Since I have started this blog iPhone has moved through the 100,000 and now 500,000 app barrier. Its true there is a lot of duplication, but that is just a bit like saying that there is a lot of duplication to the over 7000 restaurants in London... so what - what a choice. What is important is to realise that 40,000 or even 1,000 apps in your app store are not the issue, as most people only use a few, and increasingly many people on smartphones do not use any! The key is to first engage and then keep people, both for the app store choosing apps, to the app developer - and very few get it right, but quality will always win over quantity.
The key to killer apps is to have:
- a blend of the common 90% of killer apps across the stores. like facebook, spotify, and some of the others below, and these can be a differentiator in themselves. You can see how many people complain, ironically, on social networks when a certain app accessing facebook, twitter, etc is notably worse than others...
- the real killer apps that will always be unique to platforms, like flipboard is/was on the iPad, etc.
I will try to update a blend of the above two in this section from now on, as this way, certain killer apps can be compared across different platforms, like facebook, spotify, etc. while what I think are killer apps in themselves on their own merit will also be scattered across these pages.
Why the change? well, while key apps were a big draw before for certain platforms, the ecosystem is now sufficiently mature for people to say "i will wait for this to come to my platform". if they are in this bucket, they were not going to buy your device because of this app anyway, if they are in this bucket, they will either file it alongside "and another thing..." (when binning your device) or it will get lost along the way. At best i would say that key or killer apps are important decision swayers, but they are not necessarily in themselves the key decision making factors. If I liken it to cars, for sake of analogy, they are like Audi having Quattro, or BMW having rear-wheel-drive, they are nice-to have, and make you feel very, very good about your decision should you go that way, but they are not going to stop someone buying the new Mercedes X class if that has all the other boxes ticked.
Having said that - your early adopters will for example, maybe not buy a device until your port some of their key apps, you have to remember having the right content is some of the best marketing spend you can do. So what apps are swayers on the iPhone (non-exhaustive list beyond and above those of original post below) and make me keep the iPhone as my main phone and the others in my bag / pocket / charger in case?
Ski Tracks
Ski Tracks was the only app I could see that I liked that was not another "map my... insert sport name here" with a ski twist but is obviously a run or cycle app that does not get better for diversification. What I liked as well is that the other day I was showing it to a once apple now android fan who lamented "apps like these are why I still love Apple". Now this comment will divide many, and send others on a rant, but as two impartial technologists, we get it - Somebody who makes a unique app, that is worth downloading and keeping for this year's ski season - tends to do it on iPhone first as of today. This is changing, and innovative apps (that is innovative tech) will tend to launch first on android or both, but my point is that Ski tracks is a well conceived, well thought out effort with a strong emphasis on the user experience and it launched first on as still only on iPhone. To quote Oscar Wilde on those who are ranting now, the cynic is the person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is one great, well thought out app. I added the stats view, there are also other graphical views for those of you like myself who respond to pretty graphs...
What I like as well, as this is one of the few sports I will prefer to use a phone rather than a dedicated Garmin for other device to track
Path
Ski Tracks was the only app I could see that I liked that was not another "map my... insert sport name here" with a ski twist but is obviously a run or cycle app that does not get better for diversification. What I liked as well is that the other day I was showing it to a once apple now android fan who lamented "apps like these are why I still love Apple". Now this comment will divide many, and send others on a rant, but as two impartial technologists, we get it - Somebody who makes a unique app, that is worth downloading and keeping for this year's ski season - tends to do it on iPhone first as of today. This is changing, and innovative apps (that is innovative tech) will tend to launch first on android or both, but my point is that Ski tracks is a well conceived, well thought out effort with a strong emphasis on the user experience and it launched first on as still only on iPhone. To quote Oscar Wilde on those who are ranting now, the cynic is the person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is one great, well thought out app. I added the stats view, there are also other graphical views for those of you like myself who respond to pretty graphs...
What I like as well, as this is one of the few sports I will prefer to use a phone rather than a dedicated Garmin for other device to track
Path
Path is a User Experience showcase in itself, as well as a breath of fresh air. Its no secret that part of Google+ and foursquare success has been people outgrowing facebook, or just unable or unwilling to sit down and grapple with the privacy and the changes, etc, so just start again. Where facebook is general everybody, google plus has become general wider but business or recent, foursquare is usually a tighter social circle, well path closes this loop by having people you want to interact with at an even smaller level with. So back to the UX, the images, the sign-up process... amazing! iOS and Android
Intelligentsia
Despite the highbrow name, actually no, the highbrow name gives you a hint of what to expect.. this is highbrow coffee making: everything you wanted to know when you were a student and had loads of time for making coffee, or are in the industry or an industry that allows you this kind of time, or what the hell, you are your own man or woman, which may well vary by time of day, week, etc... whatever, I wish I had enough time to indulge in these coffee making processes. I do not, alas, but as a technologist I am predisposed to loving coffee, and I do, and I learned a thing or two about making the drink i love so much via this app: firstly, I do not have time to weigh my coffee, but have learned that measuring is important, and so use a scoop (that came with my aeropress) and the same cup to the same level, as well as the described process and my pourover coffee is now at a new level. It may seem silly, but it is, specially now I ordered a fantastic steel mesh filter from these guys. Download it now and pretend you have enough time to source, let alone use a chemex coffee maker :)
Despite the highbrow name, actually no, the highbrow name gives you a hint of what to expect.. this is highbrow coffee making: everything you wanted to know when you were a student and had loads of time for making coffee, or are in the industry or an industry that allows you this kind of time, or what the hell, you are your own man or woman, which may well vary by time of day, week, etc... whatever, I wish I had enough time to indulge in these coffee making processes. I do not, alas, but as a technologist I am predisposed to loving coffee, and I do, and I learned a thing or two about making the drink i love so much via this app: firstly, I do not have time to weigh my coffee, but have learned that measuring is important, and so use a scoop (that came with my aeropress) and the same cup to the same level, as well as the described process and my pourover coffee is now at a new level. It may seem silly, but it is, specially now I ordered a fantastic steel mesh filter from these guys. Download it now and pretend you have enough time to source, let alone use a chemex coffee maker :)
Met Office
I am obsessed with the weather, I live in London, try to Boris bike or walk to most meetings and train for triathlons when I can, and have done some showcase apps for big product launches around weather apps, and so take my weather very seriously. I am not alone. I also take the met office very seriously, which more people should do, as there are even parts of the US military and other armies around the world who trust the Met office more than they do their own systems... it is now my favourite iPhone weather app.
Updated Autostitch
Autostitch had a major upgrade recently and was worth the wait, with the ability to shoot in app (but oddly with no volume up on iPhone 4 to capture?) stitch and browse with. The full original description can be seen below in the archive of 2006-2008
Original 2006+ posts below
I am obsessed with the weather, I live in London, try to Boris bike or walk to most meetings and train for triathlons when I can, and have done some showcase apps for big product launches around weather apps, and so take my weather very seriously. I am not alone. I also take the met office very seriously, which more people should do, as there are even parts of the US military and other armies around the world who trust the Met office more than they do their own systems... it is now my favourite iPhone weather app.
Updated Autostitch
Autostitch had a major upgrade recently and was worth the wait, with the ability to shoot in app (but oddly with no volume up on iPhone 4 to capture?) stitch and browse with. The full original description can be seen below in the archive of 2006-2008
Original 2006+ posts below
I cannot fault Apple on the
app front - I had been pushing apps since about 2002 as the way forward,
we did major apps projects in 2006, and still they dragged their feet,
as did mobile internet, despite all the resources of the mobile
operators and even Nokia that was thrown at it, and even phones like the
N95, which kicked off apps, like sportstracker in a big way with the
early adopters. It was not until apple came along, and the early
adopters who paid through the nose for the first iPhone, then went on to
be the me-too's of the second generation iPhone, and that was it - apps
hit the big time!
It took the 3GS before I was
convinced, and I got quickly frustrated between getting it and not being
able to upgrade within a few months. It was a long year(ish) since the
3GS came out and the 4G, in which time I had to put up with an inferior
camera and terrible battery life, but it was quite clear that there was a
hook that kept me engaged beyond the usual 2-3 month window. Apple may
think its the glass and the hoo-ha - it isn't, its the apps! With the
3GS came a compass and augmented reality already on Nokia and Android
and suddenly the iPhone not only had the quantity, but the quality. With
the iPhone 4, we finally have a camera that is of a tolerable level and
a flash that means we can use it, and we are there. But so is the
competition. It has never been more interesting in appland!
Autostitch
This has to be my favourite
app, not as the most used, but as the one that has solved a problem I
had been looking for a solution for, and it always brings great results.
I have tried many, many photo stitching software over the years, and
none of them have done what they said on the tin. It uses a new set of
algorithms that a couple of desktop programs use as well, and just could
not be simpler. The usual rules apply: try and have something key and
solid in each and the next frame to make life easier, only put humans in
one frame, or they will come out blurred, and forget about complex
macro photography, this is for landscapes. It is also a favourite app as
it is simple, intuitive and well designed. Its £0.59p well spent in the
UK store.
Pulse
I do like pulse, for many
reasons: 1) its elevated the RSS feed to where it should be, 2) its
eliminated RSS feed dross apps, 3) its works equally well on big and
small screens, 4) its simplicity and intuitiveness in itself, 5) it
saves me time. again, £0.59p very, very well spent. Unfortunately it
shows up the feeds 1.0 as not being good enough, the on-screen
instructions at first and with new features are app UE master classes
in themselves.
DoodleJump (or other clever en vogue casual/social game)
I know Angry Birds and Cut
the rope is all people speak about now, but doodle jump has been around
for a while, and never ceases to put a smile on my face. I Love the fact
that it has leveraged social networks to great effect, and to do so has
done what all great apps and social media needs: frequent updates. Some
of the skins that are released as frequent updates are below. I feel a
trend coming on, this app is £0.59p on most stores as well as being updated regularly with new themes...
Draw
Draw is a great free app (had
to break the mould) that, well, let's you draw. Why is that great; well
the amount of hours I have spent drawing and redrawing presentations,
flow charts or even just rewiring access points around the house, that
all seemed clear to me at 2am, on a plane, in the back of a taxi, while
the person I was having lunch with went to the rest room, etc.... I can
now put them down quickly, redraw to my heart's content and then even
send it to, well mostly my dim-witted self. When you are finished doing
that and want to be social again, you can also use it to explain where
something is to your dear but dim-witted friends :)
Silent Island Relaxation (and others)
"Hello.. My name is Christian and I am
an insomniac", sometimes its awful, before going to sleep, a couple of hours before your alarm or just the middle of the night... triathlon training helps (exhaustion!), and a good meal (and drink) can randomly help but every so often, just plug this in and chill out... it works,
even if you do end up with ear ache from the headphones... It also works with little things, though your mileage may vary there...the
graphics and UE are, well they are what they are... its more function
than form.
originally posted by Christian Borrman 22:19pm 20/12/08, updated 22:37pm 18/11/10
Its quite interesting that two things ocurr when you move a bog over and revisit old content, you notice
Its quite interesting that two things ocurr when you move a bog over and revisit old content, you notice
- that something that was a hit in 2008 on iPhone, is still relevant on other platforms and other audiences on iPhone, I still see the social network comments coming through for doodlejump. Even where doodlejump may be old news, there is a new casual game in its place,
called angry birds, cut the rope, insert new one here... As I commented here, once a hit, always a hit - by keeping these categories fresh, you can have a solid app store strategy
I shall be updating this page frequently, so if you want to keep upto date you can either subscribe via feed or follow me, Christian Borrman or my company, Virtuser Mobile Innovation on google plus.
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