App Store — will developers become disillusioned?

With some 36.000 apps in the App Store, and .99 seeming to be the most common price, you have to wonder whether the developers are making much money. One hears about the success stories — which likely motivate more developers to jump in — but the reality is that a lot of apps don't do too well. You can read an interesting article about this in TechCrunch. It points to a post by a developer, titled "The Incredible App Store Hype," which says that even though one of his apps ranks #34 in the Social Networking apps, it brings in about $20/day. In fact, the post says that an app can rank in the top 100 and still bring in as little as $4 per day. The bottom line for this developer is that the App Store is a bit like a lottery, which isn't a very good business model for developers. The App Store has been a huge success, but you have to expect the momentum to slow or something to change in order for developers to stay motivated.