iPhone Apps are the New Online Goldmine

Sunday, 21 September, 2008

When blogging blew up, early adopters of the medium were a step ahead with establishing a lucrative foot hold, especially in the case of now saturated topics (such as 'how to make money online'). The same thing seems to be happening with iPhone applications, as reported by Wired.

The developer of popular iPhone game Trism made $250,000 in profit in just two months, and if rates continue, he will earn $3 million by July 2009.

There are similarities between creating blogs and developing iPhone apps in that both have an IT element to them and that there are gains to be made from getting in on the platforms early. And the crucial, common factor for the success of either is The Idea.

Once you're convince you have the ultimate concept, the similarities stop. Building a blog is a walk in the park compared to creating an iPhone app. Maybe that's a good thing since it might cut down the amount of junk on the App store.

However, that won't stop the inevitably growing list of developers contributing to the existing thousands of apps already on the market. With potential ongoing updates increasing the lifecycle of software products, it's uncertain whether the sheer quantity of iPhone apps will reach a saturation point.

However, if you're a little logically-inclined, it might be time to get that thinking cap on, and download the Apple SDK.

Credit-crunch? Its time for the rise of the geek.

This entry posted in : Observations. Technology.

3 Comments :

Totally agreed. It seems much easier to make money by innovating with new platforms, such as iPhone, Facebook and soon, Google's Android, then it is working in a crowded and mature market.

So Mark, what iPhone apps are you creating?

I'm frantically finishing an internal paid search app for my affiliate marketing business. After which, I would almost certainly tinker with iPhone apps.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/01/09 at 10:10 AM

Hi Zac, I wish it were that easy to create. For me, there would be a learning curve involved that's too great an investment in time.

Plus, I mention the idea - I haven't yet had an idea I think is worth developing. At first, the apps I've been seeing seem obvious, but other developers got there first.

Now, there are quite alot of good idea apps, where I'm wondering how to even get an idea to the same level, let alone surpass them! And that's even before considering the learning curve..

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/01/09 at 01:27 PM

I haven't looked into it indepth, but it shouldn't be too hard to create an iPhone app between a programmer and a graphics designer.

The potential reward is certainly worth the effort!

Posted by Zac Zheng on 13/01/09 at 10:12 PM

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