Appillionaires

Chris Stevens (London) is a leading designer of iPad and iPhone software. He created the best-selling app, Alice for the iPad, and also designed Twitch Origins, the first four-player game for iPhone. He has worked for BBC television and CNET, producing cutting-edge multimedia. Formerly a technology columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Times, Chris also presented and directed Space Bubble, a popular gadget show. Alongside his writing, Chris is an illustrator and film editor. He's worked for Warner Bros, EMAP, and Wired magazine.

PART I: THE BIRTH OF THE APP 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Th ere s Gold in Th em Hills 4 App Store Roulette 5 Challenges with the App Store 6 Th e App Community 8 Th e Siren Call 10 Why I Wrote Appillionaires 11 Where Will the Market Take Us? 11 Th e Band of Dreamers 14 Summary 15 Chapter 2: Th e Rise of the App 17 Apple s False Start 18 Taking a Journey Back in Time 22 Finding a Carrier Was the Th ing 23 Summary 23 Chapter 3: A Bedroom Revolution 25 Birth of the App Store 25 What Apple Learned from the First Successful Apps 28 A Renaissance in Gaming 33 Summary 35 Chapter 4: Th e Gold Rush 37 A Taste of Success 37 Feeling the Appillionaire Buzz 39 Th e Fallacy of Easy Money 40 Summary 41 Chapter 5: Th e First Million 43 A Box of Delights 43 Th e Boy Genius 45 Th e Hacker Army Grows 47 Apps Invade by Stealth 49 Th e Bedroom Programmer Awakes 51 Summary 57 PART II: THE APPILLIONAIRES 59 Chapter 6: Doodle Jump 61 Croatian Dreams 62 Bubblewrap 64 If at First You Don't Succeed ... 67 Tic Tac Toe 69 A Hand-Built Look and Feel 72 Doodle Jump Is Born 74 Doodle Jump 2 Is Born 83 How Doodle Jump Changed Th eir Lives 87 Summary 90 Chapter 7: Harbor Master 91 Romancing the App 92 Harbor Master Is Born 95 Behind the Scenes 101 Summary 103 Chapter 8: Pocket God 105 A Basic Start 106 Dropping Out 107 Hardware Secrets 109 How to Play God 110 Th e Evolution of Pocket God 114 Th e Life and Times of Castelnuovo 116 Th e Public's Reaction 118 Luck Is Part of the Formula 119 Summary 120 Chapter 9: StickWars 123 Defending the Castle 124 A Life at Sea 129 Summary 131 Chapter 10: Angry Birds 133 A Global Hit 134 52nd Time Lucky 135 A Rich History of Flying Animals 139 Bigger than the iPhone 142 Setting the App Standard 145 Summary 146 PART III: THE APP REVOLUTION 149 Chapter 11: From Bedroom to Boardroom 151 A Golden Age 151 An Escape from Corporate Tyranny 152 Invasion of the Body Snatchers 159 Summary 162 Chapter 12: Life in the Trenches 165 An Expensive Game 166 Trust-Fund Fantasies 170 Feeding Time 176 A Wicked Game 178 A Special Time in History 184 Th e Patent Th reat 190 Summary 191 Chapter 13: Th e Future of the App 193 Th e Changing of the Guard 194 What Makes a Killer App? 195 Summary 199