Note: Mass-market applications follow different business cases and success strategies than Business-to-Business Applications or Business Operations Applications.

At Firestitch, we talk to a lot of prospective clients.

The most common types applications we get inquiries on include:

• Uber clones
• Service marketplaces
• Social media aggregation services

https://www.quora.com/How-much-money-do-you-make-from-your-Android-application

What it takes to build a popular App:

• A great idea that doesn’t already exist that solves a common problem
• A very simple, focussed minimum viable product that solves the problem clearly and concisely.
• An effective communication strategy – ideal medium depends on your target market, eg (from best to good):
  • Direct communication channel to your target audience (an endorsement from a blogger/tweeter/website where your target frequents)
  • Search engine optimization bringing people to an App Marketing Page
  • Targetted promotion on relevant forum posts, blogs and information pages
  • Grass-roots social media
  • Pay per click

Note that pay per click is a unique option on the list.  You need to make enough on your App per user to justify paying for user acquisition.  Depending on your revenue model per user, pay per click could be a bad option in all cases, or could be a great option to mix in with the remaining mediums.

[Cost per user] = [Price per click] / [% conversion rate of a click into a customer]

[Return on Investment] = [Average revenue per user] / [Cost per user]

What it takes to build a profitable App:

• Start with a
• Keep your costs as low as possible
• Budget at least

What it takes to get rich off an App:

 

Things we’ve observed: