6 Awesome Apps Begging to Be Developed
Y Combinator's getting pretty fancy with their very detailed Request for Startups idea, which was somewhat like their "Startups We'd Like to Fund" post of yesteryear. Basically, rather than suffer through the dissatisfaction of loving the apps they're with, the good folks at the aforementioned accelerator program decided to give developers a little insight on what their startup wishlist might look like.
Never ones to be outdone, we at ReadWriteWeb have labored intensely and discussed among ourselves to produce this app wishlist. We can't offer funding, but it would make us picky little Internet geeks terribly happy if someone developed any of the six apps listed below. You know, while we're waiting for the flying cars and food replicators.
1. Real-Time Mobile & Web Sports App
As it stands, jocks and geeks still sit at opposite ends of the cafeteria. As with other verticals not typically in the geek milieu, sports have too long been ignored in terms of technology, support, and bleeding the sweet, sweet revenue from sports fans' pockets. The sports channels and leagues each have their own bloated, useless apps, but somebody needs to create an agnostic web and mobile application to deliver real-time data, the parameters of which would be user-determined. All of this data is readily available online, ready to be queried by the right script kiddie. Sports fans need up-to-the-instant scores, game developments, news on teams and players, and stats relating to fantasy league play. If you can get the gambling angle, too, through resources such as the Sports Data Query Language, then you have a real money-maker on your hands. In fact, we're not even sure why we're telling you this rather than developing it ourselves. We must be gluttons for poverty.
2. Full-Length Movies on Mobiles
It's a matter of time, we're sure, before you look next to you on a subway and see a guy watching V for Vendetta on his iPhone. Movies are getting quicker to stream and more mobile, and mobile video display is a quickly-aligning Rubik's cube. A combination of the right coding technology, the right player, and the right partnership with a giant such as Hulu or Netflix could allow some lucky startup to charge the pants off of mobile users per movie. Plus, it'd be a great trick to keep the kids quiet in restaurants or church or wherever, and who, parents and non-parents alike, can't get behind an idea like that?
3. Multiplayer Augmented Reality Social Gaming
A few months ago, we found out what Crash Corp was up to, and that bee has been in our bonnet ever since. Augmented reality mobile gaming is definitely the frontier of its space. It's a gamble getting gamers away from their hotly-defended consoles, their PCs laden with expensive video cards, and all the games and ways of game playing they know. That would be, shall we say, a game changer. Ha ha. But we feel the coolest, most hardcore application of AR gaming can be achieved through multiplayer, socially enhanced, RPG-type games as opposed to the kind of casual games that isolate rather than connect users and don't tend to induce hours of Mountain-Dew fueled play. Something like foursquare is the embryonic, interface-free, back-end concept for what mobile gaming will become. We predict that in five years, all gamer geeks will have farmer's tans. Also, the addition of semi-virtual currency in marketing promotions that are location- and proximity-based make AR mobile a brand's most fantastic dream.
4. Real-Time Social Streams as Gesture-Responsive, Dimensional Displays
It's 2009. We don't have any flying cars. We don't have a moon colony. We've waited this long, and we want SOMETHING, damn it. Give us our Minority Report-esque gesture-controlled holographic displays, or at least a BumpTop-like 3D app that can handle concepts such as relative size and weight of discussions, apps, and other users. With existing apps such as Seesmic Desktop and its ilk becoming real-time and constantly present, we see our entire social graph's firehose glutting the data stream with absolutely too much information until it truly becomes the time-waster the mainstream claimed it was all along. We now need an app that can imaginatively and radically simplify statuses and microblogging and how we receive and parse them, and we're talking TED-level imagination. Why anyone that brilliant would want to work on social media projects is anyone's guess, but hey, it's our wishlist.
5. Shopping App for Thrift Stores
We can't believe some hipster hasn't picked up on this already, but someone ought to develop a web and mobile app specifically for thrift stores, kind of like TheThriftShopper, but much more than a directory. We want to see locations, reviews, sales and specials, pics of good finds, and a social community for organizing ugly sweater parties! With the revolving door that is any second-hand shop's inventory, it's probably not reasonable to ask for an Internet of Things-type cataloging program -- yet. But it would be simple and fun enough to use certain APIs to create this kind of mashup.
6. Personal Inventory and Shopping App
We've seen several trade-and-barter apps lately, such as NeighborGoods and OurShelf, that allow users to catalog items they already own and request those they need. And there are a few good shopping applications, such as Alice, out there, both in terms of inventory control as well as social shopping. But coming back to the Internet of Things, what we want is more inclusive and integrated than anything we've seen yet. We would like someone to develop a way to manage multiple home shopping lists, including groceries, book/DVD wishlists, etc., that sync with retailer inventories and send mobile alerts. It would also require a mobile app that allows shopping to be completed and automatically updates web-based lists accordingly. Eventually, this is the kind of tech that could be used to create truly smart shopping carts, as well.
As incredible as it may seem, there are corners of the Internet upon which the RWW team has not stumbled. If you know of any good apps that fit these categories, be sure to let us know in the comments!
Also, if you've got a wishlist of your own, feel free to share below.
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K, we (iTrackmine) don't have EVERYTHING listed in #6, but we do have quite a bit - and some really unique, cool stuff we find useful everyday. ;)
#1 = sportacular = pretty good
-bowerbird
1. First, scraping statistics (especially real-time) is illegal. Companies like STATS get paid big bucks to provide reliable statistics to some of the world's largest media companies, and if you steal that information, you will be sued. Second, it's obvious you aren't into sports because there are some amazing (free) sports websites and apps out there. Fail.
2. First, watching movies on mobile phones sucks. Second, the pipes aren't fat enough to support full length movie streams to any schmo who wants them. The internet will literally freeze. Fail.
3. Great idea until some kid gets hit by a car because he ran into the street while staring at his iPhone/PSP. Fail.
4. Way to toss around a bunch of buzz words. Also, when are people going to realize that gesture-controlled interfaces are incredibly inefficient. My keyboard and mouse combo will school your slow moving arms any day. Have you watched cable news lately? It's the lulz. Fail.
5. Yes ... and we can call it ... eBay! Fail.
6. I actually think real-time inventory tracking has serious potential. Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult and expensive to implement, and benefits the buyer more than the seller, so I don't think you are going to see retailers rushing to make this a reality. Low cost RFID really needs to happen to make this work, but hey, http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/kovio_the_search_for_low_cost_rfid_tags.php
As incredible as it may seem, there are corners of the Internet upon which the RWW team has not stumbled. If you know of any good apps that fit these categories, be sure to let us know in the comments!
http://www.payda.info
It will be great help to the users of the web and the world as a whole, if these 6 mobile apps come into existence.
Anon on the third post up there doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Firstly, scraping of statistic's MAY be illegal but an app doesn't have to scrape stats to print the score/lineups of a game. Is every single newspaper in the world making itself vulnerable to legal action because it prints the results of last weekends games? If a company is in the business of selling statistics, then they own the INFORMATION, not the data.
Secondly, watching movies on an iPhone screen obviously isn't the best viewing option but it beats staring out a window for 90 minutes on a bus. Perhaps the iPhone's battery is currently up to showing 90mins+ of footage but thats beside the point. Additionally, the iPhone works (ideally) over 3G which is perfectly suitable for streaming movies over.
Your third point quite literally makes no sense. Are you suggesting we ban games from the iPhone altogether? Or mobile gaming entirely even? And hey, whilst we're getting rid of any possible distraction that may be caused to kids while crossing the street, perhaps get rid of street advertising too. And talking.
Hi!
I'm Paul, one of the founders of OurShelf.
OurShelf is aiming to empower users through the things they own and the people they know. We're actually going after a lot of what was written in number six. We don't want to just catalog things, we want users to see reviews from people they know or trust. We want users to save money on the things they want as well as make money of they items they're no longer using.
We'll be releasing the next version of our beta continuously over the next few days. After that, we're working on an econometric model and prediction algorithm to help you buy items from your wishlist (or gifts off your friends wishlist) at the lowest possible price.
Check it out, and feel free to email me or anyone on the OurShelf team with questions or comments.
- Paul
ps: We also support near realtime social shopping with our Firefox plugin, and will be bringing the same technology to the mobile platform. This means that one person can sit at home and shop with someone else who is physically in the store.
1. Newspapers either employ people to watch the game and report the stats, or pay companies like STATS for the data. In addition, newspapers only report final stats, not real-time, so there is less cost involved. The overhead in monitoring real-time stats across multiple sports in multiple markets is HUGE. Also, I hate to break it to you, but there is intense debate over whether the data is actually free or not - http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2009-07-07-union-yahoo-settlement_N.htm - know the market before you argue a point.
2. There are alternatives to staring out of a window for 90 minutes. Some options include watching DVD/Blu-ray. Ever hear of Netflix? One of the greatest startups in the last decade - give or take a couple of years. Again, watching long format video on a small mobile devices like an iPhone is not only unpleasant in terms of viewing, but the network can't handle it.
3. First, I was kind of joking. Get it ... ha. Second, I was speaking specifically toward ARG, which overlays digital information on top of real world information via some console - in this case, the iPhone. ARG encourages interacting with the real world while sensing it through a filtered lens, which can be dangerous. I guarantee you that if tools like Layar become popular you are going to see people busting ass on the streets all the time.
Jolie check out http://gawk.it when you get a chance...it's the start of the real-time sports game angle you mention in #1 ... and even better it's free, you can earn prizes, and help out a charity all at the same time!
Why not just fund this?
http://unfunded.com
We're looking for visionary angels right now. if you think you deserve to be part of it we'd love to hear your thoughts.
Here goes:
A reverse Robocall app.
Robocalls FROM voters TO politicians.
iPhone App:
- Download
- Input your address
- Select your Reps (Federal and State)
- Record your "robo call" to your reps
- Press Send
- The application sends "robo calls" to your reps.
Shaun Dakin
CEO
StopPoliticalCalls.org
Sorry, gearoid, but anon is right. Just because you can see it on the Internet doesn't mean you have the right to take that information and disseminate it further.
Check out the story of Perfect Acumen. They're banned from the App Store because they wrote a bunch (around 900) of Apps that scraped web pages and put up pictures and information. Needless to say, the people who owned the rights to these pictures and info got a little upset.
Hey Jolie, this article is perfect timing for the Rails Rumble coming this weekend! Great work! We linked it up here so the rumblers will know what our expert judges are looking for: http://blog.railsrumble.com/2009/8/18/need-ideas-we-got-ideas
17 Again
16 Blocks
101 Dalmations
Aladdin
The Alamo
Almost Heroes
amazing Panda Adventure...
This is the first screen of the list of movies available on my mobile phone. I have Sprint, but I'm pretty sure they aren't the only ones doing it. They do rape you on the cost though (varies but $5 is about average).
Here's my list of what I'm considering building. 12 total and decently in-depth, yet still vague enough so there's room to decide what does and doesn't work:
http://jasonlbaptiste.com/misc/my-next-startup/
#1: "Sports fans need up-to-the-instant scores, game developments, news on teams and players, and stats relating to fantasy league play."
Answer: Sportacular iPhone app...
- Fully customizable push notification score alerts
- Live scores, stats and schedules for MLB, NFL, NBA, NCAAB, NCAAF, NHL, PGA, English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and a bunch more
- News (via rss) from ESPN, Yahoo, SI, Fox, CBS, Sportingnews, Etc
- Facebook Connect for game chat that syncs live with Citizen Sports facebook app
- Live fantasy stat tracker for custom fantasy teams
If anything is missing, hit up twitter.com/sportacular and we'll add it!
(Disclosure: I work for Citizen Sports and am the Sportacular PM)
Jolie,
That picture of Marilyn Monroe above shows how similar your looks are to hers. You are modern version of Marilyn Monroe ...
Great list. #3 is very intriguing.
re:#1 Real-Time Mobile & Web Sports App
Not to toot my self-promotional horn too much, but Tweetletes (http://tweetletes.com) is a Twitter aggregator I've been working on for professional athletes, teams and sports journalists. No real-time scores or stats, but lots of sage wisdom from pro athletes ;)
nice article,thanks...Apps are getting better and better..its crazy what there coming up with.
It will be great help to the users of the web and the world as a whole, if these 6 mobile apps come into existence.
#2. It seems to me that people "invent" these gadgets (mobile phones etc) THEN try and find a use for them. Why on earth would anyone want to try an watch a full length movie on a mobile phone. Horses for courses. Get a portable dvd player. These devices that are made to do many things rarely do any of those things well. Now, if we had a "Swiss Army Knife" device!
#1. The StatSheet Network (http://statsheet.net) is working on apps in this space. If you are familiar with the story behind http://stattweets.com then stay tuned for http://stat.us which will be launched later this year. -Robbie
#1. I'm Matteo, one of the founders of Konkuri, a web application to manage tournaments and leagues, create the tournament site, share results, get feeds, comment on matches, and so on.
Konkuri's goals are:
1) to help people manage and publish tournaments for any kind of sport or game;
2) to become a community where players and teams can find tournaments and viceversa.
Konkuri has been conceived for the amateur sports world, which is full of passion but poor of online visibility. However, we are confident that many of its features will be very attractive for professionals too.
The present release is a beta, please try it and feel free to send us any kind of feedback.
http://www.konkuri.com