AI guess Marc Cuban was right. Ideas are easy. Execution is hard. Though I’ve had a really good idea for an
Android app, I realize I don’t have the Java skills to write Android
applications. So now I’m having to go
back and learn the necessary skills in order to execute on the idea that I
had. I think the idea is worth the
effort. I still think it’s just
different enough to be completely unique.
Could what I write make it to the top of the charts? I think so.
I downloaded several games last night, and they were crap. And yet they were at the top of the iPhone
free games chart. On one of them the
controls didn’t work. The other was a
basic shooter on rails, except it was the same level over and over and over
again. It’s like they spent all their
time on the game engine and didn’t have any time or money left to create
content.
I guess this all makes me realize that although the
application markets for Android and iPhone are relatively mature, the content
itself isn’t. Everything is still very
much in its infancy. Many of the games
are roughly the same game, except with different graphics and sounds. A large number of the games fit into the
on-rails category where the character moves forward and the player does
something to keep that player moving forward.
It’s really just Temple Run with some slight variation.
And that’s really the issue.
Most things are just slightly varied in comparison with the rest of the
markets. You get Angry Birds, then you
get ten thousand variants of Angry Birds.
Then you get Temple Run, followed by three or four thousand
variants. The situation is a result of
many people playing a game, deciding they can make the game “better than the
original” and then producing it.
But then, that’s the games side of things. On other sides, you get the Wal-Mart
app. And it’s really just a link to
their mobile website. And in lots of
businesses, that’s what constitutes having a mobile presence.
I guess I’m being too harsh, but there isn’t much
originality when it comes to the mobile markets. The second obvious question to all this is:
do you need originality? Phones are
designed for rapid, simple interaction.
A twitch reaction, if you will.
Twitch, look at phone. Twitch, look
somewhere else. Twitch, and back to
phone. It’s very different from the
console experiences where companies want you to invest three or four hours at a
time. In the mobile world, most are
looking for a 15 to 20 seconds of interaction at a time. It’s hard to develop buy-in when you only
get 20 seconds.
The other part is my idea is only slightly original. It’s an extension of an existing idea, and
therein lies its uniqueness. But it’s
not the “killer app”, nor is it the next best thing since sliced bread. It’s just a slight variation in a theme.