akernander

I don't think we'll see Google splitting off their gmail/gtalk logins from everything else, and I don't necessarily agree that they should. One of the major benefits to using google services is the shear amount of services you get without having to login to multiple sites, or keep multiple bookmarks, google takes care of it all for you. We're slowly seeing this same idea take over the rest of the web with facebook connect and OpenID. People want convenience and don't like remembering a ton of passwords, or even having to retype a login/password on every site they go to. Ideally, for most internet users i'm sure, FB connect or OpenID or Google would take over the "login market" and include a key fob, so you just log your computer onto the internet and you're good to go. But I agree with most here, a key fob is, well, key.

I worked for a couple kids like this for 5 years, until July this year. They got lucky, they were in browser gaming really early with one of the first micro-transaction backed games out there. It also spread itself virally, pissing off a lot of people on the internet. Nonetheless it did gather a pretty large userbase and grossed more than 100k/month for a couple years. But that's where it stopped. The kids that started the game had one good idea for the time, hired myself and a couple others to keep it a good idea for an extended time, but failed to move on and grow the company. Now they're grossing around 60k/month and panicking, rushing to add something else to their library.

It's one thing to hit on something that works, once. It's another to actually be an entrepreneur and know what needs to be done to sustain growth. Not very easy in the gaming industry because people get bored and move on pretty quick.

12-29 is still a pretty big range for "young users." Those apps that attract 14 year olds are sure to not be the same as those that attract 25 year olds. It would be interesting to see that broken down further to see what the most profitable demographic really is. Young vs old doesn't quite cut it. It mentions 16 & 17 vs 20 through 29, not too much difference, $0.49 average per paying user. This also seems a bit low ($3.07 average revenue per paying user), but then most apps are advertising funded. In the micro-transaction backed browser gaming field that I'm coming from, we were seeing a long term average over $5 per paying user, occasional short-term near $10.

Yes, thanks for this post. I'm on the outskirts of the Boston area and this is invaluable moving forward. And thanks for the bootcamp link grinich, one of my partners and I will be attending.