Sometimes, it’s easy to be blinded with the idea of moving forward with developing a mobile app, even if there’s not really a market for it. Missing the obvious signs is a common problem for all internet marketers, whether this means developing an e-book that doesn’t have a market, writing a course that no one will attend or producing an app that nobody will buy or download.
When you have a good idea for a mobile application, you may wish to check if this is really going to be the best one for you to develop or if you should put this idea to one side and develop an alternative one. In this blog post, I’m going to help you to perform a common sense check before you spend the time and money necessary to develop the app and put it on sale.
To start with, you need to take a good look in the app store for the device that you’ve considered and to see how many competitive products are out there. If there are a lot of them, then you may find it very hard to break into this marketplace unless your app offers something which the other ones do not. If the reviews show that you’re going against a number of high quality alternatives, then you may be better served by developing for a different app.
A lack of apps and reviews should also make your spider sense tingle with alarm. With so many apps out there already, it’s very rare to have an idea that nobody has thought of before. I would prefer to see an attempt at an app that’s buried in the app store due to poor marketing from its creators than a niche where there is absolutely zilch.
I also recommend that you look very closely to the terms and conditions of the app device you’re developing for. These terms can vary greatly from device to device and even from country to country. Check the small print. Is the type of app you’re planning to develop appropriate for this device and will it be accepted? You don’t want to spend a lot of effort into developing a solution which will not be allowed. For instance, apps relating to the adult industry are just not allowed on many app stores and areas like gambling have heavy limitations placed on them about what is permissible.
You need to check quite closely how big the potential market for your app is on the device you’re considering producing for. That’s a final common sense check that is often missed. At any time, some mobile devices and app stores will be expanding. Others will be losing marketplace. Those same calculations vary from country to country and across different types of consumers. This may be mobile marketing 101, but it’s something that seems to be so often missed.
If you are convinced that the market exists and you also have a valid strategy to profit from the app, then go ahead and develop it. An app can be a valuable business asset for internet marketers and you’re doing something that many others are too scared to do.