For the past few months, so much has been going. “I should write about this on the blog,” I constantly seem to be saying to myself. But, my early (pre-contract) hours are full. There is only so much you can do between 4:30 and 6:30.
Probably the biggest new thing I’ve gotten into is App development. I’ve been very interested in it for a long time now, but finding the time to work on stuff has been difficult. So, I hired some developers.
I had a strange idea for an Android app. I sit is offices all the time—with headphones on if they don’t have a problem with it—and people are always murmuring to each other in gossipy ways. If only, I thought, I could amplify my laptop mic straight into my headphones—maybe I could hear them better. Sad, yes.
So, I had an app idea to create a phone app that would allow you to look like you are listening to music, but you are listening to the world around you. If you had an equalizer, maybe you could fine-tune it better. Creepy? Very. But I would use it. I sat on this idea for months—occasionally writing some code for it.
In a lunchtime conversation with some friends, I mentioned the idea. My friend Matt, who runs a site called Budding Marketer, encouraged me on and came up with a cool name: “Ear Spy”. I drew up a spec, designed a logo, and hired a very talented developer.
We released the app to the Google Market two weeks ago. It has been installed 3,086 times so far. It is currently ranked #12 in Top New Free apps in the Communication category.
We released two versions—a free version and a pro version. The pro version is ad-free and gives you the ability to record to MP3. Yesterday, released it with support for Chinese Mandarin and Hindi.
My goal is to experiment. I change the price of pro and see how that reacts. I write some stuff on Twitter, and see if that has an affect. I watch the Google Market each day to see the numbers get updated. An iPhone version is in development. I will see how that performs and how different that is.
The biggest problem with Android has been the multiple devices. It pains me to see that someone has had trouble with it or a crash on some device I never heard of. I’m taking the one star ratings too personal too. However, we’ve got quite a few 5 stars.
Anyway. I’ve got 4 dedicated developers working on the next apps, so things are busy. It’s very exciting, but very fun. We should be up to 10,000 installs in a few weeks. It is making money, but a very small amount.
Here is the link to the Ear Spy on the Google Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microphone.earspy
