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I launched an iPhone app yesterday, and all I got were some stupid lessons
[Update] It seems Skrivr has crashed under the HN load. I've thrown up a flat-file version of the article here:
http://samuelfine.com/iphone_lessons_learned.html
- pghimire 15y agoHang in there - you never know. Plus, I could not find a link to your app on your blog post. To say it in your own words: you aren't yelling loud enough. Keep hustling!
- 54mf 15y agoOh wow, I linked to it right at the top, guess it wasn't as obvious as I thought! I'll edit to make it a little more noticable, thanks for pointing that out.
- cl8ton 15y agoYou made good points about the data not lying, took me a while to learn that one (actually I'm still learning it) I up voted you to help your hustle efforts!
- 54mf 15y agoThanks! I've been a big Gary Vaynerchuk fan for a while, he's all about the hustle. To an insane degree. Check him out if you want to go more in-depth about it.
- napierzaza 15y agoI agree, but it is hard to get noticed in the Apple App ecosystem. I don't get the impression that many people type in what kind of app they want into Google. So stuff like adwords fall flat. It's great to get noticed in tech blogs etc but hard to get noticed really since they probably get plenty of "press releases" from nobody first-timers (no offense). Getting noticed by Apple is the biggest pull you'll ever get. I know of an iPhone product that was released and got initial attention from Apple under what's new and some kind of small feature (maybe Canada only). After those peeks subsided they exclaimed that it's really going to start because they were going to start hitting ads and social media... But good news is that he's getting some attention from this HN post.
- elliotb 15y agoIt seems your post has become inaccessible. I'm getting: Cannot connect to your Dropbox account. Are you sure you have connected Skrivr to Dropbox Oops. Page does not exist. … the page you are looking for does not exist.
- 54mf 15y agoAwesome. I don't have a "proper blog" up yet and assumed a third-party service reading a static text file wouldn't die. Serves me right. I'll work on getting that page forwarded to something more stable, I appreciate the heads-up.
- rhizome 15y agoAmazon S3 can serve static HTML.
- 54mf 15y agoYou know, the sad thing is that I've got a Linode server that's more than capable of handling the load of static pages. I just liked the themes on Skrivr and didn't want to let aesthetics distract me from writing up my post, so I just went with their theme and posted. Probably should have set something up on my own in advance.
- 54mf 15y agoApparently Skrivr can't handle HN, so I've put up a flat-file version of the post here: http://samuelfine.com/iphone_lessons_learned.html http://samuelfine.com/iphone_lessons_learned.html [Edit] Looks like Skrivr is entirely down. Not sure it's my fault, but it was working all morning.
- 54mf 15y agoAn update: they're working on it, and it was all our fault. https://twitter.com/#!/skrivr/status/178173526308683777 https://twitter.com/#!/skrivr/status/178173526308683777 (And they misspelled my name!)
- rpledge 15y agoThe app looks well designed, but the lack of sync features would be an issue for me. But I'm sure there's a good market for people that don't need to coordinate calendars between devices and people.
- 54mf 15y agoI'm still on the fence about sync. There are a lot of good reasons not to; besides intentionally not including it for the sake of compartmentalizing functionality, it would be a pain in the ass to make it work with the UI and UX of the app. Exporting events would be simple (in fact, data exporting will be coming soon, just to an email or text file if nothing else - data portability!), but importing existing events would be a disaster. I'd have to massacre any overlapping events. But, I'm intentionally leaving that door open, simply because I'm willing to at least consider any user requests. Maybe there's a place for it, we'll see how things grow.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoI don't own an iphone but I'm buying it anyways. And I'll be sure my girlfriend (iphone user) will buy it too. Good luck to you!
- 54mf 15y agoWhoa, that's awesome. I really appreciate the sentiment, thank you so much.
- jacktoole1 15y agoAs I'm developing my first iPad app right now, I've been reading up on all the tips I can find. As thanks for the blog post, and to support someone else trying to break into the market, I bought your app too; good luck!
- RBerenguel 15y agoThe app looks very neat... A pity I use more my iTouch than my iPad for calendaring (which is not very often), and that it's a 2nd Gen iPod: no iOS5, no downloading. Maybe when I buy a new one...
- 54mf 15y agoThanks! Unfortunately, iOS 5 is required for a few of the tricks I'm using in the app. For what it's worth, my fiancee uses my old iPhone 3G and she can't run Faraday either. I really hope the next gen iPhone/iPod Touch will send the low-end iOS5-capable device prices down so they're more available than they are now.
- RBerenguel 15y agoThe problem is not the price (of course a cheaper iTouch 4 wouldn't hurt), it's the time spans. The iTouch line needs a new version (retina display!?), and afaik they are a profitable line for Apple, so it's not like they will ditch it. But no new version yet, and I'm still waiting for my new one. Anyway it's a great looking app, congratulations and I bet it will get traction from this HN post :)
- allwein 15y agoThe iPod Touch has had a retina display since it first came out in September 2010. The last update to the iPod Touch was in October 2011, so that may be the one you're looking for.
- RBerenguel 15y agoHmmm you're right, I missed the retina part of the 2010 launch. But the October 11 release was just being pre-installed with iOS 5 and having a white back version. Same chip & RAM as before (previous launch was in September 2010), nothing new & fancy, just a year-old model, running to be 2 years old already.
- raphaelcaixeta 15y agoChartbeat looks awesome! Definitely going to give it a look.
- 54mf 15y agoAw yeah, Chartbeat is way cool. Can't recommend it highly enough for any sites or services that could benefit from up-to-the-minute data.
- FiddlerClamp 15y agoA one-line description of why Faraday is different/cool from other calendars would help - both in your flat-file post ("It's a simple day calendar called Faraday, and it's the first iOS calendar to XYZ..."), as well as Faraday's home page, under the video. I can't tell enough from the screen cap, except that the UI reminds me a bit of the Clear to-do list app that was making the rounds a few weeks ago. Good luck with it!
- 54mf 15y agoAbsolutely, I've heard similar from other folks checking out the app. I'm going to spend time this weekend updating the "marketing" stuff. Website, photos, copy, etc. Some of the decisions I made don't show Faraday in its best light, or don't do enough to really sell it and differentiate it from every other calendar or todo app out there. I had like 3 paragraphs about differentiation alone in the original version of my post, but decided to scrap it for later. Thanks for your input and the kind words!
- bobthedino 15y agoYou've done pretty well to have you app approved with your "support" link going to a 404 page (http://faradaycal.com/support http://faradaycal.com/support). I had an app rejected just because the reviewer couldn't see a contact email address on the support page we provided... even though there was in fact one there!
- 54mf 15y agoGood catch. That just jumped to the top of my list. Regardless of the app store approval, the last thing I'd want is to piss off a user because they can't contact me about an issue. Much appreciated.
- DavidBishop 15y agoKudos for the title if nothing else.
- RobertLysik 15y agoCongratulations, it looks like you're on your way to escaping from developer obscurity :) I really like the clean spare design of your calendar app. Great job on the promotional page and video, it looks very professional. However, when I watched the video I had a bit of difficulty understanding the number of steps required to set the background color for each list item. Very sharp looking, though, I like it.
- ddagradi 15y agoWatching him set the color for every chunk of an item was really painful. It looked like 1) not a simple or intuitive action and 2) really repetitive and boring. I imagine it's a case of being slightly blind to one's own features. There's not a single case in the video where sets multiple colors for an item, so it seems like an oversight, probably due to the underlying implementation. Definitely a problem worth solving.
- 54mf 15y agoOh yeah, it hurts. Like I mentioned in my reply to the parent, totally embarrassed by it and have already built a fix for the issue in v1.0.2, coming in a week or two.
- 54mf 15y agoThanks! Everyday I'm hustlin'. That pattern of setting background colors for multiple blocks is by far the most embarrassing part of this whole launch experience, and I've already built a fix that'll kill all those ridiculous repetitive actions for 1.0.2.
- j45 15y agoAbout the app: - I'm really surprised Apple's ical doesn't let me create entries like that. You've out appled apple. If I could create todo's and categorize them GTD style I might return to iOS. - Floating Tasks (where they carry over) to me would be an instant sell. It's an absolute must and few people even know about it. I'd buy it on the spot if there was there. - My work flow is - create todo's in general, and then the floating todo's get scheduled on a day. Each day, I then assign a time to them (drag them) and I have my schedule for the day. My job is just to create the todo's as they come up, or enter the hard appointments. In the end, todo's become calendar items. - Allow syncing via wifi to your computer instead of just through icloud or google sync. All three would appeal to everyone - If you want to connect off line feel free, I have obsessed over the perfect calendar/todo system for about 6 years trying to replicate the productivity nirvana I had on Palm OS with DateBK6. DateBK6 was the one app made me use the Treo years after it was outdated and it was by far the smartest and most productive app I've ever used in my life. All my efforts through Windows Mobile, iOS and now Android have been to replicate that experience. Pimlical is becoming more intuitive by the day, it's highly gestured workflow is sinking it's teeth into me. I might not be fond of Gingerbread but the tractorbeam of a working calendar/todo is too strong. The app was built by the same company that has built the best calendar/todo I've ever used, DateBK6. About the site: - The video was great. The music selection helped express the magicalness of how light and easy it is. - It might be worthwhile having an interactive demo where people can drag things themselves. Might be a moot point in the beginning but a lack of buttons can be intimidating. Not for me though. Good luck. What I like about yours is natively tying in the power of gestures. They're simple, but could become advanced easily for advanced users.
- hendrix 15y agoJust wait until 10.8 when this is mysteriously integrated into iCal.
- 54mf 15y agoI'm keeping most of my roadmap close to the vest for obvious reasons, but repeating events (I like the term "floating tasks") are definitely coming very soon, probably with v1.1. Looking in to various syncing options as well. Your description of your work flow is very interesting. The concept of a sort of todo "queue" from which items gets dropped into time slots is a really cool pattern. Only problem is, the closer Faraday comes to handling todo items, the hairier things get. Once general todo items are added, then you need projects and tags and ownership and etc etc etc. That said, it would be impossible to ignore how well Faraday's UX would work with a todo list. Stay tuned. I have heard before - quite possibly on HN, and quite possibly from you - that old Palm calendar apps are kind of legendary. I'll do some research in to DateBK6 for sure, I saw a YouTube video demoing the interface and it looks like a productivity machine. Thanks for such an in-depth response, and for all the kind words.
- seclorum 15y agoI took a look at your product, and your site, and I just thought I'd list a few negatives in case it helps you somehow: 1) No screenshots? I don't want to watch a movie. Also, if I have to watch a movie, I want to be able to scrub through it. 2) Wheres the one-liner that describes why your app is so great? 3) No sync'ing? WTF? Its the 21st century, I already have a Calendar app - and I've been using it. If I want to switch to your product, I'm going to need data in/data out.
- 54mf 15y agoIt really does help, thanks a ton. I'm all about constructive criticism, very useful after being so closely focused on specific aspects of the app for months. 1) Great points. I'm working on a updated version of the site that will include a better video (scrubbable) and screenshots, amongst other improvements. 2) Working on it, that has been the #1 recommendation so far. 3) Straight-up iCal syncing probably won't happen, for a lot of reasons I mentioned in another comment here. (Import doesn't make a lot of sense logistically, mainly.) But, I'm playing with some import/export possibilities. There will definitely be a way to get data out soon, if for no other purpose than freedom/portability, and some kind of syncing option will surely show up eventually.
- FuzzyDunlop 15y agoI think it's prudent to classify a couple of the OP's points differently: Marketing. You can be the best developer in the world, but you also need to know how to market your creations if you want them to really succeed. Chances are that otherwise, you're either preaching to the choir or an empty audience. Know who you're targeting, know how to pique their interest. Know similar markets you can expand into. And know how to make people you don't know like what you do.
- ja27 15y agoI just launched my first iOS app a few days ago. The marketing is probably at least half the work. We're in the education space and it's been a little hard really developing contacts and getting attention without an app, so we built a fairly simple first app mostly to get into the space and build a network. We're hoping that pays off for later, more ambitious apps. Even though I should know better, I was surprised how many people asked for our app on Android, especially for the Kindle Fire. I had planned to eventually do an Android port, but I scrambled and got a port done and submitted to Amazon today (Google Play to follow). It really hit me today that if half or more of the work is the marketing and non-development tasks, it makes even more sense to address the top two markets. I just don't know how much Android users will really pay. We're hoping that the education space, again especially on the Kindle Fire, is a little more willing to buy apps rather than just grab the free game of the day.