« The 'Minority Report' user interface is here | Main | Rhetoric and realities of transparency »

Detailed financial results from an iPhone developer: what they are earning

Ross Dawson, November 16, 2008 11:51 AM US PT

Following my post yesterday on financial transparency my brother Graham released complete sales and financial details for his OzWeather iPhone app. This should prove extremely useful to those who are developing iPhone apps or considering doing so.

Covered in his detailed post are daily revenue data since the app’s release, estimates of development costs, and comparison with advertising revenue from the initial web app.

The upshot is that Graham is currently earning around A$220 per day from the app, and if sales continue on current trends, he will get a pay-back on development costs of 2-3 months (though in this calculation he has used a per diem rate that is far less than a market rate for his skills).

Clearly the OzWeather app is a particularly high-quality app that meets a consumer need (though it has competitors).

Hopefully more iPhone and other software developers will release financial information, as Graham requests in his post. It makes it far easier for the entrepreneurial community to assess where they should be investing their energy, benefiting everyone.

3 Comments

Keelan Hastings said:

Thank you for your story. It was very helpful. Do you know where I can find more information like this?

Keelan

November 16, 2008 4:25 PM

Ross Dawson said:

Unfortunately not Keelan - this sort of information is unfortunately scarce. Please let me know if you find anything else on these lines.

November 17, 2008 9:36 PM

Keelan Hastings said:

I will continue my search and let you know my findings if any.
Thanks again

November 18, 2008 6:44 AM

Ross Dawson is globally recognized as a leading futurist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, strategy advisor, and bestselling author. He is Founding Chairman of four companies: professional services and venture firm Advanced Human Technologies, future and strategy consulting group Future Exploration Network, leading events firm The Insight Exchange, and influence ratings start-up Repyoot.

Ross is author most recently of Implementing Enterprise 2.0, the prescient Living Networks, which anticipated the social network revolution, and the Amazon.com bestseller Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships (click on the links for free chapter downloads). He is based in Sydney and San Francisco with his wife jewellery designer Victoria Buckley and two beautiful young daughters.