reifermadness
Member
(I posted this in the "Aquarium" section as well but hopefully the Mods won't move this one)
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I didn't want to talk about this for fear of someone stealing the idea before I had a chance to get started. But I think feedback and building momentum is a good thing so here goes.
So I've been thinking and researching. There is nothing out there for the saltwater fanatic that has an iPhone. One of the challenges that I see in the hobby is seeing something at an LFS and they might have questions about compatibility, hardiness, proper parameters and other items. I constantly have my iPhone on me and I thought, "How nice would it be to be able to find out quickly about a fish, chemical, coral, equipment, etc. by just opening my app - typing in the information and see at a glance what I want to know.
Sooooooo, I fired up my Mac, downloaded the developer's tool - figured out how freakin' hard it is and then went out and found an iPhone App developer. They are in HIGH demand but I offered a profit share with one or two of them and we're on our way. I'm told the build started this weekend but I haven't gotten confirmation yet.
My plan is to have a "home" screen where you can enter all of the stats of your tank including photo gallery (size, footprint, equipment, lighting and amount of LR) It will ask you what kind of tank you have (FOWLR, Reef, Bare bottom, etc.) and then you'll also be able to enter and track your water parameters and temperature (by a slide button). Based on your type of tank, it will have a suggested target parameters by default (this will be editable) When you slide your input the colors will change to show when one or more might be high.
This will also give you the ability to schedule items or reminders for anything (water change reminders, filter checks, testing reminders, etc.)
The app will also have an entire library of fish, invert and corals that are searchable by typing in the name (scientific or common) The results will show a photo (enlargable) with an overview and clickable 'compatibility' chart. All of the information will show preferred temp, salinity, reef safe, tank size, lighting requirements and more. If there is video from YouTube available, this will be clickable as well to see the fish or coral in its environment.
The app will also have all LFS' pre-mapped with pushpins for easy search and directions using the iPhone's 'find me' feature. (This one is probably going to be a little harder to map with all of the LFS' out there) -- maybe an update or later feature.
I will be offering advertising from online stores as well.
I'd LOVE to have a link to this forum group but I don't know the legalities of doing it. (I'll probably want to have an attorney make sure I'm staying within my bounds)
Finally the app will have a "Loopt" type of feature that can show you the location of other SW enthusiasts in your area. (users would have to opt in) and show their profile. This would also give you the ability to upload pics of your tank or whatever to your profile so that others could see.
There are a couple of other features I want to have for it but I'm running up against memory issues with the phone. They're not out of the question but are going to require a little more thought.
I filed for the patent but haven't received anything back yet. I'm hoping to have it out by late summer/early fall of 09 but this could be delayed through testing and approval from Apple. My plan is to sell the app for approx. $2.99 in the iTunes App Store.
So, what do you think? I'm wide open to ideas, suggestions, criticism and feedback to make this a really useful and fun app for SW freaks like me.
- Am I crazy?
- Am I charging too much?
- Is there something I'm leaving off?
This group is my target audience so I welcome ANY kind of feedback - good or bad.
Edit/Delete Message
=======================================
I didn't want to talk about this for fear of someone stealing the idea before I had a chance to get started. But I think feedback and building momentum is a good thing so here goes.
So I've been thinking and researching. There is nothing out there for the saltwater fanatic that has an iPhone. One of the challenges that I see in the hobby is seeing something at an LFS and they might have questions about compatibility, hardiness, proper parameters and other items. I constantly have my iPhone on me and I thought, "How nice would it be to be able to find out quickly about a fish, chemical, coral, equipment, etc. by just opening my app - typing in the information and see at a glance what I want to know.
Sooooooo, I fired up my Mac, downloaded the developer's tool - figured out how freakin' hard it is and then went out and found an iPhone App developer. They are in HIGH demand but I offered a profit share with one or two of them and we're on our way. I'm told the build started this weekend but I haven't gotten confirmation yet.
My plan is to have a "home" screen where you can enter all of the stats of your tank including photo gallery (size, footprint, equipment, lighting and amount of LR) It will ask you what kind of tank you have (FOWLR, Reef, Bare bottom, etc.) and then you'll also be able to enter and track your water parameters and temperature (by a slide button). Based on your type of tank, it will have a suggested target parameters by default (this will be editable) When you slide your input the colors will change to show when one or more might be high.
This will also give you the ability to schedule items or reminders for anything (water change reminders, filter checks, testing reminders, etc.)
The app will also have an entire library of fish, invert and corals that are searchable by typing in the name (scientific or common) The results will show a photo (enlargable) with an overview and clickable 'compatibility' chart. All of the information will show preferred temp, salinity, reef safe, tank size, lighting requirements and more. If there is video from YouTube available, this will be clickable as well to see the fish or coral in its environment.
The app will also have all LFS' pre-mapped with pushpins for easy search and directions using the iPhone's 'find me' feature. (This one is probably going to be a little harder to map with all of the LFS' out there) -- maybe an update or later feature.
I will be offering advertising from online stores as well.
I'd LOVE to have a link to this forum group but I don't know the legalities of doing it. (I'll probably want to have an attorney make sure I'm staying within my bounds)
Finally the app will have a "Loopt" type of feature that can show you the location of other SW enthusiasts in your area. (users would have to opt in) and show their profile. This would also give you the ability to upload pics of your tank or whatever to your profile so that others could see.
There are a couple of other features I want to have for it but I'm running up against memory issues with the phone. They're not out of the question but are going to require a little more thought.
I filed for the patent but haven't received anything back yet. I'm hoping to have it out by late summer/early fall of 09 but this could be delayed through testing and approval from Apple. My plan is to sell the app for approx. $2.99 in the iTunes App Store.
So, what do you think? I'm wide open to ideas, suggestions, criticism and feedback to make this a really useful and fun app for SW freaks like me.
- Am I crazy?
- Am I charging too much?
- Is there something I'm leaving off?
This group is my target audience so I welcome ANY kind of feedback - good or bad.
Edit/Delete Message
