[coolguy78240]

Its all about "you get what you pay for" if the theme is free expect that it will not be perfect. And depending on howmuch you pay for the theme. There may be flaws. The more money a theme costs obviously the more time that went into creating it.

I guess what im trying to say is to stop ******** about stupid ****.

[Heavy Fluid]

Its all about "you get what you pay for" if the theme is free expect that it will not be perfect. And depending on howmuch you pay for the theme. There may be flaws. The more money a theme costs obviously the more time that went into creating it.

I guess what im trying to say is to stop ******** about stupid ****.

This is 100% incorrect. There are several themers out there who put out excellent stuff, like Foppa, and never charge a cent. There are also themers out there who I will not call out, who charge exorbitant amounts of money for their themes, which often times really suck. It's not you get what you pay for. You have to make your purchases wisely.

[dannieloco]

Coolguy u got it all wrong. Because a theme is 6 bucks doesn't mean that the themer put a ton of time into it. It means they're money hungry

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[EnergyPlus]

Let’s say a theme developer put 80 hours of work into designing a good theme. He then sends it out to a few folks for beta testing, the results come back and he puts another 5 hours into tweaking. That’s a total of 85 hours.

He then spends another 3 hours of online promo efforts, answering questions for the next week or so and ultimately, releases it on Mobihand for $5.99. Mobi gets 40% of the sale price, so that means the developer gets around $3.59 per sale. He sells 300 themes x $3.59 = $1077. Divide that by the 88 hours invested just in development and pre-sales marketing and the total hourly rate for his work is just $12.23/hr. Out of that, he/she should declare income tax, social security, etc. and you can see that there’s not much real money being made.

All this being said, if they sell 5,000 copies of the theme, they’ll obviously do much better, but they also have to spend a lot of time for support services. Finally, selling a product is not about pure, hourly earnings, it’s about the value, both perceived and real, of the product. Invent the magic widget that everyone wants, that cost you a total of $100 to develop and you sell a million of them, kudos to you, you made a fortune. What if you don’t sell many at all? Big risk, little return. Sorry, but people who complain that “anything over $1.99 is too much” are not being realistic, but it is certainly their choice as to what they’re willing to pay.

I’m not a theme developer and my numbers may be way off base, but I really don’t see what the fuss is about. It is an economy of scale issue, and only those that sell a bazillion copies really reap the rewards.

[vincetheprince]

Let�s say a theme developer put 80 hours of work into designing a good theme. He then sends it out to a few folks for beta testing, the results come back and he puts another 5 hours into tweaking. That�s a total of 85 hours.

He then spends another 3 hours of online promo efforts, answering questions for the next week or so and ultimately, releases it on Mobihand for $5.99. Mobi gets 40% of the sale price, so that means the developer gets around $3.59 per sale. He sells 300 themes x $3.59 = $1077. Divide that by the 88 hours invested just in development and pre-sales marketing and the total hourly rate for his work is just $12.23/hr. Out of that, he/she should declare income tax, social security, etc. and you can see that there�s not much real money being made.

All this being said, if they sell 5,000 copies of the theme, they�ll obviously do much better, but they also have to spend a lot of time for support services. Finally, selling a product is not about pure, hourly earnings, it�s about the value, both perceived and real, of the product. Invent the magic widget that everyone wants, that cost you a total of $100 to develop and you sell a million of them, kudos to you, you made a fortune. What if you don�t sell many at all? Big risk, little return. Sorry, but people who complain that �anything over $1.99 is too much� are not being realistic, but it is certainly their choice as to what they�re willing to pay.

I�m not a theme developer and my numbers may be way off base, but I really don�t see what the fuss is about. It is an economy of scale issue, and only those that sell a bazillion copies really reap the rewards.

Amen to that, brutha. Your numbers actually aren't too far off, nor is your logic. This is why I really commend free themers out there, because donate buttons usually do see cobwebs as mentioned, with the exception of a few individuals, and those who "donate" to get some custom mods done. I know that if I'm spending that much time on a theme, I would like some financial compensation. My main reason for going premium, to get personal, is because I had to move out on my own and still go to school, so theming was a legit way to make that extra bit of money that can go towards supporting my very tight-budget student lifestyle. Better than being out on the corners hustlin'! Haha xD

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[dannieloco]

^^ lol... its an honest paycheck

But you have nice themes out.. I think the OP was trying to say that if you're going to charge for a theme, put some time into. Dont make a theme that is busted and share with us for a fee.. Thats all. Many premium themers make quality themes that are worth purchasing. Its a small percentage who should just give it away because their theme needs work.

We all agree, you can sell whatever youd like.. theres nothing wrong with that

[Laura Knotek]

^^ lol... its an honest paycheck

But you have nice themes out.. I think the OP was trying to say that if you're going to charge for a theme, put some time into. Dont make a theme that is busted and share with us for a fee.. Thats all. Many premium themers make quality themes that are worth purchasing. Its a small percentage who should just give it away because their theme needs work.

We all agree, you can sell whatever youd like.. theres nothing wrong with that

I generally look at the reviews before purchasing themes. If there are issues, they are usually noted.

I also have figured out which theme builders create good themes without bugs, whether the themes are free or paid.

I have donated to several theme builders without asking them to customize themes. I've also made donations to a few folks to customize a theme for me.

The folks with themes I like have been gracious and kind in their responses and have fixed bugs, whether in free or paid themes.

Posted from my BlackBerry using BerryBlab

[gmkahuna]

I will state again, premium does not mean better. I can make any theme the rest of you can and still do not charge because I don't need to. If you do fine, I have no issue with that, but do not assume your work is better than mine because you charge for it nor do I even ask for donations. I also get requests for porting to another type of phone or OS on pretty much as daily basis for my work

and 85 hours in one theme? C'mon now, that's a serious exaggeration on time in a theme unless you are doing every single thing from scratch like icons and wallpapers. If any of you are not doing that and it takes you that long to make a theme, I suggest you find a new way of making money because you are not going to make it doing this. The absolute MAX I have in a theme is probably 15 hours for my first one trying to figure out how the program worked and all. Now I can do one in three to five hours if I want to make some drastic changes and that includes uploading for OTA.

[EnergyPlus]

As I said, I am not a theme developer and I was only guessing at some of the numbers. That being said, are you suggesting that, from SCRATCH...starting with a complete theme, conceptualizing, designing, initial testing, tweaking, designing every icon, etc. all is less than 15 hours? And is that for a pretty good selection of all platform types (i.e., Storm, Bold, Curve, Tour)? O/S 5.0 and 4.7? Plus some beta testing and follow up reworking?

I have no idea, but your hours seem far lower than I'd have ever imagined.

I am a self employed, professional photographer. On a good day, I get $125/hr. for my work (and that's only on a GOOD day, it's far less on your basic days), if I'm charging hourly and on even better days, I can charge for the job, regardless of the hours (I make MUCH more on those type of jobs). People think "Wow, $125/hr just for snapping some pics? I should be a photographer" When I hear that, it's all I can do to keep from slapping them up alongside the head. What's not considered is that I have close to $40,000 invested in equipment. I spend many hours every week, learning new Photoshop skill sets. The followup time I spend performing Photoshop work on the hundreds, upon hundreds, upon hundreds of images that I just "snapped" can be HOURS AND HOURS. I have website fees to pay, time to keep websites up to date for marketing purposes, I have insurance to pay, both property and liability. Equipment repair and maintenance, hours spent on the phone with clients and/or prospective clients, both pre- and post shoot, the extra time on most every job that is not accounted for (i.e., a recent shoot where I waited over an hour past the start time for a diva model to show up with her entourage and then went directly to her hotel room to do makeup, clothing change, etc. all while I sat there cooling my heels), time spent with my client helping them select the shots they want to use, bandwidth charges for uploading/downloading all those images (which can be in the 100+ MB per image size) plus a myriad of things that are just far too detailed to get into here. On top of that, once I'm paid, I have to shell out double Social Security because I'm self employed, plus income tax plus workers comp, etc. Finally, I can spend hours simply trying to get more work. It's not all as glorious as it might seem!

I will state again, premium does not mean better. I can make any theme the rest of you can and still do not charge because I don't need to. If you do fine, I have no issue with that, but do not assume your work is better than mine because you charge for it nor do I even ask for donations. I also get requests for porting to another type of phone or OS on pretty much as daily basis for my work

and 85 hours in one theme? C'mon now, that's a serious exaggeration on time in a theme unless you are doing every single thing from scratch like icons and wallpapers. If any of you are not doing that and it takes you that long to make a theme, I suggest you find a new way of making money because you are not going to make it doing this. The absolute MAX I have in a theme is probably 15 hours for my first one trying to figure out how the program worked and all. Now I can do one in three to five hours if I want to make some drastic changes and that includes uploading for OTA.

[dannieloco]

I will state again, premium does not mean better. I can make any theme the rest of you can and still do not charge because I don't need to. If you do fine, I have no issue with that, but do not assume your work is better than mine because you charge for it nor do I even ask for donations. I also get requests for porting to another type of phone or OS on pretty much as daily basis for my work

and 85 hours in one theme? C'mon now, that's a serious exaggeration on time in a theme unless you are doing every single thing from scratch like icons and wallpapers. If any of you are not doing that and it takes you that long to make a theme, I suggest you find a new way of making money because you are not going to make it doing this. The absolute MAX I have in a theme is probably 15 hours for my first one trying to figure out how the program worked and all. Now I can do one in three to five hours if I want to make some drastic changes and that includes uploading for OTA.

hey, no one is attacking you.. lol..

and ur right, 85 is a slight exagerration, I can put a theme together in 4-5 hours. and then do edits in another 3-4 hours. and Posting takes about 30 mins.

[EnergyPlus]

Please..set me straight. I simply cannot imagine constructing all the icons, the backgrounds, the drop downs, the interface, for multiple platforms/devices, all in just four or five hours? Wow!

hey, no one is attacking you.. lol..

and ur right, 85 is a slight exagerration, I can put a theme together in 4-5 hours. and then do edits in another 3-4 hours. and Posting takes about 30 mins.

[dannieloco]

Please..set me straight. I simply cannot imagine constructing all the icons, the backgrounds, the drop downs, the interface, for multiple platforms/devices, all in just four or five hours? Wow!

If Im creating all my icons it will def take time. But when Im being lazy and use png icons found online, its a matter of batch editting icons to be the size I want them in the 80x80 format. I collect backgrounds, so I have an arsenal of backgrounds to look through when I need a back ground. I hardly ever use scenery walls on my themes, so I just use photoshop to either modify a wall I found to match my themes, or I create it using illustrator.
Drop downs are simple, thats quick 15 minutes on photoshop. I added hotkeys, transitions, create msg indicators, message icons, home screen banners, profile icons, folder icons, and even make all the icons grayscale so that it changes color when the icon is selected. All this is made on photoshop, and I take advantage of batch editing when possible. I only support the 8900, 9630, and 9700 in both weather slot and non weather slot versions. I constantly fix bugs or issues that users find. Maybe it's just me, but I can create a decent theme in a matter of 5-6 hours. I hardly ever sit at my mac for longer than 2 hours at a time tho. No SVG work tho! I leave that to the premium themers

[kirksucks]

I made icons once. It took forever and then realized thay plazmic didn't let you change all of them. So since then I've been focusing on making icon tab and focus images that make all app icons feel consistent. With the changes with 5.0 themes and if I get more time I'll start doing icons.

I make themes I want. If people like em cool.

I'm unemployed, trying to make ends meet with freelance graphic design. If anyone wants to donate that would be cool.

Most of u get it. Props for quality themes. You inspire me.

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[gmkahuna]

I know nobody was attacking me. I'm just tired of the excuses some folks use to charge like they get better service from a paid theme provider and all that BS.

Those of you charging for a theme, if you want to charge for your themes then do it. Just don't sit there and try to rationalize to the rest of us why you do it or make up false crap about how a paid theme ( I have yet to see a truly premium theme compared to a free one as a whole) is any better than a free one. I do use stock icons because I choose to. If you're making your own stuff, as I said, yeah I can see 85 hours, if you're not, then sorry but I'm gonna have to call it on anyone making that claim.

My point is this, I am just tired of the lame excuses being used to justify charging someone for a theme that is no more technically advanced that just about 75% of the free or other paid themes. Yeah a lot of you paid makers do great work, just stop comparing it to ours because you charge for it because I can do the stuff you do and do very elaborate SVG's to boot. The reason you don't see that from me is because these are not laptops. They can't run bloated stuff very smoothly and I like mine to run fluid so it doesn't aggravate the end user.

[gmkahuna]

Kirk, You do some excellent work. I downloaded a theme of yours a while back to see how it ran and it was exemplary and ideas you have come up with are unique and novel to say the least.

I hope you find something soon as far as a new career. If not, I hope the donations for you keep piling in because you're a class act in my book.

[kirksucks]

thanks gmkahuna!