starting an app

[lester]

I got a Minnesota permit a few years ago. Call on Friday afternoon and got permit faxed to me. Get it, read it over a bit, I said no oversize movement basically the whole weekend(I paraphrased that obviously) so I call back and ask what's with that. Walleye season opened that weekend, to much traffic and no oversize allowed. Gee could have told me before I paid for the permits

[Clasix1055]

whoa classix, I don't think I'd be calling the kettle black

A. That was made on purpose

B. I am not creating an ap

[CAXPT]

A. That was made on purpose

B. I am not creating an ap

ROFLMAO, I realized what you were doing when you did it, but I still had to laugh that someone caught you doing it and "phrased it" humorously.

Now don't get me wrong, OP, I've done some app development also, and STexan had a great idea too, one I use often referring to my books and GPS to figure out the right place to stop for the night and have even written emails to NATSN and NATSO that they need to release gps files of their members locations so they can increase business, like the major truckstops have done (TA/Petro, Pilot, Wilco-Hess, etc.).

Moreover as mentioned, the faxed permits will in all probability have the required reading with them. I've hauled OS and the company has supplied the permits, the regulations pertaining to it, etc., and all I had to do was read them and then sign them. The Oversize book, has sunrise/sundown information tables for the entire country, and adjusted for daylight savings time according to the instruction is very accurate.

The one good thing that was mentioned by a few others was if you really think this application has potential, the only real connection you have to make is to a company that does permits for their business. They may want the application for their customers, by allowing them to be notified. Here you will save your self the support and updating by shifting that responsibility to the company you are developing it for....or let them pay you to do it...and quit driving.

Like others have pointed out, this is a limited use application for a niche aspect of driving and may require more assets than you're willing to invest. That doesn't mean it's not feasible or valuable, but for the market and consumer you have laid out.... it really is, unless a passion of yours and something you want for yourself, most likely not cost effective to develop as laid out.

[Kansas]

You know I hate to be the negative guy. You have an idea, maybe you should go for it! I'm just saying from my experience that you should not limit your market size. A game appeals to everyone in the world, 11 million is really small compared to 6 Billion. This is the way I would look at this market and why I would not attempt to write an application like you are.

Total number of tractor trailer units in the USA 2 million (This is the number I think you should start working with not number of CDL's issued yearly)
Number of tractor trailer units that haul heavy loads across state lines (I am going to guess 1%) ---> 20,000

Number of truck drivers who have smart phones 25% (another guess) ----> 5,000

Percent of truck driver who might actually pay for an application 20% ---- > 1000

Number of truck drivers who will have heard about your application and are interested enough to by it 10% ---> 100

So, I project you will sell around 100 copies, but only 50 copies if you only write for either Android or iPhone. So, write a game about trucks, or write a simple program to make keeping logs easier, or a program that lets truckers and car driver know where smoky is hiding. I really hate writing this, because I really wish you well and nobody likes to hear the negative comments about someones passions, so no offense? I think it's neat that you are a truck driver and can write applications. There is quite a bit of skill involved in writing good applications, most people that can do it can make more money working and have an easier life as a programmer or database worker somewhere than as a truck driver. I tried the truck driving life style for awhile and found it was not for me and quit right before testing out. I actually liked driving a truck, just the other stuff I did not like, so we have something in common --- only you made a go of the truck driving part so I respect you for that and I did not, that is why I took the "quitter" name.

Excellent info quitter. All of your posts have been. They are filled with facts, many I can relate to as a former retail brick and mortar store owner who also did Internet sales.

You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The OP will have to learn the lesson himself. After all, it's not the destination, it's the journey.

I do have to wonder if this idea shouldn't be steered away from a stand alone app, but sold as a data base to the big boys like Garmin, Rand, etc... Similar to what Grumman was talking about.

Btw, OP if you get to your app to market. I will buy a copy from ya....

[cpape]

Excellent info quitter. All of your posts have been. They are filled with facts, many I can relate to as a former retail brick and mortar store owner who also did Internet sales.

You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The OP will have to learn the lesson himself. After all, it's not the destination, it's the journey.

I do have to wonder if this idea shouldn't be steered away from a stand alone app, but sold as a data base to the big boys like Garmin, Rand, etc... Similar to what Grumman was talking about.

Btw, OP if you get to your app to market. I will buy a copy from ya....

I agree with this...I was thinking the same thing. For example, whoever does mobile comm for ATS could probably sell them an add on for a few bucks per truck per month. Multiply that by the several thousand trucks they have. You could see how it could get relatively valuable pretty quickly.

[Quickfarms]

Yes we need more apps