So You’ve Got A Great Idea For An App…

So are you the type of person who is constantly coming up with ideas?  Yeah, me too.

The app store is overflowing with apps…with more and more being added each day.
First question to ask yourself …is my idea unique? Because if it’s not, good luck.

WAIT…WHY DO I NEED A UNIQUE IDEA?

Simple. Because if there are numerous apps like yours already on the App store…Apple may reject it.

Do a thorough reading of the App store guidelines.

We have over 700,000 Apps in the App Store. If your App doesn’t do something useful, unique or provide some form of lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted.

If your app isn’t unique…do you really want to waste all this time (3-9 months) for nothing? Oh, and we haven’t even talked about marketing the app yet…

Search for “fart” on the App store, and you will get hundreds of apps that make fart noises.  So while you think your fart app might be the best fart app ever…most people probably already have one or ten on their phone.  So they probably aren’t looking for one claiming to be the best, as most likely the ones they already have claimed the same thing.
Apple doesn’t want them.  Nor do they want these:

2.11 Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra Apps.

2.12Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected

2.13 Apps that are primarily marketing materials or advertisements will be rejected

2.14 Apps that are intended to provide trick or fake functionality that are not clearly marked as such will be rejected

So, if your idea does any of that, I’d suggest trying to come up with something else. Not to say they aren’t going to accept it…but again, do you want to waste your time?

Also…how are people going to find your app amongst the hundreds of fart apps on there?  It’s unlikely you are going to be chosen to be featured in the NEW AND NOTEWORTHY category.  And again searching for FART as a keyword is going to bring them all up. Do a quick search of keywords relating to your idea…if there are apps out there that already do what your idea is, download them, try them out. Is your app idea better?  Does it add something new and interesting and useful to what’s out the already?

If your idea IS unique or improves something already out there, continue! If not, go back to the drawing board!

ONE YEAR LATER UPDATE:
Really going to stress that you should research your idea to make sure there already isn’t an app like it out there. Just the sheer amount of work involved in making the app, and then even MORE work promoting your app.
I’ve had some ideas since I launched that I’ve thought about pursuing. My dad had a stroke and was having difficulty communicating. I began to think of ways an app could help with that…using images to represent answers/phrases so he could tell us what he wanted, etc. But there are already apps out there like that (and they are high priced, as they are a niche.) I could see areas where improvements could be made…but the amount of effort wasn’t worth the likely small returns.
If you were thinking of making the next great camera app…you really need to come up with something new, different, or really improves the camera or process…People don’t need another same old camera/filter/sharing app. You aren’t going to create the next Instagram..it’s too established to topple, and people don’t want to start using another service only to have it fade away.
But even having a unique idea isn’t enough folks. You will have to be prepared to do the work promoting the app once it’s finished. I don’t think I can stress that enough…

SO YOU HAVE A UNIQUE IDEA…BUT IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

Is this app something other people want?  We might think it’s great…but do others?  You need to find out.

Of course the first thing you are going to do is ask all your friends and family what they think of your idea.  And because they are your friends and family, most likely they will tell you “Hey, that is a totally awesome idea!”
Even if it’s the dumbest idea ever. Because they are your family and friends, they will most likely not want to hurt your feelings. That’s what families are for.

I can assume everyone here has watched at least one American Idol tryout show…you see those people up there who CAN NOT SING…and yet they TRULY BELIEVE they can. Why?  Because all their family and friends said they could.
So unless you know your family and friends will be straight with you….

you have to get feedback from someone neutral.

Maybe you are a runner, and have come up with an app that helps runners do X, Y, or Z. Talk to some fellow runners, and see if your idea interests them.  If most say “I’d never use that.” or “That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.” then you should come up with another idea. If the idea seems to interest them, continue.

One note of caution…I wouldn’t advise you hit twitter or facebook with a “Hey, I’ve got this idea for an app, it’s XXXXXXX what do you guys think?” …because you never know who may see it and the next thing you know an app is launched on the app store by someone else that does EXACTLY what your idea was.  It’s a dog eat dog world out there my friends…

HOW I GOT STARTED AS AN APP DEVELOPER…

This journey began when I was thinking about ways to keep my photography students engaged. I’ve been giving out assignments on my website, but I thought…why not try to do it through iPhone/iPod/iPad? So, I came up with the basic idea.  A photography assignment generator app, where students could get assignments.

Then I went on the App Store and began looking around. I searched photography ideas, inspiration, challenge..and basically found nothing. Well I found one app, downloaded it, and frankly, it was crap.

So, I had a unique idea.

Then I got feedback on that idea from my photography students and photographer colleagues that I knew would give me honest feedback.
The feedback was positive, plus I was given a ton of ideas to add to my idea.

UNIQUE IDEA-CHECK!
INTERESTING IDEA-CHECK!

Alright…Let’s roll!

SO YOU’VE GOT A UNIQUE APP IDEA…HOW DO YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN?

To develop your app, you have two options:

A)HIRE A DEVELOPER

B)DO IT YOURSELF

A)HIRE A DEVELOPER

I have web design skills, but I knew nothing about app development and programming.  While I’m a fast learner, I didn’t think would be something I had the time to devote to learn to do.  If you have absolutely no programming/web design experience, this will be your only option.

So I called around to see what it would cost me. I live in the small province of New Brunswick in Eastern Canada…so there aren’t a lot of developers.  A few calls, I had quotes ranging from $3,000-$5,000 dollars.  Called a few companies in Ontario, pretty much the same.

Now, I know that programming is hard work, so I knew that was probably a pretty fair price.   If you’ve got some capital and can take the risk, hiring a developer is probably the best option. But there was no way I could sink that much into something that might not make any money (you have to be realistic here people…you may think you have the next Angry Birds…but most likely you don’t.)

So I thought, “Well, good idea, too bad I can’t do it.”

That was until one of my photography students mentioned to me that Adobe Dreamweaver CS 5.5 update had added the option to package websites as apps for both iOS and Android using a technology called Phonegap.

Interesting….which bring me to option 2:

B)DO IT YOURSELF

I downloaded a trial version, played around with the tutorials on making an app, and made the decision to try it on my own. Now, my app idea was pretty basic.  The idea itself could be done as a website, but the idea of being able to use it anywhere on your device without a network was key to me.

So, i bought Dreamweaver,  and started to work at it.  Collecting, organizing, and resizing photos. Writing the text. Organizing the materials. Downloading plugins to do what I wanted (lightbox gallery) and started programming.  Nine months later, on the App Store! Had I the time to devote my full time to it, I probably would have had it done in about two or three…but I work full time as a newspaper photographer and teach part time…oh, and have a family too who like to see me every once in a while…
I’ll be getting more into my development adventures in later posts..

So if you don’t have skills, but want to try it out, the nice thing about the internet it is a huge resource for information.

So a quick search in Google on “how to build an app in dreamweaver” brings up 17 million hits…the first being a nice quick tutorial from Adobe on getting set up.

If you want to do Phonegap, here is a good post about getting started.

I would also recommend www.lynda.com, they have a huge library of tutorials on everything…here is their mobile category.

If you want to do it using Xcode, then the Apple Developer Resource center is your go to resource.
Ray Wenderlich.com is another great site that has a HUGE amount of tutorials.

Jeremy Olson has a great blogpost that is an awesome overview about getting started as an iOS app developer if you want really do it right!
There is also a great book by James Dovey and Ash Furrow about beginning with Objective C.

So, that’s how I got started.

My app development journey continues, so stay tuned!

ONE YEAR LATER UPDATE#2:
After this experience, I am going to suggest you either learn to create apps the proper way (in Objective-C/XCode) or hire a developer. Not that Phonegap and other third party tools are bad…but the main problem is every time Apple updates to a new iOS, it can create potential problems, or even worse, completely break your app. And they might not give the true “native app” feel, look, and controls people expect. Also would recommend that if you suck at design, you hire a designer. And yet again…having a unique idea isn’t enough on the app store either. You might have the coolest most awesomest app ever…but you still have to work your ass off to promote it once it’s done.

Noel Chenier
———————-
Photographer and teacher
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