iOS Selling photos?

[lokerd]

Hello.

I am wanting to develop a distribution system for some of my favorite photos. I am a high school photography teacher and have NO background with developing an app of any kind, but this is something I really want to accomplish.

I have lots of great photos, and I would like to try to market them to people who might choose to download a set of photos as backdrops.

Does anybody have any suggestions on what might be the best route to do this? Do I need to develop an app from the ground up? Or, would it be better to try to partner with somebody who can develop the app, and I provide the pictures? Or, might there be an app already out there to accomplish something like this?

Thanks for your time!!

 

[1458279]

I don't think Apple will allow this as an app. From what you say, it would be an app to sell photos and Apple has rules about what an app can and can't be. I'd check into this before you spend any money. Also, even if you were allowed to have an app selling photos, I'm pretty sure Apple has rules about all sales have to go through them, so you'd lose 30% off the top.

I have a suggestion: sell them on a web page. There are several sites that sell graphics, icons, background music, etc.

The advantage to this is that you don't have to promote your own site.

You might want to include in the sites a link back to your own site, this could act as a free/near free marketing tool.

 

[lokerd]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

What I meant was photos as lock screens and backdrops for phone and iPads.

I have seen apps before, several actually, where photographers are promoting their photos for use on people's devices, which I think would be perfect.

I do have a commercial Smugmug site, but that is for prints where people can order prints and have them sent to their house, or downloads, etc. But the marketing arm of an app in the app store seems much greater.

 

[1458279]

Ok, I think that's different. An app for lock screens is probably fine because it actually does something, not just selling a product.

To develop an app, you'll need/want:
1. Apple computer (notebook or desktop)
2. Apple Developer Account ($99/year)
3. test device (iPad/iPhone/iPodTouch) *only need one

You then need to download and install Xcode and check that everything is working by building some apps from the sample code, or making a simple app.

YouTube has tons of samples, Apple has a ton of excellent samples.

Once you have everything setup, I'd get a few books. I like Big Nerd Ranch, Apress has some good ones. Start working thru the books and learn how to work with Xcode, and how to program in ObjC.

One other option is to simply buy someone's app or have the app developed for you. This can save a ton of time and a few bucks.

Buying an simple app shouldn't cost much and avoids having to learn everything. If your goal is one simple app, this is a very viable path.

 

[lokerd]

To develop an app, you'll need/want:
1. Apple computer (notebook or desktop)
2. Apple Developer Account ($99/year)
3. test device (iPad/iPhone/iPodTouch) *only need one

One other option is to simply buy someone's app or have the app developed for you. This can save a ton of time and a few bucks.

CHeck, Check, Check. On the note of the Mac...I have numerous pre-intel Macs still in use, but just bought my first Intel Mac. ;-) But, I got it for iAuthor, GarageBand more than developing an App. I also have an iPad ,and multiple iPhones. And, I just signed up for a Developer account, at least a free one for right now. But, bottom line, I think developing an App is outside of my expertise.

So, trying to find an app that is ready to go, that I can buy, or partner with a person, sounds a lot better. What is the best way to go about this?

Thanks a bundle!!

 

[idelovski]

You can check the app from my signature just too see if you like the general feel about it. The application will not follow links to other sites so you can't just paste into it your root link, but if you paste an album link, for example http://loker.smugmug.com/Nature/Scenics/2355472_BGfMVf#!i=97517228&k=R2hYn it will extract several images from the site.

I see you have some obfuscation in play to make life harder for people who would try to extract image links at your place, but the app will find some of them. Not all, but at least a few.

So if this is something you had in your mind, I can make some minor changes short-term or even bigger changes long-term if it looks like other people trying to show their work might benefit from it. And free of charge if it looks like it is in sync with my long term goals. Newer version with way faster downloads is in the pipeline at Apple since monday so it should be in the store any day now - I hope.

EDIT: And one note - application does not store locally original images, just smaller representations, like Google and other image search sites. Parent web site is remembered too, so if you need to see original, my application opens the link in Safari.