I’m floored to announce that my article, How to Succeed with your Mobile App, has been published in Smashing Magazine’s latest eBook, Designing Mobile Apps — Tips and Techniques. The book is packed full of good stuff so be sure to check it out.

Along those lines, I’ve been working on a pretty massive Languages case study over the past few months. It will probably manifest itself as a two part series on Smashing Magazine pretty soon.

Finally, two super awesome articles came out this week:

• My app design workflow by one of the top app designers in the world and all around great guy, Marc Edwards of Bjango.
• Starters Guide to iOS Design, a great primer to iOS design by Ben Taylor.

Here’s my part:

Don’t neglect the idea. We’ve all heard that the idea for an app doesn’t matter; it’s all about execution. I used to firmly believe that but then something happened. My second app, Languages, made more money in one day then my first app made in two years. What on earth? They both were well executed. Grades even won an Apple Design Award. They both were well marketed, being featured by Apple and the press. What was the difference?

The idea.

Grades was always limited by the small niche it served – college students who really care about their grades (a smaller niche than we would hope). Languages was much more universal. Almost anyone might be interested in a translation app that works without an internet connection. Don’t get me wrong, as this chart illustrates, niche apps can definitely make a lot of money but they have to be in niches that care so much about the app that they will pay a premium for it. Most apps, unfortunately, make the mistake of targeting a niche that would only pay 99 cents for their app, resulting in a disappointing business equation.

Of course, I would have told my former self quite a lot more than that but that lesson was a biggie. A few other highlights:

Give back. The fastest way to learn is by openly sharing and discussing

-Marc Edwards

For this to be an enjoyable living you need the enjoy the process and people involved.

-David Smith

Be sure to check out the full article. It’s chocked full of goodness.

We here at Tapity have been working extremely hard to make Hours the best experience possible. From simple interactions all the way to single pixel drop shadows, we are basically obsessed about making this thing amazing.

We are getting pretty close so I whipped up a website where you can enter your email address to receive an email when we officially launch Hours.

Check it out: hourstimetracking.com

There is no set date yet, but we are working as hard and fast as our little team can go and expect to launch in a month or two. Iteration is extremely important to us and we want the user to have the best experience possible. Tracking hours is not a very pleasant thing to do and we aim to change that.

Be sure to meet up with Jeremy at WWDC to get a demo.

Today I’m excited to introduce you to Ryan Orbuch, the 16 year old designer behind a neat app called Finish. His app (which, by the way, is his first) has been featured by Apple, Fox & Friends, TechCrunch, The Verge, … you name it. How? Well, that’s exactly what we talk about in the interview below so pay attention!

(Please excuse the quality – it was a coffee shop internet connection.)

Ryan Orbuch from Tapity on Vimeo.

Tracking billable hours is a pain. We are going to change that.

Stay tuned by signing up to our mailing list:

So I told Christain to learn web programming and build me a new website. The old website had a lot going on all over the place. I wanted something simple and elegant, super focused on the reading experience.

I think he did a great job. As with all our products, we are all about iteration so feel free to let us know what you like and don’t like. We’re all ears.

While we’re here, thought I would post a little status report on the stuff we are working on:

• Languages: we’re actively working on the iPad version.
• Grades: we’re about 70% done with a completely redesigned version of Grades that takes on the class management space, a market that competing apps have proved to be big enough to invest in.
• Hours: we’re working on a prototype that we can use day-to-day. We think that will really inform the design.
• TapPress (the book business): Cleaning Mona Lisa did well for an iBook but we want to figure out how to create and market books that bring a bigger return on investment. Once we’ve cracked that nut with our own books, we plan to help authors and publishers do the same.
• Yes, I am working on a book. More on that later.
• I’ve been working on building a Branch community where top app makers discuss important topics to help bring the industry forward. It’s been going really well so far.
• We are still doing some client work. About to jump on a few new projects.
• We’ve also got some other super secret stuff coming up but that’ll have to wait for now.

Thanks everyone for following along. I look forward to blogging more and sharing what we’re learning along the way.

UPDATE: as of 12:55pm eastern the site doesn’t look great on mobile but we should have that fixed soon.

A few highlights from the discussion:

Ellis Hamburger, writer at The Verge:

Ultimately as a developer you must aspire to be the best in your category, which often means looking to competing apps and making sure you can outdo them from the get-go — and *don’t launch your app until you meet those goals* since any category only has a few real winners.

Samuel Iglesias, developer of Tea:

To me what makes a good app idea is a good interface idea: the two go hand in hand. More often than not problems we identify (which aren’t really *that* hard to identify) have HARDER usability problems that piggy back onto them.

David Chartier, MacWorld + Mac Observer + OnePassword:

A good app has a clear message and purpose. The tools have to be unique and fill a need, or people will question why they need it or just stick with something they have.

Francisco Inchauste, Rise + Smashing Magazine:

A good app idea adds on to the competition’s with some better features and implementation. A *great* app idea reimagines that product through design, and resets the baseline.

Read the full discussion →

The best part? We’ve heard from some of the top app journalists themselves. A few highlights:

Rene Richtie, Editor at iMore:

1. Make great apps.
2. Be human.

Ellis Hamburger, App Reporter at The Verge:

3. Be brief, be sincere, include screenshots. Screenshots speak louder than words, and they’re your best bet at getting me interested.
4. Ultimately, as sincere and wonderful as you may be, it’s difficult to earn coverage for a subpar app/thing. Don’t be a nag.
5. Even if you miss a couple journalists for one app launch, know that if you do great work, they’ll cover the next update or the next app.
6. Be a nice person along the way. We’re all into the same stuff, just be yourself!

Federico Viticci, Editor at MacStories:

1. Get my name right. I’m called “Federico”; not “Frederico”, “Federicco”, “Frederrico”, or any other weird variation.

2. Build a great app and tell me why it’s great in 2 sentences. If it’s a known concept, tell me why your app is different.

3. Know my tastes. I have over 6k articles on MacStories. You know I’m into iOS automation and that sort of stuff. If you have a URL scheme, **tell me about it**. Show me that you *want* my coverage, and that you’re not sending a copy & paste to everyone.

(he then goes on to list 17 more awesome points so be sure to check his answer out.)

David Barnard, founder of App Cubby:

There are some really cool people in this industry. If all you do is beg for coverage, you’re missing out on getting to know some great folks.

Marc Edwards, founder of Bjango:

• Be part of the community. Where possible, help others (karma, baby).
• Be prepared and take the time to write short, on-point messages. Don’t waste anyone’s time.
• If you expect someone to give you their time and attention, be prepared to give them your time and attention in return, should they ask.

I hope I’ve convinced you that you seriously need to check out the full discussion. There are so many gems to be found.

How to Befriend Journalists →

Also be sure to go to the App Making group and click the “watch” button to follow the discussions.