How to Build an App Empire: Can You Create The Next Instagram?

Contest Entry

An as yet unnamed weight tracking app.

As of today the 10 of the top 50 Health and Fitness apps and 15 of the top 100 track either points or calories. One tracks photos so as to track calories. Research has shown tracking calories or pints to be ineffective way to lose weight, a far more effective way is to get people to simply thing about what they are about to put into their mouth by keeping a food journal, or even more effectively, taking a picture of what they’re eating (Zepeda and Deal).

This app is designed to make it as easy as possible to do that, in the pro version, you open the app and you’re straight into a camera screen ), they take a picture and they go to a screen where they can add extra info if they wish ) or else if they skip the camera page they go to their records page ) which shows exactly what they’ve eaten today and has a top bar so they can easily see what they’ve eaten this week. There’s also a calendar button so they can see every meal they’ve eaten this week.

So many meal tracking apps ignore the other side of tracking: weight, body fat and total inches, this app doesn’t. There’s also a records tab ) where they are able to add their current details and it gets tracked both on a calendar and as a handy graph so they can see all their weight loss progress in one spot. Also, when they add a new set of measurements they will be prompted to add a photo too. This means they can keep a visual record of their weightloss progress.

There’s also a settings tab where they’ll be able to set up whether or not they want to auto share all their updates to facebook or twitter.

This app in particular emulates three: the date bar from OmniFocus, the meal tracking from dietSNAPS and the weight tracking from TargetWeight. OmniFocus is an utterly different app with a cool interface. dietSNAPS is a cool idea but really poorly implemented, adding a meal is a pain and you have to manually fill details such as time and what meal it is; this app will assume if you last ate breakfast, your next meal is lunch! Likewise target weight is an alright weight tracking app but not very well implemented.

Hi Chad and Tim,

Truly inspiring story you have, Chad. I’ve messed around with the Emoji app in the past, and I’ve enjoyed it. I also have your book, “App Empire” on my wish list of Amazon, and I found freeappaday.com through your website. I do have one question for you, though: I noticed on your website blog post “Finding Developers…” you mentioned avoiding royalties. Is there any situation where you think it’s a good idea?

My idea is an application that gives you the opportunity to monitor the most important aspects of your Google AdWords account, including an overview of campaign performance (CTR, clicks); an overview of ad group performance (top and bottom performing ads and keywords), and a trended chart of performance of the campaign (two lines: clicks and CTR) over the past 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.

The reason I chose this app is because advertisers are *obsessed* with how their campaigns are performing, as they often put a lot of money towards advertising with Google. This app gives them an overview of performance, so they can quickly tell which campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords are working, and which aren’t so they can make quick adjustments.

While doing extensive research through beautifulpixels.com and topappcharts.com, I noticed there’s an abundance of Google Analytics and AdSense apps, but no good AdWords ones. However, one app stuck out on beautifulpixels that I drew a lot of inspiration from: Analytiks, a beautiful and simplistic Google Analytics app (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/analytiks/id427268553?mt=8).

There are a few different screens on my app. The crude drawings I made are at the URL that follows, and the numbering reflects below. Drawing URL: http://imgur.com/a/znHwa

1) Landing screen, similar to the Analytiks landing screen above. The user can swipe side to side for different campaigns, and the landing screen has an overview of CTR and clicks today for the campaign selected (with a percentage increase over the previous day).

2) When you flip the screen sideways, you’re presented with a chart that trends the clicks and CTR of the campaign over the 1 w, 1 m, 3 m, 6 m time periods mentioned above.

3) This is the screen the user sees when they double-tap anywhere on the landing screen, and it’s a more detailed breakdown of their campaign performance. You can see the three best and worst performing ads and keywords, and the percentage decrease or increase over the average in the selected campaign. Time periods are changeable as well. Lastly, in the upper-right corner, the user can click the arrow to share a screenshot of performance, and then email that screenshot. This is ideal if they’re working on a team, on the run, and they want someone back at the office to make a change.

P.S. I kept a running log of how I went from 6+ ideas over the span of six days to this one final idea, as well as a journal of what I decided I needed to do each day and what I found. You can see it here: http://mcaf.ee/5x8vl. It stops on Thursday, because at that point I figured out what I wanted to do.

I’m a Chief in the Navy 17+yrs and I find myself raising the youth of America and other countries who join the Military. How bout an App that gives people help with their questions when MOM and DAD aren’t there, like what “THE CHIEF” does.

How to set up your bank accounts, buy a car (what to look for), how to cook, what to do in case of an emergency (stabbing, fall, broken bones) and of course the Military side of it:

How to take care of your family from across the world (tie all the resource website for the military to one app.) , college and you, medical benefits, your career and evals, and Instructions/manuals

Name: Ask Chief or Need Help? Icon: Anchor Developer I’d use: ANDRIOS they’ve done some other Military apps

I drew my idea on paper and scanned it. Having non-erasable ink and limited writing space forced me to be concise and not procrastinate by editing and re-editing.

http://hyperadaptive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/C-Terrell-App-Empire-Contest.jpg

Basic idea: Sometimes you really need to memorize stuff. As I learned in grade school with an Apple //e, a drill/quiz program can be a useful tool for that task. My idea is to start with user-defined data files: Spreadsheet, one row per concept, each column is a different way to represent that concept. For example, columns with the English word “dog”, the Chinese character for dog, how to pronounce that character in Mandarin, hiragana, romanized Japanese…

The user opens that spreadsheet in my app, chooses which column is the question, then which is the answer. The app displays the question with 1 right answer and 3 random wrong answers. Tap an answer, get right or wrong feedback, move on to next random question. Continue until the user taps “end”.

This is similar to how Rosetta Stone works. Except mine would be MUCH cheaper and text only. (Other media – maybe in a future premium version?) The user would have complete control over the data, which is ideal for studying less popular languages or a particular course’s vocabulary list. Also for memorizing math tables and learning new alphabets. Some useful sample data would be available for download.

See the file linked above for screen sketches and logical flow.

My idea for an app is to create a better URL shortener like bit.ly or ow.ly. My URL shortener would make custom links. Bit.ly have a customize option for their links but they still have the bit.ly in front of what you customize and words get taken for only one such url. My app would allow you to use the customized word that other people might have already taken because it would be linked to your account. This app would customize any text words you would want to turn into a link. This would save you the characters if you were tweeting the link or posting on a social media website.

Example:

bit.ly version: volunteer beach clean up tomorrow at tasker’s beach. complete the waiver and I’ll see you there bit.ly/6fj1GLP

-the link is at the end, looks ugly and takes up characters.

My version: volunteer beach clean up tomorrow at tasker’s beach. complete the *waiver* and I’ll see you there

-in this case the word waiver would be the hyperlink used, this looks clean and saves you the characters.

This app is simple and would make the use of the url in social media more appealing. If I don’t win this contest, you welcome for such a great idea.

I have been looking for something to help direct me as to pricing items that I make. I have scoured the app store looking for pricing “techniques” and can’t find any. I have come up with 4 basic steps to determine cost of an item.

1. You need to know the cost of your supplies. ( For a necklace I used $29 worth of supplies )Have one page to punch in those numbers.

2. Labor is the next page. You need to figure out a fair hourly wage for yourself and then add in Social security, taxes, sick leave, medicare. Multiply your time in making a piece by the hourly wage you desire. (For me, I decided $12 an hour + $6 an hour for taxes etc. The item took me 4 hours to make so that is $72)

3. 3rd page is Overhead. This may take a while to figure out but once you are done, you can use the same number most of the time. You need to take into account: rent, water, heat, light, advertising, shippiing, packing, tools, etc. Total your overhead for a year and divide by the number of hours you put into your business a year. (I used: rent $30, Adv. $10, Shipping $40, tools $30, computer/internet $30 which equals $140 a month or $1680 year. I work 6 hours a day for 250 days a year which is 1500. $1680 divided by 1500 = 1.12. It takes me 4 hours to make something so over head is $4.48 and finially,

4. Profit. You choose how much profit you want to make whether it is 3% or 150%. (I chose 6% which makes my cost for the item I made $111.80)

I really think that having something like this app would make it so much more simple for the artist to determine how much they should charge for an item. Plus they could plug into it anytime and just change a few of the numbers for the price of another item. It could be used by crafters, hobbyists, and artists alike. Thanks for this contest. It really got me to think about apps in a new way.

Thanks so much for getting me inspired about apps. It truly IS the way of the future.

I took a look at the top grossing apps. At the time I Checked which was 2 days ago 17/25 where social media multi players. most of these were also role playing games in the style of funzio crime city or dragonvale. what I did notice was that there was plenty of these castle,dragon, ancient mystical games but no space game. 

so my app is a social media multi player built around a space theme.

My players will have the option to either command a humanoid ship or a alien ship. object is to expand the power,size and weaponry of the ship. their will be challenges and missions  to get more energy, more matter ,more air and more crew. also players will be able to battle each other for more points to move up in class. as they move up in class rank they will also be able to start building a fleet. 

the app will be distributed as a freemium app. Were players will be able to buy upgrade packages for their ships if the they want to make a more powerfully ship quicker. Its simple straight foward story theme. Player will have option of creating a account or logging on using Facebook. I’m aware that the concept is old but the when you take a look at the top grossing apps the concept works very fine. 

AWESOME Post, Tim ! As a fellow appreneur I love every single bit of info here.

I teach people how to create app empires of their own myself and have to say everyone NEEDS to pay attention to this post. Absolute gold guys!

Cheers,

Billy B.

My app idea is rather simple. Android and Apple don’t have a way to create groups of text messages…and make this personal. Say I want to text 6 friends, because they are my bowling friends, and want to ask them if they want to go bowling Friday night…I have to add each of their names each time to a text, which is a hassle with 6 friends, but lets say I want to invite all of my friends to a party via text…I have no way to categorize my friends groups and text them all at once. It would be great if I had an app that could do that, and would take their first name in my address book if I use …or something like that to make it personal for that individual.

My app would be called ‘They Said What!!!!’

When I was at college a million years ago a group of us Physics geeks maintained a quote list of what we or our professors said, being horny geek adolescents most of the quotes were taken out of context and in our own little world were hilarious…not so much when I think back now but there you go.

So the app would allow anyone to create as many of their own geek/ niche groups as they want. They could invite whomever they want thus giving that person reading and adding privileges.

Any quotes added would obviously go to out to the group members. There would also be a context field for adding background if needed.

A group member could see quotes from a particular group thay they founded or are a member of and also in a live feed of all quotes from all groups that they are involved in.

Like facebook but not….like twitter but not. This would not be social media where you broadcast to as many followers as possible or hundreds of ‘friends’ and less beauracratic than setting up circles or groups or whatever they call it on facebook and google.

This is designed for small intimate groups which each have their very own social and context parameters.

A group could also be of one person who needs to track maybe the conversation of a overpowering boss or soon to be ex spouse.

The comments/ quotes could be input by keyboard, audio or video recording or by picture as we know sometimes no words are needed.

I could see this app being used by students, by office co workers, by collaborative groups, by 4HWW-ers

Now I just need a devloper and your money – if the latter doesn’t happen thanks for your post – I know where I am heading now.

ClockStar Alarm Clock

Warning: this alarm clock will go completely apeshit on you.

Most alarm clock apps have a ton of options, or added bells & whistles. Some have tried to copy or improve upon SleepCycle’s idea of using an accelerometer to pick a time to wake you up. But all have one thing in common: once the alarm goes off, you stop it by simply hitting a button on the iPhone’s touch screen. This is easy to do and allows the user to go back to sleep after briefly rolling over to hit the off button.

ClockStar would use the accelerometer in place of an off button. When the alarm goes off, you could (if you select this option) be allowed to hit the snooze button once. But to actually deactivate the alarm for good, you don’t hit a button. You pick up the phone, get out of bed and do some calisthenics while holding the phone. ClockStar uses your accelerometer to recognize that you’re doing the required exercises, and turns off the alarm when you perform the required motions. By this point you’re well and truly woken up and won’t go back to bed.

I originally chose jumping jacks as the exercise to use, but people’s phones could fly out of their hands, so I am going with wood choppers (swing left shoulder to right hip, and vice versa) at first. I want to add several exercises to choose between such as lateral raises, bicycle crunches and squat thrusts, because some people may have injuries preventing them from doing certain motions. Eventually I will add the option to select a mix of several exercises as the “off switch.”

Also, the alarm sound would not be up to the user. There will be several sounds, such as gunfire and explosions, barking dogs, a bunch of voices talking, death metal and construction noises. One will be selected at random each morning, so that the user never gets used to the alarm and becomes able to tune it out. And if you don’t like the sound your phone is making, that’s all the more reason to do your damned exercises and get it over with. I’ll add a new sound to the rotation every few months, just to keep users on their feet (literally). I’ll be testing this part extensively; I’ll make the random shuffle optional if enough of the early users hate it.

In the long run, I’d like to add an optional functionality like SleepCycle has for timing the alarm to go off during REM sleep. For now though, I just want to get a working version made with this new innovation and get rolling.

Research: There are a ton of alarm clock apps, and many are popular. SleepCycle, which I love, is number 2 in health & fitness, and costs $.99. Alarm Clock HD (Free), Alarm clock HD ($.99) and Alarm Clock Pro ($.99) are 3, 4 and 5 in utilities, respectively. My Alarm Clock ($.99) and Alarm CLock Free (Free) are 16 and 18 in utilities. Nighstand Central musical alarm clock is 18th in Productivity at $2.99. Sleep Time is 23rd in Health & Fitness at $.99, and there are a ton of other paid alarm clock apps ranked in the top apps, but I’ve stuck to the top 25. Utilities are the biggest categories for alarm clocks, but a number of successful ones are also in productivity and health & fitness.

http://topappcharts.com/search.php?string=alarm+clock&show=search&price=any

The following research paper shows that the iPhone can be used, and has been used, to recognize gestures involving much smaller and more precise motions than would be needed for ClockStar. This proves that ClockStar is well within the iPhone’s technical capability.

http://klingmann.ch/msc_thesis_marco_klingmann_iphone_gestures.pdf

Most alarm clock app icons just look like an actual clock. The icon for ClockStar would look like an anthropomorphic clock face. It would be orange, making an angry face and looking like it was yelling. Other alarm clock app icons are mostly green or blue, with a couple being orange or yellow. SleepCycle, the top paid alarm clock app, is orange-yellow. This is an action color, and not coincidentally the color of most Buy Now buttons on the internet, so mine would be similar but just slightly darker, to stand out slightly while achieving the same effect.

The interface would look very similar to the iPhone’s built-in alarm function. Basically just a new color scheme (probably orange background, black text, maybe some grey trim) plus the added option to select which exercises you want to do to act as the off button.

I’ll charge $.99 for the app at first. I thought about starting at $2.99, but I want to make a lot of initial sales so I can get some reviews. Also, total downloads influences an app’s search ranking, supposedly quite heavily, so I want to get as many downloads as I can, as fast as I can. I’ll probably even make it free for the first couple weeks while I badger my friends to download it and give me good reviews. I’ll include a warning that the price is $.99 for a limited time only, then try raising the price after a while to see how revenue changes.

I originally titled this Clockageddon: The Ultimate Alarm Clock, but I noticed that when you search apps in the app store, it only displays the first 15 characters of the name, including spaces. I wanted people to see the word “Alarm” in the name when searching apps, before they even clocked on it. So ClockStar Alarm Clock will read “ClockStar Alarm…” I think Clockageddon is a way cooler and more appropriate name, but it’s more important to be understood, so the word “Alarm” has to be displayed.

Most alarm clocks try to be user-friendly. And that’s good- right up until it’s time to wake up. At that point, you need your alarm clock to kick your ass.

My app would be called ‘They Said What!!!!’

When I was at college a million years ago a group of us Physics geeks maintained a quote list of what we or our professors said, being horny geek adolescents most of the quotes were taken out of context and in our own little world were hilarious…not so much when I think back now but there you go.

So the app would allow anyone to create as many of their own geek/ niche groups as they want. They could invite whomever they want thus giving that person reading and adding privileges.

Any quotes added would obviously go to out to the group members. There would also be a context field for adding background if needed.

A group member could see quotes from a particular group thay they founded or are a member of and also in a live feed of all quotes from all groups that they are involved in.

Like facebook but not….like twitter but not. This would not be social media where you broadcast to as many followers as possible or hundreds of ‘friends’ and less beauracratic than setting up circles or groups or whatever they call it on facebook and google.

This is designed for small intimate groups which each have their very own social and context parameters.

A group could also be of one person who needs to track maybe the conversation of a overpowering boss or soon to be ex spouse.

The comments/ quotes could be input by keyboard, audio or video recording or by picture as we know sometimes no words are needed.

I could see this app being used by students, by office co workers, by collaborative groups, by 4HWW-ers

Now I just need a programmer and your money – if the latter doesn’t happen thanks for your post – I know where I am heading now.

Apologies if this is a duplicate my ipad crashed midway through submission

This will need a lot of programming, but is a long tail idea that matches the Ferriss brand……

An app that translates into subtitles- when watching a movie, tv show, into different languages. Watch tv in Hong Kong? Manderin to english… or german….. or something.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states mobile phone related distractions have led to an increasing number of automobile fatalities in the last 5 years, while at the same time the U.S. Census Bureau reports that commute times are on the rise with the average American spending over 100 hours in the car in 2012.

Read it to me! will let you keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road while it reads aloud your facebook activity feed, twitter trends, or most recent emails or texts. It also has the capability to read traffic updates, ebooks, web articles or any other text you choose to display on screen. This app allows you to keep up-to-date with all of your social media connections while on the road or in any situations where you can’t view your mobile device (like getting ready in the morning, brushing your teeth, at the store, etc).

If you’re leaving work late on a Friday and need to catch up on what your friends and family have posted on facebook, simply click the facebook icon from Read it to me! and it will start reading all the latest updates on your activity feed. It’s a great way to be in the know, while you’re on the go!

Read it to me! is also great for on-the-go Moms who need to get the kids to soccer practice and don’t have time to sit and catch-up on emails from friends and family. You can have your email read to you while you drive and even get up-to-the minute traffic updates so you’ll never be late again!

Avoid the wreck and drive safely while staying connected to your social world.

App Specifications: The initial app will be free and includes intelligent text-to-speech transcription for all of: facebook, twitter, email, text, traffic, web and ebooks. It will lead marketplace with its high quality “human-like” voices and its slick interface. Revenue will be generated from intermittent audio advertisements. There will also be a premium version costing $1.99 that will remove ads, provide customized voices, and the ability to “learn” speech patterns and dialects to name just a few features.

I hope this gives you a good general overview. Obviously, I don’t want to give everything away here but if selected I would love to share the rest of the features with you!

Here’s a quick “mock” example screenshot I created showing the homescreen: http://flic.kr/p/bRLVwi

Job: Develop monster app for me.

Concept: I will tell you if you are approved once you send in your ideas.

Timeline: Two weeks.

Compensation: Name listed in the credits of the app.

Any takers?

*******************************************

Seriously, would any self-respecting coder/programmer answer any add to develop an app for a stranger?

Why would someone sign a non-disclosure agreement without knowing any details?

If the app is not developed to completion, is the developer still paid for his work?

Also, if the app isn’t developed, does the app “creator” get to keep the code as intellectual property?

Why can’t the “creator” and the developer(s) split all income 50/50?

I swear this whole “geographical arbitrage” thing is a 21st century Ponzi scheme for people in second and third world countries to fall victim to. The nerve of people paying guys a few hundred dollars to create an app that could generate millions!

Oh well, it’s only money.

I’m redoing this explanation because I put my url in the comment box. Here’s a short explanation…

This game is emulated from “Draw Something”.

A Person chooses an emotion and then takes a picture of themself acting out that emotion. The camera gives you 3 second and then automatically takes the photo. You have the option of redoing the photo. Once you are happy, you send the photo off. The person on the other end has to guess how you are feeling. If they guess correct, they get heart points. If they guess wrong, nothing happens. After 10 heart points, you earn a free body language reading tip that you can apply in real life. Play online with friends on twitter/ facebook. Offline mode has an option where you simply choose a computer generated face among over a dozen, and guess their emotion. This will be called practice mode. No heart points are earned during practice mode. A free version will be available, and within that, a paid version for 1.99 will be available. The game will be called, “What am I thinking?”.

I researched the top 50 reviews of a dozen games including:

Angry Birds

Angeof Stick

Dot Line

Smash Police

Bejeweled

Draw Something

etc…

Some trends I came up with include:

-people want something that relieves stress

-easy to use right away, no need to develop a skill

-simple

-something that makes you think, and something mindless as well

-Humor

-a way to connect with friends

Those were the bigest hot buttons.

My idea is basically emulated from “Draw Something” with a differen twist. Instead of drawing, you get 3 seconds to act out an emotion and have your friends guess what it is, while recieving points to earn practice social skills.

My app idea comes from many days with my kids where we were at the park and it started to rain- and we needed something to do, close by- right away. There still is no app available to do this. Here is my idea:

Save My Rainy Day

The initial search screen would allow you to enter your zip code or location and choose from a drop down menu of:

Play Inside

Play Outside

Watch Something

Make Something

Relax

Eat

You can then enter how many people you have:

2

Choose a Budget

Free

$10-$30

$30-$50

$50-$200

Enter ages of participants

Kids under 10

Kids older than 10

Adults

The result would be a list of the top 5 activities happening closest to you, soonest.

Ideally it would produce, as an example from a local park near me,

A library story time

A kid friendly restaurant with a kids eat free lunch special

A gymnastics establishment with an open gym time in 1 hour

A family friendly coffee shop

A movie theater option

The closest apps I can find to this all offer a calendaring function- so are not what I am seeking. I don’t want to put it on my calendar, I need it solved NOW.

The closest thing available online to this app is the Yelp site- but it does not offer the time or location option on your phone that I can find.

Also, Yelp is limited in its offerings for kids and families. This app would ideally sync (in my local area) with http://www.SeattlesChild.com and http://www.parentmap.com to provide family friendly activity ideas in real time.

This app is one which could help a family stranded at a soccer tournament for a weekend in need of something to do for 2 hours between games, it can help parents with kids on vacation stuck inside because of rain, it can help parents of teens who are bored find something to do, NOW.

I have been working on this app idea for some time and am still looking for a good one to use as start material, however, I read your contest and thought it was a good time to chime in and see what happens.

I will be researching this app with your guide from this email, but would love the opportunity to see it become reality. I believe it will help many parents and kids have happier days and connect them with great activities just around the corner they might be missing!

Tried to load a sketch of my app, but it wouldn’t go in this screen. Please go to my blog to see the image at:

http://passionpatiencepersistence.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/tim-ferris-and-chad-mureta-contest-entry/

Hi there,

This may sound like a silly question but I have an android phone (Nokia N9) so to test an Apple iPhone app that I make do I just need to buy an iPod rather than an iPhone? This would be cheaper for me as i am just starting out.

Thanks Rich

Thanks for the opportunity Chad & Tim!

My app idea emulates to-do list apps such as Clear and AwesomeNote. In my app you will be able to create to-do lists (i.e. Grocery Lists, Christmas shopping, etc) but the primary function will help consumers achieve their goals.

For instance, if one of your goals is to create an iPhone app you will type it in, set a date that will connect to your iPhone, Gmail and Outlook calendar, create benchmarks (smaller goals that will lead to your primary goal) along with reminders (so an alarm will go off x amount of days before your deadline to let you know that you need to focus and git’ her done NOW).

Because I made my college career off of Extra Credit, click below for wireframes:

Hi Chad & Tim – I’m a huge fan of you both!

Chad,

I was in the middle of rereading App Empire when I saw this. I have already begun executing your system (4 live apps now), but I would die at the chance to get to know you better (to me the 1-hour with you is more valuable than the $5k).

My submission:

Similar to what Outfit7 did with the Talking Tom series, there is another type of app that I believe is ripe for the creation of a themed series of apps: Fluik’s Office Jerk.

According to AppAnnie, Office Jerk has been ranked 200 or better in the top Overall category for the last 2 years, many times spiking into the top 20. It has been consistently in the top 100-200 games and the top 20-50 Action & Simulation. However, there are surprisingly few clones out there so far.

If you aren’t familiar with Office Jerk: There is a guy sitting at his desk, and you throw objects at him by swiping the object towards him (like Paper Toss). You get a few objects for free, then there are all kinds of other ones you have to pay for.

My first release will be Class Clown. The app will be very similar to Office Jerk, but in a classroom setting. Additionally, there will be a way to rig the game when showing to friends so they always miss. After Class Clown, it’s just a matter of picking new places (e.g. courtroom, movie theatre, etc.) and release new versions of the app for each one.

This one of of the apps I posted on guru and oDesk when I was choosing between a few apps to start on, and the bids came in between $2k and $5k. I ended up going with the cheaper SFX apps first but have wanted to get to this asap.

I think there are some good submissions here already (though honestly a surprising number seemed to ignore your “Don’t hate, emulate” advice), so, if I don’t get picked: Are you interested in doing any consulting, for cash and/or equity? I would absolutely love the chance the learn from you in any capacity.

Thanks for doing this contest, and thanks for the book!

-JC

I live in Taiwan and understand the challenges for Westerners learning Chinese. Our app combines high-value, high frequency Chinese vocabulary with an optimized graduated-interval repetition algorithm with the intention of effectively encoding the selected vocabulary into the user’s long-term memory, and has many in-app purchase opportunities. A similar, but limited app in the app store has 10,000 downloads per month, but we can materially improve on its functionality, icon, and design. It is an app just waiting to be surpassed.

Our proposal:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/91717259/Chinese-Learner-App-Proposal

Background

Students of Chinese number in the tens of millions and there is double-digit increases, on the order of about 25% yoy, in people taking the HSK, which is the official language proficiency exam used by students and professionals alike.

The HSK exams test knowledge of Chinese characters, and break down into 6 levels, with Level 1 being the most basic. There are 5000 characters in the entire HSK list. We would offer the a portion of or the entire Level 1 character list (150 characters) as a lite version, with subsequent lists being in-app purchases. There is the opportunity for high retention rates since each in-app purchase is designed to meet the needs of a subsequent test.

Competition

There is currently a similar app which exists in the app store. It also uses an algorithm, which is its key competitive advantage. However, it is missing key features, most importantly an audio pronunciation of the character (critical) and a similar audio input to speak your answer, thereby confirming your pronunciation is correct. While most comments are enthusiastically positive about the app’s algorithm, one sentiment keeps creeping up: limited.

Useful but limited – rkaufman27 on November 21, 2011

Good but limited – sasha on January 7, 2012

Would like to view already marked characters – riper on August 15, 2011

Excellent. Improvement: add part of speech to definition and have sound available … david on May 19, 2011

(The app’s last update was on April 17th, 2011)

Despite this, and two underwhelming screenshots and a lackluster icon, the app has had at least 10,000 downloads in the past 30 days.

Proposal

Their limitations are where I intend to take advantage. The proposed app would have:

– a graduated interval memory algorithm

– pronunciation of the character

– an option for audio input to confirm answer to recall quizzes

– a settings option to view/review previously learned characters

From a marketing standpoint, I have a couple of positives including:

– a network of friends studying Chinese who are active in relevant online

and offline communities

– a friend who is the founder of GodGame, a successful online gaming and

app development company in Taiwan.

– a design for a striking icon and a great name

Finally, this app would also serve as a test for a more advanced student-directed app with viral growth that I would like to try to develop. The number of people studying Chinese is accelerating, and there’s a ton of room to grow before that wave crests.

Notes:

* competing app – Chinese Character Trainer (No joke. That’s the name they chose.) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cidianchinese.charactertrainer&hl=en

* HSK test info – http://www.chinesetesting.cn/gonewcontent.do?id=677487

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App Idea

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After reading this article I was so excited that I read through several blogs, articles, and tutorials about app creation and ultimately I read your book (it was a great read by the way). So following your advice of not falling in love with your ideas, I have discarded many more complex ideas and tried to emulate successes. I am a complete novice to developing apps so I am not exactly sure of the costs that will be associated with this app but, I have done my best to keep it under the budget and to keep it simple enough to easily outsource to a programmer.

The Idea:

The app store is filled with apps that promise custom lock screens that replace the mundane, “slide to unlock” screen. Many of these apps have enjoyed continued success despite the fact that they do not work at all. My idea is to take these successes modify it slightly and take it further. First, this app will be a “for entertainment purposes only” one, like many of your apps.

The purpose of this app is for users to trick their friends and family into saying foolish or incriminating things into the app in hopes of unlocking it. While the friends and family are talking the device will secretly be taking a video of them, using the front facing camera.

The app will present users with a secondary lock screen that features a siri like icon (for example see here: http://bit.ly/Iz90qw). Above the siri icon will be text that instructs the user to answer a question or say a statement. For example, the text may say: “This Device is locked. To Advance say “I love Justin Bieber”.” The user can customize this text to be anything that they like, opening up a world of possibilities. To see an example of this screen and more details click http://bit.ly/Iz90qw.

While the user’s friends and family are trying to unlock the device, the front facing camera is recording a video of the user. The end result will be a video of someone saying “I love Justin Bieber.” This video will automatically be added to the camera roll.

I also plan to create a website for this app (I am an experienced web designer/developer) so I will be able to do this at no additional cost. This website will feature hilarious videos taken with the app. To start I will fill it with videos of apps of my friends and family but over time users could submit their own videos. This website could serve as an excellent marketing tool and would be included in the description of the app.

I have created mockups of each page of the app and included further descriptions and details on each page:

Home Screen: http://bit.ly/JGX80P

Lock Screen: http://bit.ly/Iz90qw

Help Menu: http://bit.ly/ID8r8F

(the below links lead to the top app charts graph of the particular app)

Is there a market for this application?

Absolutely.

I believe that this app combines aspects of several highly successful applications. First, users love to download applications that promise to offer a new lock screen. For example the app “Slide your phone” (http://bit.ly/JH31Ly) has fared very well despite not even coming close to delivering on its promise (and having a highly misleading description). Moreover, the app “Custom Lock Screen” (http://bit.ly/IBKyBK) promises users that they can customize their lock screen (with wallpapers, again the description is very misleading). This app has enjoyed continued success as have these similar apps: “Lockittizer,” (http://bit.ly/IDaTvL) and “Customize Lock Security” (http://bit.ly/JLvOCy). All of these apps offer (but do not deliver) the promise of custom lock screens and have enjoyed (to this) day terrific success.

Many apps that have custom lock screen also offer the ability for users to take a picture of the perpetrator but none of them allow video. Moreover, these apps tend to protect “secret folders” not actual custom lock screens. For example apps see “Dot Lock Protection,” (http://bit.ly/KpU3Gu) and “Dot Lock Security” (http://bit.ly/IncGte).

On the other hand, this app also capitalizes on the incredible success of Siri and voice recognition. Siri has been a cultural phenomenon and the icon is recognizable to most Americans. Several apps are capitalizing on this obsession, most notably “Voice Assistant” (http://bit.ly/KpUmkn) has been a top app on both the iPad and iPhone for a significant period.

Another and one of the most attractive features is the ability for the app to create videos of the users. The demand for video creation on mobile devices is obvious. The apps “Viddy” (http://bit.ly/ImQkde) and “Socialcam” (http://bit.ly/JmiBwZ) both offer users a way to interact with videos similar to that of “Instagram” (http://bit.ly/JH3WLV) (for photos). Both of these apps have been top free apps for significant amounts of time. These apps are obviously far more complex than this app but, I feel that they demonstrate that users want to download apps that involve creating videos.

All of these factors point toward the fact that the app store is ready for an application like this. Users love apps that entertain and amuse them and this app will do just that. Overall, I think that this app expands on many apps that have come before it and adds a killer feature in secretly recording videos.

Monetizing the App:

This app will follow the common freemium model found throughout the app store and described in your book. The app will have a paid (0.99) companion that gets rid of ads. Also, I have multiple banner ads throughout the app that will provide a source of income. I also plan to place affiliate links in the app in order to earn money through Apple’s iTunes. Finally, I have included a link to the promo page which will start to create my app network. This page can also be used to promote other developer’s apps until I have multiple apps of my own. Furthermore, I plan to include nag screens in the app, initially they will likely be the traditional alert style nag screen (to keep costs down).

Conclusion:

I believe that this app will be a success because it builds off of many other successful apps. I hope you can see that I have made many design decisions in order to keep costs down as I realize that adding features can cause prices to skyrocket. Furthermore, I hope that you can tell that I am committed to this idea and am willing to work hard to make it a reality and a success. I have enjoyed reading your book, and thank you for considering my idea.

Definitely a huge fan of T. Ferris. Very inspirational and motivational, now just needing to put everything in to play so that things work out for the best and I can get my “retirement” on. Now for the fun part:

App suggestion:

Name:Vitamins and Supplements

Problem being solved:Lack of informational knowledge on the vitamins and supplements out there. People here one thing or read another, this app will bring the correct terms and usage together for a vitamin dictionary

App basics: The start of this app will be very simple and basic. Just a simple Vitamins, minerals and supplements A to Zinc dictionary. The improvement coming along from other apps that are in the store, is there are not a lot that show the minerals that are out there that can be taken, and also all of the health supplements that can be taken. So as simple as that, to begin with, just a dictionary fruitful of Vitamin definitions. This part of course will be free. One or two nice things that can be added in for fun once the ball starts rolling is an Amazon or other search style link at the bottom of each vitamin to be able to purchase said vitamin, also easy to have vitamin companies sponsor any/all pages to build revenue that way.

App Advanced: This is where the fun comes in to play. Just like above was mentioned with the advanced searching to be able to purchase and ad sponsoring, that is where the revenue starts. It keeps coming with the add ons. One of the major in app purchases that would be in this app is the ability to buy a push notification add on, to where you can set up a vitamin regimen and be alerted as to when you need to take your next vitamin/supplement and what that would be. Set it and forget it. Another tweak that would be added in future upgrades would be to set up a customized vitamin plan, i.e. if you are looking to help increase bone strength, metabolism, energy etc… what vitamins would/should you take. Also one last one would be to have a barcode scanner feature that would allow you to scan a barcode at a vitamin store to see the reviews and other info on it, or to also integrate that in to the alerts part so you can truly know exactly what you are taking when.

Layout: Very simple layout, nothing to clunky or clinky just a simple UI with tabs and search functions.

Research: Not a lot of solid vitamin apps are out there that really address a lot of these problems, and the ones that do aren’t done all that well. This would be seamless, clear and simple.

Vitamins, minerals and supplements are an essential part of what we need to be taking every day, this app would you to know what when and how you are taking those each and every day.

This is my official contest entry. I have spent the last few days researching a few different areas of the app store, and while I was stuck on video games for a while, I finally settled on creating a clone of some of the most popular apps in the utilities category – download apps. These apps center around the idea of downloading files directly from the internet into a private filesystem on your iPhone. There are several of these apps in the top ranks of the utilities category, which caught my attention.

Following the advice in this post, I compiled a review of each of them and why I thought they were popular and what made people download them.

The basic reason I think people like these apps is so they can get free music and videos from the internet without having the pay Apple for them. There are other music and video services, but they don’t allow you to save content on your phone. The download apps also allow you to create any kind of filing system you want to organize your downloads. Most offer some kind of playlist functionality and security features for keeping your content safe from other people that you might not want to see it.

Another slight variation on this kind of app is the private files app, which lets you keep a custom filesystem downloads, photos, and other files. This kind of app seems to cater to those who take photos while they are partying and don’t want them to be seen by other people who have access to their phone. These apps tend to have access logs, which include a photo, timestamp, and result of the login attempt for each access.

The pricing models for these apps are the free/pro dual version model. There is typically a free version that shows off some basic features and has some nag screens that allow the user to upgrade. Sometimes that upgrade comes in the form of an in-app purchase, but most often the Pro version is a separate app. I would prefer the in-app purchase route since it keeps the user from downloading another version of the app, which could cause issues with file system access (iOS apps each get their own filesystem, which the others can’t access).

Since I have decided to go with the download type app, I propose the following enhancements over the currently available options:

1) Add security logging with photo tracking. The current apps do allow for a security code to prevent break ins, but it doesn’t necessarily keep a log of each event, and none of the options I explored kept a photo of the individual that was trying to access the information.

2) Add a dot-lock style lock code to the app. The apps I researched used a basic pass code. This adds a cool factor to the iPhone, since such a locking interface doesn’t exist natively there – yet.

3) Integrate the filesystem with Google Drive, Drop Box, and Evernote. The current download apps like to rave about their secure filing systems and ghost folders. This is a fantastic feature, and I want to enhance it. I want to make getting the files from your phone to your computer as simple as possible. Not everything that you download needs to stay on the phone or be kept secret. There is some support for the iTunes shared folder in some of these apps, but that requires synching with your computer. I want the user to be able to choose which files they share to their computer and when. Seems like a simple upgrade since Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote offer APIs for doing exactly this.

So that’s the idea. Its not as flashy as a video game, but it seems to make sense to me. I’m suggesting some simple improvements over the currently available apps, but nothing drastic as far as features go. I haven’t posted the project to elance or odesk yet, but I will, regardless of the outcome of the contest.

Thanks again for this wonderful article. I have been looking for the perfect muse for quite a while and have always come up short. I am a developer and have built several apps for both the iOS and Android platforms, but nothing has ever taken off. I am interested to see what will happen after I follow the advice given here.

What a great contest, thanks for the opportunity.

Also Tim, thanks for the great work.

My app idea is called the Balance Bar.

It is a productivity/ lifestyle app. The process and layout is very simple and straight forward. You can see the rough (very rough) drawing here:

http://www.darylburnett.com/

You have 5 buttons in your app that represents 5 categories; Health, Mental, Network, Spiritual, and Money.

At the beginning of each week you define for each category what you will to improve.

Each day as you do it, you push the button you just did, and it lights up.

At the end of the day if you light them all up, you gain points, and if at the end of the week, you consistently do the daily list, you are put in a fishbowl pool.

This idea plays off a couple of others, it takes a methodology that is similar to Tim Ferriss’s of three key items a day and ties it with James Altuchers 4 Spiritual practice model. The person inputs what they plan to do each day of that week in 5 catagories; Health, Mental, Network, Spiritual, and Money. As they do each thing each day. the button for that items lights up. At the end of the week, if you did each item each day (perhaps putting a time requirement to keep from just clicking it.)

Tied to this I would like to take two concepts I read in the book Willpower;

One is that people do better with long term goals if they can identify with their future self, so create a way of having them define their future self and see what they can do to help them meet it.

Excerpt;

You can use this quirk of decision making to resist immediate gratification, whatever the temptation: 1. When you are tempted to act against your long-term interests, frame the choice as giving up the best possible long-term reward for whatever the immediate gratification is. 2. Imagine that long-term reward as already yours. Imagine your future self enjoying the fruits of your self-control. 3. Then ask yourself: Are you willing to give that up in exchange for whatever fleeting pleasure is tempting you now?

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can DoTo Get More of It by Ph.D., Kelly McGonigal

The second step is social, each time you meet your goals of the week, you join the group list on a board and you are put in a fishbowl drawing that is held each month for a small prize.

Here is an excerpt from Willpower that applies;

The promise of reward has even been used to help people overcome addiction. One of the most effective intervention strategies in alcohol and drug recovery is something called the fish bowl. Patients who pass their drug tests win the opportunity to draw a slip of paper out of a bowl. About half of these slips have a prize listed on them, ranging in value from $1 to $20. Only one slip has a big prize, worth $100. Half of the slips have no prize value at all—instead, they say, “Keep up the good work.” This means that when you reach your hand into the fish bowl, the odds are you’re going to end up with a prize worth $1 or a few kind words. This shouldn’t be motivating—but it is. In one study, 83 percent of patients who had access to fish bowl rewards stayed in treatment for the whole twelve weeks, compared with only 20 percent of patients receiving standard treatment without the promise of reward. Eighty percent of the fish bowl patients passed all their drug tests, compared with only 40 percent of the standard treatment group. When the intervention was over, the fish bowl group was also far less likely to relapse than patients who received standard treatment—even without the continued promise of reward

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can DoTo Get More of It by Ph.D., Kelly McGonigal

This app can fit in many categories; such as Lifestyle and Productivity.

Chad and Tim, thank you!

Contest Entry:

FotoPhrame is a great, multipurpose and easy to use application that helps you turn your photos into an amazing work of art! Tons of unique patters, colors and Phrame layout options. Share your images with friends and family via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Email.

*In-App camera that allows you to choose a Phrame and snap your shots specifically for your design.

Main Features

– Apply effects to individual photos

– Built in camera gives you unlimited photo potential

– Choose color and patterns for Phrames background

– Text effects

– Mirror, Zoom, and Rotate each picture

– Easily move photos thru drag and drop

– Adjust border width

– High resolution

– Share the images via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Email, Instagram.

– Support for the iPhone and iPad

RESEARCH:

I love creativity and photography and I’ve been using similar Phrame apps (free and paid) for some time now, with many features missing in either one or all. I did my research. I purchased all like apps with the same thing in mind…. What is missing? Another huge help was reading all of the Customer Reviews in the AppStore. Nothing’s better than getting someone else’s perspective. What sets FotoPhrame apart, and makes it the best is by doing the things the others don’t and doing them with the costumer in mind.

Similar picture frame and collage apps have done really well. On average, they consistently hit these milestones (and growing):

– Top 5 in iPhone Paid Photography Apps

– Top 50 iPhone Paid Apps Overall

– Top 10 in iPad Paid Photography Apps

Exclusive Features:

-Camera built into app. Take pictures for the Phrame you choose

-More unique patterns and colors

-Ability to change the dimensions of the Phrame independently from one another

-Adjust actual picture size within the Phrame

-Text Effect (multiple fonts and designs). Feature to save a preset watermark or logo

-Different Phrame shapes. More than just square

-Zoom in and edit on each picture within the phrame

Here is a link to my Youtube video of the basic concept.

http://youtu.be/ai5lBh4-xmI

Thanks!

My app idea:

Archidraw

Gives users the ability to upload a PDF house floor plan, which they can then draw on to make changes. For example someone wishing to renovate their existing home would upload the existing floorplan & could then sketch their changes. This could also be used for landscaping.

If the user does not have a floorplan, as a drawing app they would be able to draw a plan.

The free app would allow a maximum of two plans to be saved, the paid version would allow unlimited saves, but would also contain an added feature of being able to add in furniture and other neccessities in a home

Great article Chad, such a motivating read!

Draw Fun

This application is an improvement of ‘Draw Free’. It focuses on three principles that drive people to not only download apps, but continue using them.

1) Competition

2) Human interaction

3) Learning (good use of time)

With these revisions, ‘Draw Fun’ will use the principles of competition and learning that are present in games such as ‘Words with Friends.’

1) The point system for ‘Draw Free’ does not create any competition between players. ‘Draw Fun’ would give users points based on if the opponent guesses the right word. Drawers may not be as inclined to draw as well, so they need an incentive; if the opponent guesses on the first try, the drawer and the guesser get an extra point. Points increase with increasing difficulty of word. Need to accumulate certain amount of points to buy items (more words, color, etc).

2) ‘Draw Fun’ would give access to play with strangers and friends. It would also have the option of chatting, such as via text. People have an innate desire to get to know others’ backgrounds. This option particularly comes in with the upgrade (as discussed below).

3) The words on ‘Draw Free’ are pretty random. ‘Draw Fun’ users would be able to get words for specific fields of interest/categories. For example, there would be medical terminology, engineering, jargon, business-savy words, historical characters, and music terms. An example would be the word heart burn for the medical category. Users could draw a heart with fire. This would be a basic word. The upgrade could be available for free at first to spread awareness. The upgrade would be a way for people to learn something while playing a game. People can also use points to buy these words. For difficult words, there would also be a definition after guessing. It could come in especially useful for students. The learning part of the app is what makes it so successful. People would not feel guilty for playing a game because it teaches them something that may come in handy for work/school.

Now some basic changes:

1) Because some users play on the ipad, it is easier for them to draw. I suggest creating a template like that of Paint, where there is an option of using a pencil, paint brush, paint can, boxes, etc. It is difficult to draw on a phone with a finger.

2) The guesser only sees the drawer’s complete drawing. Let’s say I start drawing and scrap the page 3 times. I don’t want the opponent to see that. I also don’t want them to see everything I have erased. I just want them to see the final picture.

3) While you are in the middle of a game, you have the option of skipping. It saves where you left off and takes you to the homepage.

4) Make the app available in different languages. ‘Draw Free’ is the number 1 app and is used in about 80 countries. Making it available in other languages increases the audience further. This would be an upgrade. You can play in English with some friends, in Japanese with others, and Italian with yet others!

Thank you Chad and Tim, for giving all of us this opportunity.

I’m sure it’s no news to you, that with modern technology and the global economy, businesses are hiring off location freelancers, contractors, or having employees telework remotely from their own home, or coffee shop more than ever. For companies, telecommuting expands the talent pool, reduces costs, increases productivity, reduces carbon footprint, reduces turnover, and absenteeism, improves employee morale, and hastens their cultural adaptability. Full-time telework can save companies approximately $20,000 per employee.

The problem is employers have huge concerns about outsourcing, hiring freelancers or teleworking.

Working long distance means employees and supervisors have to work harder to maintain communication and relationships with co-workers.

Most managers are used to managing by observation and not necessarily by results. Liability, trust, tracking hours and workers’ compensation can become serious issues.

The fact is you don’t know if your $50hr programmer is actually working, and not surfing the web, or your graphic designer, how can you trust they have full attention on your project?

That is where Hive comes in, our app’s goal is to eliminating employers concerns about freelancing and teleworking. Hive is a productivity management app that allows employers and employees to track hours on projects, manage tasks, see location of fellow team members, and measure productivity.

Each user has a hive, in that hive are colonies, and a colony is a business or “team”. Within the colony, projects, tasks, time, chat, and activity analytics are brought together in an intuitive app interface and is accessible by only members of the colony.

Admins in the colony will be able to view screenshots of team members computer screens (with the use of a browser extension), location of colony members (using geolocation and status updates), time card details for each project, and award stars among other things. Badges and points are also used to measure accomplishments. Points will measure activity within the app (clocking in, assigning tasks, etc), while badges will be milestone awards for continued point worthy behavior. Gold stars will represent job well done awards. Hive will eliminate the struggles of teleworking, by delegating work, tracking resources, and rewarding accountability. See our partial mock up here: http://hiveconnect.com/tf/hive.zip

Revenue: Freemium app. Free for the first 3 members in a colony, any more is $.99/month for each additional user in each colony.

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Hive is a product of Visioniz, a successful creative start up that has found success without any funding and is 12 team members strong! We have the resources to manage this app, we just need a boost of ios skill and expertise to get this going. Our mockup again: http://hiveconnect.com/tf/hive.zip

Thank you,

Visioniz Team.

Thanks for the contest Chad! Here goes:

PICWORTHY crowd-sourced visual travel guide.

Picworthy helps you find the places others find interesting, using geotags as votes. “Heat maps” show geographic density of geotagged photos worldwide.

Similar Examples: http://goo.gl/CSklL, http://goo.gl/84Cve

Features:

– “Baseline” map shows places with highest density of photo shares. See the classic sights.

– “Hot Right Now” map shows real-time photo shares relative to baseline. Chase the action around town in real time.

– Filter by “Tourist” or “Local” photographers (based on duration of time in a place) depending on your interests.

– Filter by Time of Day to find best place to catch sunrise, or hot nightspots.

Zoom map OUT to locate “Picworthy” cities and national parks. Zoom map IN to plan trips around town, discover hidden gems, etc. Zoom in further to sample images from the location, to see what the excitement’s about.

Picworthy incorporates features of many wildly popular apps and sites:

– Review-based sites and apps (Yelp, TripAdvisor)

– Photo-sharing apps (Instagram et al)

– Visual travel guides (National Parks Guide by NatGeo)

– Map-based guides (MapQuest Vibe)

I’ve never developed any apps but I’m sipping some wine and thought I would take a stab at the contest anyway (I read somewhere alcohol stimulates creativity…) so here we go!

I based my app idea on the “draw something”.

People play this game and buy it because:

-They can play their friends (social)

-Their is a competitive factor (makes you want to keep playing until you win)

-It makes them laugh

So my app will do the same things, but it will be based on video. It’s called “read my lips”. Basically, you record a video of yourself saying something, type in what you’re actually saying, then your friend has to guess what you actually said by watching the video and typing the phrase.

I haven’t seen a game like this so I don’t know how complicated it will be to create. However, I’m using elements that all smart phones have today.

-Cameras

-Keyboards

It would be easy to create versions for other countries too.

so there it is….. 🙂

Contest Entry: I have two ideas and had a tough time deciding which to submit. So I looked at the top 25 apps like you suggested and realized that almost all were games. That made my choice clear.

In Puerto Rico, the game to play with friends is ‘Dominos.’ It’s unlike any version of the game you’ve heard before (unless you’ve been playing with the Cubans) and it combines a feature of Poker — bluffing with a fast pace, high luck, high strategy game that can be played while drinking.

With the economy in the island the way it is, many Puerto Ricans have left the island for the greener (economically at least) pastures of the States, a huge number going to the likes of Texas. This presents a problem for playing dominos because the strategy of the game (and the bluffing) require a 4 person crew of two partners in crime and two opposing teams. Not only that but to even *teach* the game you need four people!

So that’s were the app/game comes in. Dominos del Caribe (or some catchy name). The app not only allows you to play remotely and networked (a la facebook games) with your island-living brethren but also teaches the game by using ghost pieces, and it uses that give a handicap to experienced players while allowing newbies ‘helpies’ or whatever the opposite of a handicap is called.

In the game counting the remaining tiles is vital, but also what people have played. The newbie level marks the tiles by who played them allowing you to follow the game very easily. While the hard level ghosts or erases the played tiles after a while forcing you to rely on memory to remember who played what and which tiles haven’t been played.

To give it flavor each play you can choose a style of laying down the tile (a la Hikaru no Go) that can convey hints to your team mate of what tiles you have. The game is fast paced and each hand is played quickly so games go by points to typically 200. If a team goes score less in a 0-200 that team gets given a ‘chiva’ or goat, a sort of pity gift. Unfortunately those chivas just sit on your profile, making you look like a dolt until you pay to get rid of them or beat someone else 200-0 and give them your goat.

Business Model: This app would follow a free-mium model and ad supported model. The tile board for domino playing can support and ad. And people can pay to get extras (like getting rid of a goat (a la Angry Bird’s eagle) or possibly the ability to have networked games).

Market: There are around 3.5 million ppl in Puerto Rico alone, and the iPhone is massively popular there where a free or 99c app would be a trivial expense plus around 4.6 million in the US. Cubans and Dominicans also play dominos in the same or very similar styles. Additionally by being an excellent way to learn to play dominos the app can have a huge increase in players

There are all of two apps that have the “Latin American Rules” dominos and this would be an Emulate (no hate) but better! By using ghosting, play styles and local rules like the ‘chiva.’

Inspiring! After thinking about it this week here’s my idea, and I tried to focus on something really useful in my life (that could still make boatloads of money), because as much fun as goofy apps are, there are just so many everyday problems in life that can be fixed with these mini computers in our pockets!

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App Name: Are You Close?

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(or ‘Where you at’)

Category: Utilities, where I believe you can climb to the top 10 much easier than some of the other ones.

(And would you believe it, the .com was available, so I snatched it up and put up some mockups of my app idea!

http://www.areyouclose.com

I’m posting this because, if I don’t win, and don’t save up to build it on my own, I want you to steal it. I would have bought this app yesterday.

“Are You Close” Takes off from Apple’s Find my Friends (and Google Latitude, Foursquare’s Radar, and a bunch of others), and simplifies location tracking it to the most immediate GPS-based need I have: finding whomever I’m meeting and telling them how close I am. I don’t want to always know where my friends are and I don’t want them to know where I am at all times. I want a quick, self-destructing location tracker with a map.

I want to, in less than 5 seconds, send my location to whomever I’m meeting, or picking up, or whatever, and see their location, and how long it will take me to meet them. The app will even give me directions, as they likely don’t know their address, and trying to verbally give directions in downtown San Fran is near impossible.

A few simple clicks while in route: Open app. Click on my ‘favorites’ to find my husband. Click go. He accepts the push notification, and it then sends him my location (and his to me) so he can see that I’m 7 minutes away. No more texting while driving, or frequent phone calls relaying directions. 15 minutes (or 30 minutes, or an hour) after I send my location, it disappears. Boom, not creepy, just functional. To do something similar with Find My Friends it took over 14 clicks, not-including typing my password, as I had to create an event, name it, and add an end date. Plus, it won’t work anyways, because my husband and I share an AppleID. And it won’t work with friends I often meet for dinner, because they have Android phones. And it won’t work for the millions of people who find Find My Friends too invasive and creepy to even consider opening the app.

When you read the app store reviews for Find my Friends and Google Latitude they have a surprising number of 1* and 2* reviews, many of which beg for functionality similar to “Are You Close?!”

I poured through Apple’s review guidelines and there MIGHT be an issue if they see this as competing directly with Find My Friends, but I think they’ve set precedent with approving the other location based apps, and since this isn’t about discovery, just direction, it should hopefully be ok.

If I don’t win but you want to help fund this app, or you want to develop or design it when it wins my contact info is on the site. With enough interest and no funding maybe I’ll do a kickstarter campaign, Or maybe I’ll just win ? Thanks for reading, and Tim thanks for inspiring us through your blog, and Chad for living the life!

Tim and Chad,

My idea for an app is called Cranky Caterpillars. Essentially, it would be similar in operation to Angry Birds. There would differences obviously, but Angry Birds was the inspiration.

Basic Idea: The Caterpillars, which is who the user operates, are cranky because they keep getting woken up by other animals’ shenanegans while trying to become butterflies. All of the other animals are jealous of the caterpillars morphing abilities, and this they try to sabotage the caterpillars’ transformation. So the caterpillars must strike back, so they can have time to become butterflies.

How its set up: Each set of levels would be 9 regular levels and 1 boss fighting round. In the first nine levels of every set, the caterpillars get launched off of a ramp towards whoever is annoying them. Whether it be birds cawing incessantly, to monkeys throwing poop, the caterpillars must stand up for themselves. After making it through the 9 levels, there is a round where the caterpillar must fight a boss animal.

Throughout the levels, the user can gain points for various things and use them to buy upgrades, whether it be helmets and armor or weapons and upgraded speed. This creates a reason to keep playing, which is a major reason for “Draw Something’s” success.

This app would be fairly simple to design, and could be very profitable. Angry birds showed that this was the case, and like you say, why not follow where the money is already flowing! Below I have attached some VERY rough sketches of potential ideas for levels in the game. I know the idea may seem novel, but sometimes novelty is what sells! Especially at 99 cents a pop. The user is expecting a clean, easy to use interface, with some continuously stimulating gameplay. This would offer exactly that! Shoot me an email if you have any questions or would like to discuss this further.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2ynjfvm.jpg

Excellent article, selling apps for iOS and Android has been something I wanted to look at doing but haven’t had a chance yet. This article gave me the impetus to finally go through and start seriously considering it.

CONTEST ENTRY:

My idea for an app is a game. Personally, I am willing to pay more for games than strictly utility apps, and I know friends of mine feel the same way. I am also a big video game player so it seemed like a logical place to start.

Basic Premise:

The player will start out with a single “city” and then expand by creating new “cities”. They will gather resources of different types (more than one and no more than 4). Using these resources the player will build armies, expand their “cities”, create new “cities”, etc.

In-Game Setting:

The reason I have quotes around the word cities is because I have not decided whether I want to go with an ancient mythological world background for the game which involves cities or a more science fiction based one where cities will be replaced with planets. To make things easy I will simply call them cities.

Gameplay:

After starting up the app, the player will have a screen telling them how many resources have been collected and of any major events that have happened since their last log on.

Once past the start up screen the player will enter the map screen. Here they will start at their Capital city. Using the touch interface or mouse (See OS Versions section later on) the player can zoom the scale in and out similar to Google Maps. They will be able to click on cities and get detailed information on that city. Also in the selections of cities will be advanced options allowing for easy selection of attacking, etc.

On the city screens will be options for constructing new buildings, upgrading current buildings, utilizing current buildings (such as selecting the barracks to construct units).

Other screens can be added as needed. Examples include research and diplomacy/league screens.

Gameplay Goals:

Players work to achieve the largest empire through expansion, whether through military or diplomacy. There is no end game at this time, however there might be a time where it would be worth resetting everyone back to scratch to even it out and make it fair for newcomers.

Monthly quests could be introduced to break up the monotony of the game so that it isn’t just log on, build up some more, log off, rinse and repeat. Possible quests could include trade goals, new city goals, etc. Rewards for quests would help motivate people to complete them.

OS Versions:

This is the part that comes straight out of left field. I don’t want just a simple app for iOS or Android. I want to develop this as a Facebook app as well.

Facebook is a large audience that provides free marketing. Our players can suggest this game to their friends who they think would be interested in this game. Not only is it free marketing, but it is free targeted marketing. What could make this so difficult is that I want all three versions to be able to communicate so that purely Facebook players can go against iOS and Android players. I have no idea how difficult this would be or if it is even possible.

Free/Premium Versions:

I would like to offer a free version with limited ads and a premium version that has no ads.

Making money:

First way to monetize this app is the Premium version. I was looking at a price of $4.99 for the premium version, this includes one month free of the recurring membership (details to follow).

Next are In-Game purchases. These can be abilities for use in game (special powers that are a limited number of uses per purchase), modifications to their empire (double resource income for the next week or month), etc.

The final way I have at the moment is a recurring membership. By paying $2 a month you get certain bonuses like increased income. This will create recurring revenue that can be used for upkeep on the app.

I know this app is more in depth and complicated than most apps, but it is something I would like to play myself. And if it is developed and starts earning me money I would willingly (and eagerly) quit my warehouse job and devote the time to this app. At least until I outsource the work to a VA or fulfillment house, don’t worry Tim I didn’t forget your teachings. 😉

Let me know what you guys think of my idea. Hope to hear from you Chad with some good news.

App Idea: I’ll be making a slot game like the #1 casino/arcade game on the iphone Slotomania. The game will be the same but ill be partnering up with the kiip.me network where every achievement in the game deserves a reward.In my slot game players starts to play the game initially with 100 coins. They first get a access to the slot machine which will large colorful cartoons icons. The slot machine will be on a three by five grid where the the remaming area is set of numbers both on the left and right side of the board which form lines from one side to the other. You can choose directly how much virtual currency you need to bet on a spin and also across how many lines you want to bet on. The more you win the more you gain experience points.When you reach an specific achievement level the KIIP network will reward you with prizes. For example, when you reach level 200 you would win free delta skymiles. When you run out of coins there will be an inapp purchase for more coins. A mockup screen of how the game will work http://killer13.com/images/sakvong.jpg

The game slotomania has more than 7.3 million players.Evidence of Success is from slotomania through the appdata.com link below:

http://www.appdata.com/apps/facebook/169545139744270-slotomania-slot-machines

On facebook there is more than 1.6 million active users and 400k daily active users.

http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/04/11/some-casino-games-find-a-home-on-facebook-but-zynga-still-runs-the-house/