14 DAY TRIAL // Inspired by Trism, an app that nabbed Steve Demeter a quarter of a million dollars in two months' time, Ethan Nicholas decided to become an iPhone developer himself. He used the Internet alone to learn how to code, and created iShoot (iTunes link), an application that was going to sell better than he had ever dreamed of.
Nicholas told Wired he quit his job the day his app rose to No. 1 in the App Store, earning him $37,000 in a single day.
"I'm not going to be a millionaire in the next month, but I'd be shocked if it didn't happen at the end of the year," he said in a phone interview. "If it weren't for taxes I would be a millionaire right now."
He explained that it wasn't easy at first. As soon as he finished his shift as an engineer at the makers of Java, he worked on iShoot eight hours a day, “cradling his 1-year-old son in one hand and coding with the other,” according to the report. Since he didn't have enough cash to buy all the documentation he needed for learning how to code, Ethan struggled to learn the particularities of making iPhone apps using various sources on the Internet.
“When iShoot launched in October, business was slow for a while,” the story goes. But Nicholas saw a way to attract users, despite the thousands of applications already selling well in the App Store – he created a free version of the app (iShoot Lite). After being downloaded some 2.4 million times, 320,000 satisfied iShoot Lite players decided to buy the three dollar app.
The game then rapidly climbed to pole position in the App Store's games category, staying there for a good 26 days. As it's only February, Nicholas is still awaiting payment from Apple, according to the Wired report. This is the reason he couldn't provide documentation to substantiate his earnings. Still, Media Bistro reporter Bryan Barletta confirmed that iShoot Lite was No. 1 for about three weeks. Rana Sobhany, vice president of iPhone app analytics company Medialets, said that Nicholas' success story is very believable. iShoot is now No. 6 in the App Store's top 25 paid apps.
"I never expected to get anywhere near where I did," Nicholas said. "And of course I've more than doubled [what Trism accomplished] in one month."
Nicholas said he and his family haven't made any changes in their lives yet, despite the app's success. However, the first item on Ethan's agenda is getting a nanny. Nicholas added that he decided to code an app when he realized the hard times he and his family were going through.
