Hi, this is a minute of Overpass, my name is Eric and I make apps.
Now this week I wanna ask, is the app market dead?
So I've been hearing a lot lately about the app industry being dead.
Like apps are over with, don't even bother making apps, right?
You can't make money with apps anymore, the market is too saturated and all that kind
of stuff.
And you know, what punctuates that point this week was that the fact that Rovio announced
that 38% of their staff were being laid off.
They were growing so fast a year ago that they thought they were just getting bigger
and bigger, and stronger and stronger, but they just kinda keep pace.
And the app market changes all these kinda stuff.
I mean it's a bit worrying when you're developing apps.
I was kinda worried about it.
However, things are different.
So I kinda wanna address this issue this week.
Do I think the app industry is dead?
No.
I mean, this is why I release new apps all the time.
Overpass releases one a week or at least a couple a month.
And we're constantly innovating, we're trying to come out with new stuff all the time.
I'm a one hundred percent into it.
I'm a full on app developer.
I make more money now than I did two years ago.
I make more money than I did a year ago.
I make more money than I did six months ago.
So I'm a full believer that you can make money with apps.
I make money with apps.
I'm a full time app developer.
However, I know other people who, a couple of years ago, who made apps as well, when
I talk to them now, they're kinda out of the game.
So it's different.
And they say the same thing, "Oh.
you can't make money with apps anymore, back then you could but it's too saturated.." and
all that kind of stuff.
The app market definitely is different.
It's much different than it was two years ago when I started, three years ago when I
started and it's different than it was in 2008 when the iPhone first started accepting
apps.
So one thing you noticed that things are different and there are three major reasons.
First is the saturation level.
There's thousands of apps being put on the app store every day so whereas before, you
could release an app and it wasn't a case of getting people to download it, it was a
case of can you get people to pay for it.
Now, it's like can you even get them to bother to download it, even get it in front of them
to get them to try it.
So it's much harder now to get noticed than it was back then.
And because there's so many people, so many companies in the app market, the quality of
the apps has gone way up.
Whereas before.
you could release something kind of simple and those kind of stuff, now, the quality
has to be much higher because in the app market you're right next to something that's really
well designed or has beautiful images, all that kind of stuff.
And also the buying habit.
People don't just go, well they do, but they don't as often go and just look at the Play
Store or the App Store as often as they used to.
They're not just, they won't go and download like ten apps in a day or whatever like that.
But the app market is still thriving.
Like I said, I make more money than I did back then.
And it kinda reminds me a little bit, I mean it always reminds me of the beginning of the
web.
I was a web developer back in '98, '99, 2000, and that's when everyone went crazy about
the web.
The web was easy money.
People just put out a website or start a tech company and the money would just flow in.
And then around 2002, the bubble burst and people found that, actually it wasn't sustainable.
There was no way to keep that going.
And I can remember back in 2002 thinking the web is dead.
People can't make money on the web anymore.
So, i'll just go work for a company.
It's very much the case now.
I mean, 2002 was before Facebook, it was before Twitter, it was before so many other things
that we see now even existed.
So it's premature to say that this is the end of the app market.
However, the rules of the app market change all the time.
What worked two years ago does not work now.
What will work a year from now is probably not what's working now.
For me, we have the top spy app on Google Play, next year it might not be.
It might be a completely different rule.
So it's something that I'm always thinking about.
The nice thing about having an industry where the rules always change is that it doesn't
matter when you join.
If you come out with your first app today, you're on the same position as somebody who
came out with an app a year ago.
You still have to learn how things are working today.
So they may be using the old rules where you would put out some AdMob ad or whatever it
is they're doing, keywords type of stuff, and whereas today, that might not work.
I mean, it changes for very many reasons.
Sometimes the app market changes their algorithm, sometimes they have the new things on the
phone, they have the new features.
And you always have to be growing.
It's not like set it and forget it, and you have to keep working on this and always be
looking at app numbers and stuff like that.
Is the app market done with?
No, it's not.
I'm living proof of it.
It works really really well but it's not a sure thing.
There's no easy money here.
So if you're developing an app or if you've released an app like a year ago, whatever,
and it didn't quite work out, I mean, keep trying at it, 'cause things just keep changing.
So that's it for this week's minute of Overpass.
I hope it's been helpful.
Don't lose heart, this is not the end of the app market.
Apps are not over.
Things are still going strong but it's a different playing field than it was a few years ago.
And if you can't keep up with the changes, then yeah, you're gonna fall by the wayside
and go to something else.
That's it, I'll talk to you next week.
Hey, thanks very much for watching the video.
If you like it, please do me a favor and just click on the like button down below.
I'd really appreciate it.
Now I do this video once a week, every Friday, so if you're interested in seeing more, then
just go ahead and subscribe to the channel and you'll see a pop up in your feed once
a week, and then I can tell you everything else we learn about in the future, about the
app market.
And finally, if you could be so kind, please leave a review.
If you're like me, you hate to leave reviews, I never leave reviews, so I'm gonna make it
easy for you.
If you like the video, just leave the review "Gnarley" right 80's, if you hated it say
"Bogus', and if you couldn't think anything of it , go ahead and just put "Eh".
That's it, i'll talk you next week.Thanks.
Bye!