Selling in the App Store is a tough business. I have some idea of how rankings translate to sales and I estimate that only a few hundred apps make enough money to support even a single developer at market rates. Maybe I'm way off and the number is 1000 - but I doubt it. That's out of 650,000.
Selling mobile apps has become like the music business. There are a very small number of creators earning the majority of the revenue. Most of the people in the business are selling their product below cost in the hopes of hitting it big or because they monetize it in ways other than direct sales. It's not a coincidence that iTunes is the storefront for both businesses.
Apple is a brilliant organization. This must be how they want it. They've seen Amazon. They know how they could drive sales towards the long tail and that's not their business. They want low prices, high volume, and a small number of big hits.
This is the spot where I'm supposed to list the ways that Apple could serve me better. I'm not going to do that. Apple doesn't owe my anything and I'm not foolish enough to believe that I know better than the company that is on the most successful five year run in the history of business.
I'm one of those people who uses the App Store to generate revenue in ways other than direct sales. River of News has been a very effective marketing tool for my consulting business. It's landed me interesting projects working with smart people. I work from home and bill at a rate higher than I made when I was salaried. Life is good.
This has been a roundabout way of explaining why River of News has languished. The consulting bucks have been good and I took them while they were there. I enjoy the hybrid business model of my own products plus consulting. But I'm trying to achieve a better balance now. I'm investing time into River of News and I want to create the feedback loop where that time generates more revenue and justifies more time.
I'm sorry that I've disappointed people who wanted more. I hope you feel you've gotten your $3 or $4 of value out of it. If not, well, there is more to come. Maybe I can win you over, yet.
River of news is the only reader better than google reader itself. I've gotten my money's worth, and look forward to the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the open and honest discussion Dylan. River of news is my favorite RSS reader and I use it every day. One of the most useful app on my iPad by far. Keep up the good work and please keep the conversation going.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great product, and I've gotten far more than my $3 worth out of this app.
ReplyDeleteadvertise in daring fireball and see what happens
ReplyDeleteI would be interesting but $7500 is an expensive experiment.
DeleteIt's a great product that I use daily. One thing that I would love to see is the ability to tag posts. Keep it up and thanks.
ReplyDeleteI got my $3 worth but I've been begging you for over a year to produce an iPhone version (a Mac version wouldn't go amiss either) and despite your promises I'm still left here disappointed and waiting. I believe you're leaving money on the table as I would happily pay for an iPhone app or new combo app.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kinds words.
ReplyDeleteRiver of news is the best app for google reader, hope the next update I can share the feed to my Google Plus
ReplyDeleteI love River of News, and I'm glad to hear you're returning to it. Also, as a developer with multiple interests and a desire to someday support my own work, your words resonate well with me.
ReplyDeleteAnd now for the obligatory feature request: the ability to support multiple accounts, so my wife and I (who share an iPad) can both read our feeds.