Re: question for list DOUG

**"* B* <l*@msn.com>**

Hi, Sandie!

The link worked fine for me, so maybe there's an issue with your connection somewhere...

Doug, thanks for the link.  I've incorporated it into my vegetable gardening lecture one of which I happen to have scheduled next week with a GC in Westchester.  I don't have the IPad to go with it, but I'm sure folks in my audience do. The rest will have to settle for the Gardeners Supply garden planner tool which is pretty nifty too.

Happy spring!

Lorraine 

Lorraine Ballato 
Grow the best plants you can by converting your containers to self-waterers easily and cheaply.  Go to
http://www.successfulselfwateringcontainers.com/<http://www.successfulselfwateringcontainers.com/> to get the full story.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sandie Parrott<r*@comcast.net> 
  To: 'Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum'<g*@lists.ibiblio.org> 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 11:30 AM
  Subject: Re: [GWL] question for list DOUG

  Doug,

  You link goes to lala land Sandie Parrott

  -----Original Message-----
  From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org<g*@lists.ibiblio.org>
  [g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Doug Green
  Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:57 AM
  To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
  Subject: Re: [GWL] question for list

  >
  > 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<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<a*@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.douggreensgarden.com/about.html> <http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com<http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/>>
  https://www.amazon.com/author/douglasgreen<https://www.amazon.com/author/douglasgreen>
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