Dev Spotlight: Jayson Van Buiten – MediaConverter

Full Disclosure: Jason Van Buiten is a client of AppsMarketing.mobi

Jason is a young and talented NYC based developer we’ve had the pleasure of working with on more than one occasion. Every time he’s approached us with details on a new app project, it’s proven to be a knockout. As you’ll find out by reading this interview with Jason, creating successful mobile apps consists of way more than having a bright idea.

Without furthur ado, this month’s developer spotlight is Jason Van Buiten: Developer of the recently launched MediaConverter for Android.

Tell me a little about your personal and professional background?

I’m still a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, but I’ve always done software development whenever I get the time. I started out making PHP/MySQL websites for various clients and recently moved on to the much more lucrative field of app development. When I graduate in December I hope to do independent app development full-time.

What was the first software you developed?

The first Android app I ever made was in the beginning of 2010 and it was called Pandemonium – it was the same concept as Ghosttown but much more bare-bones and very unpolished UI. It was $1.99 and I made about $20/day on it. Not bad spending money for a college kid! The mild success of Pandemonium got me excited about apps and I’ve been frantically developing new ones since then.

How did you get into Android development and why Android vs. iOS?

The big question! Actually, I tried doing iOS development before I ever tried Android. I’ve never used X-code or Objective-C and was only a beginner at regular C – it was a disaster. It was just too much to learn at one time and I had no clue what I was doing. I heard Android used Java and Eclipse – two things I already knew about, and I had a “Hello World” app going in no time.

What’s been your experience life on the Android Market?

Quite simply, it’s not as tough as it’s reputation. With free apps, I’ve always seen huge amounts of downloads and solid ad revenue. For paid apps, I’ve exceeded my revenue expectations on just about every app I’ve released. Not having to worry about whether Mr. Jobs will find your apps acceptable is nice as well

Let’s talk about Ghosttown, can you share the back-story on how that app came about?

About 3 years, I randomly had the idea of combining discography APIs with the YouTube API to have the concept of an infinite iPod. I first developed it as a website, as it was pretty awesome. The first Android app I developed used the same concept, and I finally turned into a fully featured, good-looking music player with Ghosttown.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that it is really not much different from the YouTube app, it was removed from the market due to a copyright concerns. I’ve made the decision to stay away from apps that may be questionable copyright-wise as I don’t want to waste that much effort again.

For anyone who struggles coming up with app ideas – browsing programmableweb.com is a great way to get new ideas. It’s a directory of APIs, so you’re basically browsing a list of all the free content you can get, and your job is just to combine that content into a cool app.

What did you learn most after launching Ghosttown?

For starters, free apps are hard to make money on! Despite the fact that I had 200,000 downloads in just a couple months, I rarely topped $100 in revenue in one day. I have always had a strategy of releasing paid apps but decided to go free for Ghosttown because of the huge amount of competition in the Music category. I don’t regret the decision because having a huge userbase is very valuable (I was able to advertise my paid apps using house ads), but I was surprised how tough it is to make money on ads and in-app purchases.

Monetizing Android apps, it’s been reported that making money on the Android Market is no easy task. What’s your take?

I disagree! I always refer to my 3 keys for app success – Originality, Great Design, Great Marketing. The problem is app developers on Android rarely follow ANY of these 3! If your app does something no one else does, has a UI design that is easy and fun to use, has an icon that looks cool and stands out, an you are able to properly get the word out about it, you will climb the rankings in the Market and get the sales you’re looking for. Maybe I’m lucky, but I just have not experienced this struggle with making money on the Android Market myself. I will say that small-niche apps are tough on Android, but apps that appeal to a large audience can succeed anywhere.

I am aware that there is about 15-20x more money spent on iOS App Store. While this is impossible to measure, I would venture to guess that the money spent per app that follows the 3 keys is MUCH closer to even. For whatever reason (probably that there are more professionals on iOS and fear of rejection during review process), iOS apps are more well-made, better-designed, and better-marketed. No matter what your platform your app is on, you can’t just get the functionality working and throw it on the store. You need to design it well and market it well. If you don’t have these skills, outsource it! Personally, I design the UI and icon myself, then outsource the marketing (usually to Oren!).

Fast-forward to MediaConverter, your recently launched app. Can you share some insight about it?

While randomly browsing the Android Market late one night (all developers should do this!), I realized that there were very few video and audio converters. Probably because developing conversion apps for a phone processor is very tough. I had the idea to just use a cloud service and do an upload-convert-download for each conversion. My plan worked and the app is able to convert just about any type of file. But the success is not just due to the original idea, I also spent a lot of time designing it, picking out a colorful, cool-looking icon, and made sure to hand it off to someone who knew what they were doing marketing-wise. Once again, the 3 keys lead to app success (so far!).

What’s next for Jason and can you share some words of advice for newbie Android devs?

I actually have one small, quick Android app I’m working on which will downsize large videos so they can be sent over MMS. After that, I’m going to try my hand at iOS development. The revenue numbers I keep reading about are just way too tempting to be sitting on the sidelines, so I’m giving it another shot.

As for advice for teh n00bs (note – read these carefully)

1) Don’t use your 1 awesome idea as your first app. You’ll make a lot of mistakes on your first app, so develop something generic, then go with your million-dollar idea.

2) You probably cringe at the sound of the words “design” and “marketing”, but they are even more important than your great programming skills. Either learn them yourself or pay someone who knows what they are doing.

3) Don’t be scared to release a paid app – if your app does something no one else does, it can succeed.

4) Make your icon colorful. Sometimes, it’s just that simple. Google “free vector icons” and pick one that’s colorful. Doesn’t have to have any meaning. Just look at MediaConverter.

Name your top 3 Must Have Android apps and why.

1. Twitter. If you’re not on twitter, where are you?

2. Evernote – must have for developers! Instantly write down any crazy app idea you have so you can research it later. How many times have you laid in bed, had a great idea, and forgot about it the next morning? (on second thought, maybe that only happens to me)

3. Dropbox – Who keeps files on 1 machine any more?

Thanks for sharing your insight Jason!

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