iPhone
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.
Design: For the lonley traveler
I have spent a good amount of time traveling alone. On one hand, I find it very freeing. There is no planning, scheduling or accommodating other people. On the other hand, it can be a bit lonesome. My travels alone have inspired the following concept.
The idea is that a person traveling alone can sign up for a service that allows you to find other lonely travelers with similar interests. Before I explain the concept, I want to let it be known that this design was intended for use on an iPhone. So here it goes. You sign up for an account. Rather than having to fill out another personal profile, you point the ‘Lonely Traveler’ to other social networking services that you have accounts with. From these accounts, it aggregates your interests. A person should also be able to supplement their pulled interests with new ones to be entered in to the system. When signed in to our account, the “Lonely Traveler” matches your location with other account holders’ locations and subsequently informs you of those with shared interests. Based on shared interests, the system searches your local area to make suggestions about where you can meet up with other lonely travelers.
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I hope I’ve explained this concept well. If not, feel free to drop me a message (nquaglia at gmail dot com)