At one level, an app referred to as Twitterrific was one of the in style iPhone apps for shopping Twitter. Nowadays, the corporate behind that app, and the numerous apps that adopted, is struggling. And AI might partially be in charge.
On Wednesday, the corporate often known as the Iconfactory admitted it was at a crossroads and was placing up a number of of its apps on the market attributable to an absence of assets. Whereas the announcement positioned the matter as a state of affairs the place the Iconfactory’s app catalog had merely grown to incorporate too many apps to maintain up with and never sufficient time to take action, the truth is that the enterprise at present has no alternative however to give attention to the apps that provide a greater return on funding.
Facet merchandise can not be maintained, even when they’ve “a great deal of comfortable and dependable clients,” because the Iconfactory’s co-founder, Ged Maheux, says.
The corporate says that it’ll proceed to work on apps like Tapestry, Linea Sketch, Wallaroo, and Tot, in addition to its new undertaking involving Retro Pixel Portraits, however is accepting “severe provides” for the opposite apps. These gross sales will embrace mental property and supply code.
Of specific curiosity is that the corporate factors to AI considerably affecting its enterprise as the rationale.
“ChatGPT and different AI companies are principally killing @Iconfactory, and I’m not exaggerating or being hyperbolical,” Iconfactory developer Sean Heber said in a Mastodon publish earlier this month.
The difficulty isn’t that persons are utilizing AI as a substitute of cellular apps, however how vibe coding is affecting the necessity for app design corporations like theirs. In addition to constructing its personal apps, the Iconfactory generated income by providing app design services, which embrace issues like icon design (therefore the identify), app design, advertising and marketing asset creation, plus branding and consulting companies.
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These companies helped gasoline the enterprise that’s now being destroyed by AI. “I do know nothing I say goes to get anybody to cease utilizing ChatGPT and producing a brand new app icon in 5 minutes for the app that you just additionally had ChatGPT write for you in a number of hours, however I’m unsure what the remainder of us are purported to do about making sufficient cash to, ya know, dwell,” Heber wrote.
One other situation for the longtime app makers on the Iconfactory was the shutdown of its hottest app, Twitterrific, which was killed by Elon Musk in 2023 when the corporate (now often known as X) officially banned all third-party clients. The transfer put Twitterrific, Tweetbot, and different apps nearly immediately out of enterprise, main the Iconfactory to plead with its users to decline their App Store refunds to assist them keep afloat.
That, too, has affected the Iconfactory’s future, Heber admitted in his posts.
“First Twitter/Elon killed our essential app income that stored the lights on round right here, then generative AI exploded to land a ultimate blow to design income,” he wrote. “I feel maybe as a result of @Iconfactory design is kind of good folks have this impression that we’re sitting right here on a pile of cash or one thing and a few big powerhouse — nope. We’ve been barely making it since Elon/Twitter. There’s solely 6 of us and there’s no struggle chest.”
After shutting down Twitterrific, the Iconfactory turned to the open social internet as a approach to generate a brand new income stream. It launched an app called Tapestry, which permits customers to trace sources throughout the open internet, together with RSS feeds, YouTube, Bluesky, podcasts, Mastodon, Reddit, Tumblr, Micro.weblog, and others. The app offers a variety of clever tools for organizing sources, making feeds, muting and hiding content material you don’t need to see, and extra. It additionally supplied a approach for third-party builders to increase Tapestry with add-ons referred to as Connectors, permitting customers so as to add much more open feeds.
That app will stay part of the corporate’s efforts for now — a Mac app is within the works — however even its future could possibly be unsure. For one factor, open social media platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky are nonetheless dwarfed by tech giants, which implies client demand for one thing like Tapestry is pretty area of interest.
As Heber shared, the app’s Kickstarter was a little bit of a “Hail Mary” on the corporate’s half, however folks aren’t subscribing in nice sufficient numbers to make up for the income that Twitterrific as soon as introduced in, he stated.
If AI continues to commoditize the enterprise of app making, the Iconfactory received’t be alone in struggling the results. However vibe-coded apps aren’t essentially what shoppers want, not solely due to the shortage of human enter, but in addition the lax security a few of these apps supply.
Reached for remark, Maheux agreed that AI had “positively put a damper on the design aspect of our companies,” although it hasn’t “killed” the corporate but.
“Many indie builders have adopted AI for a reasonable or free answer for graphical work like app icons, which has been a core a part of the companies we provide. We nonetheless do, in fact, however the frequency of builders coming to us for these companies has declined tremendously in the previous couple of years,” he instructed TechCrunch by way of electronic mail.
He additionally cited different elements impacting the enterprise, like Apple’s graphical system, SF Symbols, that builders can use as a substitute. Customers are tiring of subscriptions for every little thing. Plus, he factors out that the price of every little thing has elevated over time, whereas the price of apps has not, making it more durable to make a dwelling as a small enterprise developer.
“We’ve needed to increase our choices into different areas like UX consulting, coding session, and aspect income companies to attempt to make up the income from this misplaced design work. Apple’s introduction of Liquid Glass has supplied some new alternatives for design work and session, and we’ve been working with a handful of firms on this, in order that’s been hopeful,” he famous.
Up to date after publication with firm remark.