I was doing fine, being on the top three list of one of these markets, but I soon noticed that if you don’t keep marketing yourself, the position shifted from month to month, due to the large number of crappy files being uploaded on the website. This is exactly what is happening to the Apple Store as we speak.

This situation has put me in the position to create my own store, in which me and the team I lead are building the best Flash Components, and we’re giving them away for free. This way we get the traction we need, but we also prepare ourselves for the final battle with the established competitors.

The problem is that in order to sell apps, you need to do it through Apple store, which wasn’t the case for us. If Apple would allow any developers to sell their own apps, I bet there will be a lot of companies out there that will be more focused on marketing their own products, rather than expecting Apple to do everything for them (there is really no solution).

The first problem is that the noise level on the App Store is so high that the types of promotion that are within the reach of an independent software developer may not be sufficient to get an app noticed.

The second major problem is that the market is too dynamic. The number of apps is doubling every three or four months. User expectations are rising. Niches are quickly becoming over saturated. And ASPs are dropping. Such dynamic conditions make “marketing and PR plans” the equivalent of fortune telling. They also work counter to a quality product development process with lots of up-front design based on deep product knowledge and research.

Without a huge marketing budget or Apple throwing blessings your way by way of featuring your app on the App Store front page or just dumb luck your app can’t get noticed. I’m observing lots of quality apps fall off the charts even though they are doing their marketing correctly.

Must be a slow burner! But I agree, this is probably better than a lot of apps do.

The difference now is that a) many devs are doing it part time and at no risk to themselves b) unlike those Web2 companies pretty much all paid iPhone apps make some money

The problem arises when people have a small amount of success then quit their day jobs only to find it’s not repeatable. It’s a shame when that happens, but then again… 3D Realms anyone? It happens to the best of us.

I say enjoy the ride, and don’t take the App Store too seriously just yet unless you’ve got funding or a very long-term strategy.