Double Encore, Inc.'s blog is place for us to share our thoughts about iPhone development, technology, entrepreneurship, or anything else that strikes our fancy. We encourage you to join the dialogue.
With the iPhone gold rush fully underway I can’t help but think of several blog posts I wrote within the first few days of the App Store launch in July 2008. In the posts, Native iPhone Apps - First Impressions and iPhone Innovation or Bust I described the lack of quality and innovation I found in those early applications. There was a “Ship Now, Fix Later” mentality driven by the desire to be one of the first apps available in the App Store.
Fast forward to now. Unfortunately, I must report that the situation is similar if not worse. Each week, my team receives a tremendous number of requests from individuals looking to strike it rich with the iPhone and App Store. The vast majority are “me too” copy cat ideas which lack creativity, and worse have limited utility. Which begs the question: Does the App Store really need another iFart Mobile?
The enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit sparked by the iPhone and the App Store is truly amazing. Yet most of the entrepreneurship is hollow and uninspired. The focus is on the developer and profits, not creating something special that consumers will love to use and recommend to all their iPhone-toting friends.
The formula isn’t rocket science. It just takes a level of careful consideration that the “get rich quick” crowd isn’t used to. To make the case for building inspired apps look at ConvertBot by TapBot. Founders Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad have managed to make something as mundane as unit conversation sexy, and dare I say FUN. It is time for app developers to step up and embrace the ConvertBot example.
Strive for excellence by holding yourself accountable:
- Work harder to make your app better
- Focus on interface simplicity and beauty
- Optimize for performance and memory
- Crashes aren’t acceptable, even rarely
- Don’t rely on the simulator over device testing
- Poor connectivity happens, handle it as well as you can
- Silos are bad, so ask for feedback before and during development
It is humbling for us to participate in such an explosive space. Yet we talk every day about how important it is to build better apps, higher quality apps, and more innovative apps — inspired apps. That’s our goal, and we think it should be yours too.
