Here's my opinion, build another app, or better yet build 3 other apps and diversify your income. 1 mobile app is not enough to require full time dedication, but having 3 or 4 apps to cycle between will keep you busy and should provide good money.
I upvoted, and you're not the first to suggest this either. But I must argue that to have 3 or 4 well-ranked apps with a solid income is easier said than done, especially for a single developer.
I wish I had the insight to know exactly what 3 or 4 other apps to write so I can have a steady income. But chances are by the time I finish writing 3 good apps a year from now, I'll be lucky if one of them has as much traction as this one.
The other choice would be to take this app that already has traction (from only my part time work) and pour more time an energy into it to see how big it could really get.
Depends on the app, but for us one mobile app is more than enough to keep one of our folks busy full time. It takes a heck of a lot of work and dedication to make a solid app.
I really wish we had a few more folks hacking on Android! cough we're hiring cough :P
As someone who's been doing the nights-and-weekends thing for a long time, my advice is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Do you really, really hate your job? Is it coming to a point where you have to choose one or the other?
Quitting your job and jumping onto your app full time might accelerate development, but it probably won't accelerate revenue, at least not a lot. Keep growing it on the side and take the leap when it's not a huge step down from your current income and when sales are steady enough that you feel comfortable.
Catch.com will bring you some tough competition since they raised a few million in capital and their app is free.
I've tried out a ton of todo list apps on Android theirs was the best.
Syncing with their site is key. I can type out a grocery list at home on my laptop onto their site. Then at the store pull out the phone and its there.
I agree, web app + sync is the big push I would need a lot of time to commit to.
And I've definitely seen catch/3banana before. I feel like they are more competitors to Evernote than to me. Simplenote's recent addition of a list feature has me more troubled, even though they don't have an android client yet.
Kinda, we are trying to make it easier to capture what matters (things, people, places) and be able to pivot on that data. Productivity is a nice onramp for that.
Folks have been asking for ToDo functionality for a while now, I want to keep the productivity features to an absolute minimum.
This is probably not the site that you are looking for!
You attempted to reach market.android.com, but instead you actually
reached a server identifying itself as *.google.com. This may be
caused by a misconfiguration on the server or by something more
serious. An attacker on your network could be trying to get you to
visit a fake (and potentially harmful) version of market.android.com.
You should not proceed.
I'm making anywhere from $500-$1500 a month, it really varies based on sales. The biggest leap I want to make is to offer a web version with sync, but that would be a rather large effort.
Ideally I'd like to see it become a Web+Device synced version of Things that actually exists.
Diversify. The mobile app market is very volatile, and you don't want to put your eggs in one basket. As many others suggest here you probably want to make a few other apps which have traction just in case your big one fails.
There's a lot going against you as time goes on. Other people roll out apps, technology changes which could suddenly cut your income -- so yea, highly recommend you diversify.
In my experience, when I am thinking about doing something (no matter how big or small), it generally turns out better when I do it instead of when I don't.
[+] [-] seanalltogether|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makeramen|15 years ago|reply
I wish I had the insight to know exactly what 3 or 4 other apps to write so I can have a steady income. But chances are by the time I finish writing 3 good apps a year from now, I'll be lucky if one of them has as much traction as this one.
The other choice would be to take this app that already has traction (from only my part time work) and pour more time an energy into it to see how big it could really get.
Thoughts?
[+] [-] aschobel|15 years ago|reply
I really wish we had a few more folks hacking on Android! cough we're hiring cough :P
[+] [-] MicahWedemeyer|15 years ago|reply
Quitting your job and jumping onto your app full time might accelerate development, but it probably won't accelerate revenue, at least not a lot. Keep growing it on the side and take the leap when it's not a huge step down from your current income and when sales are steady enough that you feel comfortable.
[+] [-] aschobel|15 years ago|reply
Shoot me an email, aschobel (at) catch.com and I can put you in touch with our Google Developer advocates, you definitely want to get featured.
What are you thinking of using for online sync/backup? RTM? Google lets you backup blobs using BackupManager, might be worth looking into.
Good luck!
[+] [-] dpcan|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makeramen|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmix|15 years ago|reply
I've tried out a ton of todo list apps on Android theirs was the best.
Syncing with their site is key. I can type out a grocery list at home on my laptop onto their site. Then at the store pull out the phone and its there.
That would be a great feature to offer.
[+] [-] makeramen|15 years ago|reply
And I've definitely seen catch/3banana before. I feel like they are more competitors to Evernote than to me. Simplenote's recent addition of a list feature has me more troubled, even though they don't have an android client yet.
[+] [-] aschobel|15 years ago|reply
Folks have been asking for ToDo functionality for a while now, I want to keep the productivity features to an absolute minimum.
[+] [-] RiderOfGiraffes|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aschobel|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bherms|15 years ago|reply
I checked out the app and it looks very nice. I will be buying soon.
[+] [-] makeramen|15 years ago|reply
Ideally I'd like to see it become a Web+Device synced version of Things that actually exists.
[+] [-] mrchess|15 years ago|reply
There's a lot going against you as time goes on. Other people roll out apps, technology changes which could suddenly cut your income -- so yea, highly recommend you diversify.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] vicngtor|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattm|15 years ago|reply