When planning to create or develop a new iPhone application, you should consider whether you are adding new functionality to existing functionality or content or enhancing existing functionality or content. The app store is filled with a ton of useless duplicate apps that add no customer value, unless you have that killer app that drives tons of conversations and downloads online.
The only category on the App Store that is an exception to the rule seems to be games. As of January 2010, the App Store had more than 50,000 game titles for both iPhone and iPod Touch. The games category is the most popular category on the iPhone where consumers seem to flock and download free and paid content. Three-quarters of downloads to the iPhone are games and other fun-filled entertainment content applications. Why do people keep downloading these games? To begin with, they are fun, very entertaining and very time consuming, especially if you are waiting for the bus, train or have a flight to catch. The interesting thing about games on the iPhone is that, for the most part, they’re relatively inexpensive. You can play a game and get bored, win the game and move on to the next one, or just go to the App Store and buy a new game for $0.99 cents, which gives you the opportunity to create interesting and fun games.
If you go through the app store and identify the apps that belong to this category, you will notice and have a complete understanding of how categories are created and in the app store. Having a unique understanding of the category or environment you will be entering is one of the first steps in becoming an iPhone app developer. The goal is not to beat the best organizations, or the biggest or the best funded. Your goal in becoming an iPhone app developer/entrepreneur is to contribute ideas to the App Store. This will require a well thought out plan for its execution to be excellent. You won’t have to spend thousands of dollars to hire a team of developers to pull it off. The idea is to study what is there and develop a product that is missing or does not exist.
find your niche
Basically, there are three strategies to get into the concept stage of creating your own iPhone app:
- Determining the requirements in your niche
- Exploring your niche for demands that will be met by an iPhone app
- Specifically, take inventory of what you can do and provide
It is possible to work specifically with one strategy, or perhaps you could work them all back and forth until you have something tangible to offer. It is recommended that doing all three angles produces the best mix between something that is required in your niche, something that connects with the community around you, and something that connects with who you are, your knowledge, and what you have to offer.
The key to understand is that you want to get excited about building an app that no one has built only to find out that the app already exists. Have a firm grasp and understand the universe of the App Store and the context of the iPhone.