I’ve had many many self proclaimed wannabe entrepreneurs approaching me with “compelling” iPhone app ideas, and oh, it’s top secret – before they breathe a single word about it I’ll have to sign a 3,112 page NDA so in an event that somebody else has the same idea I can be brought to court and made to compensate billions.
What is it with iPhone apps, really? Even SMRT released an app and had a press release for it. For what? Can’t they just post disruptions on Twitter and Facebook – which I think they already do? Why build an app? They think my grandmother has an iPhone? An app is not the solution. A proper announcement system and staff training is.
The phone and mobile apps are just technologies and delivery mediums. Building a product around a technology is a wrong start. Technology should be built around a product instead. A lot of “app” pitches I’ve heard have no real value. Technology alone does not sell a single cent. It must solve a real world problem. Would you buy an app because it could, for example, switch on your microwave at home? Has remotely switching on a microwave been a need for housewives?
If you’re reading this and thinking of building an app, please look at the product as a whole. If it’s just another one of those apps, I think you may be better off spending your time and money (app developers charge a really crazy sum BTW, just because it’s HOT) building a real product with a HTML5 site that will truly scale when the need arises… at a fraction of the price. If you are a business owner, don’t derail your core business by focusing on apps and whatever technology trend that comes along.
Sometimes no technology is the best technology.