First Month on the Android Market

http://makingmoneywithandroid.com/2011/05/first-month-on-the-android-market/

by obviator • 15 years ago

52 23 15 years ago

kylec• 15 years ago

I don't consider $3.88/month to be "making money with Android". Granted, it's only the first month, but if this was on the iOS App Store at $0.99 he'd only have to sell 6 copies to make that same amount of money (18 if he wanted to offset the monthly cost of being in the iOS developer program) rather than 965 total Android installs.

megablast• 15 years ago

He chose the advertising route, it is a lot harder to make money that way on either platform, unless he has a big hit.

invig• 15 years ago

So why would you not immediately switch to a paid model?

obviator5• 15 years ago

That's true, I chose the advertising method for this app, although its probably slower than selling a paid app on the App Store or Android Market. The biggest factor that led me to decide on a free app was the ability to gather some useful analytics. Publishing a paid app might make more money in the short term, but only get a total of a few dozen installs. Since this was my first app, I thought it would help to do some market research first. Now there are about 1000 active users which gives me a good indication of where to focus future development effort. :)

shareme• 15 years ago

You need a bigger organic marketing push:

1. How many android app preview websites did you contact and send a demo to?

EtienneJohnred2• 15 years ago

I really hope he does a follow-up post that breaks down how he spent his $3.88. After about 3 months of revenue, he'll even be able to afford to buy spendingmoneywithandroid.com.

Downvote away!!

billforsternz2• 15 years ago

I couldn't disagree more and I salute the OP for his efforts. The point is that he is documenting his journey from day 1. You obviously don't make money on day 1. I hope he rides the wave and reaches and then exceeds his goal of $1000 per month. I'd be inspired by that.

flyosity2• 15 years ago

"You obviously don't make money on Day 1."

I don't know about Android, but I made hundreds of dollars on Day 1 of my app being available on the iPad App Store and know a LOT of friends who have made thousands of dollars on Day 1 from their iPhone apps. Please don't generalize about app sales revenues across Android and iOS because it's like comparing raindrops to a downpour.

Hostile• 15 years ago

I really appreciate when devs are willing to put out information like this. Not just the money, but also what the process and experience is like. I was inspired by a previous HN post about starting Android development to try it myself. I actually started (am?) writing about it in story form. Considered posting on HN, but I fear HN's wrath, as I am a mere mortal.

obviator5• 15 years ago

I'd love to hear your story, it's always great to read about another developers experience even if it's not always a runaway success. Would you mind sharing the link? Or else you could email me thebigbyte [at] gmail [dot-com]

jackpine• 15 years ago

I'm really surprised you get such a surge of downloads from being in the just-in queue. Looks like I'll be pushing minor updates once a week now!

obviator5• 15 years ago

Be aware though - Google has a system in place to prevent gaming the just-in queue. So if you push updates too frequently they won't appear in the list. I've had this happen with my app a few times.

It seems that 8 days is the minimum time between updates, to qualify for this "just-in" status. A few developers have reported this figure, and it's worked for me recently.

JacobAldridge• 15 years ago

Release Early, Release Often - just not too early and not too often.

adaml_623• 15 years ago

Am I the only person who thinks we have a funny game theory situation where developers should stop giving their apps away for free on Android so that users get used to paying the same way they do on iOS?

I don't really understand why Angry Birds is free on Android? Anybody know?

Edit: Spelling

mattbrewsbytes• 15 years ago

Angry Birds is also free on iOS, that is the lite version with ads. Then users like me get addicted to the gameplay and a few times of getting nag-screened is enough for me to purchase.

As a consumer, I like this approach with games because many times there are games that are fun, but just not fun enough for a purchase or the replay-ability factor is just low. So if I find myself going back to a game more than a few times, the purchase is such low cost (less than coffee) that it is worth it to get rid of nag-screens.

Also, regarding Android and free... most people that buy Android phones are expecting free stuff. The cost of those phones is roughly the same as an iPhone, it's just the mindset is different.

EtienneJohnred2• 15 years ago

I truly love how the most constructive comment here (by zrgiu) got downvoted into oblivion just because it was critical.

While Hacker News was once a relevant, useful place to find good tech news, it's quickly degenerating into a steaming pile of shit driven by a bunch of thin-skinned Android sycophants. It's unfortunate (not to mention how unfortunate it is that such a useless post as this is even on the front page here to begin with).

obviator5• 15 years ago

Agreed that zrgiu's comment was constructive and had some good advice. No idea why it was downvoted so quickly.

Zaim2• 15 years ago

Ugh, assuming it's the same zrgiu who made Antivirus free, I really want to read what he has to say. That's what I get for being late. :(

Anybody mind reposting it in quotation marks if they happen to have it saved? Or if zrgiu himself could post of a summary of what he originally said, that would be grand.

First Month on the Android Market

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