TSF Guest Post – Rob Shoesmith

Posted on: May 30, 2009 by admin

Ok, so everyone knows that Apples iPhone apps have been immensely popular with some 1billion apps being downloaded in the last year. Everyone also knows that if you come up with a great idea there is a chance (albeit slim) that you might just be able to net yourself a small fortune, one of example being Kostas Eleftheriou’s iSteam app which made him and his company a reported £40,000+
What the naive amongst us won’t know however, is that developing an iPhone app is an incredibly arduous, time consuming and potentially expensive task.
Now, of course we’re not saying that someone with little/no knowledge of software development can’t create an iPhone app because with a little time and dedication it is indeed possible (anybody hear about the 9 year old developer Lim Ding Wen?) but what happens when you simply just don’t have the time or inclination to sit before a computer working your way through laborious trial and error techniques in order to realise your awesome, lucrative app that came to you in a bolt of inspiration? Well, cue Mr. Rob Shoesmith whose recent endeavours in partnership with a US based software development company have attracted the attentions of the national press, not to mention the wider community of budding developers and app fanatics. This is Rob’s guest post, exclusive to TSF.

The Bin Man’s Bright Ideas…

My name is Robert Shoesmith and I’m a binman from Coventry, England, with bright ideas. I have a keen interest in iPhone apps and my series of blogs will outline my journey from bin man to having an app published in the iTunes app store.
So how did I get into this? One day I was browsing the Apple app store on my iPhone and noticed a free app under the name of the app incubator. A company called Medlmobile had developed an application where you could think of an iPhone application idea and submit the idea to them. If the idea is good enough they will build it and you will receive a 25% share of the profits.
Over a period of a few weeks I submitted some ideas to them. To my amazement I received an email to say they liked one of my ideas. The app idea then had to pass a series of tests before they gave me the green light to say my app was being passed to their development team to build.
In a little over 4 weeks I will see my app idea featured in the app store. I’m so happy to think that there will be users out there who will want to use the application that I designed!
The Guardian newspaper, who are based in the United Kingdom were so keen on the whole concept that they contacted me requesting an interview. This was featured in Thursday’s Guardian.
I have had a keen interest in web promotion for a number of years now but due to personal circumstances I had to take any job that was going. In my case I have been working for Coventry City Council as a bin man (or refuse collector!) for about 5 years.
I can’t reveal the name of the app just yet as it’s still being built and feel that it’s such an original idea for the iTunes app store that I don’t want anyone to copy it before its release! I will let everyone know what the app is very soon though. It should be released within 4 weeks.
I have created a twitter account where you can also follow my journey with daily updates (follow me at shoesmith82) in addition to my blog . I will be posting audio tweets and links to newspaper and online publications who have featured my story.

Yours

Robert Shoesmith

Twitter: shoesmith81
Guardian Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/28/apple-iphone-app-developers
Blog: http://shoesmith81.xanga.com/weblog/

So there you have it. It is possible to get an app into the iStore with no development knowledge at all! Don’t forget to check out Rob’s blog which will detail his journey and experiences of his exciting venture. Also keep checking back at TSF for more guest posts from Rob and indeed other worthy contributors!

Filed Under: News, Software