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What Makes a Good Mobile App?

imgresAs of September 2012 Apple claims 700,000+ apps accounting for over 25 billion downloads. Doing the math that means that every iOS user has downloaded 68.49 apps on average (Apple announced in June 365m iOS devices sold.) Apple also claims that 90% of those 700,000 apps are downloaded each month!

So you have decided to create an app… so now what? How do you make an impact among 700,000+ other apps?

3 things to think about:

  1. Look at what you use and why – I have many apps on my iPhone/iPad, but how many do I use on a regular basis…not counting the preinstalled Apple apps the answer is 8. (Examples: I use Chrome because the experience is better than Safari in my opinion. I use Evernote because it is a core utility for my workflow on all devices. I use Reeder because it is a great RSS reader that integrates with Bufferapp)
  2. What apps have lasting power and why – I have owned most versions of the iPhone and each time I get a new one I start over. I never sync it with the old backups. I use this as an opportunity to refresh. Much like the first point the apps that you re-install are the ones worth emulating.
  3. Make sure you can communicate though the app – If you create an app make sure you can communicate to your audience. Push notifications, data collections, etc. How many downloads an app has is not really that important these days. There is a new iPhone each year so the number of downloads do not equal the number of current users.
Question: What is the most important factor to consider when developing an app? Once you are past strategy.

Author Info

Reed Smith

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