

Show HN: Bookmark iPhone apps (weekend+ project) - satjot
http://appquu.com
AppQuu lets you bookmark iPhone apps you find on the web.  It puts those apps in a 'Quu' (Queue) for you to browse on your phone.  @ankit and I come across a bunch of apps on our computers during the day, but never remember to check them out on our phones. [FYI: full-time, we're working on an awesome (hopefully) app recommendation project.]<p>Anyway, try out AppQuu - maybe you find it useful too.
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mirthlab
This is actually eerily similar to a site I launched a couple of months ago
called Aptly: <http://apt.ly/>

I've described it to people as "Instapaper for Apps" but it seems like AppQuu
may even fit that description better than Aptly. (I haven't finished the
companion iPhone app yet, but feel free to try it. I'd love to hear what you
think.)

I really like how simple and elegant AppQuu is. Being able to send the user an
SMS is a great idea. It makes it feel a little magical. (Though, it's a little
strange that I can't get to the list just by browsing to the site on my
phone.)

I was definitely hesitant about putting in my phone number. That's actually
why I went with email instead of phone numbers for login on Aptly. Talking
with people made me realize it was a huge barrier of entry. I guess emails
feel less valuable and are more commonly used for signing up with sites that
you're not sure about.

How do you find or determine the app on the page? What happens if there are
multiple apps linked on the page? Does it just add all of them? Also, what
happens if someone enters a number that isn't theirs? Maybe you could send a
confirmation SMS that requires the user to respond in order to verify their
account.

Also, I'd love your feedback on Aptly since it's such a similar concept, but
with a completely different execution. Well done!

P.s. Let me know if you have any questions. I've probably run across a few of
the same ones myself. Cheers!

~~~
satjot
@ mirthlab - thanks a lot for your feedback.

we tried to make it as simple as possible, thanks :)

reg phone/email: we're learning the same thing. we opted to keep it phone only
so it felt "magical" for the people that did sign up. we should probably allow
email sign up.

reg app: for now we take the first app that is found on the page. we could
just as easily put all the apps in your Quu if multiple ones were found... or
ask the user which ones they want to add. i guess we'll see how
often/where/why that comes up.

reg fake #: yup, on it.

reg Apt.ly: really cool! i love how you're showing the details of the app
right there for the user to see. i guess there's a balance between
quick/effective.

where are you based? we should def talk in more depth off HN.

thanks again for the feedback \- satjot (satjot at appquu)

~~~
brador
That "we" is painful to read. I had a similar service earlier this year,
initial reaction was positive, but everyone signed up and never used it again.

Me included.

My take on it? it's easier to pull up the app store and search for whatever
than it is to open safari, load the webpage, then click and wait for the app
store to load anyway.

Long lists would work? I thought so too, but then people don't like the back
and forth between safari and app store.

Saying that, SMS was a feature I didn't have.

Good luck all the same, and do make a 1 month later update if you have time!

~~~
satjot
thanks for the feedback!

"That "we" is painful to read." - what do you mean?

it would be cool to followup in more depth if you have some time. i'm at
satjot at geemail - you?

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dylangs1030
1\. Overall, fantastic idea. I would actually use this if you had an option to
sign up with email address only. I think a lot of people might be
uncomfortable with putting their phone numbers online that fast without a
secure connection.

2\. Make an option to have profiles private. Networking and social plugins
aside, people might want to discreetly bookmark apps they find for various
reasons.

3\. I think one of your biggest challenges at this stage is implementing this
for mobile machines. There is an easy way around this, coding a browser which
will have the interface plugged in already. But I don't see many iPhone users
doing that just to bookmark something, it'd be downloaded and rarely used, and
eventually, deleted. Your best bet is integrating that function into the app.

~~~
satjot
dylangs1030 - thanks for all that feedback. all your points are very helpful.

~~~
dylangs1030
No problem, good luck!

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mustardhamsters
Not a comment specifically on your app, but I found it amazing how quickly I
closed out of this when the tutorial video showed up. I hadn't really thought
of this before, and it might just be me, but most tutorial videos make me want
to leave your site as quickly as possible.

~~~
dylangs1030
I can see why you (and other users) would think this, but a good demo video is
the hallmark of tech startups. Dropbox's homepage displays nothing other than
a login micro in the top right hand corner and a much larger demo video
presented. It was the demo which made me immediately decide to download and
use Dropbox (and I still do). This isn't an isolated technique - it's a trend
on many different tech platforms to have a short animated skit describing its
innovations. Another great example is Meraki - the "Meraki story in 2 minutes"
brilliantly summarizes the company's mission and technology in an appealing
way that a text rich page can't achieve nearly as easily.

~~~
mustardhamsters
Yeah, I'm aware of the trend. It's probably just me, but no description at all
combined with the expectation of me watching a two minute video I can't
progress beyond in an obvious way really turns me off. Your site is not the
first one I've closed out of when a demo video comes up.

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gbelote
Very cool. Like how lightweight it is, sending me an SMS is slick.

Kind of wish you suggested more than just 4 apps, it'd be fun to browse a
bunch and really take this for a spin.

Minor feedback: your "30 second video" is 55 seconds :)

~~~
gbelote
Also: there's no security/privacy on the URLs. For example, anyone is able to
see mine:

<http://appquu.com/10/>

~~~
satjot
Yea, we thought about that but decided it would be cool to have the apps in
Quus to be public so that it can be shared with friends. For example, I sent
my Quu link to my mom earlier today.

~~~
gbelote
Makes sense. I don't personally mind this, but it's not something that I
expected (to me, "personal app store" implies privacy). It's probably worth
making this more clear on your landing page.

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phaninivarthi
This is cool... I really liked where your idea is going. This really has some
good potential.. try to incorporate services to both the app owners and
destination users to make either of their experiences better.. Cool idea.
Simple, elegant. Do keep ur services as simple as this... the best part is, it
is really useful.. In another 1-2 years when there will be a zillion apps..
this can be the saviour :)

~~~
satjot
thanks for the feedback. keep the feedback coming as you continue to use the
app :)

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geuis
In its current form, adding a bookmark on a mobile device or iPad is
impossible. You need to find a way to let users do that. You also need to add
a way that people can delete there accounts since you're asking for our phone
numbers

~~~
satjot
thanks for the feedback geuis.

shoot me an email [satjot at appquu dot com] and I can delete your account.

~~~
geuis
Oh I don't want to delete mine. It just occurred to me that some folks might
want to.

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SandB0x
Surprising that this isn't a feature already. I can go to
<https://market.android.com/> and install apps straight to my phone from a
browser on any machine if I'm signed in.

~~~
omaranto
Old Windows CE devices could do that too: you just had to click on a .cab file
link from within the device's browser to install a program.

~~~
callahad
The Android feature is actually more robust than that: Click "Install" in the
browser on your desktop, and seconds later, the app is installed on your
phone. Without having to ever touch the phone.

~~~
omaranto
Oh, I see. Thanks, I somehow missed the "any machine" part of the comment.

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robmcm
This is a lot like PushThePage (<http://www.pushthepage.com/welcome>) which
uses push notifications and your google account to send you any bookmark.

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mponizil
This is awesome. Well done!

~~~
satjot
thanks mponizil

