For a few - a few - it's been a path to nearly instant wealth. But for most writing applications for mobile devices has been a break-even proposition at best. And while Loic Le Meur - the founder and CEO of Seesmic , maker of one of the most popular Twitter and Facebook applications - is bullish on the future, he says today's numbers are really quite sobering. The odds against making a reasonable income from a mobile application, let alone striking it rich, are nearly impossible to overcome. Consider:
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50 percent of paid apps receive fewer than 1,000 downloads.
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The average app makes about $2,500, but really only about $500 when the most successful apps are removed from the average.
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Free apps, those supported by ad revenue, require 50,000 active users (not just downloads) to pay for one full time developer.