Hamish Rickerby

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April 10, 2012

"Housekeeping"

I currently have around thirteen or so applications developed for iOS that are live in the App Store (and one in development). I have one Mac application (and one in development). I also run an online accounting system, two T-Shirt stores, a postcard printing and shipping business, and a web hosting and technical website build business.

That's a lot of stuff for one guy to maintain. Because of the amount of time I have available to dedicate to each, it can be a long time before I get to maintain or market any particular application or service that I've developed. Because of this, the services don't change often, they underperform in the marketplace, and over time the revenues have been decreasing.

With the move to Melbourne, we (my wife and I) decided that I'd be concentrating more on what I really enjoy doing. There are essentially two things that fit into this category.

  1. Developing iOS and Mac applications for myself, and others.
  2. Advising and consulting with people on their technical business ideas.

To be able to concentrate on this, I've decided that it's time for some housekeeping. I'll be shutting the doors on some of the applications and services that I maintain. We'll be saying bye to:

  1. Sendit4.me - iOS application, website and facebook application for sending physical postcards. Apple [sherlocked](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Related_software) me with their Cards app. Since this launched, I've had virtually no sales via the iOS app, and this was the main sales channel.
  2. My 2 T-Shirt stores - they cost virtually no money to run, but suffer from a lack of marketing resulting in poor sales. Online T-shirt stores is also a very competitive space.
  3. Got the GiST (GST accounting package for small businesses in New Zealand) - this is the first application I ever published by myself.
  4. I'll be looking to do less of the web site development work. It's easy work, the money is OK, but I just don't really enjoy it.

I'll be concentrating more on:

  1. The remaining iOS applications that I have that are currently doing OK commercially - these are the CBT applications (Mental Health), Photo Copy, Moving Van, and Gifted TY.
  2. Crate Digger - this is a labour of love - I use the application myself, and it does need an update. It has good reviews, and although it makes no money, I like developing it - it's a hobby app.
  3. Marketing my own application consulting, design and development services to other businesses - looking to grow that segment of the work that I do.

The other applications I've released will remain as is. It's unlikely there will be any updates to them, and when they break with a new iOS release, I'll probably pull them from sale.

With the decreased maintenance overhead, I'll hopefully have more time to dedicate to updating and marketing the applications I've developed. I need to curate a portfolio of quality applications.

If anyone is interested in purchasing the code for any of the applications that are being retired or no longer updated just let me know.


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