Releasing your first application

Posted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:18:00 GMT

These weeks have been both manic and exciting for us. Manic because we had to rush to fix issues with the 3.0 beta compatibility, get additional translations of the user interface done, and deal with Apple's not always entirely intuitive submission process. Exciting on the other hand, because we finally managed to get our first application out of the door and onto the app store. In case you hadn't seen it on our Apps page, Point Don't Shout is a picture dictionary which helps you make yourself understood, even if you don't know how to pronounce a word in a foreign language. Currently it features more than 700 terms, and can translate between 8 different languages.
Once your app is eventually out there on the Store, you feel like a parent whose kids moved out to go to college. There's not much more you can do. They're on their own now! You can try and support them by helping with the move but in the end they have to find their own way. So while we are very excited about the release, one also feels a bit anxious, because it's now beyond us how the app will be taken up by users. I'm sure that many developers, and probably a lot of artists and writers will feel the same, and we'd love to hear about it. A worry shared is a worry halved.