and resources involved warrant more than the profit made from 1.99 (or whatever the fee). A product tweak or enhancement, I don't think should be charged. But "full upgrades" or major improvements - or even a yearly refresh are certainly fair game.
After reading an article recently in the news - the MAJORITY of app developers aren't making much money after labor, marketing, etc. Much like TV, Film, Broadway, Sports, etc - there are loads of "players" but only a handful are "celebs" - aka have a HIT money-making application
I don't think this is different from any normal computer application. A developer makes v1.0 and sells it. If they do enough changes to deem something a v2.0, often they charge again for it. Sometimes there's a discount; sometimes there's not. It's up to the developer how they want to approach their pricing policies, and up to the individual whether they'll make another purchase.
I don't think there are any inherent "rights" that developers "deserve" to be paid more or again in the future simply because their application was successful. Nor do users have the "right" to get an update for free simply because they paid for the original version. There is only the market, and it's up to the developer to strategically price what they are supplying based on the demand they perceive in their audience to hit their revenue goals.
I don't think there are any inherent "rights" that developers "deserve" to be paid more or again in the future simply because their application was successful. Nor do users have the "right" to get an update for free simply because they paid for the original version. There is only the market, and it's up to the developer to strategically price what they are supplying based on the demand they perceive in their audience to hit their revenue goals.