JGM Software is going pro

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

Hi everyone,

As some of you may know, I have been around on these forums for quite a while, and have made many themes and even had a bash at my own ROM. I run JGM Software as a personal venture outside of normal work and education. I develop for Android and for Windows, yet although my website has been viewed many thousands of times and my themes and ROM builds downloaded by literally thousands of people, I have not charged for any of my efforts. I am happy to do this, and while currently all my work is available for free, I would like to start making some more polished creations. I plan on purchasing a Nexus S, so I remain at the cutting edge of Android, but my Blade development will still continue undiminished. I am, if you will, expanding my horizons. I hope that as I study Computer Science and Software Engineering full time at Uni, my skills will increase and the quality of my apps and programming will increase further.

I am registering as a developer with Google, so I can sell some of my work on the Android Market, and this is where you come in. This is not a post begging for your money. This is a post asking for some of your time to help me to improve and make a start for myself as a professional developer. I have an icon pack for Launcher Pro, theming all the Google app icons with the latest Ice Cream sandwich icons, and more packs are planned, possibly Honeycomb and a Gingerbread theme for Froyo and Eclair devices. Also possible are widget skins, again for Launcher Pro.

What I ask of you is this:

-For an icon pack for Launcher Pro, what do you feel is a reasonable price?

-Does anyone have suggestions or input as to the content or selection of packs?

-Would people generally be willing to pay small amounts for professional icon packs and widget skins?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and let me reiterate that this is not a begging letter. The input and "market research" that I gain from this thread will be of a huge help to me. Thank you.

[Guest dirlan2001]

What I ask of you is this:

-For an icon pack for Launcher Pro, what do you feel is a reasonable price?

-Does anyone have suggestions or input as to the content or selection of packs?

-Would people generally be willing to pay small amounts for professional icon packs and widget skins?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and let me reiterate that this is not a begging letter. The input and "market research" that I gain from this thread will be of a huge help to me. Thank you.

Hi,

First off, good luck in the new business :)

Q1 = no idea, I've seen prices ranging from free to 3 €.. Guess it depends on the quantity and the quality of the included icons.

Q2 = all black schoolboard background with 'handwritten' chalk symbols... In days of flashy gimmicks, a good old chalk-on-schoolboard can reveal to be very Zen

Q3 = My guess is that you can make more money if you would make a good working solution for people to change the icons in a whimp . Some one-click-changer that has a small testing selection of complete (thematical) icon-packs in the luggage and seperately downloadable packs... e.g. the 'changing soft' for 1.50 € (2 very dull iconpacks included) and 0.50 € per extra (very nice) iconpack...

:D

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

Hi,

First off, good luck in the new business :)

Q1 = no idea, I've seen prices ranging from free to 3 €.. Guess it depends on the quantity and the quality of the included icons.

Q2 = all black schoolboard background with 'handwritten' chalk symbols... In days of flashy gimmicks, a good old chalk-on-schoolboard can reveal to be very Zen

Q3 = My guess is that you can make more money if you would make a good working solution for people to change the icons in a whimp . Some one-click-changer that has a small testing selection of complete (thematical) icon-packs in the luggage and seperately downloadable packs... e.g. the 'changing soft' for 1.50 € (2 very dull iconpacks included) and 0.50 € per extra (very nice) iconpack...

:D

Hi, thanks for your reply!

I was thinking about charging <£1 for my packs. The chalkboard thing is an interesting idea, would you be interested in a pack like that? . An icon switcher app is also a good idea, however this functionality is in fact built into Launcher Pro, which I make the icon packs for,

Again, thanks for taking your time to help, its much appreciated :D

[Guest dirlan2001]

Hi, thanks for your reply!

I was thinking about charging <£1 for my packs. The chalkboard thing is an interesting idea, would you be interested in a pack like that? . An icon switcher app is also a good idea, however this functionality is in fact built into Launcher Pro, which I make the icon packs for,

Again, thanks for taking your time to help, its much appreciated :D

Hi,

I've looked into the UOT, hoping (?) that I could try to build a complete theme in that style, but there's nothing like it in there as far as I could see... The only 'black'n'white' in there are some semi-modernist artwork , not my style.

The iconswitcher I had in mind would be something more 'universal' , not just focused on 1 launcher.

Anyway, as said before , good luck and maybe someone comes up with better ideas

Cheers

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

Hi,

I've looked into the UOT, hoping (?) that I could try to build a complete theme in that style, but there's nothing like it in there as far as I could see... The only 'black'n'white' in there are some semi-modernist artwork , not my style.

The iconswitcher I had in mind would be something more 'universal' , not just focused on 1 launcher.

Anyway, as said before , good luck and maybe someone comes up with better ideas

Cheers

Yes, it sounds like a very good idea for a universal app, it would take a lot of work and skill to implement properly however. Thanks again for your input :D

[Guest rockstarszzzz]

What I ask of you is this:

-For an icon pack for Launcher Pro, what do you feel is a reasonable price? - £0.61-£0.99 sounds good. However if you manage to make say about 500-750 icons, charging even £3.99 doesn't sound bad at all!

-Does anyone have suggestions or input as to the content or selection of packs?

A very class black background with these sort of plenty shades - http://www.google.co...t:429,r:8,s:214

-Would people generally be willing to pay small amounts for professional icon packs and widget skins?

I generally download free icon sets myself. The reason being - I tend to keep swapping icons sets almost every 3-4 days. Thus, if I was to buy icon packs every time I change, I will be buying average 10 icon packs a month!

Good luck!

Edited November 8, 2011 by rockstarszzzz

[Guest fallenangel32]

i ve put 2 meego themes for LPRO and GoLauncher in market

but free...because i m from greece and my country is not supported yet

but if i hade the option to sell ? mmm

a good price ,at least for a start is 0,70 euro(i thing 1 dollar)

but test again in friend phones because if someone pays for an app want to be functional

and write the android version that is supported(min,target,max api level)

Edited November 8, 2011 by fallenangel32

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

Okay guys, cheers for your input :) I'm taking note of all this, it'll certainly come in useful. Thanks again!

[Guest Mushroom_Lord]

I'd probably do it for a dollar. Especially as a new/unknown developer, people will be less hesitant to pay a little. I mean look at SPB mobile shell, so many reviews are negative because it costs £10 (despite it being a pretty nice piece of software)! People will react more positively if it was "worth the dollar" or whatever :P

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

I'd probably do it for a dollar. Especially as a new/unknown developer, people will be less hesitant to pay a little. I mean look at SPB mobile shell, so many reviews are negative because it costs £10 (despite it being a pretty nice piece of software)! People will react more positively if it was "worth the dollar" or whatever :P

Hey guys! Great news, got my first premium upload to the Android Market! It took me a while to do all the images and stuff but I'm really chuffed with how it turned out, hopefully it will become more popular as ICS and the Galaxy Nexus is released. Just 50p (around 0,58 euro according to Google) as a start because there are only 20 icons.

Any comments? Thanks again to everyone who's helped here, I really am very happy that I've got my first app haha :D

[Guest fallenangel32]

Hey guys! Great news, got my first premium upload to the Android Market! It took me a while to do all the images and stuff but I'm really chuffed with how it turned out, hopefully it will become more popular as ICS and the Galaxy Nexus is released. Just 50p (around 0,58 euro according to Google) as a start because there are only 20 icons.

Any comments? Thanks again to everyone who's helped here, I really am very happy that I've got my first app haha :D

GREAT

BUT GIVE US THE LINK OF YOUR WORK IN MARKET

[Guest TheManicGibbon]

GREAT

BUT GIVE US THE LINK OF YOUR WORK IN MARKET

Of course! Sorry, I forgot haha :P

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jgms.icsPack&feature=search_result