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What is the point of expensive apps? I want a app but it cost too much and I don't get why. Thanks
Expensive apps
- Thread starter Charliebrown39
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Expensive apps
- Thread starter Charliebrown39
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Gixer7502
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Pointless question!!!
Let me put it to you this way....
Lets say you own a programming company. You produce an app that with time and labor cost you $2-3k to develop... If say 10,000 people are willing to pay $2-3 for that app, are you going to give it away for free? or are you going to charge $2-3???
Times are somewhat difficult and for most people like yourself and others on this forum, money is tight (otherwise you wouldn't be belly aching about the price of the app). So why not earn/make extra money any way you can??? ( legally of course!!)
Lets say you own a programming company. You produce an app that with time and labor cost you $2-3k to develop... If say 10,000 people are willing to pay $2-3 for that app, are you going to give it away for free? or are you going to charge $2-3???
Times are somewhat difficult and for most people like yourself and others on this forum, money is tight (otherwise you wouldn't be belly aching about the price of the app). So why not earn/make extra money any way you can??? ( legally of course!!)
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thewitt
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The opportunity for profit for a popular app is there, however it is the rare app that can actually recover its development costs for $0.99.
If our apps don't sell 100,000 copies, they are financial failures...
Very few apps could be of value and only cost $3k for development. If you are paying US labor costs, that doesn't get you two weeks of a senior developers time... A quality app cn take months and several team members for development, so you are looking at tens of thousands of dollars.
If our apps don't sell 100,000 copies, they are financial failures...
Very few apps could be of value and only cost $3k for development. If you are paying US labor costs, that doesn't get you two weeks of a senior developers time... A quality app cn take months and several team members for development, so you are looking at tens of thousands of dollars.
jroddaudio22
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Hey guys sorry to butt in....but I don't really have a problem with spending a couple bucks...let's say $2-5 but I don't understand the $10, 20, 50 apps now that's just rediculius
thewitt
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Clearly the market will dictate what an app can sell for. Apple's iWork apps for $9.99 have set the stage for professional productivity apps. Anyone who sells for less is likely throwing away revenue - however they do need to offer competitive features.
Apps for $50 will be targeted at specific markets that will bear that price, not the mass market.
jroddaudio22
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I still disagree that any app is worth $50 I get what your saying about targeting specific markets but it's still alittle pricy...
Chris951
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jroddaudio22 said:
Not really. Look at how expensive Microsoft office is. Only people who absolutely need it or businesses that need it will buy it in most cases. That's what was meant by "specific markets".
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jroddaudio22
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I guess it depends on the app
thewitt
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Clearly it depends on the app.
We are currently working on a mass market app that should have very broad appeal. Development, marketing and support costs will be right around $150k in the first year, with ongoing support costs coming in about the same each year. If we don't sell 100,000 copies a year, the app will be a financial failure. We will price this one at $3.99 based on the competition, and expectations are high.
Let's break this down in the simplest of terms
Gross sales of 100,000 = $399,000
Apple takes 30%, so net sales = $279,000
Development, marketing and support first year is $150,000 so gross profit is $129,300
Taxes are 28% Federal and 10% State so net profit is $83,786
If we were to have sold that same 100,000 copies at $2.99 the net profit would have been only $38,426. At $1.99 it would have been a net loss of ($10k).
Since development, marketing and support costs for an app like this typically run $150k in the first year, we cannot even build a second app until the end of the second year assuming sales stay constant at 100,000 and costs do not go up unexpectedly.
What do we pay our investors with? If it comes out of that $83k net the first year, we do not get a chance to write that second app and grow, so when this app stops selling we close the doors...
The investors say sell that app for $4.99, so that first year net is $129k, but will the market bear that cost? Will we have to spend more than $40k in additional marketing to get those sales (resulting in a wash...).
It's the unusually successful app that sells 100,000 copies...
