September 2012//MAKE APP//9September 2012//MAKE APP//10Getting into apps can be a potentially daunting experience.If you throw your hands up at the idea of creating an app from scratch, if you feel bewildered and you dont know where to turn, thats totally understandable.Doing anything new is like exploring unchartered territory.Sure, the recent space jump looked pretty difcult and daunt-ing, so much so that you might think how can someone possibly do something so insane! But keep in mind, that while Felix Baumgartner was plummeting to earth, shattering the speed of sound, this was not his rst jump.He was able to achieve literally astronomical heights in his career because he started incrementally.Before jumping from space, he performed thousands of jumps from planes, buildings, cliffs, skyscrapers and even the giant statue in Rio!Soagain,someofyoureading this may be ace whizz bang devel-opers,othersofyoumaybetotal novices who have never developed software before.But undoubtedly youarealsoreadingthisbecause you are passionate about the eld of app development, you think this is a direction you might want to go, or at the very least you are curious aboutthesubject.Asanyentre-preneuryouareprobablybrim-mingwithideasandyouseeop-Watch The Interview With Keith Shields, Co-Founder of Applits.comDuration: ~20 minutesTHIS IS A DIRECTION YOU MIGHT WANT TO GO, OR AT THE VERY LEAST YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THE SUBJECTSeptember 2012//MAKE APP//11portunity everywhere, but you dont necessarily know how to capitalize on your ingenious musings.In the pastthough,ideaswereadimea dozenhavinganideawascute, but you couldnt really do anything with your idea alone, let alone sell it.Withtherecentexplosionofapp related services and marketplaces it is now possibly to monetize your idea alone.Applits is the rst app ideasmarketplacethatweare awareof,althoughthereareoth-ers sure to follow suite.The idea is pretty damned simple. Post your idea on the website and attheendofeachmonthallthe ideasarevotedupbytheApplits community.The app idea with the most votes is selected as the win-nerandtheowneroftheidea gets a nice payout.Whats nice as well is that not only the idea own-ergetsapayoutbutalsothose participating in the discussion and enhancementoftheappideacan receive small bonuses if their con-tributionisvaluableasjudgedby theApplitscrew.(Thesepayouts are more symbolic and range in the $10-$20 dollar range).So what is the grand prize that the ideaownerwins?WellApplits isstilltweakingtheirmodel.At the time of the interview the grand prize was set at $1,500 but follow-ing interaction with their commu-nitythemodelhasevolved.The outstanding view was that the idea owners wanted to be able to get a pieceofequitysothatiftheapp takes off they can benet from the potentiallylucrativeupside.As ofwritingthisarticlethecurrent grandprizeissetat$350+10% equity in the app.ItsafunideaandApplitshasal-readybuiltupasizablecommu-nity.Clearlytheideaofdevelop-inganappwithoutspendingany time,moneyorefforthasmass appeal.Howeverbeyondthefun aspect,clevermarketersshould payattentionbecausethisisan-otherstaginggroundformarket Clearly the idea of de-veloping an app without spending any time, mon-ey or effort has mass ap-peal.research.Theadvantageofthe modelisthatthecommunityvot-ing serves as a mini idea validation method and can serve to highlight areas that developer should focus on .September 2012//MAKE APP//12it seems that SocialNetworking is the most popular category which consistently receives the highest percentage of votes.KeithShields,theco-founderof Applits,recentlywroteaninter-estingpostanalysingthemost in-demandcategorieswithinthe Applitscommunity.Thedatais limited since Applits has only been aroundforthreemonthssofar, but from Keiths initial research it seemsthatSocialNetworkingis themostpopularcategorywhich consistentlyreceivesthehighest percentageofvotes.Justback-tracking a bit, I should explain that Applitsusesthesamecategories asavailableontheAppStore soonaverageoverthelastthree monthsSocialNetworkingcate-goryappsreceived25.29%ofthe votes,whichisthemajority.Be-yondthis,59.27%ofallvoteson average went to apps which heav-ilyintegratedsocialnetworking andcollaborationelementsinto theapp(eventhosenotcatego-rizedspecicallyunderSocial Networking).Someoftherecentwinningideas includeFitMatewhichisanapp designedtohelpusersmotivate each other to achieve their tness goals and MUHO (short for Meet Up,HangOut),whichisaimedat connectinglike-mindedindividu-alsoutsideoftheirregularsocial network.You can see the full list of winning ideas on the Applits site.If you want to test out of the waters andsellyourbrilliantappideas (without doing any work) Applits is the place to go.So get those app ideas going and sign up at Applits so submit your idea today!