Is Hype The Right Strategy?

In the recent months I have advised more startups wanting to develop mobile apps than I have in any other month in the past. That in itself is as expected. However, the surprising part of these gigs is the lack of common business understanding. Most of these startups have great ideas that they want to realize on the iPhone platform.

The number one rule in startup business (actually, any business regardless of size) is to build a product for the right audience. Many “serious” (and by serious I mean people with GREAT ideas and BIG dreams) iPhone developers tend to follow a different rule “build a product for my ideal audience”. While the iPhone platform is a great platform, it is not the platform for all products.

About a month ago I consulted for a Florida based startup who wanted to build an office-like package for the iPhone. Their dream was to become the leading high-end supplier of mobile office package for the corporate world. My first question to the founders were “Why the iPhone?”. The response was something along the line with “It is the fastest growing smartphone device. Almost everyone has one.”.

While the iPhone has seen an unprecedented growth among consumers in the United States, it has not been able to establish itself in the global business sector nor in the European consumer sector. A business application would most likely do better in Blackberry and/or Windows here in the United States & Canada, and Windows and/or Symbian for the rest of the world.

This startup story is a typical example of founders falling for the hype. Quite often founders forget to separate product from hardware. In the above example the office package was a neat package which I personally believe would do well. But to do well you need people willing to purchase your product. When the price tag is ~$100 your success is a direct result of your ability to target the right audience (read develop for the device your audience is using).

Now hype isn’t just a bad thing. A few people have a great ability to use hype to accelerate their sales. For example, the above startup could have used an iPhone version to gain exposure for their product. This exposure could help them accelerate sales on other devices (for example Blackberry).

This lack of common business practice isn’t just a bad thing. I’m noticing a growing trend among business savvy developers. More and more people are taking low selling ideas from app stores and creating similar apps for competing platforms. In essence, an app idea that is created for the wrong device and struggles gaining popularity are taken and re-created for a different device where there are users more open to purchasing the app.

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