Hi this is A Minute of Overpass.
My name is Eric and I make apps.
Now this week I want to talk about how the era of easy app money is over.
So this week there's been a couple of interesting bit of news that I learned which is kind of
interesting.
First of all, there's a few people in the app industry, I mean I've been in it three
years ago, it's been over three years since I released my first app, you know, three million
downloads ago all those kind of stuff.
When I first got into it I didn't know very much.
You kind of, you know, you read everything everybody writes.
You read the books, all the "Become an App Millionaire" book and all that kind of stuff,
and you read all the blogs and all the podcast and everything like that.
And one very prominent person from the app industry who'd written a few books that I've
read in the early days and even I went to go see speak in like a seminar, how to blog
and I would read this person's blog all the time, and then like a year ago it just sort
of stopped.
And every so often I check back and think it's kind of strange.
And then I just recently I checked it again, well basically the person came on and said,
did another post and said "Sorry but I've gotten out of apps, you know, I just don't
think we can make money with it anymore.
It's too crowded", all this kind of stuff.
And you're seeing this a lot.
I mean, I'm seeing this a lot.
A lot of the people who were the gurus or the people who were saying "this is why should
do an app" or "become a millionaire", "the app millionaire lifestyle" and all this kind
of stuff are getting out of the industry because it's getting much more difficult.
And it's kind of like the bubble that we kinda all knew it was there, is starting to bust
or it has burst, or whatever.
It used to be when you release an app, I can remember releasing an app a couple years ago
called SpyBot Deployment, and that first day had like three thousand downloads.
The second day was like eight hundred, it sort of tapered off, but it was just like
I couldn't believe how easy it was.
And now, it's like you release an app and you have to really really try to get people
in to see it or to view it and the app market is so crowded, it's much more difficult.
However, it is still possible to do.
It's not this magic thing anymore.
It's kind of nice that the bubble has burst because people - I mean, I got an email like
a month ago from somebody saying , "Eric, I have this app idea.
I'm tired of people making all this money through apps and I want a piece of this action"
It was the fact that he said "a piece of this action" that I turned on the project because
you know it's really not magic.
If you have a product and you sold at Walmart or like if you have a product like you're
going to sell, I don't know, dusters, feather dusters.
So you're sell feather dusters and they're kind of unique, and a unique design and everything
like that.
You would take it to Walmart and Walmart put on their shelves, but then you gotta hope
that people buy them.
right.
So you can't depend on Walmart to market it for you.
You can't depend on other people the market for you.
You have to do that.
It's the same way.
I mean, you can make money from apps.
I make more money from apps now than I ever have in the past.
Now that might be different two months from now but it is hard.
I mean, it's so difficult like when through Overpass we do your client work too and it's
difficult to tell people, you say, "Yeah, you know what, making the app is the easy
part.
We'll make something that you really really like, we make something that you'd really
proud to call your own, but it's gonna be hard to get it out there in front of people,
right.
It's just it is.
And that's a bit, you know, I can you give advice but we can't really help you with that,"
And it's just kind of interesting the way that that that market is going.
So the other bit of news and I saw this week was the Vice President of Google or for Android
said that companies are going too crazy about apps.
They're releasing an app for everything when in reality they could be a website for most
of those, so like a mobile website.
So if you're not going to interact with a company like, every day or you even know,
a couple times a week, then there's no reason for them to actually have an app, which is
absolutely true.
So it's another thing for my industry.
At least in client work.
A lot of people come to us with app ideas and you think "well, that could just be a
website" and it's difficult to talk them out of it because apps are magic and everybody,
you can make so much money with apps, you can be millionaire.
And I tell you what, as far as being an app millionaire is concerned, if you could see
my mansion, ah you would just be so jealous.
And my Lamborghinis.
I have to do one of those those Lamborghini videos, whatever, so you could see all that.
The reality is that I make most of my money from apps.
The app income is like about 70% of my income at the moment.
So it's nice and I'll only have to do a small bit amount of client work and it gives me
a lot more freedom, it's a lot more fun.
But it didn't start out that way.
It wasn't like you release your app and then all of a sudden you're on easy street.
It was just like work at it, work at it, work at it, work at it and it's not easy.
So what I could tell you is, I wanna be the opposite of the people who say you should
go into the app industry for that app millionaire lifestyle.
'Cause we have so much, I mean it sells books, it sells Udemy courses, it sells a lot of
things.
But I want to say, it is hard.
It is hard to release an app.
It is hard mainly because it's just to get people using it.
To get people to spend money is getting harder and harder every day but it is possible.
You just have to look at it like, as you would any other product, right.
So apps are not magic but if you're in this with me, I'll help you as much as I can.
Give me a call, let's keep in touch because you know we're all in this together.
We learn things from each other . If you read a book from 2012 or 2013 or even 2014 about
apps and app marketing, it would be so out of date right now.
If you're watching this video in 2017, right now it's the end of 2015, this video is probably
out of date.
I mean, this thing moves so quickly and the the market changes so much that new rules
come out all the time, so that's it.
So that's a bit of a rant this week, not really a topic.
I just wanna say, my message this week is the era of big money in apps is over.
The sanity is starting to descend and those of us who stay in, it is harder than it was
before but you know everything's hard.
There was nothing magic about apps to begin with.
That's it I'll talk to you next week.
Hey, I really hope you liked that video.
Now I do this once a week, so if you wanna hear more or you wanna hear more about our
experiences with the app store, either Google Play or iTunes, please go ahead and subscribe
to the channel and please like this video and leave a comment.
I love reading the comments, I love hearing what you have to say, even if it's just hello
or whatever.
And like I say before, If you're not sure what to say in a comment, like I never know
what to say in a comment, I'll make it easier for you.
Like if you liked it, just go ahead and say "Gnarley", which is an 80's term, or if you
didn't like it, just say "Bogus", and didn't think any of it, just say "Eh".
So that would be a big help.
And another thing you could do, which I'd really appreciate it, if you're on the app
store and you wanna try one of our apps, look up some of the Overpass Apps applications
either on iTunes or Google Play and leave a review and let us know what you think about
it, either good or bad.
We're all trying to build up in the market so that would be a big help.
So that's it, I'll talk to you next week.