Flip This App: Secondary Mobile App Market Quietly Taking Off 39
alphadogg writes "The practice of flipping is probably most familiar to the general public from reality TV shows like 'Flip This House' on A&E. The idea is to buy a house for a lowish price, fix it up a bit, and then sell it on to a buyer, hopefully at a profit. Now, the secondary market for Android and iOS apps is beginning to see the same pattern. App creators without the time or inclination to service or monetize their apps can simply sell them off for a flat, up-front sum of money. Buyers can then either tweak them as they like or not, and either attempt to monetize them themselves or re-sell the apps to still another party. 'Probably 80% of people who want to get involved in mobile either don't know how to code an app or don't know an app developer,' says the founder of one app trading site. 'So there's this massive demand, but kind of a little bit of a barrier to entry.'"
Re:Missing the commissions (Score:2, Informative)
The housing bubble started back in the 90's because banks were required to make a certain percent of their loans to low income borrowers. In return the government agreed to take over those loans when (not if) they want bad. It took a few years for the inevitable scenario to play out, but here we are.
This "secondary market" looks more like a press release from someone trying to flip an app trading site.
Re:Missing the commissions (Score:5, Informative)
Nice right wing talking points there.
There is no evidence that "Community Reinvestment Act" loans ( the loans you are talking out your rear end about about without knowing what you are talking about ) are generally considered decent loans without a major percentage being defaulted on.
Instead it is commercial loans that are often underwater and being walked away from as regular business decisions (see: strategic defaults, it is always ok when businesses do it) and home equity loans, not CRA loans that were a major factor in the 2008 melt down.
For a good set of references on the actual facts see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act#Alleged_relation_to_2008_financial_crisis [wikipedia.org]
Re:80% of people .... (Score:5, Informative)
Except somehow, scores of people have become convinced that there is a difference between "mobile app development" and "computer programming." Thus, every Tom, Dick, Harry, Web Designer, and Marketing Douchbag is now convinced that they want to and can become a "mobile app developer" even if they never learned (and have no aptitude for, or even interest in) actual programming.