How To Create an iPhone App

What if you had a nickle for every time you heard: “I have the PERFECT idea for an app…“? It’s the buzz on the street. The iPhone has created unprecedented excitement and innovation from people both inside and outside the software development community. Still for those outside the development world, the process is a bit of a mystery. This How-To guide is designed to walk you through the steps to make your idea a reality!

Step 1. Have an Idea – a Good Idea

How do you know if your idea is a good one? The first step is to even care if your idea is solid, second step is does it have at least one of these indicators of success?

	Does your app solve a unique problem? Before the light bulb was invented, somebody had to shout out “Man reading by candlelight sucks!” Figure out what sucks, and how your app can make life less sucky.
	Does the app serve a specific niche? Though there aren’t any stats on the App Store search, use is certainly growing with the explosion of App Store inventory. Find a niche with ardent fans (pet lovers for example) and create an app that caters to a specific audience.
	Does it make people laugh? This is a no brainer. If you can come up with something funny you’re golden. Heck, I hit a red “do not press” button for 5 minutes yesterday.
	Are you building a better wheel? Are there existing successful apps that lack significant feature enhancements? Don’t be satisfied with JUST a wine list, give sommeliers a way to talk to their fans!
	Will the app be highly interactive? Let’s face it, most of us have the attention span of a flea. Successful games and utilities engage the user by requiring action!

Action: Does your app fall in to one of these categories?

Step 2. Tools Checklist

Below is a list of items you’ll need (*starred items are required, balance are nice-to-have’s):

• Join Apple iPhone Developer Program ($99) *
• iPhone or iPod Touch (Touch starts at $229) *
• Intel-based Mac computer with Mac OS X 10.5.5 (MacBook’s start at $999)
• Non-Disclosure Agreement (here’s a sample) *
• For Developers – Download and install the latest version of the iPhone SDK if you don’t already have it.
• Spiral Bound Notebook*

Action: Load up on your required supplies.

Step 3. What Are You Good At?

What skills do you bring to the table? Are you a designer whose brain objects to Objective C? A developer who can’t design their way out of a paper sack? Or maybe you’re neither, but an individual with a idea you’d like to take to market. Designing a successful iPhone application is a lot like starting a small business. You play the role of Researcher, Project Manager, Accountant, Information Architect, Designer, Developer, Marketer and Advertiser – all rolled into one.

Remember what all good entrepreneurs know - it takes a team to make a product successful. Don’t get me wrong, you CAN do it all. But you can also waste a lot of time, energy and sanity in the process. Don’t go crazy, reference the checklist below and ask yourself: What roles are the best fit for me to lead? Then find other talented people to fill in the gaps. The infusion of additional ideas can only serve to enrich the product!

Skills Checklist

• Ability to Discern what works/doesn’t work in existing iPhone Apps
• Market Research
• Outlining App Functionality (Sitemap Creation)
• Sketching
• GUI Design
• Programming (Objective C, Cocoa) *assumption is we’re creating a native app
• App Promotion and Marketing

Remember to have contractors sign your NDA. Having a contract in place tells your contractor “I’m a professional that takes my business and this project seriously. Now don’t go runnin’ off with this idea.”

Action: Select skills that are a good fit for you to lead. For those roles where you cannot lead, hire help.

Step 4. Market Research

Market Research is a fancy way of saying “Look at what other people are doing and don’t make the same mistakes.” Learn from the good, bad and ugly in the App Store. Coming up with creative solutions in app concept development and design starts with filling your well. Even if you encounter a lot of poorly designed apps, your mind will reference these examples of what NOT to do.

Action: Answer these questions:

• What problem does your app solve?
• What products have you seen that perform a similar task?
• How do successful apps present information to users?
• How can you build on what works and make it unique?
• What value does your app bring to your audience?

Step 5. Know the iPhone/iPod Touch UI

If you want to create an iPhone app you need to understand the capabilities of the iPhone and its interface. Can you shoot a .45 caliber bullet out of your iPhone? No. Can you shoot video? Yes!

The good news is you don’t have to memorize the encyclopedic Apple User Interface Guidelines to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t in iPhone Apps. Download and play with as many apps as you can, and think about what functionality you want to include in your app.

Take note of:

• 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?

Action: Download the top 10 apps in every category and play with all of them. Review the Apple Guidelines for UI design and list at least 5 features you’d like to incorporate into your app.

Step 6. Determine “Who will use your app?”

Assumption here is that you’ve already determined that your app will bring value and that you will have a raging audience for your app. Ok so they’re raging fans, but who are they really? What actions will they take to achieve their goals within the app?

If it’s a game maybe they want to beat their high score. Or perhaps they are a first time player – how will their experience differ from someone whose getting a nice case of brain-rot playing your game all day?

If it’s a utility app and your audience wants to find a coffee shop quickly, what actions will they take within the app to find that coffee shop? Where are they when they’re looking for coffee? Usually in the car! Do present an interface that requires multiple taps, reading and referencing a lot? Probably not! This is how thinking about how real-life intersects design.

Action: Line item out the different types of people who will use your app. You can even name them if you want to make the scenarios you draw out as real as possible.

Step 7. Sketch out Your Idea

And by “sketch” I mean literally sketch. Line out a 9-rectangle grid on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and get to sketching!

Ask yourself:

• What information does each screen need to present?
• How can we take the user from point A to point B to point C?
• How should elements on the screen be proportioned or sized in relation to each other (i.e. is this thing even tap-able???)

Thumbnailing your ideas on paper can push your creativity far beyond where your imagination might stagnate working in a software program!

Action: Create at least one thumbnail page per screen of your application. Experiment with various navigational schemes, the text your put on buttons, and how screens connect. If you want to transfer your sketches into digital format, iPlotz is a good tool to check out.

Step 8. Time for Design

If you’re a designer, head over to Teehan + Lax and download their iPhone GUI Photoshop template. It’s a fantastic collection of iPhone GUI elements that will save you a ton of time in getting started. If you’ve solidified your layout during Sketching, drawing up the screens will be less of a layout exercise and more about the actual design of the app.

If you’re not a designer, hire one! Seriously it’s like hiring an electrician to do electrical work. You can go to Home Depot and buy tools to try it yourself, but who wants to risk getting zapped? If you’ve followed Steps 1 – 3 you’ll have everything you need for a designer to get started.

When looking for a designer, try to find someone who has experience designing for mobile. They may have some good feedback and suggested improvements for your sketches. A few places to look for designers: Coroflot, Crowdspring, eLance. When posting your job be very specific about your requirements, and ready to review a lot of portfolios.

Action: If you’re a designer, get started in Photoshop. If you’re not a designer, start interviewing designers for your job.

Step 9. Programming

Even though this how-to is sequential, it’s a good idea to get a developer on board at the same time you line up design resources. Talking with a developer sooner than later will help you scope out a project that is technically feasible and within your budget.

If you’re a Objective C/Cocoa developer crack open Xcode and get started! A few forums to join if you haven’t already:

• Apple Dev Forum
• iPhoneSDK (moderated by Erica Sadun)
• iPhoneSDKForum
• iPhoneDev Forums
• iPhoneSB

If you’re not a developer. You know what to do – find one! Specify the type of app you want to produce, a game, utility etc. Each might require a different coding skill set. A few places to look for developers: Odesk, iPhoneFreelancer, eLance and any of the forums listed above.

Submission of Your App to Apple

The process of compiling your application and publishing the binary for iTunes Connect can be difficult for anyone unfamiliar with XCode. If you’re working with a developer, ask them to help you:

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

Action: If you’re a developer, map out a development timeline and get started. If you’re not a developer, start interviewing devs for your job.

Step 10. Promotion Your App

If a tree falls in the middle of the woods and nobody was around to hear it does it make a sound? Apps can sit in the store unnoticed VERY easily. Don’t let this happen to you. Be ready with a plan to market your app. In fact, be ready with a LOT of plans to market your app. Be ready to experiment, some ideas will work, others won’t.

Strategies for maintaining/boosting app sales:

• Incorporating social media. If you make the high score on your favorite game and it posts to your facebook page or Twitter account. Think about how your app can incorporate social media and build that functionality into your app. Action: At a minimum, set up a fan page for your app on Facebook and use that as a platform to communicate get feedback on your app.
• Pre-launch promotion. Start building buzz about your app before it’s launched. Action: Email people who write about things that relate to your app and see if they will talk up the upcoming release of your app.
• Plan for multiple releases. Don’t pack your app with every single feature you want to offer in the very first release. Action: Make your dream list for the app and make sure that the app is designed to incorporate all of the features at some date in the future. Then periodically drop new versions of the app to boost app store sales.

Action: Make a list of 20 promotional strategies that target the audience for your app. Take action on them yourself or hire someone who can!

Step 11. Stay focused and don’t Give Up!

It’s easy when you’re working on your first app to get all AppHappy, dreaming up a zillion new appideas. Dream, but don’t get sidetracked by new ideas. Your first app needs to make a big splash and getting involved in too many projects at once can dilute your passion for making your first app a success.

Action: Get out there and go kick some app!