Interview With APPMRKT Creators Ben Bleikamp and Jonathan Otto

APPMRKT Allows Facebook Applications to be Bought and Sold

Last week I covered the release of APPMRKT, a marketplace for the buying and selling of Facebook Applications. With APPMRKT Facebook developers can list their application while others can bid on Facebook applications. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to chat with Ben and Jonathan about APPMRKT, Facebook applications, and the future of the Facebook platform.

What was your motivation behind creating APPMRKT?

I (Ben) had been thinking about developing a Facebook application and I was thinking about how I would monetize it. A few years ago I spent my summer building up simple websites and blogs and selling them at a website marketplace. I realized the same format might work for Facebook applications shortly after I heard about Slide’s acquisition of Top Friends for $60,000.

I shot Jonathan an IM a few days after I came up with the idea, asked him if he wanted to work on it with me, he said yes, and we were off. It took us 10 days from idea to pushing the site live, so now we’re fixing bugs and trying to get the design to look a little more “crisp.”

How much does it cost to sell an application on APPMRKT?

Since it is brand new we have decided that people can list applications for free. In the future we may charge a flat rate to list an application or charge a percentage of the sale price, similar to eBay. Right now we want people to list their applications and tell us what they’d like to see added or fixed - so it’s free.

Do you offer any buyer/seller protection?

We have not integrated our Terms of Service yet but will be doing so shortly - it is going to stipulate that bidding on an application is a contractual agreement between the buyer and seller, etc.. We are not an escrow service, similar to other online marketplaces it is up to the buyer and seller to arrange a way to exchange money and the application.

Is there plans for a Facebook APPMRKT application that can be displayed on users Facebook profiles?

We aren’t sure yet - obviously if there is a demand for it, we’ll do it - but first we want to make the main application work as smoothly as possible. One of the problems with integrating this application into Facebook is that there is a separate signup process that requires them to come to our site anyway.

Where do you see the future of Facebook applications going?

Facebook applications are interesting because they’ve only been around for a few months. As companies begin to realize the value of having the attention of Facebook users, they’ll all want applications that tie into their current business models. Whether they buy applications that already exist or contract developers to develop new applications, the demand will be there.

The goal of our marketplace is to help developers determine the value of the application. Buy allowing bidding, they get to quickly find out what the demand is for their app.

How do you feel about the commercialization of Facebook? Do you think Facebook users will eventually leave because of an increase of advertising, etc?

People might not like it but a site as big as Facebook costs a lot of money to run and operate - they have a lot of employees and a lot of overhead, they need to make money to keep it running. I think users will eventually leave, but who knows when.

Personally, I think parents signing up is a bigger threat to Facebook than advertisements - a lot of kids posts pictures they would prefer their parents not see.

Anything else that you would like to tell others about APPMRKT?

We’re planning a few more services that will help application developers make money - so stay tuned!

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