Tough Topic: The App Conundrum

Looking into new Android beers apps for my phone.  I have also chased down a number of articles both in print and on other websites.  I have found a bunch of central flaws in the market, and I hope just one developer out there may learn a thing or two from my experiences.

Platforms

The first issue is there are more mature Beer Apps for the iPhone such as Brew Vault which warranted a write-up in Issue #53 of BeerAdvocate.  What’s The problem with Brew Vault? iPhone only.  With more and more people becoming users of Android I believe iPhone Apps will suffer.  Android is now 48% of worldwide market share, and Apple with 19%.  Brew Vault like many of the other apps are user driven databases.  This means without people entering in beer information the database will not be complete.  If you have a cross-platform app there is the potential to have more people entering data.

Network

An initial Android app I like is Brewster, but there is a con.  Brewster requires a network connection.  Even in Chicago many of the bars I go to lack a strong data signal.  Brewster becomes difficult to use without a solid data connection and honestly I do not want to have to remember a beer to enter into Brewster or any other app.  I have enough on my mind. I do not need to keep track of beer lists.

Adding Your Own Beer

This is my problem with Pintley.  Although I was excited about Pintley it just does not work to track beer that is homebrewed or is it efficient for tracking beer from smaller operations that you may frequent.  I am constantly trying new beer and logging in everyday to suggest a new beer is not going to be an efficient option for me and I doubt it is efficient for many people.  If you buy all your beer in bottles from medium to large breweries then I would say Pintley is a good app for you.

The Export

Can you export data out of the app?  Can it go to a new phone?  Most people I know who are serious about their beer have some sort of record system in place.  An ability of the app to synchronize or share information is a must.

Database

In my opinion a database is important, but probably the least important.  The nice part about a database is it eliminates the cumbersome entering of brewery, style, ABV etc.  If you are able to enter your own beers, and the database is synced this could go a long way in not only growing your database but also the commitment people have to the app.  One App I am using a lot lately is Remembeer.  Remembeer solves all the above problems, except database.  It seems to have a pretty small database however.  I started adding beers to the database at a rate of two a day.  After a few days I had friends download the app to see if the beers I entered were in the database.  They were not.  To be honest I was disappointed. Remembeer seemed to be pretty East-Coast centric with its database, and I thought a regular Chicago entries would really beef it up.

The Paid App

There are apps that are ad supported and therefore free, but there are also ad free paid apps.  I have no problem with a paid app marketplace.  In fact if all apps had a fee I would probably pay for the ones I like, but you need to offer a free trial or ad based version.  I find the The Beer Expert app intriguing, but they want three dollars to try it out.  Android has support for a trial basis, and I would assume iPhone supports this as well.

Next Steps

I see a lot of great ideas out there, but can we please  start to merge some of the concepts?  I know it may take you awhile to build an app, but I truly think if you build it they will come.  Do a solid job and they will come even more.

Tags: Android App, App Review, iPhone App