作者：Peggy Albright

手机应用在无线领域处于核心位置，但尽管它们起到关键作用，多数制作这类应用的开发者依然觉得要在此取得成功非常困难，而要创收则更是难上加难。

如今这一挑战出现新情况，Evans Data Corp.此前公布了他们就全球开发者进行的最新调查结果。该公司表示，多数应用开发者利用业余时间制作他们的应用，与此同时他们通过其他方式维持生计。

他们发现，在针对应用商店制作应用的开发者中，只有超过1/4（26%）的人员是全职专业开发者，他们的全部收益都来自于开发应用。其中最大比例（41%）的族群是兼职人士，他们既是专业的全职软件开发者，又利用业余时间开发应用。另外22%是认真的“业余爱好者”，他们的主要工作和软件开发无关，但他们有技术背景，具备开发手机应用的技能。剩余11%是学生和毕业生，他们也利用自己的业余时间开发应用。

Evans Data高级产品经理Ben Hanley表示，虽然兼职人员的主导地位及其他兼职方式清楚表明，开发者不愿意拿自己的事业开玩笑，在手机应用开发上孤注一掷，但有26%的开发者靠此谋生对于此新兴行业来说是个良好征兆。

他表示，“我们预计行业将逐步成熟。久而久之，你会发现，相比其他类型的开发者，全职开发者的比例呈逐步增长趋势。”

给开发者的建议：追随你的热情，但要保持理智

关于如何逐步创建手机业务，Arvani Group负责人Azita Arvani曾给许多公司提供自己的建议，对于那些想要在应用开发领域有所建树的人士，他也发表自己的若干看法。

她表示，“无论做什么，你都必须满怀激情，不要出于迎合自己的专业或某种兴趣。”

她给开发者提供如下几点建议：

* 如果你寻求融资，那么产品需具有扩展性，这样你能够覆盖广泛的用户，迎合投资者的兴趣。

* 要获得广泛覆盖面，应用需具有国际吸引力。

* 应用需具有较高质量，不仅要能够在设备上顺利运作，还要能够和网络顺利连接，展开互动。

* 公司需要持续推出作品更新内容，以同其他野心勃勃的公司相匹敌。

* 最后，公司必须同自己在应用商店外培养和维护的用户基础建立稳固的关系。

她表示，“你定希望获得忠实用户。”

Pizza vs. Skeletons from appadvice.com

两家值得借鉴的成功应用开发公司：OneLouder和Riverman Media

两家建立起可行应用业务且拥有忠实用户的公司是OneLouder和Riverman Media。OneLouder是家获得风投资本的正式公司，发展非常迅速。Riverman Media是从兼职业务成功演变而来，公司选择保持小规模及独立性。

OneLouder from prweb.com

OneLouder成立于2011年7月，主要开发社交手机应用，初期主要销售公司的首个产品TweetCaster。OneLouder表示，TweetCaster是基于Twitter的最热门第三方应用。他们还有很多其他产品，其中包括SportCaster和FriendCaster。

tweetcaster from prweb.com

OneLouder从手机应用经销商Handmark独立出来。Evan Conway（游戏邦注：他之前是Handmark高管，现在任OneLouder总裁）表示，从一开始，他和团队伙伴就对新业务有非常明确的想法。他们想要开发能够创造性运用Android和Twitter、能够立即从广告中赚取丰厚收益的免费应用。没有基础设施、技术人员及广告创收业务负责人员，我们就无法创建这一业务。公司从Handmark及若干风投公司哪里筹得资金，顺利支撑其开发工作。

OneLouder已能够独立经营。Conway表示，截止去年7月，OneLouder用户下载公司应用1500万次。约有400-500万用户本月将使用他们的产品。有超过100万用户每天使用他们的应用，其中有些用户每天使用他们的应用10-15次。OneLouder每月有超过10亿次的广告印象。

Conway称OneLouder的商业模式主要归结于3点：“竭尽全力制作出最佳产品，吸引用户眼球，然后通过杰出广告能力进行创收。”

但Conway表示，持续获得用户及保持发展势头绝非易事。首先，行业事态纷繁复杂，公司很容易就会偏离他们的核心目标。其次，这是项非常艰巨的任务。OneLouder现有员工26人。团队每周至少进行一次产品更新，公司持续强化其营销和广告工作。

他表示，“你要有毅力保持每周体验游戏。1周相当于1年的2%。”

Riverman Media from obsoletegamer.com

Riverman Media专攻程序化的未来主义2D手机游戏。公司回绝两家知名社交手机公司的收购邀约。

Jacob和Paul Stevens两兄弟于2005年创建这一公司，起初主要作为副业，但公司过去几年来都维持自力更生状态。他们表示公司的应用已有200万次下载量，虽然他们不愿透露具体销售数量。他们的最新作品《Pizza vs. Skeletons》被评为当周热门iPhone游戏。

Stevens兄弟有明确而坚定的商业哲学，那就是坚持他们的美学原则，维持他们在行业中的独立性。他们的着眼点是基于iOS设备开发2D游戏，他们积极通过持续完善产品，维持忠实用户的兴趣。

Stevens表示，“我们的目标是创造足够维持独立状态的收益，继续制作出更杰出的作品。”

Jacob Stevens称他们通过着眼于2D图像及避开网页游戏（游戏邦注：这类游戏的开发和扩展成本很高）降低成本和风险。他们没有打广告，倾向通过留言板和其他“自然”渠道发现用户，他们对虚拟交易不感兴趣。他们的收费标准是99美分-2.99美元/下载。

Stevens表示，在他看来，要在这一领域胜出的最佳方式是，留心如下要点：确定能够通过一句话向新用户描述的构思，保持小规模团队和低成本制作。他表示，他的公司在设备和软件的支出通常不会超过1万美元。

他表示，“如果你清楚出自AAA工作室之手的作品最终可能会在iPhone平台以失败告终，那么你就会在游戏开发的投资上保持谨慎态度。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Making money in mobile apps isn’t easy: Majority of app developers are moonlighters

By Peggy Albright

Mobile applications have a central place in the wireless industry but despite their pivotal role, most developers who create these apps find it very difficult to succeed in this business and even harder to make money at it.

The challenges gained new context last week when Evans Data Corp. released findings from its latest survey of global developers. The company revealed that the vast majority of application developers develop their apps on a part-time basis while they earn their incomes in other ways.

The firm found that among developers who create apps specifically for distribution via app stores, just more than one-fourth (26%) are full-time mobile app professionals who derive most of their income from their apps. The largest group (41%) is made up of moonlighters who have professional, full-time jobs as software developers and create their apps in their spare time. Another 22 percent are serious “hobbyists” who do not develop software in their regular jobs but do have technical backgrounds and the skills to create mobile apps in their free time. The rest (11%) are students and recent graduates who are also developing apps in their spare time.

While the dominance of moonlighters and other part-time approaches to this business suggests that developers are not willing to gamble their careers on their mobile apps, the fact that 26 percent are making a living at it is actually good sign for an industry that is as new as this one, said Ben Hanley, senior product manager at Evans Data.

“We expect the industry to mature,” he said. “Over time you will see the proportion of full-time developers grow relative to the other major profiles.”

Advice for developers: follow your passion but be smart about it

Azita Arvani, principal of Arvani Group, has advised numerous companies on how to build mobile businesses over the years and offered some suggestions for those that are trying to make a mark in the app development industry.

“Whatever you do, you must be passionate about it, and not working out of your domain of expertise or level of interest,” she said.

She offered this list of tips for developers:

* If you’re looking for funding, the product must be scalable so that it can gain massive adoption to justify an investor’s interest.

* To gain massive adoption the app must have international appeal

* The app must be high quality and not only perform well on the device but also perform well in how it connects with and interacts over the network.

* The company must continually come out with new product updates to compete with other aggressive firms.

* And finally, the company must build a strong relationship with its customers that it nurtures and maintains separately from the app store.

“You want loyal customers,” she said.

Two successful app development firms to learn from: OneLouder and Riverman Media

Two firms that have built viable app businesses with very loyal customers include OneLouder and Riverman Media. OneLouder launched as a formal business with venture funding and is scaling up quickly. Riverman Media has successfully evolved out of a moonlighting business and has chosen to remain small and independent.

OneLouder, which was launched in July 2011 to build social mobile applications, was established initially to sell its initial product, TweetCaster. The company says that TweetCaster is the most popular third-party app based on Twitter. It has a handful of other products, including SportCaster and FriendCaster.

OneLouder was spun off from the mobile app distributor, Handmark. Evan Conway, then an executive at Handmark and now president of OneLouder, said that from the very beginning he and his colleagues had a very specific vision for the new business. They wanted to build a business with apps that use Android and Twitter in creative ways, that are free, and that would generate revenues from advertising immediately. This type of business can’t be built without infrastructure, a technical staff, and people to manage the advertising-based monetization part of the business. The company raised funds from Handmark and several venture capital firms to support its launch.

OneLouder is already self-supporting. Since last July, Conway said, OneLouder customers have downloaded 15 million of its apps. Between four and five million people will use their products this month. More than a million use the products on any given day and a typical customer uses their app ten to 15 times per day. OneLouder is seeing more than a billion ad impressions per month.

Conway said OneLouder’s business model comes down to three things:  “Build absolutely the best products we can, attract an audience and monetize it through best-in-class advertising capability.”

But continually winning over users and building momentum is not easy, Conway said. For one thing, there is so much going on in the industry that companies can get distracted from their core objectives. For another thing, it’s really difficult work. OneLouder now has 26 employees. The team completes at least one product update every week and it is continually beefing up its marketing and advertising efforts.

“On an ongoing basis you need to have the stamina to really play this game every week,” he said. “Every week is 2 percent of your year.”

Riverman Media specializes in stylized and futuristic 2D mobile games. The firm has turned down two offers from prominent social mobile companies that wanted to acquire it.

Jacob and Paul Stevens, two brothers, started the company in 2005 as a sideline business but the business has been self supporting for the past couple years. The developers say they’ve delivered 2 million downloads of their products, although they won’t divulge how many of those were purchased. Its most recent release, Pizza vs. Skeletons, was awarded the iPhone game of the week.

The Stevens brothers have a clear and unwavering business philosophy, and that is to stick to their aesthetic principles and maintain their independence in the industry. They focus entirely on their core skill of developing 2D games for iOS devices and they strive keep their users loyal intrigued by continuing to improve their products.

“Our goal is really to just earn enough money that we can decline outside money, fund ourselves and keep making better and better games,” Stevens said.

Jacob Stevens said they keep their costs and risks low by focusing on 2D graphics and avoiding network-based games that are costly to serve and scale. They do not advertise, preferring to find their users through message boards and other “organic” means, and they have no interest in in-app purchasing. They charge from 99 cents to $2.99 per download.

Stevens said the best way to succeed in this business, from his perspective, is to observe the following: have a concept that can be explained in one sentence to people who don’t know anything about apps, keep the team small and expenses to a minimum. His firm won’t spend more than $10,000 on equipment and software to create a product, he said.

“If you understand that a game can come out from an AAA studio and flop on the iPhone, you have to be incredibly careful with the amount you spend making a game,” he said.（Source：fiercedeveloper）