Re: question for list

**D* G* <g*@gmail.com>**

>
> I've had a few off-list requests for info about apps in general, so let me
>> point out a few things you may not have considered.
>
>
>> We all have some really great ideas for gardening apps -after all, that's
>> our business.  My hard-nosed approach to these ideas is a purely business
>> one (what a surprise) ;-)   But let me give you a few things to think about
>> before laying down some cash to have an app built.
>
>
>> First question - are you designing for the ipad (content that's mobile)
>> or for the iphone (mobile that needs content)  These are two very distinct
>> markets now and successful apps will need to differentiate between the two.
>
>
>> For example, The Vegetable Garden Planner app from Mother Earth News (I
>> reviewed it here
>> http://www.douggreensgarden.com/vegetable-gardening-ipad-app-review-grow-planner.html)
>> is a superb app.  Amazing bit of technology and I'll simply say it's the
>> best app for vegetable gardeners on the Net I've seen, bar none. But it's
>> something for the ipad.  I rather doubt anybody is going to try to use this
>> on a tiny iphone screen.  This is a great app for content that's mobile and
>> can be read in the living room rather than in the office or with a laptop.
>
>
>> A great iphone app on the other hand would list all independent garden
>> centers so you can find them anywhere you visit - or all public gardens or
>> gardens on a tour or .... all of them.  It would enable you to use a qr
>> code to get all information about any plant on a sales bench in any garden
>> center.  It would store all this info for you.  it would talk to your ipad
>> and computer (synching).   It's a mobile garden center shopping device -
>> it's mobility that needs content.  That data came to me from my readers so
>> there's a need there.  The cost to create this however as a stand-alone
>> dedicated app...  LOL!  You're comfortably into the 5-figure range and I
>> wouldn't be surprised to see this one hit 6-figures by the time you hired
>> somebody to get all the data into it - at least that's what my numbers said
>> when I looked at it and went through the first stages of figuring out the
>> marketing and numbers.
>
>
>> Marketing the app is the bugbear.  The world of apps will not beat a path
>> to your door with a garden app - the market, believe it or not, is simply
>> too small compared to other markets.  So you have to have very deep pockets
>> to market the app successfully and more apps fail because the entrepreneurs
>> don't plan for marketing than anything else. It's easy to make an app -
>> it's tough to make money and sell the darn things.
>
>
>> Bottom line - my best advice to independent garden writers - unless
>> you're independently wealthy, if you have a great idea for an app, figure
>> out a way to partner up with a company that has deep marketing pockets and
>> wants to get in front of a certain gardening demographic (an app to sort
>> out all Pinterest garden pictures for example) and make a deal.
>
>
>> Second bottom line - there are any number of app software do-it-yourself
>> systems on the Net that range in price from free (putting out an app for
>> Android that has your rss feed on it) to several hundred dollars a month
>> for a dedicated app and server space to deliver content.
>
>
>> Hope that helps a bit with basic questions.
>
>
>>
>>
>>
> On 2012-03-12, at 5:27 PM, Amy Ziffer <amyziffer@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > Can anyone here recommend, from personal experienc, a smartphone
> > garden app developer who works on a consulting basis?  Please respond
> >
>


-- 

Doug Green
Editor-in-Chief, SGF Publishing
One million readers a month can't all be wrong
http://www.douggreensgarden.com/about.html <http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com>
https://www.amazon.com/author/douglasgreen
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