How do App Developers Make Money? Seems Completely Unsustainable
Something that has always puzzled me is how software app developers on mobile platforms (phones, tablets) make money. Some mass market products, such as games, make money off large volume and/or advertising but how about all the others? Writing for Stratechery , Ben Thompson illustrates the difficulty faced by app developers, particularly those developing productivity software (bolds by me): Paper is a transformative, device-defining app, and has been awarded accordingly by both Apple and the design industry . According to App Annie , as of June 21, Paper ranked 7th in the Productivity category according to downloads (119th overall after a recent jump), and 4th in revenue (108th overall). By every visible measure, FiftyThree, the makers of Paper, are the definition of an app store success story... But underneath the surface, things aren't so rosy: The problem for Paper is the same for all productivity apps in the App Store: there is no way to monetize your existing...