Developing apps can be highly rewarding as well as extremely disapointing so having the right tools and information can  be the making or breaking point.

1.) The idea.

One of the first steps to developing your application would be to determine if you have the right idea and atleast a good one. So many times I have heard the statement “Hey wouldnt that be a cool application for the iphone?” and if your like me then you simply agree, but if you had a nickel for everytime you heard that you would probably be retired by now. The simple fact is that to be successful with that “cool idea” is to make sure its serves a purpose.~ developing apps

 Does you app serve a purpose?

From the dawn of time man has always pondered on ways to improve our lives and developing apps are no different. At some point someone must have said “I hate washing clothes by hand!” and so the washing machine was invented. This served the purpose and became a hit with most modern house wives so bear this analogy in mind when writing out your idea.~ developing apps

Does your app target a specific niche?

The Apple app store does not contain statistics about whats searched in the way of developing apps or games but having some insight in to whats popular or unknown is the key. Building an app based on a niche and for this example we will use ” Bird feeders” could be targeted to a specific audience and produce an unknown niche in the market.~developing apps

Is your app funny and make you Laugh?

If you can come up with something funny then your on to a winner so this section is really a No Brainer!

Does your app idea re-invent the wheel?

Does one of your existing popular apps lack the lusture or a feature you would like to see added? Dont just settle for a way to shop at amazon when you could improve some features to enhance it.

Will you app be interactive?

With so many usefull apps on the market you have to understand that in order to capture & Keep the attention of the user it will be pretty tough without your apps being highly interactive so bear this in mind when pondering over you idea.~ developing apps

2.)The Tools

Here is a list of Tools needed and some that are nice to have.

• Register with the Apple iPhone Developer Program ($99)
• Mac computer running the latest Mac OS X 10.5.5 (W/Intel based Processor)
• Purchase an iphone or ipod touch for testing your application
• Prepare a Non-Disclosure Agreement(Information on NDA)
• Download and install the latest version of the iPhone SDK
• Notebook,ruler,pencils and a quiet place.

3.) Determine what skills you are good at.

What skills do you have and how can you apply them to this project? Deciding to start building an app is a little like starting a small business and you need to find where you fit in the scheme of things as for a project like this you will need a Researcher, Project Manager, Accountant, Information Architect, Designer, Developer, Marketer and Advertiser. Look at the checklist below and determine where you fit in the project and consider hiring a professional to complete the rest.~ developing apps

• Ability to Discern what works/doesn’t work in existing iPhone Apps
• Market research
• Outlining your App Functionality (Creating a Sitemap)
• Sketching your outline
• GUI(Graphic User Interface) Design
• Programming using Objective C, Cocoa
• App Marketing and Promotion

*Important* When hiring outside sources for your application remember to have them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement so they can not simply run off with your idea and develop it for themselves.~ developing apps

4.)Do your market Research!

The way to benefit from your market research is to see the way others built their apps and learn from their mistakes. This will give you a clear example of what to do or Not what to do when building yours. When being creative and building your app, ask your self the following questions,

• What is the function of your app and what problem does it solve?
• What apps have you seen or used that perform a similar task?
• Look at how successful apps present information to users?
• Can you Learn how can you build on what works and make it unique?
• What value does your app bring to your audience?

5.) Learn and understand the iphone and ipod user interface (UI)

Understanding the user interface and capabilities of the iphone and ipod is a must to be able to develop an app however you will not have to memorize it all. Visit the Apple User Interface Guidelines to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t in iPhone Apps & download a few of them to get a feeling of how other developers added funtionality to their project.~ developing apps

Note the following,

• How do well-designed apps navigate from screen to screen?
• How do they organize information?
• How MUCH information do they present to the user?
• How do they take advantage of the iPhone’s unique characteristics: the accelerometer, swiping features, pinch, expand and rotate functions?

To fully discover how other developers think I suggest downloading atleast the 5 top apps and playing around with them. Once you have determined which features you would like to include then visit the Apples guidelines for UI design.

6.) Sketch out your ideas on paper.

Thats right! Grab yourself a sketch pad or a ream of paper, some pencils and a ruler or you could buy the stencil kit. The only way to know exactly how you will develop your design is to get back to basics and sketch out your project so you can visualise how it will look when completed. Ask your self the following questions,

• What information does each screen need to present to the user?
• How can we take the user from point A to point B and from point B to point C?
• How should elements on the screen be proportioned or sized in relation to each other.

Try to create atleast one thumbnail for every page you plan on designing and play around with the positioning of text, buttons and sliders.Once you are happy with your design and would like to transfer it into digital format then a good tool to checkout is iPlotz.~ developing apps

7.) Its time to Design!

Well first off you must determine if you are a designer or simply a person with a good idea. If you are not the developer then I suggest you hire one. Many good developers can be found on sites like elance which is nothing more than a site to post your job and requirements to which people apply. If you decide to design the app yourself there are plenty of good tools on the market to make it simple for your structure. iPhone GUI Photoshop template or our iPhone PSD Vector Kit are collections of iphone GUI elements and should simplify your work saving you a massive amount of time.~ developing apps

8.) Time to get Programming.

Now that your ready to get started download a copy of xcode and lets get started. If you are not a developer then ensure you have one to hand with this program when you setup your design resources. Here are some forums to join that will help you in your project,

• Apple Dev Forum
• iPhoneSDK
• iPhoneSDKForum
• iPhoneDev Forums
• iPhoneSB

*Remember that if you are not a developer and dont feel completely comfortable developing apps using xcode then I suggest you hire one as was stated previously.*

9.) Submitting your app to the Apple store.

Ok so your done building your app and now you need to submit it to Apple Store, however if you are not a developer you might need some help with the following.

• Create your Certificates
• Define your App ID’s
• Create your Distribution Provisioning Profile
• Compile the application
• Upload to iTunes Connect

10.) Promoting your new app

Now that your app is finished and uploaded to Apple its time to grab your blow horn and climb the highest moutain to shout your achievement to the world! I mean how else would you promote your work an get people to listen right? Well I am sure the mountain goats will think your strange, but in todays world we have some more effective means to advertise.~ developing apps

• Incorporating social media. When building your app ensure that you make it easy for the user to be able to post their high scores or maybe a review on your app on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Develop a fanpage with on facebook and put up a custom wall on Twitter to be able to receive feedback or reviews from users and maybe a wishlist for future releases.
• Pre-launch promotion.The best way to buildup some sort of Hype or Buzz about your app is to have a prelaunch promotion or party. Maybe setup a website about your app and capture visitor details in order to keep them informed about the release date.
• Plan for multiple releases. When developing your app remember to leave out some features so you can include them in further updates.

If you get stuck for ideas on how to promote your app then why not make the wise investment to hire someone who knows how.

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