

Review My Startup: Daily Mobile App Deals - bmelton

It wasn't all that technically challenging, but we've just soft-launched our mobile app deal platform at AppDiem.com.<p>The premise is simple enough -- it's basically Groupon (or maybe Woot) for mobile apps.  There are a ton of warts at the moment, and I'm working on them, but I'd love any feedback from you guys.<p>The platform is Django, with a tiny little bit of celery+rabbit to move some of the slower tasks into the background.
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dmazin
I'm curious, how come you went with a whole sign up page (asking for a name,
and password) rather than simply putting an email box on the main page like
the most deal sites do?

Do you really need to call a person by name in emails? Is the sign up friction
worth it?

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bmelton
That's a fair point -- but, by asking for a name and a password (and
admittedly, we can forego the name) -- you get an account.

For regular users, this is probably worth deleting. But for app developers,
the 'having an account' means that they can add, upload and manage
applications that they'd like to have featured.

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dmazin
Right, that's what I figured. I think this dualism is absolutely necessary as
you have a chance to have a very simple, one-field sign up for non-developer
users whereas right now the friction is pretty high (five fields, separate
page).

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bmelton
Fixed. The signup process for the email is now a dismissable 1-field box on
the homepage. Thanks for the suggestion.

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jckay
I like the UI a lot. Curious though, so when i click on Android - it wont let
me see the deals?

Does that mean i have to actually sign up and wait for the daily emails - or
is there a platform that allows me to go on the site and see what the deal is?

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bmelton
Oh, I should also point out that we're working on mobile apps for each
platform that will let you see what deals are live for the day as well.

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mikecane
I like that. One thing I'd change is the positioning of the OS. I was looking
for it in the text and as I was clicking away happened to catch it above the
screensnap. Too low in contrast and not where I'd look.

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bmelton
To ask the better question -- where would you look?

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systemtrigger
You could maybe try putting it in the top right, like this:
<http://idea.s3.amazonaws.com/appdiem.png>. The problem with that though is if
you get a long app name it's going to overlap.

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bmelton
If I could give you 10 points I would, just for the effort.

It was originally there, for what it's worth, but we ran into exactly that
issue.

My personal (minimalist) favorite position was just outside the grid, to the
left of the picture, with JUST the application icon -- of course, that had to
be rethought as soon as we had our first iPad app submitted.

I'll keep playing with options, naturally -- can I pester you again later to
get your thoughts on what we end up with?

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systemtrigger
Yes, outside the grid to the left looks good in a full browser -- but as you
mention, that wrecks the mobile layout. I wouldn't worry about it too much --
where you've got it isn't bad, it's just a little hard to read on the busier
background. Btw, on an iphone the max-height you're applying to .app_summary
is causing a little bit of overlap:
<http://idea.s3.amazonaws.com/appdiem2.png>.

Sure, feel free to email me -- address in my profile -- or just reply here.

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bmelton
For what it's worth, there is a much simpler (and uglier) mobile layout at
mobile.appdiem.com (or m.appdiem.com, as soon as DNS catches up) currently --
I just haven't yet implemented user-agent detection.

If I go left of the grid, I'll probably use a vertical indicator, instead of
horizontal.

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dsl
I hate to sound cynical, but I am genuinely interested in how you see a
"deals" arrangement being successful in a market where the majority of the
products (or viable alternatives) are free already.

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bmelton
We're working with app developers to arrange for high-value deals, similarly
to how Groupon does.

From a user perspective, at worst, it's perhaps the easiest way to discover
new apps you may not have heard of. We do have 'free' apps that are featured,
and we don't discriminate, so long as we think the app is worthwhile.

At best, we have arranged deals that we've arranged for '1 day discounts' that
will be exclusive to AppDiem. So, whether or not there are free alternatives,
I believe there's value in getting an app at a discount. There are plenty of
invaluable apps worth paying for. Who wouldn't want to get them at a reduced
price?

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bmelton
clickable: <http://appdiem.com/>

