iPhone App Builder, a Business Idea
Here’s a free business idea for a budding iPhone entrepreneur. Develop a graphical iPhone App Builder that lets non-technical people like me make simple iPhone apps through a drag & drop interface. I’m picturing something like Yahoo! Pipes or Microsoft Access for the iPhone SDK. The iPhone is ideally suited for simple, single-purpose apps like the ones people build today with Yahoo! Pipes. For example, last year I made a simple mashup that combines the bands I listen to from Last.fm with concert data from Upcoming to show a list of upcoming concerts for my favorite bands touring my area. I built that in less than an hour with zero programming experience. Now, imagine if that feed was an app on your iPhone that could automatically access your GPS location and present the concert results on a Google Map or as an iTunes playlist with sample tracks from each artist. That’s a pretty powerful concept that shouldn’t be limited to people who know how to write code for the iPhone.
The App Builder would handle all the code necessary to access user information like their location, their address book contacts, or just simple text input forms. The Builder would also have access to open web data sources such as RSS feeds and public APIs, which people could combine to create interesting mashups. Data output from the Builder could be displayed in a number of predetermined formats specific to the iPhone. For example, location data would be displayed on a Google Map, audio data would be presented in an interface similar to iTunes or the awesome Pandora App, and photos could be viewed as a slide show. Anyone could use the Builder for free if they were willing to show ads in their apps, Or, people could pay a small fee for an ad-free version.
What say you, lazyweb?
