Please enjoy this article about some popular and useful apps available through the iOS Store. Following the name of the app, I have included the problem that the app developers noticed, and how they fixed it with the app development. This is followed by what I call "possible inspiration." What this is are a few tips about how to find things in everyday life that may be made easier by the development of an efficient app to fix the problem. Hopefully at the end of this article, you'll have some insight into how app developers see a problem, and figure out a way to solve it with an app.
- Pocket: Problem: Sometimes you may be sitting at your computer, and you come across an amazing article that you want to read, but you can not at that particular moment. You may be rushing out the door to go to work, or maybe you are browsing on your lunch, and it's about time to get back to work. Solution: The Pocket App allows users to download the article directly to their iPhone from their computer. Possible Inspiration: Think about things you do on a daily basis. Sometimes you can not do all those things because of schedules or time constraints. Can you think of an app that can help you fit more into your daily life?
- Starbucks – Problem: How can a company get more information to their customers regarding products, promotions, and specials even when their customers are not in the store or on the website? Solution: The folks at Starbucks developed and app that allows customers to view the food menu and filter it by ingredient. The app also allows customers to pay through their phone, which speeds up the check-out process, and get the customer on their way with their coffee. They've even added perks such as occasional free drink offers sent directly to the iPhone, along with a mobile reward program. Possible Inspiration: Is there something in everyday life that you wish you could look up or find out about without going to the actual business or opening your laptop? Both companies and customers can benefit from apps that allow for quicker, hassle-free service. Apps that include reward programs or incentives for people who use the app will also help build a loyal following.
- Safeway – Problem: With everyone's busy schedule, sometimes customers do not have time to check the weekly circulars of their favorite grocery stores. This means they may miss out on money saving coupons, or current sales, which many people revolve their shopping lists around so they can get the best deals. Solution: Safeway (the company that owns Vons) has developed an app that allows it's busy customers to quickly look up coupons at sales at their local store. The app also keeps track of past purchases, and can generate personalized mobile coupons that can be used at check out for even more savings. Possible Inspiration: Customers like to save money and time. If you own a company, figure out a way to get develop an app that allows customers to stay up to date with everything going on with their favorite products. Sales draw customers, so the more people who know about your sales, the more customers you can pull into your store or business.
- Umano – Problem: Busy lifestyles can mean many people do not have much time to keep up with the things that enjoy or interest them. Whether it's the latest in fashion, movies, politics, or current events, many people find themselves falling behind. Solution: Umano is an app that has capitalized on the "Like" feature. Umano keeps track of subjects and interests that the users have, then looks up relevant news and information. Not only that, but it is able to read articles outloud. This means users can listen to article about their favorite subject while doing other things, such as driving. Possible Inspiration: Try to think of things that people enjoy doing, but just do not have time for. This is what the people at Umano looked to do. They realized that many folks do not have time to browse news articles or current events about their interests. So Umano took the work out of it. Not only that, but they included the reading feature, so people can listen to the article in their car, utilizing time when the user would probably just be listening to the radio. Much of app development is all about making peoples lives easier, but still allowing them to do the things they like. Whether it's developing an app that saves time when you're on the go. Or creating an app that can retrieve information easily, and recall previous information for future reference.
Hopefully you've seen from these example how a few app developers and / or companies either saw a problem and fixed it, or made the lives of their busy customers much easier with easy access to information. Taking a look at daily activities is a good way to see a potential problem and be possibly able to come up with a solution in the form of an app. If you do not know much about app development, you can learn more at http://appstorebuilder.net/