The Billion Dollar Boondoggle
How much is an app worth? Facebook’s spring acquisition of photo sharing site Instagram for $1,000,000,000 (give or take) raised eyebrows, particularly considering it wasn’t expected to go for anything more than half that. But …
How much is an app worth? Facebook’s spring acquisition of photo sharing site Instagram for $1,000,000,000 (give or take) raised eyebrows, particularly considering it wasn’t expected to go for anything more than half that. But even $500M is a pretty penny for an app that isn’t unique to the space. Other apps mix social media and photography — and, considering the god-awful filters Instagram pushes on a generation unfamiliar with the analogue-origins of leaked light — better ones too. What Facebook was paying for wasn’t the app, it was its users. And after the Android version hit the Google Play Store sending total users soaring, Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly willing to pay big bucks for the members. Ironically, it’s the brains behind the app that you really want. MySpace shows a vibrant community can quickly become a ghost town when The Next Big Thing hits. So if Zuck was ponying up a billion bucks, he was actually paying for the developers behind the app. If you’re hoping to make it big with your own app, keep in mind Wall Street is willing to pay up: but only if you’ve got millions of users. If you’re willing to pay big bucks to buy an app, keep your wallet in your pocket unless you can be sure you’re buying the brains behind it.
Is ther any place on this site that lists the apps that you have talked about on the tv programme? Thanks for any help.
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
Yes you can see a full list of the apps we’ve talked about by clicking on the “Featured Apps” tab located on the right side of our main web page appcentral.ca
It’s just below the Help Desk tab.
Hope that helps!
– Mike