App Savvy: Turning Ideas into iPad and iPhone Apps Customers Really Want [Paperback]

Ken Yarmosh (Author), John Jantsch (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2010

How can you make your iPhone or iPad app stand out in the highly competitive App Store? While many books simply explore the technical aspects of iPhone and iPad app design and development, App Savvy focuses on the business, product, and marketing elements critical to pursuing, completing, and selling your app -- the ingredients for turning a great idea into a genuinely successful product.

Whether you're a marketer, designer, developer, entrepreneur, product manager, or just someone with a unique idea, App Savvy explains every step in the process, with guidelines for planning a solid concept, engaging customers early and often, developing your app, and launching it with a bang. Author Ken Yarmosh details a proven process for developing successful apps, and presents numerous interviews with the App Store's most prominent publishers.

• Learn about the App Store and how Apple's mobile devices function
• Follow guidelines for vetting and researching app ideas
• Validate your ideas with customers -- and create an app they'll be passionate about
• Assemble your development team, understand costs, and establish a workable process
• Build your marketing plan while you develop your application
• Test your working app extensively before submitting it to the App Store
• Assess your app's performance and keep potential buyers engaged and enthusiastic

Three Myths About Building iPad/iPhone Apps

1. Being Artistically or Technically Challenged Makes You Useless
Roughly 30-40% of your app is about thinking including researching, a disciplined approach to talking to potential customers about your idea, and "mocking" your app in easy to use software tools. Even if you don't know how to design or develop an app, there's much to do before formally building it.

2. It's Impossible to Find People to Build an App
Today, there are mobile-specific resources available, which will make finding those that can help build your app much easier. And knowing the right questions to ask will allow you to be clear about how much your app will cost and how long it will take to build.

3. Marketing Occurs Once the App is Available
Starting your marketing earlier will help development and vice versa. Following the right steps to start developing and marketing your app at the same time will make your app considerably more successful once it launches.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Focus on making apps that people enjoy using and want to tell their friends and colleagues about.  Having customers evangelize your app is far more important than a short-term purchase spike.

- Justin Williams, Founder of Second Gear

What really impressed me is the attention to the smallest details Ken put in describing often underrated stages like "idea evaluation" or the importance of hiring the right team.

- Federico Viticci, Editor of MacStories

Ken has outlined a comprehensive and well-grounded soup-to-nuts strategy for any company looking to create value via mobile apps; he makes for a great sherpa navigating this terrain.

-Navin Ganeshan, Chief Product Strategist at Network Solutions

App Savvy takes you from idea to getting your app in the Apple Store. Lots of tips make the book ideal for people who are just starting out and each chapter has interviews with people who have actually done it.

- Steve Johnson, Pragmatic Marketing

From the Author

It's possible that you are a "product person" like me, who can't create designs or write code, but has an idea. Or you could be a designer or developer who has either launched an app to no fanfare or realized that those skills alone won't guarantee success on the hyper-competitive App Store. You even might be tasked to build an app at work. Regardless of your background, this book distills my experience, as well as that of the larger community, to provide you with a practical guide to launching awesome customer-inspired iPhone and iPad apps.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (October 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449389767
• ISBN-13: 978-1449389765
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple
  • #95 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Handheld & Mobile Devices

More About the Author

Ken Yarmosh is the proprietor of a boutique agency focused on building exceptional mobile applications. Before he got involved with mobile apps, he orchestrated the development of desktop and web applications for everything from financial accounting systems to automated search marketing platforms. Ken has successfully launched national brands in the App Store while also creating his own bestselling apps. He maintains a technology-focused blog at http://kenyarmosh.com.