99 pages of apps on the wall

99 pages of apps
What should happen if one should fall?
98 pages of apps on the wall

Between the 250k+ iOS apps, 100k+ android apps, and the plethora of browser based apps, we are overwhelmed with choices. The need may arise for us to install or bookmark (little difference) only a minuscule fraction of the what’s available. I prefer to cluster Internet apps together, characterized as any program which relies heavily on an Internet backend. One would imagine the market for apps has been saturated and thus commoditized, but this is not entirely true.

Welcome to the Jungle

The flood of apps is saturated with limited quality and ultra simple tools. But the diversity and level of specialization benefits the client (us) by providing a rich set of options at minimal cost per user. There is a thriving ecosystem of competitive Internet apps where the makers of dominant designs are highly rewarded. Ongoing marketing research coupled with efficient and effective solutions are what differentiates success (adoption) from failure (apathy). Delivering desired apps results in explosive network growth, powered by a wave of praise from peers with little barrier to entry.

If you’re fascinated by network app design like myself, look to provide high value with an elegant interface* to only a handful of folks. I’ve made the mistake of building for other companies that don’t perceive a problem (ad tool), just for myself (social browser), and asked Tyler to develop for unknown markets (garage sales). This time I’m going to spend more time understanding how a tool can best fulfill a need and discuss it with others before I spend time Macgyvering it together. I’m also taking my sweet time reading over documentation for how to best put it all together.

Notes:
*= elegant translates as simple for non UI/UX pros like me with plenty of user observation. I’ll be leaning on Michelle for feedback for my next app if I can get past rapid and continual database merging

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  • Ibnusaheed

    I am Shahzad Saeed, owner of technologyedition.blogspot.com . Are you still looking for a blog buddy?
    You can mail me then

  • http://twitter.com/gulpthis Gulp Media

    Mark,

    I picked up your musing from a comment you left from Mark Suster’s Both Sides of the Table titled “
    Solving for Banner Blindness. Solve Media.”

    I have spent the last few years working on a project surrounding a patent filing I made three years ago. Through personal connections in the media and advertising world I have managed to garner the interest of some very influential people. They have motivated me to continue development.

    I have had limited success in finding the right technology partner to take my ideas to the next level. As a 41 year old Long Island native who works in the financial industry, I am hoping to find a young, bright and energetic individual who can put together a technology team to carry out my vision.

    I am currently working with my partner’s close personal friend Samir Nizam as well as Dr. Yacov Shamash and Jeff Saelens from the Long Island Angel Network. They believe my technology holds great promise.
    Additionally, I have been approached by a friend who runs a New York investment bank. He has asked that I engage him as my exclusive investment banker, believing that this project is much more than a start-up.

    Based upon your background, credentials and obvious intellect, it is my hope that we might get together to share some thoughts and see if there might be a fit between us.

    Best regards,

    Jeff Rosen

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Howdy Jeff, thanks for reaching out.There’s no harm in talking over what it is your striving to construct, and see if that pattern matches with my driving interests. At the very least maybe we help refine each other’s pitch. I’m more than a little enthusiastic about startups that are focused on making a big impact, so you’ve got my attention.My contact info is in my recent resume available online (best viewed with chrome/firefox/safari).

  • http://blog.botfu.com Kevin Marshall

    The closing to your post: “This time I’m going to spend more time understanding how a tool can best fulfill a need and discuss it with others before I spend time Macgyvering it together. I’m also taking my sweet time reading over documentation for how to best put it all together.”makes me sad…I feel like the trick in today’s world is to always move faster and MacGyver more (not less)…and though I love technology, the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter that much. If you can make a difference (and some good cash) with nothing but stones and sticks, use ‘em.No one ever puts together the ‘best’ system…they put together something that works and continuously improve upon it…with a little luck, and lots of hard work it becomes the ‘best’…Finally, I’ll leave you with this thought…the more times you get up to bat, the more chances you have to hit the ball…or in walking terms, you can’t get anywhere if you don’t keep taking steps…each idea that you try is moving you further and further down the road of success…

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Kevin while I appreciate your philosophy there’s something in it that isn’t quite optimal for me. It can take me a few weeks to really dig into a new tech to understand it’s lingo and underlying structure. Each swing may cost me a month as opposed to a weekend so I’ve gotta pay really careful attention to the way the pitcher moves, and to the spin of the ball. Hey if I could hack together more apps faster, I would. But given my current abilities, figuring out how something will work and if it’s worth doing is acceptable. I came across some great documentation this morning on partial replicas for the distributed media/sharing tool I’m working on.”Partial replicas can be created and maintained. Replication can be filtered by a javascript function, so that only particular documents or those meeting specific criteria are replicated. This can allow users to take subsets of a large shared database application offline for their own use, while maintaining normal interaction with the application and that subset of data”A little homework is good

  • http://blog.botfu.com Kevin Marshall

    Fair enough…but let me leave you with three important points:

    1. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for.

    2. You can do both learning and doing at the same time (in fact, whenever possible learn-by-doing as it’s the best way to have something stick).

    3. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I really hope you’re right about 1 & 3 because it means by next year I’ll have that month down to a weekend :D !Totally agree on 2, that’s how I’ve learned most of what I work with. But what happens to me over time is that I start getting books, and snagging html docs on instapaper to read through later for specific implementation details. Sometimes it takes a while for stuff to really sink in to the point where I’m fluent (i.e. I need a good Rails 3 project to push my comfort level with it).

    I gotta find some way to hack my professional life to get paid to hack on web development. A startup was my first plan, it’s probably still my best plan.