They must have done something wrong, but what?

In my opinion, the success of an application is based upon four factors:

1. Idea
2. Usability
3. Execution
4. Look (design)

First of all, to make a program, you need a good idea. Well not quite. Why do I state something and then question it immediately? The answer is simple: To make a successful application you don’t necessarily need a completely new idea. By rethinking an existing albeit not perfectly accomplished idea and taking it further you can achieve the same result.

Having an idea is necessary but not enough. Just think of how many great ideas, products, and services have failed in the world. From the user’s point of view, it’s the application’s usefulness and clean usability that matters when making a decision. How a program does or does not serve its purpose is mainly determined by thorough planning, or the lack of it. Important rule: before you start developing an application, make a plan that covers every tiny detail, from the wording and look of the start-up screen to the last menu item. You can save a lot of time and effort by that and your product will reflect the care and attention you had paid to it.

I’ve seen countless iPhone applications in the Apple AppStore (non-game apps mainly) that are well planned, well thought-out and are based on a good idea, but when it comes to execution and design, they fail. When looking at the product, it just doesn’t give the impression of a well written program, instead I feel it could have been a lot better and nicer with just a little more effort.

Since it’s the graphical interface that the user can see of the program primarily, you may well say that design is what sells the application. With an eye-catching interface, your application is almost sold, provided the user is happy with execution and usability, too. The iPhone makes this easy for us. Even developers with less advanced design skills are able to create nice looking applications thanks to the huge variety of pre-defined elements and effects available in the SDK.

A recurring problem is that developers can’t see through the eye of the user, but if they manage to, they’ll find the path to users and to success.