My First App Is Live!

[Gulfsailor]

Without any prior experience, but with help from an iOS programmer, I am very happy to have my first app accepted by Apple and it is now live.

Actually it is a pretty cool and novel video camera app with image stabilization. And it's FREE. So I ask all you interested to have a look and let me know what you think.

Already planning some great new features and improved stabilization for next version. But I need some downloads to justify further development. Available ONLY for iPhone 4S and 5 at this time.

Search for ZeroShake in the App Store. Thanks!!

Mods; please move if you think this should be somewhere else.

[itchybum]

Are you rich now?

[Gulfsailor]

Are you rich now?

??? Monetary wise, unlikely from a free app, which was launched today. Very rich in experience gained though

[USNret]

Congrats! From one sailor to another, you done good.

[Gulfsailor]

Congrats! From one sailor to another, you done good.

Thanks! And great to use when filming on a boat, where obviously a tripod won't work.

[SoloFlyer]

Care to list in point form the steps involved?

[Gulfsailor]

Care to list in point form the steps involved?

Have a great idea

Do loads of research

Design technical part

Find the tools necessary to build the app

Find a programmer who is experienced with said tools

Design the User interface

Code the app with programmer

Test test test

Beta test

Make some changes

Send to Apple for approval

Marketing

In my case understanding the required tools and finding a programmer with the necessary skills was the hardest part. Finally after some dead ends and waisted time, did I find one in Romania.

All in all it took about two years of development of which about 9 months of actually app building. But worth it though! ZeroShake is totally unique and will be seen on all video recording devices soon! (I hope, haha)

[USNret]

How did you negotiate development fees with your guy in Romania? Is there any protection from him stealing your idea?

[Gulfsailor]

How did you negotiate development fees with your guy in Romania? Is there any protection from him stealing your idea?

With a prior Pakistani developer, I agreed to a fixed price for certain milestones. But during development I realized it was all way more complicated than I had thought. Plus that programmer was losing enthusiasm after some time. Understandable. Plus he he lacked the skills to take it to the next step.

Then I found the Romanian company and agreed to an hourly wage. Initially expecting development to take around 4 months. But we had some setbacks which cost time, and during development I included many new features now possible within our build framework. So all in all it took 9 months. Quite some money invested in it, but the result is well worth it. Check the link; http://www.zeroshake.com/in-depth/ for an in depth look of the technology used and implemented to make it work on the iPhone.

Contracts are in place that give me full copyright and ownership of the sourcecode. The actual ZeroShake stabilization technology is furthermore patented in all major regions. So that should be alright. And I will use this guy for future development of the app, and probably hire him and give him some shares, if it becomes popular. He played a crucial part in the development, and thought along at every step. Was very fortunate to find him.

[keeniau96]

Congrats. Could use such if it was an Android version. Had a good sail r/t to Langkawi and back to Phuket, ending last week, some good photo ops.

[pee paub]

Good for you, Gulfsailor. I am downloading it now.

[Gulfsailor]

Good for you, Gulfsailor. I am downloading it now.

Thanks! And enjoy the app. Please also review it with 5 stars on the App Store. Need to get the buzz started...

[pee paub]

Good for you, Gulfsailor. I am downloading it now.

Thanks! And enjoy the app. Please also review it with 5 stars on the App Store. Need to get the buzz started...

Will do - you deserve our support.

[itchybum]

Can you give a brief outline of what it actually does, best use etc.

Explain it like explaining something to a 10yo.

For me anyway.

Plus, why spend so much money on something and then giving it to Apple for free?

[innerspace]

Dont most digital cameras have anti shake tech built in? And the new iphone have a best shot continuos feature that gets similar effects? And multiple 3rd party android and ios apps with anti shake features?

I say this without an iphone so I cant test or judge your app until you adapt it for android.

I just hope for your sake you have done the research and due diligence... or this is a hobby of someone with cash to burn.

9 months development on an hourly rate is not cheap. You will need some killer features for the paid version to turn a profit. Ads for free helps but needs a lot of installs... Or maybe you build a name and the next app is the money maker!

All the best! (I am just realistic not criticising, but success is possible if all done right!)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Gulfsailor]

Can you give a brief outline of what it actually does, best use etc.

Explain it like explaining something to a 10yo.

For me anyway.

Plus, why spend so much money on something and then giving it to Apple for free?

It gives you a new way of image stabilization when filming, and after that a range of effects and filters you can apply.

Well I don't give it to Apple. They just put it in their store. Basic app is free, but has some restrictions. User pays a small price to have those removed. Apple then takes a 30% cut of that revenue. Rest minus taxes (depends on country) is mine. But the purpose of the app is getting the stabilization technology known, so that device manufacturers will adopt it on future products.

[Gulfsailor]

Dont most digital cameras have anti shake tech built in? And the new iphone have a best shot continuos feature that gets similar effects? And multiple 3rd party android and ios apps with anti shake features?

I say this without an iphone so I cant test or judge your app until you adapt it for android.

I just hope for your sake you have done the research and due diligence... or this is a hobby of someone with cash to burn.

9 months development on an hourly rate is not cheap. You will need some killer features for the paid version to turn a profit. Ads for free helps but needs a lot of installs... Or maybe you build a name and the next app is the money maker!

All the best! (I am just realistic not criticising, but success is possible if all done right!)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thank you for your comments Innerspace. And I appreciate your critiques, so am happy to answer your questions, and explain more.

The app stabilizes video, not photo. And although there are many high-tech system used on professional cameras and some lesser quality systems now being introduced in smartphones, they all have a basic flaw. They don't know if a movement is due to an undesired shake or part of a panning movement. And that's where the technology used in my app is different. It does know that. So it can be applied to any current system and drastically improve it. Furthermore it offers some extra features such as completely smooth panning and pre programmed panning. When there are enough downloads, I will incorporate those in the next version. Then a free app allows to handheld shoot footage as if a professional fully automatic dolly was used.

To understand the principle visit the website, to see a presentation.

The app is add free but has a couple of in-app purchase options, although not really necessary for most users. The app is used as showcase for the ZeroShake stabilization technology, in the hope that many people will like it, and so video camera, binocular and smartphone manufacturers will incorporate it into their current systems.

As a third party developer, I am limited to the tools available to quickly process image frames using the GPU directly. There is such a tool for iOS, but not (yet?) for Android. So until then I can't create the app for Android. Plus even if it would be possible, it will only be for the few most popular devices on Android. Writing the stabilization profile for one camera on one device takes between 1 and 2 weeks, so too time consuming to do for all 500? or so devices running Android.

[Gulfsailor]

For the above posters, here a video presentation that was just finished today; https://vimeo.com/65135445

For the mods who obviously feel this is blatant self promotion, I will now include the link to the ThaiVisa app video presentation, which happened to be created by the same company. Great minds think alike! https://vimeo.com/63888001

[innerspace]

No links showing on the thai visa app so will need to check it out when at a computer.

Sounds interesting though and a whole lot more than initially suggested. Potential acquasition for the whole technology if it is as good as you reckon.

Go for it!

Continuing with the threads theme... I too share that excitement today. First Thai based IOS app approved less than an hour ago. Cant provide details now since its a clients but will be publicised around Pattaya and Bangkok soon.

[Gulfsailor]

No links showing on the thai visa app so will need to check it out when at a computer.

Sounds interesting though and a whole lot more than initially suggested. Potential acquasition for the whole technology if it is as good as you reckon.

Go for it!

Continuing with the threads theme... I too share that excitement today. First Thai based IOS app approved less than an hour ago. Cant provide details now since its a clients but will be publicised around Pattaya and Bangkok soon.

Congrats on getting Apple's approval for your app! The waiting for that is one of the scariest bits in the whole app development process.

For me now the hardest part is to get high in the rankings. I was featured on a large app site in the Netherlands, and that resulted in reaching the top50 in photo video category in the Dutch and Belgian store on launch day. I also was chosen app of the day by a US app site, but that was US last night, so I can't see if that results in any signifant download numbers yet. Need to keep the buzz going!!! New and noteworthy is the goal....

[innerspace]

Video looks good - does seem like impressive technology.

Job well done.

Do you have much of a marketing plan for the app yet? Any advertising, social media or the like?

Online marketing is one of our specialties so drop me a message if your interested.

[MobileContent]

Dont most digital cameras have anti shake tech built in? And the new iphone have a best shot continuos feature that gets similar effects? And multiple 3rd party android and ios apps with anti shake features?

I say this without an iphone so I cant test or judge your app until you adapt it for android.

I just hope for your sake you have done the research and due diligence... or this is a hobby of someone with cash to burn.

9 months development on an hourly rate is not cheap. You will need some killer features for the paid version to turn a profit. Ads for free helps but needs a lot of installs... Or maybe you build a name and the next app is the money maker!

All the best! (I am just realistic not criticising, but success is possible if all done right!)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thank you for your comments Innerspace. And I appreciate your critiques, so am happy to answer your questions, and explain more.

The app stabilizes video, not photo. And although there are many high-tech system used on professional cameras and some lesser quality systems now being introduced in smartphones, they all have a basic flaw. They don't know if a movement is due to an undesired shake or part of a panning movement. And that's where the technology used in my app is different. It does know that. So it can be applied to any current system and drastically improve it. Furthermore it offers some extra features such as completely smooth panning and pre programmed panning. When there are enough downloads, I will incorporate those in the next version. Then a free app allows to handheld shoot footage as if a professional fully automatic dolly was used.

To understand the principle visit the website, to see a presentation.

The app is add free but has a couple of in-app purchase options, although not really necessary for most users. The app is used as showcase for the ZeroShake stabilization technology, in the hope that many people will like it, and so video camera, binocular and smartphone manufacturers will incorporate it into their current systems.

As a third party developer, I am limited to the tools available to quickly process image frames using the GPU directly. There is such a tool for iOS, but not (yet?) for Android. So until then I can't create the app for Android. Plus even if it would be possible, it will only be for the few most popular devices on Android. Writing the stabilization profile for one camera on one device takes between 1 and 2 weeks, so too time consuming to do for all 500? or so devices running Android.

Great work and well done.

If we need to have direct access to GPU on Android we always use renderscript or opengGL ES 2.0. I can't go much more in details due to an NDA with a US Law enforcement agency but they too developed a stabilizer for video recording for the electronic filing of cases.

Don't focus on over 2000 Android devices but just the Top 10 devices from Samsung for a start.

As an example for some of our apps we had around 3 million downloads in two years of which Samsung devices are 55%.

[MobileContent]

Just downloaded it and gave you 5 stars.

[USNret]

Continuing with the threads theme... I too share that excitement today. First Thai based IOS app approved less than an hour ago. Cant provide details now since its a clients but will be publicised around Pattaya and Bangkok soon.

Not exactly, Na-in has had an ebook reader for at least a year. My wife uses it on her iPad.

[Gulfsailor]

Just downloaded it and gave you 5 stars.

Thanks!! Just found out we have a Facebook login issue in some instances. So working on a fix right now. :-(

[Gulfsailor]

Dont most digital cameras have anti shake tech built in? And the new iphone have a best shot continuos feature that gets similar effects? And multiple 3rd party android and ios apps with anti shake features?

I say this without an iphone so I cant test or judge your app until you adapt it for android.

I just hope for your sake you have done the research and due diligence... or this is a hobby of someone with cash to burn.

9 months development on an hourly rate is not cheap. You will need some killer features for the paid version to turn a profit. Ads for free helps but needs a lot of installs... Or maybe you build a name and the next app is the money maker!

All the best! (I am just realistic not criticising, but success is possible if all done right!)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thank you for your comments Innerspace. And I appreciate your critiques, so am happy to answer your questions, and explain more.

The app stabilizes video, not photo. And although there are many high-tech system used on professional cameras and some lesser quality systems now being introduced in smartphones, they all have a basic flaw. They don't know if a movement is due to an undesired shake or part of a panning movement. And that's where the technology used in my app is different. It does know that. So it can be applied to any current system and drastically improve it. Furthermore it offers some extra features such as completely smooth panning and pre programmed panning. When there are enough downloads, I will incorporate those in the next version. Then a free app allows to handheld shoot footage as if a professional fully automatic dolly was used.

To understand the principle visit the website, to see a presentation.

The app is add free but has a couple of in-app purchase options, although not really necessary for most users. The app is used as showcase for the ZeroShake stabilization technology, in the hope that many people will like it, and so video camera, binocular and smartphone manufacturers will incorporate it into their current systems.

As a third party developer, I am limited to the tools available to quickly process image frames using the GPU directly. There is such a tool for iOS, but not (yet?) for Android. So until then I can't create the app for Android. Plus even if it would be possible, it will only be for the few most popular devices on Android. Writing the stabilization profile for one camera on one device takes between 1 and 2 weeks, so too time consuming to do for all 500? or so devices running Android.

Great work and well done.

If we need to have direct access to GPU on Android we always use renderscript or opengGL ES 2.0. I can't go much more in details due to an NDA with a US Law enforcement agency but they too developed a stabilizer for video recording for the electronic filing of cases.

Don't focus on over 2000 Android devices but just the Top 10 devices from Samsung for a start.

As an example for some of our apps we had around 3 million downloads in two years of which Samsung devices are 55%.

I also use openGL2, but that's not fast enough by itself. It's combined with an open source framework called GPUImage, which makes the image processing around 20x faster than without. Without it I can't do the stabilization in real time at 30fps in HD or FullHD at 24fps.

Even the Google Capture app us only available in iOS, because they couldn't run their after-recording stabilization feature fast enough in Android! They too used GPUImage (I just noticed recently) anyway their stabilization is similar as what if offered on YouTube site, utter crap!

And there is still some room for improvement in my current app, both in stabilization and the motion filtering. If you know anyone experienced with Kalman filters, let me know!!!

Plus I want to implement some cool panning features. When it all works great for the iPhone, will I move on to Android. Next year devices should be fast enough to do without all the special tools needed now.

[MobileContent]

Dont most digital cameras have anti shake tech built in? And the new iphone have a best shot continuos feature that gets similar effects? And multiple 3rd party android and ios apps with anti shake features?

I say this without an iphone so I cant test or judge your app until you adapt it for android.

I just hope for your sake you have done the research and due diligence... or this is a hobby of someone with cash to burn.

9 months development on an hourly rate is not cheap. You will need some killer features for the paid version to turn a profit. Ads for free helps but needs a lot of installs... Or maybe you build a name and the next app is the money maker!

All the best! (I am just realistic not criticising, but success is possible if all done right!)

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thank you for your comments Innerspace. And I appreciate your critiques, so am happy to answer your questions, and explain more.

The app stabilizes video, not photo. And although there are many high-tech system used on professional cameras and some lesser quality systems now being introduced in smartphones, they all have a basic flaw. They don't know if a movement is due to an undesired shake or part of a panning movement. And that's where the technology used in my app is different. It does know that. So it can be applied to any current system and drastically improve it. Furthermore it offers some extra features such as completely smooth panning and pre programmed panning. When there are enough downloads, I will incorporate those in the next version. Then a free app allows to handheld shoot footage as if a professional fully automatic dolly was used.

To understand the principle visit the website, to see a presentation.

The app is add free but has a couple of in-app purchase options, although not really necessary for most users. The app is used as showcase for the ZeroShake stabilization technology, in the hope that many people will like it, and so video camera, binocular and smartphone manufacturers will incorporate it into their current systems.

As a third party developer, I am limited to the tools available to quickly process image frames using the GPU directly. There is such a tool for iOS, but not (yet?) for Android. So until then I can't create the app for Android. Plus even if it would be possible, it will only be for the few most popular devices on Android. Writing the stabilization profile for one camera on one device takes between 1 and 2 weeks, so too time consuming to do for all 500? or so devices running Android.

Great work and well done.

If we need to have direct access to GPU on Android we always use renderscript or opengGL ES 2.0. I can't go much more in details due to an NDA with a US Law enforcement agency but they too developed a stabilizer for video recording for the electronic filing of cases.

Don't focus on over 2000 Android devices but just the Top 10 devices from Samsung for a start.

As an example for some of our apps we had around 3 million downloads in two years of which Samsung devices are 55%.

I also use openGL2, but that's not fast enough by itself. It's combined with an open source framework called GPUImage, which makes the image processing around 20x faster than without. Without it I can't do the stabilization in real time at 30fps in HD or FullHD at 24fps.

Even the Google Capture app us only available in iOS, because they couldn't run their after-recording stabilization feature fast enough in Android! They too used GPUImage (I just noticed recently) anyway their stabilization is similar as what if offered on YouTube site, utter crap!

And there is still some room for improvement in my current app, both in stabilization and the motion filtering. If you know anyone experienced with Kalman filters, let me know!!!

Plus I want to implement some cool panning features. When it all works great for the iPhone, will I move on to Android. Next year devices should be fast enough to do without all the special tools needed now.

If your Android project goes ahead look at Renderscript with GPUImage.

Sorry don't know anybody with the knowledge in Kalman filters.

[Gulfsailor]

So. That was an interesting launch. Was featured as 'app of the day' on appadvice, and on a large Dutch iPhone site. Got quite a number of downloads, and a handful of purchases.

Then on Wednesday I noticed that although the Facebook app part was getting the install numbers, nearly none were posting videos. So I checked with some other phones and whaaaaaaa. The Facebook login in my app has a bug. If it tries to get authorization via new iOS6 Facebook integration, a step is missed. Well that sucked big time.

So got my Romanian programmer out if his holiday to write the fix. New version was send to Apple for approval yesterday late afternoon, and I asked for an expedited review. Nice that they accepted that, and since this morning the updated version is available on the App Store.

So now I can continue with my planned marketing. Amazing though, that as soon as exposure of an app stops, download numbers fall rapidly.

Any tips on getting a great app featured is very much appreciated!

[Gulfsailor]

Ok. Just a quick update to those who provided very welcome feedback; The app has arrived in the Top 10 of photo/video category in the Thai App Store! Hopefully other countries will follow suit.