How to Make Money with a Mobile App?

Apps for mobile devices have become commonplace. Mobile phone owners are growing passionate about apps, regardless of whether their phone is powered by Android or iOS. Of course, Facebook, Google, and other large corporations provide applications for their social networks, email, storage, and other services, but there is a slew of other downloaded apps that offer a wide range of services and fantastic capabilities.

Do all apps make money?

There is a smartphone app for booking a hotel. Need to keep track of your appointments? For that, there is a mobile app. There's a smartphone app for that if you want to meet someone online. If you want to learn to meditate or learn a language, there's a mobile app for that as well. In fact, anything you can think of, there's almost certainly a mobile app that can assist you to accomplish your goals.

While there are several 'vanity' projects (when someone produces a mobile app solely for the sake of making one) that are often distributed for free, the great majority of developers create mobile apps with one goal in mind: to make money.

How can a mobile app generate revenue?

Apps generate revenue in two ways: indirectly and directly. If a web hosting company, for example, provides a mobile app that allows mobile phone users to access their hosting servers, this level of convenience is quite likely to persuade a potential customer to choose that provider's services over those of another. That means the app is indirectly responsible for income generation. Similarly, an app for an online store/eCommerce site does not generate revenue in and of itself, but rather supports the store/business site's model.

But what about making money from a mobile app directly? How do you go about doing that?

Of course, we're all familiar with paying for a mobile app on the Play Store or App Store, and app developers profit from this. However, you may be startled to learn that Google takes 30% of the cost of each software purchased from the Play Store. Similarly, Apple with its App Store apps.

While the developer receives 70% of the revenue, unless the software is a huge success with millions of downloads, he or she will most likely be unable to leave their day job. A mobile app developer must explore a variety of options before deciding which is best for his or her product/service.

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