What the Government Can Learn from the App Store
When Apple launched the App Store in March 2008, it came with a call to action to developers across the world to use their platform to create applications for the brand new iPhone, released the previous year.
At the time, we didn’t know what the iPhone was capable of. People were just excited to have a visual voicemail inbox!
As far as functionality goes, all we knew was it had a camera, a touchscreen (that actually worked!), an accelerometer, and built in speakers.
It was then time for developers to start getting creative.
One of the first games on the App Store was Tap Tap Revenge, a music beat based game similar to Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution that made full use of the multi-touch display and built-in speaker by allowing two people to listen to the music and play against each other.
Applications making use of the accelerometer allowed the user to turn their phone into a steering wheel, pushing the limits to what kind of gaming experience could be created on a 3.5 inch screen.
The original iPhone came with a 2.0 megapixel camera that didn’t allow you to shoot video or focus your shot. It wasn’t until the iPhone 4 was released in 2010 that the line saw any noteworthy improvements to the camera. That release included a 5.0 megapixel camera able to shoot 720p video, as well as the introduction of a front facing camera that would inevitably change the way we take photos forever.
Photo sharing had been around on the internet for a while, but in the same year as the release of the iPhone 4, Instagram came on the scene. They introduced the notion of editing your candid photos with professional style filters on-the-go instead of uploading them to your computer, editing them, then posting. They also included the ability to geotag your photo to show where you are, killing Foursquare location based check-ins.
So what was the point of that quick history lesson in iOS applications?
By giving developers the tools required to build software, Apple was able to watch and learn how people were using their hardware.
Touchscreen
The first iPhone had a touchscreen that did not require a stylus to use. Suddenly, the screen became the computer instead of just an attachment to a keyboard or mouse.
By seeing how immediately people were able to develop apps that took full advantage of the 3.5 inch screen, they knew that it was something people cared about. The current iPhones have larger and more accurate displays.
The iPad was then introduced in 2010 and uses the same App Store, giving developers the reigns to create bigger and brighter applications.
Touch screens are now in cars, vending machines, and are even replacing clipboards in many healthcare facilities.
Accelerometer
At some point, a step-counter app was created using the built-in accelerometer instead of having a cheap plastic fob attached to your hip. At the time, it would have been a huge deal to know exactly how many steps you’d taken because then you were able to change your habits to begin to live a healthier life.
Health-based apps continued to grow in popularity from calorie counters to menstrual calendars, bike trail maps to meditation instructions. So naturally, Apple took notice, realizing that people really do care about their health (or at least will pay to pretend they care).
Now, there is a Health app pre-installed on every iOS device that counts your steps, and can be integrated with other apps to keep track of your physical activities, nutrition, mindfulness, and sleep.
In April of 2015, the first Apple Watch was released to huge fanfare and is continually being improved with every release. Apple Watch has found its niche in the active-professional demographic and Apple is taking full advantage.
Again, the Apple Watch uses the exact same App Store that the iPhone and the iPad use so that you already know how to use your new watch directly out of the box.
Camera
Instagram was able to amass 1 million users in under 2 months upon release even with a 2.0 megapixel potato camera. That definitely caught Apple’s attention and now the iPhone X boasts a 12.0 megapixel camera on both the front and back, along with 26 other listed features.
The camera is ubiquitous with the usage of smartphones to such a point that they are now used to unlock the phone by recognizing our faces.
Obviously the hardware team has spent a significant amount of energy (and a sh*t load of money) towards R&D. From a camera that can’t shoot video, to a camera that has hybrid infrared filters and is able to recognize your face, all in 10 years.
Do you think the iPhone would be as successful had it not allowed 3rd party apps, like Steve Jobs’ original vision?
Do you think that the Apple Watch would have been as successful had it been released before the iPhone?
Not likely.
Not only has the App Store allowed Apple to create new sources of revenue by skimming off a portion of the sales, but it has also shown them possible paths to go down based on app downloads.
The software people were using gave Apple insight into what people are actually using their hardware for.
“It’s a cell phone, so we should concentrate our efforts on having the clearest call audio than any other cell phone!”
Imagine that’s the path the hardware team went down instead of adding the front facing camera? We likely wouldn’t have Facetime, SnapChat, or Apple as we know it today.
How Governments Can Learn
Governments should take a page out of Apple’s book on how they could successfully roll out their Open Data initiatives.
Open Governments will continue to struggle to get buy-in if they dump all their datasets at once in a thousand formats with features they think people want.
Imagine now they release key datasets, set up a marketplace where people are able to share their creations with the world, and allow other citizens to make use of them just like the App Store.
Certain applications of Open Data will become popular, and certain will fall flat. Datasets that the government never thought would have any use will prove to solve some of the biggest issues they’re facing because they allowed the creativity of people outside their walls to play with it, iterate, and solve their own problems.
The person who developed the first calorie counting app likely wasn’t looking to make a million dollars or influence the future of Apple’s hardware lines. They were just sick of writing it on paper and wanted something else.
The thing with open innovation is that it takes time. Even the app store took 8 years to get to the refined product it is today and will continue to be improved upon. Not everything that Apple touches turns to gold either …*cough* iTunes Connect *cough*… but they will learn from those mistakes and move on.
A Government’s first Open Data Portal will not be perfect, nor should it be, but it must be continually improved or risk failing completely. Keeping information locked down is not going to allow Governments to see the kind of innovation Apple has shown over the last 10 years.
