App Savvy: Turning Ideas Into iPhone and iPad Apps Customers Really Want

How can you make your iPhone or iPad app stand out in the highly competitive App Store? While many books simply explore the technical aspects of iPhone and iPad app design and development, App Savvy focuses on the business, product, and marketing elements critical to pursuing, completing, and selling your app -- the ingredients for turning a great idea into a genuinely successful product.

Whether you're a marketer, designer, developer, entrepreneur, product manager, or just someone with a unique idea, App Savvy explains every step in the process, with guidelines for planning a solid concept, engaging customers early and often, developing your app, and launching it with a bang. Author Ken Yarmosh details a proven process for developing successful apps, and presents numerous interviews with the App Store's most prominent publishers.

• Learn about the App Store and how Apple's mobile devices function
• Follow guidelines for vetting and researching app ideas
• Validate your ideas with customers -- and create an app they'll be passionate about
• Assemble your development team, understand costs, and establish a workable process
• Build your marketing plan while you develop your application
• Test your working app extensively before submitting it to the App Store
• Assess your app's performance and keep potential buyers engaged and enthusiastic

Three Myths About Building iPad/iPhone Apps

1. Being Artistically or Technically Challenged Makes You Useless
Roughly 30-40% of your app is about thinking including researching, a disciplined approach to talking to potential customers about your idea, and "mocking" your app in easy to use software tools. Even if you don't know how to design or develop an app, there's much to do before formally building it.

2. It's Impossible to Find People to Build an App
Today, there are mobile-specific resources available, which will make finding those that can help build your app much easier. And knowing the right questions to ask will allow you to be clear about how much your app will cost and how long it will take to build.

3. Marketing Occurs Once the App is Available
Starting your marketing earlier will help development and vice versa. Following the right steps to start developing and marketing your app at the same time will make your app considerably more successful once it launches.