Interest in a Smugmug Slideshow for iPhone (with Ken Burns effect)?
BitWink
Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
Hi Smugmuggers,
I recently created an iPhone app called the Ken Burns Slideshow which allows you to create slideshows with the "Ken Burns" pan and zoom effect. The reason I'm posting here is I'm wondering what the level of interest would be in me porting this to work with the SmugMug API? (Currently it uses photos loaded onto the iPhone itself but with a fair bit of work I could presumably make it cache photos using the SmugMug API.)
I'm actually a Smugmugger myself so I have a soft-spot in doing this first for SmugMug (rather than chasing the huge user base of Flickr) but in all honesty I guess the SmugMug community is pretty small, and by the time you also select those with an iPhone... I'm guess that Venn diagram isn't pretty!
So if I get a deathly silence I'll take that as a hint and go look at Flickr. You should know that I'll probably end up having to charge quite a bit for the app to justify the effort compared to the number of potential customers (I'm thinking $7.99 compared to the $3.99 current app).
Any feedback would be most welcome.
Matt
You can see what the current app does here: http://bitwink.com/kenburns
Apologies if posting that link breaks forum rules - it's genuinely not meant as advertising so feel free to remove it if you don't think it is appropriate.
I recently created an iPhone app called the Ken Burns Slideshow which allows you to create slideshows with the "Ken Burns" pan and zoom effect. The reason I'm posting here is I'm wondering what the level of interest would be in me porting this to work with the SmugMug API? (Currently it uses photos loaded onto the iPhone itself but with a fair bit of work I could presumably make it cache photos using the SmugMug API.)
I'm actually a Smugmugger myself so I have a soft-spot in doing this first for SmugMug (rather than chasing the huge user base of Flickr) but in all honesty I guess the SmugMug community is pretty small, and by the time you also select those with an iPhone... I'm guess that Venn diagram isn't pretty!
So if I get a deathly silence I'll take that as a hint and go look at Flickr. You should know that I'll probably end up having to charge quite a bit for the app to justify the effort compared to the number of potential customers (I'm thinking $7.99 compared to the $3.99 current app).
Any feedback would be most welcome.
Matt
You can see what the current app does here: http://bitwink.com/kenburns
Apologies if posting that link breaks forum rules - it's genuinely not meant as advertising so feel free to remove it if you don't think it is appropriate.
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Comments
I love smugmug, but the iPhone safari version is ... well buggy and made me scream many times when my friends asked me to show them some snaps.
One question - do you think Ken Burns would be unhappy with you using his name as the title and selling point of something you are trying to make money from? Perhaps you could change the name and alter the descriptions to say "Ken Burns-like" or "the style made popular by Ken Burns documentaries". Just my 2 cents.
Good luck with it.
Hi DJ-S1,
The problem with charging less is getting a return on the effort of producing a SmugMug version... it would be great if SmugMug could tell us the number of downloads they have had for their SmugShots uploader - that way I could estimate the potential market size and set the price accordingly. As things stand, it doesn't sound like it would be time well spent, with only a couple of folks showing interest - but thanks for the enthusiasm
BTW, I did think long and hard about the name Ken Burns Slideshow (in fact its not called that in all countries as outside the U.S. many people don't know what it refers to). In the end I decided to use it because it is so frequently used nowadays in photography software (notably in Apple's iPhoto app) that I believe it has lead to the situation where the "Ken Burns Effect" is now a recognised technique rather than implying an association with the man himself, or causing confusion with an existing trademark held by Ken Burns (which I'm not aware of being awarded). Also, I believe that Ken Burns has also noted that it wasn't a technique that he invented himself, he is just the one who brought it into common parlance. Thanks for your input though, it was a genuine concern that I shared. Also thanks for your alternative suggestions, unfortunately developers are slightly restricted in terms of name lengths because they get truncated on the iphone app store so we try to pick names shorter than 19 characters.
All the best,
Matt.
Don't give up on the idea. Smugmug has a developer program the gives a free Pro account to programmers. Maybe factoring in that value would tip the equation? Check with Smugmug, I can't remember all the details.
Good luck!
...another reason why I'm not investing in an iPhone!
P.S. Apologies for not really contributing to the slideshow app discussion, but it was kinda on topic!
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Would be great if such application was available!
Well yeah, but the iPhone doesn't support Flash. I've read rumors on the Internets that some new Palm phone will though. ;-}
But if SmugMug lets you work on the Flash slideshow, can you please make it work with videos before adding Ken Burns? Because that is like, totally broken.