My New iPhone App is Being Made – and I Formed a New Partnership!
My first iPhone app â?? iTimeout, has been on the market for over a month now and to be honest, it is not exactly earning a lot of money. In fact, I am lucky to be making $1 to $2 a day with this app and I can already see the daily downloads starting to decline. I treat this app as more of a learning experience; itâ??s not the kind of app that was going to skyrocket to the top of the bestsellerâ??s list and it not really attractive to kids. I have no regrets about spending the $125 to create iTimeOut and since its inception; I have built a friendship with Russ â?? the coder who built iTimeOut. Â
We talked a few times on Skype to discuss the details of iTimeOut and I began to bounce some other app ideas off Russ. While many of my ideas were good, they either werenâ??t quite good enough or they were already taken. iTimeOut hit the market and Russ and I kept touching base via Skype. Russ had begun getting a lot of requests for other work through elance and I kept brainstorming app ideas with him. Then one night â?? something crazy happened. I bounced an app idea off Russ and asked him how much he would charge for this type of app. Russ made me an offer I couldnâ??t refuse.Â
Russ liked my new app idea so much that he asked to go in to this app as my partner.  We decided to split all of the costs involved in making and marketing the app. Russ would take care of all of the coding, artwork and creating the app and I would have to do all of the marketing for the app. I think I thought about Russâ?? proposal for about 3 seconds before I agreed to team up with him in this new venture. This seemed like a win-win situation for both of us and if the app succeeds, hopefully Russ will earn far more than the full amount that I would have paid him to create the app. Russ is building a paid and free version of this app as well as a kidâ??s version and a free kidâ??s version. We have agreed to split all of the profits 50/50. Â
This may seem like a risky proposition for some, especially since Russ and I live thousands of miles apart and we have never met. (I keep joking with him that I am going to steal our profits and head to Mexico with the money!) But, I think I am pretty good at gauging people and their true intentions. Russ has been nothing but reliable and responsive throughout the entire process of making apps together. We do plan on making up a written agreement that states the details of our partnership and we agreed to host the app on my iTunes account and run the ads from Russâ?? AdMobs account, this way neither one of us would hold all the marbles.Â
This goes to show the value of a good idea. I got an app made for much less than full price, that probably would have cost me $500 to $800 to have made and Russ got what will hopefully be a winning idea and someone to market the app. I will also say that even though the initial idea was mine, Russ has put just as many of his own ideas into this app â?? including some great things that I would not even have thought of.Â
I wonâ??t be telling my readers about our app idea until it is live on the app store. I will tell you that there is nothing else like it available and it will be attractive to both kids and adults. I will also be spending some money on AdMobs ads to attract more downloads when the app is first released. Our app should go live sometime in early June and I am eager to see the results! Plus I canâ??t wait to drain our account and head to Cancunâ?¦just kidding Russ!Â
Best regards,Â
Michael-John WolfeÂ
Tags: make money online, royalties, residual income
13 Comments to “My New iPhone App is Being Made – and I Formed a New Partnership!”
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I keep mentioning that you should travel to Asia instead of Mexico with the profits, but oh well!
The app is nearly complete. 90% of the art and 80% of the code is complete. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Even my girlfriend is getting a kick out of it, and the app isn’t even finished. That’s a very good sign in the development of an app.
Hopefully it will launch strong. Even if it fails I’ll still keep trying. I’ve broke even thus far with my apps, so I can’t claim to have lost much. It’s paid for my Macbook, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, and even some software. not to mention the many contracts I get via Elance.
I’m sure the more apps I create, the better I’ll become at identifying what works and what doesn’t.
I think this app will work well. I feel good about it. We’ll see…
Yeah, I don’t think Mexico would be my destination of choice either, but to each his own.
It just seemed like the default place that fugitives run to!
I am glad you feel good about this venture, Russ! I am pumped!
MJ
Interesting idea! Did you decide to pursue the option of the free itimeout app on Android/iPhone in the end?
Michael, sounds like you’ve got a good partnership going on with this app. Remember, the app itself is one part of the success formula (how good it is) and the second part is exposure/marketing.
Good luck!
Yes, I have the iTimeOut active in a free version now – but I will be honest, I did not market it at all. It’s a simple countdown timer – there really isn’t much to market. (I only have it free for the iPhone, I have yet to make it free for Andriod) Russ and I have a marketing plan for this new app which includes purchasing AdMob ads, producing a YouTube video, submitting to app review websites and much more. I have the confidence necessary to market this second app properly. When I see stuff like “Stool Scanner” in the top 25 list – there’s no reason this app cannot achieve that level of success!
MJ
That makes sense about not too much marketing. I only asked because I am one of the growing hordes of people who have Android phones (think they are now outselling iPhones – certainly they are in the UK and US) and looked for your app and only saw a paid version!
“looked for your app and only saw a paid version!”
Yes, we only did the free iPhone version as I’ve been very busy and haven’t had time for it. Our new app will certainly sell more so it makes sense to postpone the free Android version until later.
Oh man, this is very exciting. I really want to know what it is, haha! But I guess I can wait (unless you want to email me so i can give you some ideas on how to market it!)
Keep the ideas flowing, and I’m glad you found a great developer right off the bat to work with. Our first one was a flop, and he even stole money from us (4 digits of money worth, that’s all I’m going to say =P), but we’ve bounced back and are profiting more and more each day.
Keep it up, and I hope to see you at the top of the charts!
Thanks Pat! Russ and I are excited! Just like many of your apps – this app is a humorous, gag-type app. That sucks that you lost that money to the app developer. I am guessing that you did not use elance? (Since they have an escrow program) Glad your apps are still doing well!
MJ
Thanks for the reply! I am sure you will be targeting both Android and Apple with your new app, especially now that Android has become more popular! One company worth trying to get a review is eurodroid (if it is an app which is appropriate for Europe). They get a fairly decent amount of traffic and seem to always be doing reviews on apps people have sent them!
The app is finished! Hurrah!
In fact, all four versions are complete. There will be paid, free, kids, and kids free versions.
It’s been difficult trying to find the time to finish the app. However, I think the effort has paid off. It came out pretty nice and is fun to use with friends. I think it may become one of those ‘must show off to friends’ apps! Or maybe abuse friends?!
Here’s to hoping Apple approves! You never know…
SWEET! Nice work Russ! It came out AWESOME! Let the marketing begin! Apple better approve, or I’ll be on the horn with Steve Jobs himself!
MJ