

The iPhone cannibal - innernode

How do you make an iPhone app that doesn't cannibalize its original business: an address and phone lookup service that earns its money on incoming calls?
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_0ffh
\- Forced registration + pay-per-use \- Forced re-installation (+payment)
after a set number of successful uses \- Forced registration after a set
number of successful uses Have a little brainstorming session and you will
likely come up with a plethora of other possible implementation schemes... =)

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innernode
Thanks for your insights - but the main problem isn't for the app to make
money, it is to generate calls to the call centre helping them grow their
business. This is quite a challenge when users know they can get the answers
they need in the iPhone app itself without calling the call centre for them..

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_0ffh
Oh, I see! This is a real problem. Maybe the app could provide a neat user
interface for framing a request, then send it as a text message to the call
center, which then sends the answer back to the app.

I know this sounds contrived, but it seems to me the only way to not
cannibalize the call centre is to not duplicate its functionality. The only
thing left after taking the actual functionality away is the presentation,
i.e. the user interface. So you can choose to use the call centre with the
traditional interface (speaking on the phone) or the new app interface (that
helps frame the question and later delivers the result).

