The Android Market has been known to have a few issues from a developer’s point-of-view, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t proven successful as a revenue generator.
Arron La, developer of the Android app “Advanced Task Manager,” wrote a blog post recently outlining the revenue he’s earned during the latter half of 2009 and 2010 up to this point. According to him, developing for Android has more than grown into a viable revenue stream.
La reports that the paid version of “Advanced Task Manager” generated $18,060 in 2009 and $30,400 so far in 2010. Since November 2009, AdMob revenues in the free version generated $28,640 as of August. In total that’s a little over $77,000 in revenue from just one app.
What’s interesting is what La reports as the largest inhibiting factors in terms of revenue growth. “Google Checkout and the Market app are probably the biggest things holding revenues back in Android right now,” he said. “The market application glitches often and causes download problems all the time. I’ve lost count of all the emails I’ve gotten over these past two years from users asking why my application won’t download. I’ve gotten so sick of these that I ignore most of them–I don’t even bother pasting a canned response.”
Other interesting tidbits were the fact that AdMob revenue, at times, was higher than that of the paid app, and that revenues increased substantially when the Droid on Verizon was released. In addition, things changed dramatically after Android 1.6 was released, which was when the Market app changed to highlight paid applications.
In the end, La gives great insight into how Android is performing for developers. “Although $80,000 total isn’t a lot compared to some of the overnight millionaire stories you hear about on the iPhone App Store, you’re able to generate good returns,” he said in the post. “On average, I’m getting around $10,000 a month after all cuts. Along with my full time job at IBM, I can say I am doing relatively well.”
