Universal Pandora App: Covering The Bases.

Most people are familiar with only 2 of the 3 types of iOS apps available: iPhone/iPod apps, and iPad apps.

You know all about these two:

iPhone apps are made to the dimensions of the iPhone and iPod Touch.  All graphics and code to fit these specs and they use the iPhone interface.  iPad apps do the same, but of course to the dimensions of the iPad screen and use the iPad interface.

The problem here is that both of these options are individual for that specific device.  What that means is that you have to create an app for the iPhone and then create a completely different app for the iPad to reach that market (which you definitely need to do).  But there’s a third option:

Enter: Universal apps.

This option takes the cake.  Universal apps are single builds that end up being optimized for both the iPhone and the iPad.  So essentially, instead of building two separate apps, you build one app that works perfectly on each device using each device’s specs and interfaces.  Learn more about it from Apple here.

2 Reasons Why This Matters To You:

1. The numbers are better.  In a great infographic by App Annie:
1. iPad downloads are growing 130% faster than on the iPhone.
2. iPad revenues are contributing to 30% of all iOS revenue.
3. The iPad is generating 2.4x more revenue per download than iPhone.
2. Save a ton on development.  Getting individual apps made for both devices will cost you far more than getting a developer to create a universal app.  It’ll be a lot less time on their end and this translates to money being kept in your pocket.

What’s your experience with developing for iPad?  Do you agree that universal apps are the way to go?

Where's the line where you can still make amazing sh*t?

It’s tough to create a great iPhone app.  It’s tougher to create two great apps at the same time.

Guess what’s even tougher?  Yup.  Creating 3 or more at the same time.

I just read a great little article called Time Doesn’t Scale, and it sparked some pondering over my self-inflicted battle of wanting to do everything and rule the world.

Here’s what I know…

We Have A Problem…

Time doesn’t scale.

As Godin states in that article, there is only so much time in a day.  So even if we were superhuman and we didn’t need sleep (and didn’t have friends, like girls, do fun things), we could still only accomplish x amount in a given day.

So where’s the winning edge there?  Your competition is probably on the same kick.  And as you know, in the App Store you have a lot of competition.

The Solution…

Bravery scales.

What if we use that limited resource (time!), put on our gnarly boots and gave’r on one app only?  What if instead of creating two things that are great, we create one that makes people heads literally explode all over the back row in church?

I’m still a bit stuck on this debate, because I believe that marketing your new apps in your other apps is a tremendous method to increased downloads, but if they’re not mind blowingly awesome is there as much of a point?

What do you think?  One app or many?  Can you give each app enough energy if you take on multiple?

When I think about addiction, I think about alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and of course pizza.  You know the stuff that can be bad for you.

What doesn’t come to mind is social media.

And apparently it should, because based on a new study, Twitter is harder to resist than booze and smokes.

Why Should You Care?

Simple.  Because social media has taken reign and ignoring it can lay a licking on your app.

It baffles me when an app does not have at least their own Facebook Page and Twitter account.  And at least some method of sharing via social media from within the app.  Totally stumped.

The world has changing.  Ignore at your own peril.

Okay, You’re On Board.  Now The Hard Part…

The challenge is incorporating it into your app in a smooth and beneficial way.

Where and how can you get the best leverage of these mediums?  In between levels?  After an difficult accomplishment?

2 Questions.

1. Why should your user share anything about your app with their friends?
2. What’s in it for them to do so?

We need to design the social media implementation in a way that makes the user look like hot shit, that they are doing something interesting, that they made something funny, or that their onto something new.  We need to make it very easy for them to do this.  And we need to reward them for doing it (extra levels, more points, a chance to win).

I don’t know the answers.  But I do know that we need to think about this very hard.  Don’t make harder than it has to for your app to spread.  Instead, leverage people’s addiction to social media and allow them to spread it for you.

Any insights?  What’s worked for you?  What are you testing?  What are you tweaking?

The LifeListr® Site

As I’ve said before, making an app is only half the battle.  The other half?

Marketing it.

I just so happen to enjoy this half quite a bit.  And to that end, I’ve discovered some great resources you can use pre-launch to help build up steam for you app.

App Sites

You need a website for you app for a bunch of reasons.  A few important ones: a support link from you iTunes page, a better feel and description of the benefits of your app than in iTunes, and a place to interact with you users and get feedback.

Let’s Add Another Reason

To build a pre-launch audience.  The more potential users you have contact with at the time of your launch the better off you’ll be.

You can hold a little contest and give stuff away or you can just collect people emails who are interested in what you have brewin’.

The best part:

It is super easy to do.

If you’re even the least bit familiar with WordPress, it’s as easy as installing a new theme to your app’s URL.  The rest is walk thru and easy as pie.

Two Good Themes

I’ve just installed The Launch Effect theme over here at the new Life Listr site.

Another option is LaunchRock.

These are just two of many.  Just go Google crazy and you’ll find a bunch.

But why I like these is that they make it interactive for your audience by entering a contest of sorts and spread the word for you.  Can’t ask for much more than that.  As well, you can jazz em up to look completely different from one to another.

Getting them to share their unique links is going to be the hard part.  I’m going to test these two for the next few apps I release and see how they go.

Have you tried a pre-launch page of this type?  I’d love to hear your opinion or experience below!

It's Go Time. Use These Templates Below.

How about this simple challenge:

Start making something.  Today.

Anything.  Big or small.  Could take you an hour, could take you ten.

Creating something is far better than thinking about creating something.  And it’s a lot more fun.

If you wanted to play around with an app idea, I’ll even give you a boost.

Take these iPhone & iPad wire-framing templates and start drawing:

I’ve previously only given these away as a little bonus with the App Book, but here they are right now:

Draw Away! (Wireframes)

Don’t worry about anything but logistics and development.

Print and play.

You’d be amazed at what can happen from here.

"You Shall Not Pass!" But Seriously, Answer These Q's First

I’ve put together a little bit of a checklist for you.  Comprised of 10 great questions that are pretty essential to your apps success.

More importantly, these questions need to be sussed out before you begin.

This is preliminary stuff.  The stuff you don’t want to do, but it’s the stuff that matters.

Let’s just get into it…

10 Essential Questions To Ask Before You Begin Your App

1. What is the project?

If you can’t write it down in a few sentences you don’t have anything.  You need a description so you and your people know what this is all about.  Not: “it’s kind of like… and with a little bit of…”  Nail it.

2. When does it ship?

Pick a date and time.  This is a killer.  Every project I used to do was late to ship.  The best weapon to battle this is to decide a launch date in advance, and come hell or high water you ship.  Make sure everyone who’s involved knows this date.  That’ll ensure they’re sh*t scared to be the one not to pull their weight in time.

3. Who’s ultimately responsible for this shipping on time?

I recommend you.  Grab this bull by the horns and make sure everything gets done on time.  Someone has to take responsibility or you’ll be late.

4. What are you afraid of?

Be honest with yourself.  It is very difficult to create and launch a project because we fear a lot of pretty inane sh*t.  But we feel it anyways and it can hurt the project.  Think about this.  And then think about this some more.

I wonder if those things you are afraid of are where you should spend more time and energy (wink wink)?

5. Why should anyone care about your project?

This is just another way of asking, what makes your stuff remarkable?  In the 4 Step Guide to Making Apps eBook, I outline a bunch of edges (ways) that can instantly make your app something to talk about, something people would really care about.

What do you have?  What makes it special and note-worthy?

6. Who is your user?

Think about this now.  Who is your customer?  If you don’t define them you will get lost trying to please everyone, and that’s a sure-fire way to blend in.  Remember that there are boat-load of apps out there and you have to make something special for a small and targeted audience.  Only then will you have the chance for it to bridge the chasm and hit the rest.

7. Who are the influencers to this demographic?

Who holds authority, respect, and credibility in your small arena your making an app for?  You can’t market like Nike and buy celebrities.  What you can do, though, is connect with the influencers who hold power in your niche and try to work with them.

8. Who’s help do you need?

List everyone, internal and external, that you need to embrace this project for it to work.  Get them on board, and get them pumped.

9. What’s perfect, and what’s good enough?

Let’s face it, you will not be able to ship a 100% perfect and completed project if you have a deadline.  The deadline is more important.  Don’t postpone the launch to change features, add features, wait for stuff that isn’t essential, etc.

Write down what perfect looks like.

Write down what good enough looks like.

As long as you don’t compromise what makes your app remarkable, then you need to ship with good enough.  You can update all you want afterwards, and all the while if you’re connecting with your users (which I hope you are), then you can fine-tune it towards them (again, as long as that doesn’t compromise your edge!).

10. What can be added or taken away?

This is your last minute sifting session.  You have the layout of everything just mentioned.  You can see the entire project right in front of you (written down, right?).

Now list 10 things that, if added, can drastically make your app more remarkable.

And list 10 things that, if taken out, can drastically improve the UI (user interface/experience) of the app.

After this, don’t change a thing until you ship!  You will be very tempted the whole way through to add, subtract, change or alter.  Don’t.  This is your last chance so do it right.

What are some other pre-development questions we need to answer so we end up creating something great and shipping it on time?

It's Cool, You Don't Need Jordan.

You can’t market like Nike.

Sorry.  You don’t have the resources.  Sure, their approach works.  And it works very well.

What Nike does is hire the world’s best athletes as their spokespeople.

They nailed it because they picked Jordon, P-Rod, Vick, Armstrong and Ronaldinho.

Here’s another example by Lexus:

It’s funny, and it’s memorable.  Well done Lexus.

The Problem

You would have to hit the lotto a few times over for this rolodex to promote your stuff.

The good thing is that this angle is completely wrong for you anyways.

The Solution

Do it better.  Do it to fit.

The reason this type of marketing has forever worked, and will continue to work, is because these guys lend an enormous amount of credibility to the company their speaking for.  These celebrities have an enormous amount of influence to the majority.

But what I’m assuming (and hopefully I’m right!) is that Nike or Lexus is not your competition.

You are trying to own a smaller market.  Let’s say it’s a sub-genre in the App Store.  So you need to find the influencers for your app in that niche.  This you can do.  And these influencers are everywhere.

Bloggers, authors, musicians, actors, and socialites are a few examples.  Find the people in your app’s niche, and get to know them.  Deliver your new project with impact and discuss how it (and you!) can benefit them.  Don’t spam.  Be real.  Make it as beneficial for them to spread the good word about your app and reward them for doing so.  Since your app is already in their niche, they might be kind enough to help promote because they love it.  If you have to give something up front, such as a little bit of cake, then weigh whether or not it’s worth it.

The Takeaway

You can’t market like Nike, but that’s fine because you aren’t competing with Nike.  Find the influencers for your app and get them to back you.  Be a real person.  Offer to help them in any way you can and develop a mutually beneficial relationship.

What experience have you had in getting help from relevant influencers?

Read On, Before You End Up Strangling Your Partner

Collaborating can be a beautiful thing.  The concepts behind it are sincere: round up the best at their craft and make something great.

But sadly, far too often things don’t turn out as dreamed.

You have to be prepared.

So consider this before you collaborate:

Assume your app will be a massive hit.

This makes sure that you don’t give up the farm right out the gate.  When it’s in its infancy, it’s easy to be generous because nothing actually exists.  But what if this makes you a million dollars?  I’ll bet you’d have wished you were smarter in the beginning.

Acknowledge that all parties will not contribute equally.

Equal collaboration is a fairytale.  Very seldom does this happen.  If you are both gung ho, then consider allocating percentages of the company every quarter based on hours spent, or sales totals, or whatever your agreed upon metrics are.

It’s not fair to the singer/songwriter/lead guitarist to take home the same cut as the bassist who does the minimum.

There needs to be a head.

A massive issue with a 50/50 split is that there is no final decision maker.  And there needs to be.  This doesn’t mean that the profit has to be split in this direction but it’s much easier with this in place.

Understand that ideas are a dime a dozen.

I love hearing ideas, but ideas are worthless.  What makes money is making that idea happen, shipping it, and marketing the sh*t out of it.  The idea itself, don’t think so.

I’m sure you have enough ideas on your own, but let’s say a friend comes to you with an idea you do want to collaborate on.  What’s that worth?  I would say it’s not worth a piece of your company.  Consider this approach…

Give the idea provider a one-time cheque for $25,000 if xxx happens.  If not, then neither of you lost because it didn’t fly like it was supposed to.

Money doesn’t always rule.

You can make a lot happen without a big bank roll.  Consider collaborating with talented people and give back end (larger than up front) payments based on success levels.  You’re not out of pocket, and if you can convince these people you are the best decision to spend their time on, you’ve done well.

What experience have you had collaborating?  What did you learn?  Would you do it again?

Bad Design Can Kill Your App

Do pretty things work better?

Yeah it’s a weird question.  Kind of doesn’t make sense really, since the look of something doesn’t actually affect the functionality of it.  Or does it?

See, I’ve made many mistakes in this app game so far.  The good thing… I’ve tried to learn from them.  One that took me a little too long to process was the theory of app design.

Design matters.

Design matters as much as functionality, because very seldom does functionality alone pay in a large market.

Let’s Be Honest With Ourselves Here

Would you buy a car 100% based on how well it drives?  How safe it is?  Not unless you like the way it looks.

Do you pick your clothes for functionality?  Not unless they also make you look at least a bit sexy.

We care about how things look, because that affects how we feel.

4 Lines That Had Me Re-Design WakeUUUP!

“Quality is not only not necessary, for many items it’s undesirable.  If we define quality as regularly meeting the measured specifications for an item, then quality matters a lot for something like a pacemaker.  It doesn’t matter at all for a $3,000 haute couture dress.  More fashion = less need for quality. (My emphasis)” – Seth Godin, Tribes.

I worked my ass off making sure that the difficult functionality of WakeUUUP! was great.  And because I focused on it working well, I let the design slip.

Let’s Compare

The Oldie. Wasn't Flying.

Feels Better To Use.

I had finally finished the app.  And it worked great.  But just working great didn’t mean the app as a whole was great.

It was good.  And good isn’t worth sh*t anymore.  I put so much time, energy and money into this project and I just couldn’t settle on it being good.

So I hired a design team out of Los Angeles to revamp this mother.  And they did an amazing job.

The Take-Away

What I learned is that design matters because it affects how people feel towards your product.

We really have to concern ourselves with the user’s experience while using our apps.  It has to look great, to help them feel better using it.

It’s not just outside visuals, like cars and clothes like I mentioned earlier.  It’s also about those times when the user is all alone in her bedroom playing with your app.

They will be much more forgiving when it comes to bugs, a lack of functionality, or any other errors because us humans believe that sexy is better.

Better design means a better experience.  

What Do You Think?

How much of a role do you think design has in app development?

I agree with Matt Chase.

I stumbled upon a great site called the To Resolve Project somehow.

It’s a great idea this chap had…

Get great designers to make iOS wallpapers of their new year’s resolutions.  And that then put me on a search for other great iPhone wallpapers.

As you can imagine, there are a sh*t-ton of iPhone wallpapers out there since pretty much anything can be saved as a wallpaper.  But I’m done a little sifting for ya.

Here’s 5 Great iPhone Wallpaper Resources:

1. Poogla

This is a site specifically for your iPhone or iPad.  An absolute ton of options here. (Wallpaper below by The Meek Shall)

2. Designer Daily’s List

A design site with a great post displaying their top 50 designed iPhone wallpapers.  No snaps.  All individually designed. (Wallpaper below by Alex Cornell)

3. Smashing Magazine’s Massive List

Really, this is big.  It’s categorized and it links out to lots of other sites.  Get ready to spend an hour.  (Wallpaper below by Rohan L.)

4. Creative Fan’s Best HD List

All High Def.  All super rad. (Wallpaper below by Bakakage)

5. To Resolve Project

Probably my favorite.  I dig the direction.  And all designed around that theme.  (Wallpaper below by Elias Stein)

Got More?

If you or a friend designs, I’d love to see what you got!