Has Anyone Ever Developed a Mobile App? (19)
Well as the title say just curious if anyone here has gone and done it?
Was curious about a couple key points..
Did you develop it cross platform? (iOS, andriod)
and if so what way did you find easiest to do this? (framework, companies...etc..)
bonus question..
What was the major pitfall you ran into?
thx in advance....
iStealthis.com
That is an iPhone app I had developed.
Considering that I hired a developer to put together the app, it's hard to answer any technical questions about it. I know that development took about 1 month for my app. Cost till date for it is just shy of $5k.
Biggest pitfall is the competition. There are a lot of competing apps, I really underestimated the threshold for getting an app to skyrocket.
I met a lead programmer for this company on a flight from hollywood to vegas: http://www.appcelerator.com/
He was showing me some crazy shit that their Titanium platform could do. I've got his business card somewhere w/ some contact info.
But basically w/ this you don't have to fuck w/ all different languages.... From what I remember you can do it all in Java or something but it's able to spit out apps for iOS/android/etc.
They've got some big name clients they're working with as well (MTV, NBC, Few other big names).
Not sure if this info will help you out or not but thought it seemed like a good place to drop this info off at.
Yep appcelerator with titanium is shit hot 
I made and released an iPhone app. Major pitfall was learning Objective C from the ground up, but that was half the point of me making the app in the first place. I have a big dev background behind me so it was easier to pick up than it would be for noobs.
There weren't any crazy hurdles that I can remember really other than competition with the billions of other apps.
XCode is actually a pretty cool IDE once you get to know it!
phonegab looks cool!
we're doing around 800 a month now on apps.... mostly android ones for the moment.... the key, is getting a shitload of installs.... then with the ad stuff you have built in, its just volume. once we have another 100 apps we'll be cranking.
how many apps have you got earning revenue?
Ya, we developed http://TonightsFights.com iPhone app:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/tonights...pp/id446755990
It's currently on iPhone and Android is in beta. Considering PhoneGap for other handsets and such.
Development costs around $12K for the app/backend portion of the project, but there is a heavy admin backend for certain business sectors. I'm not including the front facing site. We were quoted 27K by a firm in San Fran for just the app, with the specs we wanted.
We worked with a company overseas, which lead to our major pitfalls of communicating what we wanted. We went through about 74 different builds of the app before it's final version.
I'm working on an app with my friends company right now. It's for iOS only.
I can tell you most apps fail because they have no marketing plan and because the UI was made by the CEO (a CEO usually has no business developing a user interface).
The 3 keystones for apple apps are: Good idea, brilliant UI, and good marketing plan.
Just like the real world you can't just make something, plop it in the app store and think your going to get sales. You need a marketing plan and when i saw my friends, it was the only reason i joined him. He has connections with 50+ of the top apple bloggers in the world from his previous company where he did PR/advertising, and we'll be utilizing those connections for a big launch. Without an in like this you need to have an AMAZING idea, that's unique, and built by pro's (not someone from Odesk) because it's the only way you'll get picked up.
As for hiring someone, i recommend http://www.authenticjobs.com/ and there's one other i can find out about.
It's where you can find designers/developers that have a lot of experience designing apps that usually sell.
That's my 2c from working on an app over the last 6 months. These are the things that will usually make or break your app in general.
^^ This.
I've done quite a few and this is always the case. It wasn't a few years ago, but it is now.
gotta check with my partner... he runs all the mobile stuff... think we've got like 20 apps out now? maybe less give or take... all on android for now... waiting for a bunch of iphone apps to get approved (is a pain in the arse).
think of apps like adsense back in the day..... you need a shitload of sites and the ad revenue just adds up by sheer volume.
Who do you use for your ads? I've only done paid but thinking of transitioning. What kind of CPM are you seeing? Using Adwhirl, etc?
i'll ask the partner and post to ya.... i'm still traveling from NYE (in amsterdam right now).
Thanks man - let me know!
i THINK its moolahads....
we also have banners in the apps... but they don't do too well. think we're getting like 2k impressions a day.
Thanks man. I've been looking at doing adWhirl with iAds followed by adsense for mobile/jumptap etc.
Originally Posted by mgrunin
I'm a programmer and do no personal apps these days, just apps for local clients in Ireland. A mobile app in 2012 is like a website in 1996, it's in vogue and every company wants one, no matter how retarded the app is.
2011 was a barren year for me and before I built up a bit of a local name I was coding Android and iOS apps on Odesk and $5k is a lot of money for that app mGrunin. I probably would have coded it for $500.
I did complicated Android apps for $200 in my really bad days, thank God I hire workers on oDesk now and don't do work.
I just developed a really simple stupid Android app, main reason was to be able to install SDK from Ads network and see the other side of their platform. what I learn.
- its incredibly easy to go live on android market
- people install really simple stupid app
- Some 'targeting options' you have when creating ads are just choices you are given when registering your apps. no wonder some says dont care too much about categories, gender etc.......
- Way more simple to have ads accepted on Admob if you going to Android Market :-)
Possibilty seems huge, will try some free/premium content with premium going to CPA offer... lets see..
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