Development

Sam Vermette of The Transit App wanted multi-colored versions of the little pulsating blue dot Apple uses to show your current location in maps, and Apple doesn't expose a public way to do that. So, he had to rebuild it from scratch. Or, in more technical terms, according to Vermette's blog:

The second day of the second annual Cingleton Symposium -- Ç deux -- was all about the presentations. With Guy English serving as master of ceremonies, a series of all-star developers, designers, media, took turns on the stage.

A recent survey by a marketing firm called App-Promo shows that 59% of developers don't manage to make enough money from app sales to break even on costs, and 80% don't generate enough revenue to support a standalone business. 68% earned $5000 or less from their top app, while 12% earned $50,000 or more.  Those top earners have around $30,000 set aside for a marketing budget.  64.5% of the apps created by those surveyed were paid, while 39.5% relied on advertising and 32.9% were freemium or lite versions of full apps.

Or, why building a solid iMore for iPhone app ain't like dusting crops, boy!

Han Solo's right. People release thousands of apps a week into the App Store, with varying levels of commitment and forethought to the final products. At Nickelfish, we pride ourselves on not being those kinds of people. Which is why when Rene and the Mobile Nations guys came to us and asked us to build them a great iMore app, we said yes. Obviously, as a podcast host and occasional contributor to iMore, on a personal level I'm deeply invested in making iMore and Mobile Nations look as good as possible, so there was a definite component to this project that made the stakes a little higher. It also made making choices that much more difficult. That's what it's all about though -- making the right choices at the right time, and releasing a product of which you can be proud.