Developing Perspective

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I am delighted to announce that today I am launching a new development related podcast with Marco Arment. It is called Under the Radar and starts today on the fine Relay FM Network.

I have been doing Developing Perspective since July 13, 2011 (roughly 4.5 years). During that time I have chronicled the rises and falls of being an independent developer in the App Store. I am immensely proud of Developing Perspective and glad that I have it to refer to later on as I look back on my career.

The time has come now to embark on a new adventure in podcasting.

Back in late 2010 a new podcast was started called Build & Analyze with Marco Arment and Dan Benjamin. I hadn’t really heard of either of them before but I immediately latched onto it. Marco’s experiences and perspectives in being a developer were both relevant to my work and engaging to hear. For the entire run of Build & Analyze you’d always find me in the chatroom listening live, suggesting titles.

In many ways it was the show that most motivated me to start podcasting. To create a venue for sharing my experiences and hard learned lessons. I was very sad when it finally wrapped up its 108 episode run. All that makes the prospect of starting a new development podcast with Marco a great joy.

If you liked listening to Developing Perspective I’d really encourage you to subscribe to Under the Radar. It is in many ways the spiritual successor to Developing Perspective and Build & Analyze. A venue for us both to discuss and examine what being a developer means today — the challenges we face, the opportunities we see, the lessons we learn. Oh, and it’s never longer than 30 minutes.

So let’s get Started

I tend to think of my app business in terms of revenue per day. Breaking it down to that level helps me keep a close eye on it and know how well or poorly I’m doing. Today I walk through the reasoning for this as well as do a thought experiment of what the numbers might look like for a new business.

Some thoughts on the implications of having to take an unplanned absence from your work when you are self-employed. There are a lot of benefits of being independent that manifest themselves in a situation like this but also a few things to be careful of and plan for.

An overview of what to expect this summer:

the beta schedule,

timing for release,

the importance of RADARS,

my growing interest in Swift and

an encouragement for everyone to build something new this summer.

Will Hains’ iOS Beta History

First Impressions from WWDC 2015. These are my initial reactions right after the Keynote, I’ll probably do another episode later in the week which has more considered reactions.

Some high level thoughts about WWDC and my excitement for it. Then, a few thoughts about whether mobile advertising is in a precarious position.

Today I begin a new Start-to-Finish series discussing the creation of an application from idea to the App Store.

My Essential Experience Target: An application focused on surfacing the data currently collected by the Apple Watch and iPhone and presenting it in a useful, actionable, and encouraging way.

Blizzard’s Games I discuss:

Hearthstone

Heroes of the Storm

My previous Start-to-Finish series discussing the creation of Check the Weather:

#91: Thank you and the Road from Here.

#90: Check the Weather

#89: Counting Down.

#87: Basic App Marketing.

#86: App Pricing.

#85: Pragmatism.

#84: Shipped it.

#83: Performance and Letting Go.

#82: Localizing an App.

#80: Managing functionality.

#77: Prototyping a new project.

2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts (4 days to order, ends May 18.)

One of the most dangerous traps when learning from someone else’s experience is ascribing intentionality to what in reality was accidental. This can make it feel somehow magical or impossible to learn from. We are all just muddling along.

Pedometer += 1,000,000

Joe’s Extraordinarily Kind Words

2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts (1 Week left to order.)

Once again the topic of sustainable revenue has surfaced around our lovely community. I’ve recently been changing/adapting my thinking on the subject so it seemed the time to wade in again.

Tim on the App Store

“The app store had its best quarter ever, with a record number of customers making purchases, driving a new record for revenue, and 29 percent year on year growth.”

App Store Metrics

In April, 2015: 1,561 apps per day (35,929 non-games, 12,451 games, 48,380 total)

Where we are:

Redacted for Mac Launch

Realmac Product Revenue Snapshot

Sensor Tower Top Grossing Analysis

From here:

Inquisitive: Behind the App #11

Learning to Ride a Bicycle, Again.

Sam Soffes on Developing Perspective #208

2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts

My WatchKit Apps

Release Notes Conference

In some ways this week’s episode is a follow up to last week’s show about hustle. All that thinking about the role that asking for money plays in my business got me to thinking about some of the complications that being the face of your business carries. When you are an independent business owner your own personal brand becomes the brand of your products. This can be awesome but also makes certain parts of promotion and discourse more complicated.