In one of my books I’ve written about how the Internet has had the incredible effect of cheapening creativity (Jeff’s book). To that point, this terrific article in the New York Times offers a very candid, personal account of how near impossible it is to make money developing mobile apps (NYT Article).
To his credit, the guy featured in the article who made a million bucks with a gaming app in the early days of the app gold rush (aka right place, right time, which is fine, but that’s what it was), is the first to say that things have changed dramatically. Ain’t so easy anymore. In fact, it’s near impossible. This is what the Long Tail is all about.
A quick thought about software developers: while they are all over the place, the really incredibly talented and smart ones - what I refer to as software ninjas - are very, very hard to find. They are a special breed, and they are golden. There is a HUGE difference between the majority of coders who love to go to school on your nickel (another point made in my book) and the super-smart guys who can build an app that is incredible and can be a breakout. It’s now a very, very, very hard thing to do.