Archive for February, 2009
Thought: iPhone apps
I’m sure this will sound familiar to several of you who know me. It seems that since the release of the iPhone everyone and their dog has an original idea for a new great iPhone app. That is all good and well, but here’s the reality.
Your app has already been done.
It’s okay though, don’t fret. In fact it’s nice that someone went through the initial steps of desiging and marketing your idea. All you need to do is make it better now. I think a great way to be successful as an iPhone app producer would be to take the core of others’ good concepts and redesign them. Whenever I’ve talked to others about this approach, there seems to be an uneasiness about it. I think most Designers would agree that ideas are cheap, it’s the execution that is difficult. Besides if this seems like cheating I’ll let you in on a little secret. We cheat all the time. Trust me, if I need ideas for a design, I start seeing what else is out there.
In the spirit of my post, I will give you my idea for an iPhone app (since the idea alone gets me nothing). By the way, I have no idea whether or not this has actually been developed. I want to map out buildings so that you can find where your colleagues sit or where that conference room off in some corner is. The map could show you a route to get to your desired destination. Of course, this is only relevant for sizable organizations, but I know this would help me where I work.