Excuse me for again using iOS as the example, but I have been lucky enough to travel over the last few years and either attend or work at events that centre around the iPhone and iPad, one of which being Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, but also regional iOS Developer User Group events. During this time I have met many great iOS developers each with their own stories of how their apps started with an 'iDea' (sorry for the 'i' pun, could not resist it) and more... Why they got into developing for Apple iOS, along with their motivation and each with pretty good levels of success in Apple's App Store.
The majority of these iOS Developers are what's termed as 'Indie'...that is an independent developer, working alone on their projects, either full time for their own employment or part time working in their own spare time after work. At the moment this seems to be the majority, but there is also a growing number of Corporate Developers joining the crowd. These are being seconded by their employers into iOS development, where their Company strive to be leaders with Brand presence in the Apple App Store, have a great innovative idea that will give them a competitive advantage, or follow competitors that already have beaten them to App-Leadership. What I have found is that most iPhone and iPad Developers do not just fall into one of the following motivational points, but a combination of many and I have not placed these in any order of importance. Though I have to say that the last three have seemed to be the most popular pieces, that make up the iOS developer's DNA.
Getting to grips with a new language is always a draw for developers, be they a software development professional or hobbyist. Once a developer always a developer and the well homed skills of software design and development can be used again and again. The Objective-C/C++ language and the Cocoa Touch framework is an interesting combination, and has also brought experienced C/C++ developers to the App Store.
Creating productive applications, those that save the end user time and effort is usually a reason for developers that are more business centric. These app's goals are to make a difference to the iPhone and iPad users "Mobile Lifestyle" fulfilling needs and streamlining processes.
For those into the fun side of mobile computing, creating cool games gives them a great buzz. Being able to produce new games, that utilise the device hardware and iOS capabilities in new ways, will put them #1 in the game charts. This has been the case with the power of iOS along with the accelerometer and gyroscope features.
Using the coolest device, well this reason has to be in the list, and pushing the limits of the device & apps that have gone before, has been mentioned to me a few times. It is fair to say that iOS apps that stand out, usually are original & ground breaking, but taking a totally new look at an idea and making it better also works.
Becoming famous and standing out amongst your mobile development peers, as well as being known by the iOS community as the developer of that '"Must have Killer App" is never much spoken. However along with the next and final reason, I feel is always always high in the subconscious of the iOS developer.
Finally success on a platform where developers can make money and strive to become the next "App Millionaire" is always a high motivator. Apple's revenue cheques continue to flow out of Cupertino, to the developers on the App Store and this does not look like changing for a long time, even now in 2012.
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