Financial realities of the App Store – in real numbers

Two days ago I blogged about the proliferation of crapware on the App Store after Craig Hockenberry (IconFactory) wrote a scathing open letter to Steve Jobs.

This time App Cubby developer David Barnard writes about the financial realities of the App Store – posting actual numbers from the App Cubby bank account. (I selected Gas Cubby as one of the best iPhone apps in my 2008 Holiday Gift Guide.)

There are some amazing success stories on the App Store, but for every successful developer there are quite a few who haven’t come close to recouping their investment of time and/or money.

Barnard writes that App Cubby is doing quite well, but that it took a “Staff Pick” from Apple to get them over the hump and that...

...while I agree with the need for marketing, the only methods of marketing I’ve found to be measurably cost effective are working with the press and getting featured by Apple, both of which are essentially free, but incredibly hard to guarantee.

In his post Barnard compared the efficacy of advertising his iPhone apps via AdMob, AdWords and Freemium compared to the impact of a positive review. It's an enlightening blog post and my hat goes off to Barnard for his openness and candor in publishing the real numbers involved. I hope that more developers blog about the App Store and give us a peek under the kimono.