From long time macOS and iOS developer Panic (the folks who produced the excellent Firewatch game, mentioned yesterday):
If you remember, 2016 was the year we killed Status Board, our very nice data visualization app. Now, a lot of it was our fault. But it was another blow to our heavy investment in pro-level iOS apps a couple years ago, a decision we’re still feeling the ramifications of today as we revert back to a deep focus on macOS. Trying to do macOS quality work on iOS cost us a lot of time for sadly not much payoff. We love iOS, we love our iPhones, and we love our iPads. But we remain convinced that it’s not — yet? — possible to make a living selling pro software on those platforms. Which is a real bummer!
The macOS marketplace is so much smaller than that for iOS, it’s much easier to stand out in the crowd, get the word out on excellent work. In addition, the smaller market allows for higher prices, so you can break even selling fewer copies.
Panic’s iOS apps are superb. Too bad there aren’t any complimentary products to make them worthwhile.
web site development tools for iOS are worthless.
I relay on Panic for two crucial Mac applications. Coda and Transmit. I use Coda almost every day. I know there are other solutions, but I always end up gravitating back to it. Coda + Emmet = Fast HTML/CSS
If you’re in a saturated market on iOS you’re not going to make money. If you have a kewl note taking app you’re not going to make money. If you make yet another podcast player..you’re not going to make money. If you eject your brain and decide that making a photo app is kewl…you’re not going to make money.
The apps that will make money have cornered their market and have brought unique features that are hard to duplicate. Say for instance the new Audiobus 3 which is now an unprecedented $9.99. AB3 can command this because there’s nothing else that approaches its power and flexibility. People “hate” spending money and the app store is overflowing with poorly crafted knockoffs.
Even Apple doubts the validity of Pro level apps on iOS. There’s no Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro on iOS. There isn’t even Xcode. This should tell you everything you need to know about iOS. It is ancillary device for a desktop/laptop for most people.
Panic needs to get Transmit 5 out the door. Ship a Coda 3 for no more than $59 with annual licensing for all updates. Create a database app that doesn’t suck.
The app store is full of “Freetards” that just want to consume as much junk as possible. Ignore these people, Evernote had to shake these losers off and so will other companies. You cannot survive when most of your clients are leeches.
This is very unfortunate. Apple keeps wanting to push the notion of pros using iOS but it just doesn’t seem to be much of a thing. I spend a lot of time blaming the App Store because it killed the notion of paid upgrades, which are (or were) the lynchpin of aggressive software development, especially for high-end apps. But there’s also the problem of the market simply not being there, from a standpoint of how demanding pro users are, how much work it is to implement the features they want, and how much revenue the dev will get. (But App Store paid upgrades would help with the last point).
I think what this is mostly says is that the iPad basically sucks as a “pro” platform.
Sure, there are a few users who have simple needs, or invent elaborate workflows (to do stuff that is trivial on the Mac), or whatever. But ultimately, the Mac and Mac OS’s huge fundamental advantages make it the best place to “do work” for most people.
I like the iPad for what it is, but it just isn’t a competent Mac replacement, and I don’t think it ever will be – at least not without seriously compromising what it is actually good at it.
I’m convinced the problem is that iOS apps in unsaturated but small markets should be unapologetically more expensive. Developers shouldn’t spend man years on a product with a small potential customer base and sell it for a buck.
If you build something incredible, people who want it are willing to pay for it. In fact, users who need your product would rather pay $50 today than $1 and wonder if it’ll still be around next year.
Charge what your product is worth in small markets.
Status Board was a bit of a niche product. They should’ve priced it higher.