Can I make money by creating iPhone Apps?

Unfortunately I didn't ask myself the question a year ago.

With all the successful stories, I was so naive I believed once I submit my app, money will keep on flooding in.

I'm not saying you can't create a hit, but if you think you can create any app and just sit there to collect your share, think again.

iTunes never made the number of downloads public, nor most of the developers. Many new developers join the program with the $750k in 3 weeks and "I am rich" legend in their mind.

Here I'm telling you, WAKE UP, THE TIME IS GONE!

Today there are almost 100,000 apps in App Store, most apps are making nothing... well, almost nothing... the pay is so shabby, if you see that sort of money on street, you may not even bend over to pick it up. I probably can make better money by singing carol on street.

Here is my own experience:

When iphone landed on China last Oct, I released my first few Book apps (in Chinese), the "Funny Couplets" soon hits the top 50 Books in China, I was so excited I've all the future plans ready overnight.

7 days later, the sales report was out, 1 copy sold in China.

Yes, 1 copy!

I couldn't believe my eyes, it was on the top 50 for god's sake!

I got another similar app "Funny Poems", it's only 1/6 in size so it's free, it's has been doing very well since, but it gives me no joy. (yeah, 10000 downloads is not hard, as long it's free)

So I moved to games, people keep on saying that's where the money lays.

Soon I released Golden Pyramid in 6 language. (special thanks to my friends, they are now jumpy when they hear me say: I need a translator... again)

The result? sold 2 copies in first week, then forever buried in the mountain of apps.

MR. EDISON was once asked to give a definition of genius, he replied: 2% is genius and 98% is hard work. A friend once said something similar about software: 2% is good programming, 98% is marketing.

What's marketing? I'm a programmer, I know nothing about marketing! The best I can do is to create a lite version of everything. I did that, and I haven't seen any sales figure since -- The sales report only displayed the top 50 downloads from different countries, my report is 100% occupied by free downloads, and the financial report will not be available for another month.

Will I ever get my investment back? I doubt it.

Will the new iPad help the sells? I can only hope.

So my advice is, if you have a great idea, and confident it can make to the top-whatever chart (most importantly, a popular genre), then go for it. But remember, most of the 100,000 apps didn't make it.

Otherwise, forget the money, do it for fun.