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Disney Pin Place - Pin detection prototype iOS app [VIDEO] - Do you want this?

Watch the video. How much would you pay for a pin detecting app like this?

  • I would only use it if it were free

    Votes: 33 75.0%

  • Up to $10/month

    Votes: 9 20.5%

  • Up to $20/month

    Votes: 1 2.3%

  • Up to $50/month

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • Total voters
    44
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Disney Pin Place - Pin detection prototype iOS app [VIDEO] - Do you want this?
E

ethanwa

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I have built a prototype of a new Disney Pin Place iOS app (iPhone, iPod, iPad) that can detect pins using image recognition and then display immediately all of the details of that pin. It's actually pretty amazing technology.

You can use this app to get information on a pin quickly... What determines if it's a scrapper? What are the details of the pin? And so on. It would be great to use when trading, when at a pin event, or even just at home. No more sitting at your computer. Best of all, you can add new pins from the phone, and add detected pins to your DPP collection right from the app.

The problem is that for something like this to work, it needs to be economically feasible for me to set up. DisneyPinPlace.com will ALWAYS be free, but an iOS (and maybe Android) app like this would need to be a paid SERVICE (not a paid app... the app would be free to download). What this means is that using the app would have a monthly recurring charge through something like a PayPal subscription.

So the question is.... would you pay for this? and how often? and if so, what would you be willing to pay?

The results of this poll will not determine how much the service costs, so answer honestly. I just need an honest assessment of whether this is possible for me to build, maintain, support, and improve.

Please share this video and poll on your other pin sites and Facebook groups! I want to get some reactions to what people think.

Thanks and check out the video:

[video=youtube;UjQVMgQvrTc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjQVMgQvrTc[/video]
 
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That is very cool. It is an app that I would definitely use, though I'd prefer to pay a one time cost for the app rather than a reoccurring payment. Mainly because while I would use it, I don't think I would use it enough to justify paying a monthly fee. Unfortunately I don't pin trade often, but when I do it would be very helpful. Perhaps there can be a price to purchase the app, and then charge a small fee to update?

Keep up the good work. I'll be looking forward to using this in the future.
 
Sounds great but the price seems hefty for an app. I would also prefer a one time fee, I think there would be a market for this if it was little to no cost for the user. Anyway you can partner up with some advertisers? I recall flappy bird was free and the creator was still raking in 50k a day on adds alone. Maybe have a paid add free version. Good luck!
 
I love the app idea - of course I voted FREE because your pricing seemed a bit overboard (just my .02c...). I understand the process of developing an app, supporting it and such. I know that you wouldn't be making a ton of money off of it, even on your pricing model. Just saying that for me personally, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

Awesome app though! Very smart !

Try FREE app, with In-app purchases. Or, bundle the app for subscribers on your site. Charge 10 bucks a month for the DPP site - off this as a service on top of that. App should have hooks into both PinPics and DPP in my opinion
 
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a one time fee, just like pinpics i don't want to be paying monthly for a pin service. what is the cost to create this app?
 
and is this only for apple or will android get this app also? if its and apple app i won't be even looking at it.
 
Ozzie1988 said:
and is this only for apple or will android get this app also? if its and apple app i won't be even looking at it.
Click to expand...

iOS uses a version of C where Android uses Java. So if the OP is familiar with C or C++ its fairly easy to drill into the bowels of iOS. Multi-platform development is what happens. It's a pain to support, with OS updates etc. Especially for Apple since they are VERY restrictive, where Android is more open, and user-concentric.
 
I see in your OP you say for iOS and maybe Android, so there is hope the app will work on my platform.

I think the app is slick-looking! Is what you demo actually linking to DPP over the air, or when you built the proto, did you kind of "stub" the pin data for demo purposes?

I would definitely D/L the app, and activate it for a month or so, while I am getting my collection recognized and loaded to DPP. I don't live near enough to any parks or pin trading events to justify having the app "always active," so I would probably stop the fee after I got done with what I wanted, and then re-activate it before going to a park or trade event. That's assuming the fee were in the $ rather than the $$ or $$$ range.

I'd pay $5, or MAYBE $10 for the app, were it a one-time fee with no recurring charges. The connection and response would have to be clean, recognition would have to run 95% accuracy or better with little to no finagling - use my flash to light the pin if it's too dark, don't make me scan, and rescan, and rescan only to tell me the pin is not recognized, etc.

If a pin has been scrapped or counterfeited, pop up an alert warning on the main scan screen (maybe a red background?), so I can choose whether to dig further or ignore.

Won't this burn your DPP bandwidth pretty quickly, though? Unless you are looking to compress and D/L the photo DB, and only connect to U/L pins added to my collection...
 
Just to answer a few questions in the thread:

- If I make an iOS app and it's economically successful, I will create an Android app as well.

- The cost to build this is my time. Time is money. I own my own business and work on that, so building this out would take time away for me. I will not pay someone to build this.

- For people who say "one-time fee" or "free", the biggest issue with that is the cost of on-going server, network, maintenance, and support of the app. Sure, you could pay $10 upfront, but the issue is that you would then be able to use the resources from the server for life. I'll just be honest upfront here: without some type of recurring fee, or giving it away from 100% free, this app isn't going to happen.

- A hook into PinPics would be possible, but there are legal issues with that, so the likelihood is low.

- Ads a are no-go to fund this app (plus people hate ads). Flappy Bird had 100k+ downloads per DAY, that is why they made so much money. This app is very niche and ads would pay pennies.

- If this is too pricey for you for an app because the value doesn't equal the cost, that is OK! Thank you for the honest feedback.

Here's a question for everyone: Would you be willing to pay for scans instead of a recurring fee? So $5 = 500 scans or something like that? When you run out, you can pay $5 again to refill. Just a thought.
 
norlando319 said:
Is what you demo actually linking to DPP over the air, or when you built the proto, did you kind of "stub" the pin data for demo purposes
Click to expand...

It's actually linking over the air. The app is fully functioning. There is a lot of technical build-out behind the scenes though for it to work in the public that could take quite a while to create... that is why it's a "prototype".

Won't this burn your DPP bandwidth pretty quickly, though? Unless you are looking to compress and D/L the photo DB, and only connect to U/L pins added to my collection...
Click to expand...


Bandwidth issues with DPP are taken care of. :)
 
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ethanwa said:
Here's a question for everyone: Would you be willing to pay for scans instead of a recurring fee? So $5 = 500 scans or something like that? When you run out, you can pay $5 again to refill. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

That is a model that works! I would gladly pay that. $5/500. Ill PM you my UDID number now ;)

What is your paypal
 
I'm very interested, BUT, it depends on the fee schedule. The monthly just won't happen for me, as my lists are up to date, and I can manually edit them. However, a pay for scans works -- but you will have to consider what the remedy will be when unsuccessful scans occur...

I'm intrigued though!
 
Is the scan linked to your account so you can add the pin to any of your list? I would like to use it to keep my owns list up to date after getting pins and scan pins that I see at pin events to for my wants list on the spot so I don't have to login in and search for the pin I saw to add to my list.

I think a fee for scans works.

EDIT: I re-read the OP and you can link the app with your account to update your info. I couldn't see that during the video due to the glare. But I'm in!
 
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what about using ads to help with the costs? a one time fee would cover lost time and the adds should help with the server costs
 
echan50 said:
EDIT: I re-read the OP and you can link the app with your account to update your info. I couldn't see that during the video due to the glare. But I'm in!
Click to expand...

It hasn't been built into the prototype, that is why you didn't see it in the video :) But yes, it would be added in the app.
 
I was going to suggest something like a pay-per scan, but you beat me to it... Seems like a monthly charge might be a lot for most casual users (although hard-core traders might be okay with it).

Personally, I'd prefer a one-time pay option since I'm not likely to use it a whole lot anyway (I only collect marquees, so that would limit it to ~200 scans total. :) ), but it's a damn cool idea (and the technology could really come in handy in some other hobbies as well...)

If you do a per-scan thing, if it wouldn't be too much hassle, include 5 or 10 free scans so people can play with it (or a 'free' version of the app that can only scan 5 a month or something really low...). I bet if people can download it and play with it even a little, you'll convince them they need it pretty quickly. :)

I'm curious how the information of the pin's appearance gets in the database. Is one image of the pin enough to get good matching results? (That's a general curiosity about the technology, it is pretty cool though.)

Also, an added feature: the ability to scan the barcodes of the pins too. Frequently they are in their packages, if the barcode is a unique number for that pin, that might come in handy too. (Also, might help with people that have all their backer cards in a huge pile and want to pair them back up with the correct pins... :) )

Rik
 
I had this same idea a few months ago but nowhere near the amount of time or energy or knowledge required to make it! So glad someone did though, I'd totally use it all the time! :)
 
I really like the idea of this app. It looks really nice and easy to use. For me, I would pay per scan over monthly recurring charges. I am also an Android user.
 
I think you should price it around $2.99 to make it appeal to casual collectors. People seem to have a mental block paying more than that for an app (but are ok then spending another $100 on in-app purchases). For the $2.99 you give them a usable app that lets them scan X number of times per day. They can pay for extra scans (you should make a nice amount any time there is a PTN or other event when people will want extra scans). Let people earn extra scans by signing up for partner offer and referring customers.
 
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