
Most iPhone Apps Are Failing To Leverage The Network Effect - terpua
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/07/most-iphone-apps-are-failing-to-leverage-the-network-effect/
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gcv
I think mobile apps which do this are coming, and the iPhone SDK hasn't been
available long enough for really spectacular stuff to have come out. It takes
a while for a neat, massively-socially-networked (how's that for a neologism)
mobile game to gestate.

Here's a freebie idea for someone adventurous: a few years ago, I read about
some online game, where players would sign up for some kind of a spy, murder,
and conspiracy thriller. They would then periodically get emails, phone calls,
faxes, and letters, to which they should react in the real world, and which
advanced the plot. I don't think this was particularly multiplayer, in that I
don't think that players interacted with one another.

I think using the location awareness of an iPhone could make a thriller game
like this incredibly exciting and immersive. Imagine a beeping device guiding
you up the stairs in a building, telling you where to find the next clue?
Telling you to quickly contact another investigator, because she found
something and needs to share? Pitching teams one against another to follow a
trail of clues in a race to find a hidden object somewhere in the city where
they play?

Implementing this would, without a doubt, be hard. Dealing with the liability
issues alone could possibly sink this idea (e.g., how can you safely put
random people in touch with one another, how can you ensure the safety of a
particular building or other locale, and so on). In addition, it probably
would require a fair amount of coordination and manual work by the organizers,
so the game would have to cost a pretty penny to play. It would also have to
have settings like "only play the game between 7 and 8:30 in the evening,"
which would of course be an even bigger nightmare of logistics. Of course, if
someone figures all this out, it could become a huge hit.

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mwerty
I think the game was Majestic by EA.

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tstegart
Ugh, I'm tired of the "march to free" crap. There's not always a march to
free. Downward pressure, sure, but free? All iPhone apps will be free just
like all software will one day be free. Anyone who believes that is just not
aware of capitalism and psychology. People will want to make money off their
applications, and people will want to pay money for applications. People
making money have more incentive and capital to make a better program than
someone giving away something for free. Sure, there will be exceptions, but it
doesn't mean your iPhone app will be forced out the market any time soon by a
free alternative.

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trezor
Trough third-party apps my Windows Mobile phone has automatic number-lookup,
gmail, ability to look up my contacts location on google maps and what not.
That is all cool. It is all subtle.

I assume it's not what the author meant, but reading that, the way he phrased
himself, the only thing I could think of was having reddit invading my phone
and all my calls interupted because there was new Obama news.

No I don't want that.

I wan't application that works. If they need network or not is irrelevant.
They need to work, and most importantly: I shouldn't have to go to a Apple
AppStore to get them.

