Why the business of clone apps still rocks?

For every successful app there are almost always a few dozen clone apps in a any app store. People ask me many times if it is a good strategy to come out with clone apps. Is the business of clone apps worth investing in?

So I thought, I wil do a blog post trying to answer a few questions and more importantly, setting a standard on what to expect from a clone app of a famous game.

First, do clone apps work at all? The simple answer is yes, they do. The reason is that most mobile games are short term entertainment, and people have a very short attention span when it comes to mobile apps. People who play games on mobile, often have hundreds of games and they keep trying new ones out. This means many people are actually actively looking for apps that are like xxx famous app but slightly better in terms usability, UI, features etc.

Surprising as it may sound, most clone apps get their investments back and are much more successful on average than crazy small ideas. The reason being that they are based upon proven concepts. If the execution is good, there is a lot of momentum being a clone and it can get you those crucial initial downloads. After that if the app is well designed, things become easy.

The next question is, what is the best strategy to get started with your clone app business, I will cover it next. [UPDATE] Here it is.