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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.
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.
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.
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.
350 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 15, 2012
If you are considering creating an iPad or iPhone apps, you’ll want to pick up a copy of App Savvy. Unlike most books on the subject, this book begins with an idea. Then, with just an idea in hand, you start doing some research to see if you have a good solid idea or if you are just going to waste a lot of time and money on a dream of making it big.
Armed with this invaluable information (and already building connections with your future audience), then you can begin the actual production. App Savvy realizes that not everyone with an idea has the ability to create the finished product, so the book also looks at how to create a solid team. This section includes cost estimates which when compared to potential earnings may surprise a lot of people. Expecting to fiddle about for a few weeks and come up with a multimillion dollar product are naïve at best.
Finally, App Savvy takes you through the beta testing, registration, submission, and marketing processes. Each chapter also includes a couple of interviews with successful app developers. There’s a lot of great advice here. I love that this book takes you through the process from idea to finished product.
Armed with this invaluable information (and already building connections with your future audience), then you can begin the actual production. App Savvy realizes that not everyone with an idea has the ability to create the finished product, so the book also looks at how to create a solid team. This section includes cost estimates which when compared to potential earnings may surprise a lot of people. Expecting to fiddle about for a few weeks and come up with a multimillion dollar product are naïve at best.
Finally, App Savvy takes you through the beta testing, registration, submission, and marketing processes. Each chapter also includes a couple of interviews with successful app developers. There’s a lot of great advice here. I love that this book takes you through the process from idea to finished product.
October 2, 2012
3.5 Had this book seen an update in the past 2 years, or were the link (to the book support section of his site) that he promotes countless times within the text functional, I'd be considerably more inclined to round the rating up. There is a fair amount of worthy advice and underscoring of both things often overlooked and pitfalls to avoid - much of this remains relevant and of recommendation to folks with no prior exposure to the customer-facing software industry.
However, this is quite a light read and a good portion of the content is devoted to woefully incomplete walk-throughs of iTunes Connect and AdHoc provisioning (with repeated directives that "your developer" will provide/show you how), as well as unreadable screenshots. The interviews which conclude each chapter would have been more useful had they been fleshed out with more depth and content, though are generally interesting and help break a certain monotonous tone of "I know exactly how to do this, so you're doing it wrong if you don't follow these steps, including how to read this book". This may sound overly harsh, as the book certainly does not qualify as outright bad or a waste of time, but feels quite outdated and ultimately directed primarily at an audience of "hey, I have no real experience in any aspect whatsoever, but have an idea and some cash and want to 'do' an app" (or perhaps programmers with zero marketing or project management experience) types.
However, this is quite a light read and a good portion of the content is devoted to woefully incomplete walk-throughs of iTunes Connect and AdHoc provisioning (with repeated directives that "your developer" will provide/show you how), as well as unreadable screenshots. The interviews which conclude each chapter would have been more useful had they been fleshed out with more depth and content, though are generally interesting and help break a certain monotonous tone of "I know exactly how to do this, so you're doing it wrong if you don't follow these steps, including how to read this book". This may sound overly harsh, as the book certainly does not qualify as outright bad or a waste of time, but feels quite outdated and ultimately directed primarily at an audience of "hey, I have no real experience in any aspect whatsoever, but have an idea and some cash and want to 'do' an app" (or perhaps programmers with zero marketing or project management experience) types.
January 31, 2015
I found this book to be very helpful. Yarmosh outlines the journey of making an app from the initial idea, through development, all the way past publishing to customer support. I would say I definitely have a better understanding of how the process works. The book as aimed at project managers, but I think anyone who wants to work on an app could benefit from at least skimming through it.
To be honest, I was not always in love with the format. I tend not to like it when books tell me to skip ahead to a particular chapter and them come back. Perhaps sidebars, or callout boxes could have better served his purpose.
To be honest, I was not always in love with the format. I tend not to like it when books tell me to skip ahead to a particular chapter and them come back. Perhaps sidebars, or callout boxes could have better served his purpose.
January 7, 2012
I only read the parts on promotion and social media and not the development of the app as that applies to the work I've done. I found what I read useful for forming basic ideas about Facebook and Twitter and reaching out to VIPs.
April 7, 2013
Very useful for all the beginners in the mobile market. Personally for me, it was already too late to read it after working in this field for over a year. Interesting thoughts that I picked up: the blue ocean strategy and marketing crescendo.
July 30, 2015
This book is extremely well-researched and very informative. If you plan on creating an iPad or iPhone app, this is a must-read. It's not a fun "you'll-make-millions-overnight!" book -it's a practical guide of what you need to know to be competitive in the app market.
February 5, 2012
3.75 stars. Chapter 8 is a must read for any app producer to help with the marketing schedule. Written clearly but doesn't talk down to you.
September 6, 2012
Love this book! Really helped me wrap my head around my new job!
I recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about iOS app dev!
I recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about iOS app dev!
June 14, 2015
Very well laid out, very interesting introduction to Apple App creation, lots of useful links.
January 9, 2013
A good overview of iOS App development process. Recommend for people building their first App for Apple Store.
February 1, 2014
Great focus on the marketing and business aspect of making apps
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews