Get close to service providers and platforms
Tip from Tweetdeck: “If you want to put something up on iPhone, you’ve just got to get in there with Apple. If they really like what you’re doing, you find yourself walking past an Apple store and you see your logo in the window. It’s obviously worth spending a lot of time speaking to the people who run the platforms.
“When you’re thinking about Android, obviously it’s going out to different carriers and their own app stores. And all the app stores are searching for really good applications to put out for their user base. So they can market their carrier store as the place to go to get cool apps.
“Spend a lot of time trying somehow to get in with those people, the platform itself and then the carriers.”
Find a mentor
Tip from Touchnote: “Go and find yourself a mentor. Someone who can help you along the way, who’s possibly a few years more experienced than you are and who’s been through similar issues. They will not necessarily solve technical issues, but they will be around making sure your proposition is strong, making sure your thinking is correct, challenging some of your assumptions and so on.
“Go and find one of those people. They are worth their weight in gold, they really are.”
Listen to your users
Tip from The App Factory: “You can get user comments on comment boards in app stores, which can help with development and iteration. Some users will send emails through to your company as well, which are really helpful actually. You get great ideas from what people say.
“Often if you get an idea this way, you’ll think, wow that’s great. Most of these people like the app you’ve put out, and just want to see an update of it. And as you’ve got the IP, you can build it easily.”