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Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

kickfolio.com

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Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#41

Post by robomartin »

This is more of a Pieceable comment/question rather than kickfolio.

One concern I would have would be that apps are now usable outside of the device. If you have a paid app are you opening the door to free usage? Say you have a specialized calculator of some sort. Now anyone can use it for free through a browser.

I realize that there's a cost associated with the number of simultaneous users. Maybe that's the limiting mechanism.

Also:

https://www.pieceable.com/facebook

"We will be winding down the Pieceable service at the end of the year so we can focus on the new challenges and opportunities at Facebook. Facebook is not acquiring the company, technology, or customer data. We know many of you have come to rely on the Pieceable service, and we want to make sure that you can continue to do so even after we shut down our hosted service on December 31, 2012. In a few months, we'll be releasing an open source version of Pieceable Viewer that you'll be able to run on your own Mac hardware - we'll have more details on that soon."

Which is potentially good news long-term.

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#42

Post by chrisnolet »

robomartin wrote: post #41

This is more of a Pieceable comment/question rather than kickfolio. One concern I would have would be that apps are now usable outside of the device. If you have a paid app are you opening the door to free usage? Say you have a specialized calculator of some sort. Now anyone can use it for free through a browser. I realize that there's a cost associated with the number of simultaneous users. Maybe that's the limiting…

We limit the app demos to a 1 minute maximum, then the simulator resets. We figure this is probably enough to prevent people from abusing the free time. Also, if the developer has a data-driven app that could be exploited in under a minute, they don't necessarily need to upload a demo and could just stick with the screenshots to showcase their app. Do you think that's a good solution?

We've been in close touch with the Pieceable guys. We've been talking to them about how we can continue to run with the technology beyond the end of the year and we don't foresee any issues with continuing that integration or providing something similar. Good pick-up!

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#43

Post by chrisnolet »

steve8918 wrote: post #23

Very interesting, but one big flaw is that the app look like a video, with the Play button on it. I clicked on it and was waiting for the video to play and then I realized that I was supposed to interact with it with my mouse. I would consider changing the icon, or having a bubble that pops up and tells you that you can interact with it like an app.

Good feedback, thanks mate. I'm just wondering what kind of an icon we could implement - maybe a small iPhone-shaped watermark, perhaps even with a play button or cursor pointer inside of it?

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#44

Post by chrisnolet »

xoail wrote: post #40

just trying to understand how is this different from app.net? which also helps in creating app micro sites.

Two things:

1. We focus on the folio element, so you build a profile rather than marketing one app at a time. You can also explore other developers' work: http://kickfolio.com/explore

2. You can run live, interactive demos: http://kickfolio.com/examples/modest

Thanks for your feedback - it's a good reminder that we need to keep clear differentiators.

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#45

Post by chrisnolet »

mamatta wrote: post #31

Great idea! I can really see this taking over this growing "marketplace" space. How do you render these demos/simulations on the browser

Thanks, much appreciated. We've integrated the live apps via Pieceable, who run an iOS simulator in the cloud and stream video back to the browser.

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#46

Post by chrisnolet »

dr42 wrote: post #21

I liked it until I clicked the Modest demo and it said my iPad needs Flash installed :( Wouldn't that be a not-so-great idea for an iOS centric audience?

We're trying to find a non-Flash solution for this. Might fall back to the screenshots for iOS for now. Good pick-up, thanks.

We are putting a big emphasis on responsive design and we want to do the best job possible of displaying apps on the iPhone and iPad.

Re: Show HN: landing pages for iOS apps with interactive, usable demos

#48

Post by robomartin »

chrisnolet wrote: post #42
robomartin wrote: post #41

This is more of a Pieceable comment/question rather than kickfolio. One concern I would have would be that apps are now usable outside of the device. If you have a paid app are you opening the door to free usage? Say you have a specialized calculator of some sort. Now anyone can use it for free through a browser. I realize that there's a cost associated with the number of simultaneous users. Maybe that's the limiting…

We limit the app demos to a 1 minute maximum, then the simulator resets. We figure this is probably enough to prevent people from abusing the free time. Also, if the developer has a data-driven app that could be exploited in under a minute, they don't necessarily need to upload a demo and could just stick with the screenshots to showcase their app. Do you think that's a good solution? We've been in close touch with t…

Sounds good. How about sound? This is particularly important for games. We are on track to publish several games. Without sound the demos would not be appealing at all. For example, there are times when the player would hear a spoken prompt. Without it he/she would not know what to do.
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