#apple

But the picture starts out bleak. The average developer gets to pocket a mere $3,050 per year, and this is still considered 'above typically successful', and the most typical developer earns less than that per year.

The development of the typical app cost $35,000 and the median paid app earns $682 dollars per year after Apple took its cut. You see where this is going.. We get to break even on our App Development costs in... 51 years

This is a shower of cold water on the App Store hysteria that Apple, Google and Ovi are feeding. Another interesting aspect of it is that if you're a developer who wants to develop new skills and gain some visibility, a smaller platform like the #N900 might make more sense than the bigger App Stores. Even though there are fewer devices out there, the small number of apps available means you'll have better chances of gaining visibility.

From the GigaOM thread: There is a large and growing over-supply of developers. Certainly, there will still be some (many?) who hit one out of the park and make five or six figure returns – but there will be many more whose ROI is paltry.

I guess that goes for most of the modern world: there is oversupply of everything because there are just some many people compared to the possible economic activity the planet can support.

A lot of developers make money on the AppStore indirectly -- not by selling their apps, but by selling their services to ie. companies producing apps. This is especially true for marketing/promo apps which are seriously starting to take off now. Those apps don't earn any money directly hence the position of developers is not dependent on their direct money success.

BTW, by "marketing" I don't mean stupid gimmicks but actual products with functionality. Ie. the ZARA app is a good example - showing you an up-to-date ZARA catalogue, availibility of items in shops around you, sizes, prices etc...