Actually I am a bit ashamed of myself for reducing accessibility features for the blind to the baser level of a marketing gimmmick. In fact I am positively disgusted at myself for referring to the blind as an untapped market. I am not even sure anymore whether I want to make money from my app. Maybe I'll release it for free for non-commercial use or something of the sort in the near future.
On May 19, 12:04 am, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Our app is about economic development and it scored in the top 25% in > originality and top 25% in indispensability. > > But 90% of the app is eyes free and hands free. Screens are expensive, > fragile and compete for our most precious resource - our visual > attention. So from a use of android perspective, we did not do so > well, same with polish. > > Here is kind of how we worked it out. The handset makers need to sell > high margin phones with high value add that a screen can provide. We > need to teach folks how to use the hands free, eyes free features. > Screen shots are memorable. > > We will use the screen as a use tutorial. This may be slightly more > code intensive than the application... but the use model is very > similar for, say, the Lost Sheep Finder and the Merchant Beacon, so we > can use the same code and teaching algorithms with different images. > Replace the Sheep with a Lighthouse with goods around the bottom, kind > of like a Christmas tree. Replace the Border Collie Head with Shopping > Cart. We improve comprehension and retention. > > I see not winning this round as a chance to recognize valid objections > and address them. The application has to engage people. For our > application to reach pedestrian populations, inexpensive phones need a > compass function, the handset makers will need to decide to spend one > dollar to provide that function (likely using two 25 cent > accelerometers). > > Our job is to sell the handset guys on producing that phone. They > work for the carriers. > > Carriers can make money from being the first to offer the portfolio of > products in our application. > > All we need to do is show them. > > Thank you for helping direct frustration into action. > > On May 18, 12:18 pm, kurosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Some of the things that are really perplexing: > > 1) Why do all the accessibilty/humanitarian apps have such a low score > > on originality. There are very few handsets if any that have these > > features. > > 2) The target demographic of the disabled deaf/blind/cognitive/etc. is > > a totally untapped market, as explained in 1) . > > So wouldn't it be smarter to address an untapped demographic, than to > > compete against existing handset players where there is cut-throat > > competition? > > > On May 18, 10:05 pm, gtandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > hmmmm....from the list here (and I am sure there must've been more), I > > > would have traded one of these in lieu of one of the 3 weather apps, > > > or one of the quite a few social networking apps doing the same thing, > > > then there was the WriterPad thing where you move your pen on the > > > letters to form words, quite a few family safety apps that seems to be > > > doing useful work which could easily be doled out to 911, etc, etc... > > > > So I don't buy it that there weren't enough apps to choose from, or > > > that there were "more original" apps from the ones that were ranked > > > higher up. Agreed, none of these would be either "popular" or > > > "profitable" due to the marginal demographics that they support, but > > > that is the nature of these type of applications. And Google should > > > have been careful about including these categories for possible > > > entries to the challenge. > > > > My application is called SmallWorld, and it is meant to connect kids > > > from developed nations with under priviledged kids all over the world. > > > It is a kid-to-kid type of an application, where children would accrue > > > reward points to find sponsors, make friends and keep connected with > > > their under priviledged friends. The concept is that instead of just > > > supporting them with money, kids from developed countries could also > > > stay in touch (phone to PC). And what better way to have them than use > > > their phone to do this, where they are always connected and can > > > recieve reminders (thanks to Android notifications). > > > > The application has a widget engine which allows kids to build mobile > > > notes (with text, pictures or voice) and send it to a PC or phone > > > (XMPP to another phone user). The application currently allows 6 > > > different templates(including language templates) to choose from, > > > finish with their content and sending to their counter parts. When > > > Android starts supporting dynamic loading of layouts, a way for > > > content providers to offer mobile content thru infinite templates, for > > > kids to pick up and customize their content. > > > > The application would fall under humanitarian (while these kids are > > > helping other kids, they are also growing up with a much better > > > understanding of the world than just Nick and Disney and facebook) as > > > well something that will facilitate economic development (for example > > > kids can generate sponsorship amounts toward's their friend's > > > education, and education is the core of any economic development). And > > > while doing all this the kids could be collecting reward points... > > > > Agreed not as good as some other apps here from the perspective of > > > immediate value. > > > > This was my rank > > > > Effective use: In the 50th to 75th percentile of all submitted > > > applications > > > Polish: In the 50th to 75th percentile of all submitted applications > > > Indispensability: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > > Originality: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > > > Overall: In the lower 25% of all submitted applications > > > > On May 17, 1:27 pm, "Dan U." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > There is no > > > > > application from this category (except if we consider the family > > > > > safety type of apps) in the first 50. > > > > > I don't know why no humanitarian apps were chosen, but I could form a > > > > guess. First, I recall shortly before the submission deadline, someone > > > > in the group asked for more humanitarian app submissions. This person > > > > had a google.com email, so it might have been a Google employee. I > > > > don't really know. If so, it sounds like they hadn't gotten many > > > > submissions for that category. Because of that, it seems like there > > > > were few to choose from and the judges just may have not liked any of > > > > them. > > > > > And, just a guess on why a business entity would do this... Google > > > > might just be a "different" company with some desire to help people > > > > instead of just maximizing profits. I don't know though. Beyond that, > > > > it might be a tax write-off to provide something usable for > > > > humanitarian issues (although I don't know the tax laws for that). > > > > > On May 16, 7:37 pm, gtandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Google's initial ADC announcement that among other applications, they > > > > > would also be looking for humanitarian applications, or apps helping > > > > > economic development, was a bit surprising at first, but also > > > > > refreshing. This gave an impression that this business giant is also > > > > > looking at "doing good" with the challenge. > > > > > > But the following entry that was ranked in the lowest quartile for > > > > > every category (originality of this app is below the weather app) > > > > > broke all the illusion. > > > > > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-challenge/browse_thread/thread... > > > > > > At first I questioned why ADC put "humanitarian/economic development" > > > > > as a category. As a business entity what would google gain by putting > > > > > this as a category? I had answered my own question that Google does > > > > > everything different, and possibly it is doing so again. There is no > > > > > application from this category (except if we consider the family > > > > > safety type of apps) in the first 50. > > > > > > I want to find out how many applications submitted to ADC fall in this > > > > > category, and how they are ranked.- Hide quoted text - > > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Challenge" group. 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