On the flip side, I've had a Dyson for the last 5 years and it's still kicking ass despite contending with the monster amount of Siberian Husky hair that fails to stay on my husky. Extremely happy with this thing. I'd be all over them if things went south within a year.
Rule of thumb is to surround yourself with positive people who challenge you respectively. Learn how to ally with these people and ignore the useless noise.
I don't hate it, but I have leaned away from hourly for a few reasons.
1. I prefer easing clients mind by letting them know how much they will be paying
2. I'm confident in estimating
3. I draw the line in the sand by making it clear that working outside of the contract is non-negotiable unless we mutually agree to revise/update it and the cost
Two exceptions. 1. They do not have a clear spec (or no spec). It will be hourly until that is defined. 2. Maintenance mode
"Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution"
You wouldn't find this in Amazon's EULA? They would publish anything? There's no way Apple would leave that door open.
"And there really isn't anything special or expensive about that software either, there are plenty of free ebook creation software options."
You're selling a different experience here. If you're writing a static book then there is no reason to go this route right now. If you're creating something interactive then this might be something to look into.
Not all games work well in the free model. You could kill your product by releasing a free version if you have wrong type of game. This, generally, is an advantage for puzzle games with interesting mechanics. It's also better to react with a lite version if you see initial success with your product. If you have something good you'll see a positive reaction, but if you're bouncing around 0-5 sales/day, early in the release, a lite version is probably not going to do much.
The iPod and iPhone are two completely different worlds so it makes sense that you would see two groups of websites rise.
The iPhone and iPad are almost identical. There are plenty in the community who have made the divide between the products. Even if you can manage to get coverage on a site that blends iPhone/iPad coverage that is just fine (I've had this happen, sales went from around 40 to 180). I also consider it a huge benefit to get my brand in front of iPhone only users. It's likely that they'll know friends with an iPad and/or they may become a fan (fb, twitter, newsletter) in anticipation for an iPhone version.
iPhone and iPad coverage is hard in general. Getting my latest product out there has been a huge pain. Originally released on iPad, I had little coverage. I have yet to get coverage on the iPhone, though, it's still early. It's incredibly important that you spend time building relationships with editors, but that's far easier said than done.
Awesome! I was thinking of something like this last year but on a bit of a 'I want to meet somebody right now' scale. I'd use this if I didn't end up moving away form the bay area. Good luck!
The problem with being at a really large company is that it can be extremely difficult to find any kind of self-worth. You have to try and chase it but there will be so much red tape at every doorway that you'll have to find some other way around it. You may be in a huge department. You may be doing stuff that is only seen internally. You'll spend time hacking to rebuild something crappy to prove it's value. You're wedged into a system (slowly). The processes are already set. You'll learn a fair amount of things, but nowhere near what you'd probably learn at an energetic startup or doing your own thing.
The absolute best thing will be the people. You'll meet some outstanding folks... Potentially the kind that want to start something different.
It will be interesting for the first 6 months to a year, and then you'll become pretty bored. Unless you just don't care and you're riding the wave.
That self-worth thing is a pretty big deal. The majority of people enjoy being 'comfortable.' Finding the comfort that just pays the bills. That's great. That's where big companies shine. I'd rather chill on the edge being a leader revolving around building something new. But it took me joining a large company to learn that.
So, really, just follow you're heart. You'll learn. Nobody can argue that being a bad thing.
Day 2 and they've broke $600k... That is pretty awesome. I'm wondering where most of the money is going? Are people dropping the cash more for charity, because they understand that indie life is tough, or both?
A few points. Some which have been hit already by prior posts, but I'd like to reiterate. Right now you're in marketing mode. So:
1. The website really needs the focus right now. My first point of confusion was the image. Naturally, our eyes are going to navigate to that, but it doesn't tell me anything. I'm confused looking at it. What is this? Do I really have to read the blocks below it to figure out what it is? I've skimmed the titles, but I'm not interested in reading all that right now... (That's my train of thought)
I would throw in a simple script to cycle through some images. Include some text explaining some of the core features.
2. What does this do that the other browsers don't? Some of this will be explained once point 1 is resolved. Past that, I would add more images + text below it.
Don't just tell me, show me. I might not have the time to read through a block of text. If you can describe epic in a picture, do it.
3. The Icon. There are people who will simply refuse to buy an app because of the icon. Sad, but true. This is how people discover you. They will see a list of icons in their search and find the prettiest one to tap.
You need something simple, slick and polished. Right now I feel like it belongs on a childrens e-book.
4. "You must be at least 17 years old" -- Really?
5. Consistancy. Pet-peeve of mine, but why is your skin different between the iPhone/iPad version? The iPad skin is solid. I'd subclass those iPhone components and give it the same look-and-feel.
6. I would definitely milk the social networking bit. I can't count how many times I've shared links and images from a page.
7. 'firmware 3.2' should just probably be 'iOS 3.2 or later.'
All opinions of course. Take what you will. All in all, great work. I'm not sold primarily because the core browser does a good enough job, but I can be convinced.
My first position during high school (1.5 yr fast food), only recieved feedback during promotions. Jumped to the Marines and recieved a mega-ton of feedback. Fastforward to now, I've been in my current technology position for a year-and-a-half and the only time I heard feedback for my work was when a promotion came. I recently took on some telecommute contract work saving a product from failure and I receieved quite a bit of positive feedback (phone have something to do with it?).
So yeah, sounds about right. I would attribute it to a lot of people in leadership positions not really having training as to the processes of actual leading people. They may know how to make a phenominal gantt chart, but most of all flounder when it comes to maintaining interpersonal relationships.
The bottom line is that you have direct influence into a persons attitude, good or bad. If you completely lash out against somebody, that will produce negative results. If you praise and talk about what you liked about something, that will be a motivational nudge. Find a good middle ground where you can provide feedback both good/bad for somebody. Feedback is hugely important otherwise the person is just lost/assuming their own way.
I pulled my first pay stub from the Marines (2001-2005). $350 bi-weekly after taxes. 4-years/4-promotions later, I was sitting around $650 bi-weekly when I left to head to college.
We're both trained for completely different purposes. Without a doubt, sending a CHP officer into Marine Corps boot camp would be quite the whirl wind for the guy/gal.
Try to get to a bigger city that may have startup related meet-ups and/or conferences in a discipline you're interested in. When you go to an event take advantage of every minute of your time to get business cards. You can take advantage of these to keep up some good conversations when you're back home. Maybe you'll discover someone that actually lives relatively close to you.
Locally, try to organize a meet-up. You may be surprised.