The rise of the app entrepreneur

**Clinton** · March 21st, 2010, 04:53 PM

Nice article at the BBC.

Anyone here into apps, building an app, owner of an app or looking to buy an app?

Is there even a market for apps? Where would one go to buy an app business?

**LukeMoulton** · March 21st, 2010, 05:28 PM

Did a podcast a little while back with an app entrepreneur. If you're interested you can listen to it here. Let's just say it's amazing what people will buy.

To cut a long story short, this guy approached it very strategically, found an unsaturated app niche and built accordingly. He targeted a particular age/demographic and mainly used Facebook PPC to market it. Sold about 100,000 apps in 6 months (from memory). Development cost = $10k. Time = lots.

From the little I've head about app sales - there can be difficulties transferring the ownership in iTunes, but evidently it is possible.

**Clinton** · March 22nd, 2010, 05:07 AM

Thanks, Luke, interesting interview, I'll go back and read it in more detail in a minute. Do you see yourself facilitating the sale of apps on Flippa?

**LukeMoulton** · March 22nd, 2010, 11:30 PM

I wouldn't rule it out, however, we've already got plenty on our plate.

**JJMcClure** · March 23rd, 2010, 05:31 AM

I have a friend who just got his first App accepted by Apple, I haven't spoken to him about how his sales are going yet.

**tke71709** · March 23rd, 2010, 06:28 AM

I had a friend who had an app accepted by Apple a while ago (it was essentially a mobile version of his trip diary website).

I believe he sold a few thousand when it was first released, haven't spoken to him in a while though to see if sales continued or not.

**JJMcClure** · March 23rd, 2010, 08:33 AM

I think this is a growoing market plus having some kind of useful App on your own site is a great way to acquire strong backlinks and improve your serach engine rankings.

**Clinton** · March 23rd, 2010, 03:14 PM

I've now read the whole transcript of the iphone app interview. I don't have hair but I wanna haircaster!

Nice little side business you got going there, "Lukey"

Do you own that site with Tim?

**Clinton** · May 17th, 2010, 08:33 AM

Some more app success stories from the BBC today.

So, we have two smart young self-taught developers who have found that in the new app economy they can compete with software giants and win. They may turn out to be one-hit wonders. But both Greg and Edward are now planning to develop more apps, and their success may inspire others to try their hand.