One of the foundation requirements for being a successful consultant is to be an expert in your field. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you probably can’t help but have ideas for mobile phone applications in your area of expertise or ideas for apps that will improve and streamline consulting tasks.
Creating iPhone apps are appealing for several reasons. A well-received app can potentially provide another income stream, increase your authority and expert reputation, drive business to your website, and place you in the forefront of new technologies.
What’s Inside
That’s why we reviewed How to Make iPhone Apps with No Programming Experience. This book teaches how to get started down the path of implementing your app idea, finding a programmer or company to build the app and submitting it to the iTunes store. It does not teach how to make an app without programming, as some might think the title suggests.
The eBook—in a PDF format—is written by the co-founders of a successful company, Free the Apps. Authors Quoc Bui and Michael Moon are two young men who understand programming but decided the learning curve for iPhone apps was too steep and would take too much time. They’re decision to outsource the programming tasks and still make impressive profits is the central thesis of their approach. They share many details of their strategy in 105 pages and 12 chapters.
The Basic Numbers
The first segment of the book provides the background as to why iPhone apps can be potentially profitable. Some of the numbers are startling. For example, near the beginning of 2011, there were 90 million iPhones and 45 million iPod Touches sold. The app store had more than 10 billion downloads at that time and 400,000 live apps. Although the competition in some niches is fierce, the authors think there is room for your great idea.
Step-by-Step
As you go through the eBook, you may begin to realize why they wrote it. Sure, you could figure out how to open a Developer’s Account, the hardware and software required (even if you’re not programming!), how to use iTunes Connect, how to install your app and test it and how to submit it to Apple, but their step-by-step approach saves you time and effort. In addition, they include many screen captures for walking you through some of the more tedious tasks.
If you have your own incorporated or LLC business, you may want to skip Chapter 4: Business First. It explains the pros and cons of signing up for an Apple Developer account as a business or as an individual. On the other hand, these might be of interest if you are not self-employed and want to start an app business on the side.
The eBook includes many screen captures
Designing Your App
Chapter 6 of How to Make iPhone Apps covers the design aspects in a somewhat minimal way. The authors recommend keeping your app simple. Not only is that a good idea for beginners, it saves on development time and costs. They suggest using mind map tools to build out ideas, storyboarding each screen, flowcharting the user paths and writing the specifications for your app. This chapter could be more comprehensive. For example, including sample storyboards would be extremely helpful for newbies, since the book is written for the “idea people.”
Outsource the Programming
In the How to Outsource Your Application chapter, the authors recommend using eLance as their first choice resource for finding programmers. If you’re not familiar with eLance, you may appreciate how they take you through the steps for finding a programmer. Note: be sure to carry out due diligence when selecting a provider, checking all of their reviews, references, and some of the apps they’ve programmed.
The advantage to outsourcing, as the authors point out, is that you can have several apps getting built simultaneously while you concentrate on designs. You may want to check out this advice on outsourcing.
Pricing, Submitting and Marketing
In Chapter 9 How to Make iPhone Apps, the authors cover an sorely under-discussed topic—how to price your app. They explain how free apps can be monetized and offer arguments for both sides of the pricing decision. Fortunately, Chapter 10: The Submission Overview Process, does a good job of explaining the Apple submission process, which is more complex than you might think. You’ll find out that you need to get your app ready for submission by considering the app title, description, category, icon, screen shots and filling out the application. Authors Bui and Moon go through this in a fairly methodical way. The final chapter provides strategies for marketing your app after it’s been submitted.
The eBook shows how to submit an app too.
Conclusion
This eBook offers a reliable guide through the maze of starting out as an iPhone app creator. If that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll appreciate the step-by-step guidance, the screen captures and the systematic approach the authors take.
As previously mentioned, however, this eBook does not teach how to build an app without programming. Instead, it recommends outsourcing the programming tasks and teaches you how to do so. In addition, there aren’t examples of how to storyboard the screens and how to write the specifications.
You can buy the book directly from the authors’ site: How to Make iPhone Apps.
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