Why mobile apps are a real asset class

A profitable app is a small cashflow business: monthly recurring revenue from a defined user base, running on infrastructure someone else maintains. The economics look more like a rental property than a lottery ticket.

Multiples are attractive. A dividend stock at a 4% yield trades at 25× annual profit. A mobile utility with clean books changes hands at 1–2× annual profit — roughly a 50–100% cash-on-cash yield in year one, before any growth.

The risk is real but bounded: platform policy changes, ad-network cuts, keyword ranking drops. Investors who own 3–5 uncorrelated apps get most of the benefit and neutralise most of the platform risk.

Unlike real estate, apps are digital-native and globally portable. There is no tenant, no maintenance callout, no local jurisdiction. Ownership transfers in days, not months, and operations can be outsourced to a small team anywhere in the world.