Let’s face it, ideas are a dime-a-dozen. Everyone’s got a great iPhone application idea, right? The question really is, how do you get it to market quickly?
DollarApp was founded on the principles of simplicity and doing one thing really well. So what is that One Thing that your app is going to do first? How will you whittle the idea down to something you could sell for $1? When you’ve found your DollarApp, you’ve found your first shipping version.
Now, say you have a great $1.0, and someone says, “Oh, great idea - you should add [this killer feature].” This is a good sign! When someone else starts adding features to your concept, it means that they really get it, and you’ve lit their imagination. Add their idea to your backlog of features and think about whether you can still ship your app for just a dollar.
Why just a dollar? Because there is a certain expectation that the user has, once they pay just a little bit of money for something. Not too much, mind you, or expectations could be inflated. Ship just enough software that your customers recognize value. It’s OK to leave people wanting a little more; this is classic advice from the entertainment industry. A simple price creates a vested interest in communication with you, and that customer relationship is priceless.
Feature creep happens when you say, “Oh, [this killer feature] is a bigger idea and it will allow me to charge more for my app.” That may be true, but remember that feature creep will kill your schedule. Scope creep will kill your schedule. Anything creepy will kill your schedule. So start small, ship soon, and iterate on incremental value.
In summary, you can always charge more later. Get to $1.0 as soon as possible. Work with us.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Creeps can be deadly, especially when when your boss gives you the creeps.
As an independent developer, I shared some of my first serious iPhone App ideas with a few trusted friends and they all got creepy (the ideas, not the friends). That’s when I knew I had some winners.
Fortunately one of the Apps lends itself well to having a cheap lite version and an higher priced version with obvious enhancements. Haven’t decided if I should include the lite features in the higher priced package. I’m thinking not, so customers won’t feel jipped if they paid for the lite version first. Maybe I’ll also offer a third version with all features in one.
Wm