Monday, October 12, 2009

Tearing down the App Store hype

Newsweek recently published an article entitled Striking It Rich: Is There An App For That?. While it's an interesting read, it's the typical post-hype tear-down article. Since the opening of the iTunes App Store, the press has relentlessly hyped the "get rich quick selling iPhone apps" story. Well, I guess the story has played out; now the tear-down begins.

It seems Newsweek has discovered that not everyone instantly strikes it rich. In fact, it takes most of us a lot of work, a bit of risk and more than a little perseverance to bootstrap a new business. And even successful iPhone developers in the hit-driven gaming segment are worried about how well their next game will sell. With a different tone, the article would actually be an interesting exposé on high tech entrepreneurship, but Newsweek writer Tony Dokoupil gives the piece an air of dejection and disillusionment.

David Barnard of App Cubby, who is featured in the article, wrote an interesting rebuttal (warning: contains a cute baby picture at the end).

iPhone developer Bjango also recently posted a rebuttal in their blog.

1 comment:

Kevin Bomberry said...

Hey Don, good article. I didn't see the original until I saw your posting. Thanks for the post!