What do App Developers get out of selling apps for Free?

[AnimalPaintball]

I have seen a ton of free aps listed on the iPhone web app page. Why would developers go through all the hard work to post them for no profit.

What am I missing?

Thnx
mondo

 

[Tallest Skil]

Because the work isn't that hard and it's good to build a portfolio.

 

[Julien]

Believe it or not there are other rewards besides money. Just seeing your work used and enjoyed can be a satisfaction too.

 

[atluten]

Exposure. If they sell a free app that becomes popular, they can always turn the free app into a paid one to earn some money. Alternatively, happy customers are more likely to purchase a paid app by the same developer if he/she released another app.

 

[ivtecDOu]

just to try and get the feel of putting an app in the store to later on go and make the good one. the free and crappy ones are like a test for something else

 

[wronski]

Gaining respect and recognition so they can later release a paid one.

 

[FJR]

Believe it or not there are other rewards besides money. Just seeing your work used and enjoyed can be a satisfaction too.

yeah, but unfortunately, this isn't the motivation for very many developers.

 

[FJR]

many reasons which vary depending on the developer, and for the vast majority, many of these reasons are combined.

1. As a test run for future paid apps. Many developers are now working on major apps that will fully take advantage of the iPhone's power, but they wanted a "test run" just to see how everything works and get the experience of developing for the iPhone.

2. As a demo of a bigger, better paid app. You see a lot of lite versions out there. These basically serve to get a consumer "hooked" on teh free version and then hope they buy the full paid version. They're hoping that buyers who wouldn't look twice at the paid version pick up the free one and get hooked.

3. They have other ways of making money. Apps like AIM and Facebook and myspace all make money merely by you being on their network. They don't need to sell the app, in fact charging would probably hurt their business, as they'd have fewer members, and get less ad revenue.

4. Its a hobby and they just want people to use it.

 

[ghayenga]

I have seen a ton of free aps listed on the iPhone web app page. Why would developers go through all the hard work to post them for no profit.

What am I missing?

Thnx
mondo

Because I wrote something fun and cool for myself to use. Since it's not what I call tremendously useful outside of a small core of people, why *wouldn't* I let them download it for free?

Admittedly a lot more people than I expected seem to have found it useful. In ways that I never expected.

Some companies write free iPhone apps to sell advertising, or drive traffic to their website.

 

[AnimalPaintball]

Cool, I was just curious. I wasnt sure if maybe they got an additional kickback from apple for developing stuff.

Thnx again

 

[Charpunk]

Or they can do what some developers are doing now by putting out a free app to get a good rating going. Then when they get towards the top of the free list, they switch it to paid and become top of the paid list instantly.