Do you have an idea for an iPhone app? Yeah, me too. And so does the barista at my local coffee shop. Ideas for iPhone apps are as ubiquitous as screenplays in LA. The idea alone isn't worth anything, according to iPhone consultant Raven Zachary.
There are several factors conspiring against your iPhone idea:
- There are still few people who know how to create iPhone applications
- There are plenty of iPhone ideas from people who are willing to pay
- The App Store is lucrative enough for developers to create their own apps
I could probably add "you don't know Objective-C" to that list, because if you did, you'd already be writing iPhone apps. Apple's NDA, now lifted, handcuffed many developers eager to share their knowledge, so thorough iPhone how-tos are still hard to come by. Plus, see #3 on the above list. If you know how to create iPhone apps, you're probably too busy doing just that.
Like Zachary, I love hearing ideas. Some iPhone ideas may be based on wanting to join the gold rush at the App Store, but I'd guess most are rooted in passion. It's a terrible thing, dousing the fire of your iPhone excitement. But it's not just the iPhone: all ideas are essentially worthless, as some commenters mentioned in reactions to Zachary's post.
Ideas have always been a multiplier of execution. That was the case in 2005 when everybody had great ideas for a lucrative mashup and it's the case now with the iPhone. The difference is that now it's even harder to execute.
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