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Appillionaires: Secrets from Developers Who Struck It Rich on the App Store
team behind Harbor Master, who you’ll revisit later in this book.  ey
eschew all traditional visions of the storefront; Appillionaires work from
garages, bedrooms, and cafés, and then distribute their creations
electronically.
THE SIREN CALL
Perhaps more fascinating than the Appillionaires themselves is the mystery
and allure surrounding the app business. It’s become a siren call for thou-
sands and thousands of amateur programmers and designers intent on living
the App Store dream and becoming an overnight millionaire. One thing that
stood out as I interviewed the app makers in this book: O en they discov-
ered that complete strangers would stop and pitch them app ideas. Just as
doctors  nd people asking them for medical diagnosis at a party, the app
makers o en  nd themselves in the middle of impromptu pitching sessions.
“I get pitched app ideas all the time. I got a phone call from a friend
yesterday,” explains Mills. “He said to me: ‘You’re an app man, I’ve got an
idea for an app. I just don’t know what to do. Should I patent it?’,” Mills sighs.
“I said, ‘What idea have you got?’  en he told me he wanted to go half-and-
half. So, I would make the app based on his idea and he’d make half the
money.” Mills slams the table with his  st in anger. “I couldn’t even answer
him. What’s the point?” Mills is clearly a man who has been pitched apps
way beyond his tolerance point.
It seems that no sooner does a developer mention that he or she is in the app
business than a crowd gathers and starts pitching app ideas, or asking how
much he or she has made on the store. In this sense, the App Store increas-
ingly does resemble a gold rush. It might be this overwhelming popular
ambition to create apps that has caused a cynicism to take root. Tristan
Celder, whose company, Zolmo, created the phenomenally successful Jamie
Oliver 20 Minute Meals app, represents a growing number of developers
who think that the gold rush is now largely a myth — perpetuated by the
very developers who appear to be the richest.
“ ere’s a lot of hype surrounding apps that Google and Apple are very good
at manufacturing,” explains Celder. “To be Apple’s App of the Week looks like
a stream of gold, but doesn’t always come to fruition.  ere’s a lot of young
companies — start-ups — that are trying to in ate their own value to get
investors, so they’re happy for that hype to be there. But whenever someone
isn’t releasing download numbers, you have to wonder what’s really going on.”
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