Forum add-ons is at least a 250,000 dollar market
- Thread starter Rigel Kentaurus
- Start date
craigiri
Well-known member
250K, like some mentioned, is a nice chunk for ONE full time coder and business dude/gal.
As a total for all of them, it kinda sucks........
DRE, a light bulb beats a candle by a long shot...
I've been accused of excess zeal at many times......like when the interweb was new and I simply didn't sleep, just stayed up all night trying to make my server(s) run. I always got them going...one way or another.
They key is not to work hard. It's to work smart. Spread out the sun's energy and you have a cloudy day......focus a relatively small amount and you have a laser.
I've never thought it through - never had to - but XF's add-on system....that is, dealing with so many vendors who each have different ways (join this forum to buy my add-on, then do this, then do this) is really a PITA. There is something to be said for the Apple or Android ways....
That is probably why the first company who really does it right will clean up.
As a total for all of them, it kinda sucks........
DRE, a light bulb beats a candle by a long shot...
I've been accused of excess zeal at many times......like when the interweb was new and I simply didn't sleep, just stayed up all night trying to make my server(s) run. I always got them going...one way or another.
They key is not to work hard. It's to work smart. Spread out the sun's energy and you have a cloudy day......focus a relatively small amount and you have a laser.
I've never thought it through - never had to - but XF's add-on system....that is, dealing with so many vendors who each have different ways (join this forum to buy my add-on, then do this, then do this) is really a PITA. There is something to be said for the Apple or Android ways....
That is probably why the first company who really does it right will clean up.
DRE
Well-known member
The main reason I've created some resources and paid for resources to get made it's just that, frustration because they either didn't exist, no one would make them or cared even though I needed it and I knew others would. The results of my frustration gets made and I move on to the next project. I don't support any of my resources cause I don't have time for itYou got frustrated supporting a TMS add-on.
Supporting an actual PHP add-on is much more difficult as the issues aren't always apparent.
I'm a realist so I was just pointing out the reality of a situation.
Rigel Kentaurus
Well-known member
10% plus $0.50 commission on sales
And the 0.50 pretty much invalidates selling $0.99 addons
Apple and Google Play actually take 30%
The percentage might be fair depending on the StoreFront. Taking on the credit card processing burden, payment gateway, distribution, and listing is by no means a small undertaking. IPB even says their marketplace is "curated", as in, they review submissions, so I guess some of that might be used to pay the staff that reviews the submissions.
Shelley
Well-known member
Yeah I wasn't too sure how much of a percentage they took so 10% seems to be very fair.
CallieJo
Active member
It would not surprise me if the numbers kept rising. There are many great IPB developers. Some of them go above and beyond their own addon support.
People are willing to pay for addons they find useful for their end-users. It's only a matter of finding where they are, finding what you want, evaluating the kind of support given for the addon, and whether or not you would want to do business with that particular developer based on your own observations.
People are willing to pay for addons they find useful for their end-users. It's only a matter of finding where they are, finding what you want, evaluating the kind of support given for the addon, and whether or not you would want to do business with that particular developer based on your own observations.
Adam Howard
Well-known member
So someone here said it would average about $500 per developer or helper (over 2 years)
Interesting to note that I've made that amount ($500) here on XenForo in less than 2 years (1 month). Without even being a developer and only helping people along with things (setup mostly).
I would imagine a developer here (XenForo) could make a lot more than I. And with less effort as the updates here don't break everything as people claim they do there (from what I've read).
I'm not impressed with their "stunt figures" (my opinion) ...... NEXT
Interesting to note that I've made that amount ($500) here on XenForo in less than 2 years (1 month). Without even being a developer and only helping people along with things (setup mostly).
I would imagine a developer here (XenForo) could make a lot more than I. And with less effort as the updates here don't break everything as people claim they do there (from what I've read).
I'm not impressed with their "stunt figures" (my opinion) ...... NEXT
Adam Howard
Well-known member
+1 in believing this is a cheap marketing ploy (stunt).
From my opinion, when things are going good you don't need to try to "convince" developers to come over. They come over on their own.
So one has to wonder, why the need to convince anyone if all is well? Just a thought....
Rigel Kentaurus
Well-known member
Marketing or not, it is working, and if they manage to lure the professional developers to their side the best for them
CallieJo
Active member
No offense intended. But, some of these denials are freakin' hilarious! 
I have spent a hell of a lot more than $500 on IPB addons alone in the last six months. I don't think your theory is valid. I don't always just purchase "one" copy either. A few XF developers here can attest to that....and not all purchases are logged in the XF RM either.
Oh well....not that it matters one bit to me anyways....thanks for the laugh.
I have spent a hell of a lot more than $500 on IPB addons alone in the last six months. I don't think your theory is valid. I don't always just purchase "one" copy either. A few XF developers here can attest to that....and not all purchases are logged in the XF RM either.
Oh well....not that it matters one bit to me anyways....thanks for the laugh.
Morgain
Well-known member
If history is any guide, there will be 2 or 3 (at most) developers who make the full living (or more) - because they have BOTH business sense and coding skills.
My experience is the best developers are good at code,
good at PR and negotiating clearly and fairly with client base,
good at quick and focused support,
good at balancing different kinds of stress and fatigue,
and most of all courtesy.
That's a lot. Plus it takes different kinds of personality. Very good coders are often not much good at people skills and underestimate how crucial they are. Some coders are good at the clever stuff but piss poor at following through on detail and finishing work. Then there are the charmers, good at communication but code poor.
There's plenty of work for all right now. Likely to be so for a while yet as the client base here is increasing.
The ones who lose out are the clients really because there are too few coders available so we clients all too often have to take what we can get, and accept shoddy work, or outright abuse of the unequal relationship.
Though many are good that does not by any means go for all.
AlexT
Well-known member
No offense intended. But, some of these denials are freakin' hilarious!
A rude comment is still rude, even if you follow it with a smiley.
CallieJo
Active member
The smiley is me laughing my a** off at the same thing you always see on forums about competitors (XF, VB, IPB).
It is denial! People who do not like a business cannot admit that the business is doing well and/or is worth anything.
If you think I'm rude for laughing and stating my personal opinion, that's your opinion. You are entitled to it, just as I am.
It's my opinion that these denials are not valid and can be considered rude as well. I personally find them hilarious!
It is denial! People who do not like a business cannot admit that the business is doing well and/or is worth anything.
If you think I'm rude for laughing and stating my personal opinion, that's your opinion. You are entitled to it, just as I am.
It's my opinion that these denials are not valid and can be considered rude as well. I personally find them hilarious!
AlexT
Well-known member
Yeah, DRE is right about that. If you don't like IPB (either because of the people involved or because of the horrid code of its base software), why should you be interested in writing add-ons for them given some random revenue numbers they just released?
As others have pointed out, if your main interest lies in earning money as an add-on developer, then you should seriously consider switching to writing iOS apps. There are plenty of single iOS apps that make more revenue than all IPB add-ons combined. What matters is the scale: there will always be more iPhone users than forum admins.
As others have pointed out, if your main interest lies in earning money as an add-on developer, then you should seriously consider switching to writing iOS apps. There are plenty of single iOS apps that make more revenue than all IPB add-ons combined. What matters is the scale: there will always be more iPhone users than forum admins.
DRE
Well-known member
This is the main reason I've considered learning PHP. After I started working on my iOS forum app, I downloaded Xcode and started playing around with it and realized two things: It's powerful as hell and there are more resources and sample apps available to learn how to create apps than there is on any kind of forum software. There are needs that still haven't been fulfilled in the mobile apps world due to lack of imagination by some iOS developers. One could go far...