Learning from the App Store
Over a holiday weekend, 28-year-old Dong Nguyen made a mobile game. His idea was simple—tap your screen to fly a bird between a series of vertical green pipes. For each set of pipes passed, you get a point. He called the game Flappy Bird.
Flappy Bird launched in May 2013. Later that year, the game went viral. By the end of January 2014, it had been downloaded more than 50 million times, making Dong an estimated $50,000 a day in in-game advertising. Ten days later, the game was gone—pulled by its creator.
“I was just making something fun to share with other people,” Dong said. “Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed. But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it’s best to take down Flappy Bird. It’s gone forever.”2 Days after, smartphones with the game began to be auctioned on eBay. Although the sales were never...