Is there a mobile apps gold rush? (hint: its no longer a question)
A good read, although the event was clearly biased towards iPhone developers it can be generalized across todays leading mobile platforms. For many a mobile app developer seeking riches it seems like the best advice is iterate quickly and often and if the app is not getting organic user adoption, move on to building another app. This is the same advice many web 2.0 entrepreneurs gave out over the last few years and I think its pretty solid given the rate of competition on mobile right now. By ‘organic user adoption’ I mean if you and your friends are not willingly using the app regularly for a few weeks its quite likely nobody else will bother either. The day of the fast buck is gone, its not that kind of gold rush in my opinion. Providing real value cannot be overstated in any business of course but the difference is, in mobile right now, with good distribution you can reach a receptive audience with your app and make solid revenues AS long as your app is valuable to users. Thats hugely different to when I started building mobile apps back in 2002, there was no appetite for apps on phones and very few distribution channels for your apps so you were left with building enterprise focused apps.
So, I for one will continue to promote the mobile app revolution taking place now and hope many readers will be inspired to continue working on all those cool apps to come.
